Page 101 of Scarred Hearts

“Yeah.” I grabbed her hand, pulling myself to my feet. “My head’s not with it today.”

“Well,” she respired, “we both know it needs to be, so whatever’s bothering you, take it out on me it’s fine.”

“I’m good,” I replied, though I couldn’t get last night out of my head. The engagement, Tyler taking over. All of it. Closing my eyes, I inhaled a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.

“Luca?” she whispered breathlessly, and I opened my eyes to see her staring at the staircase.

“Oh... my...” she turned to me, then quickly looked back at him as he descended the last step.

“Shit.” I groaned.

“Hey, Nadia.”

“What happened to you?!” she shrieked, running to him, stopping in front of him.

He gently pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I got into a fight.”

“A fight?!”

He turned his gaze toward me. “I couldn’t stand not being able to talk to her. Can we have a minute?”

Just then, I heard the sound of my front door opening, and Tyler walked into the apartment carrying bags from a local bakery. Huffing at my brother, I glided over to Tyler and greeted him with a kiss.

“Hey there, princess,” he said.

“Hi,” I replied. “I didn’t expect you.”

“Well,” he laughed, placing the bags on the kitchen island. “I have a key and wanted to see you.”

“Uh oh,” I said, folding my arms over my stomach. “I don’t like that look.”

He held onto my hips and kissed my forehead. “There’s a lot going on today.”

“Like what?”

“My ceremony, for one. You have to be there for that, but it’s not until later this evening.” He looked past me at the living room. “Looks like he didn’t stay upstairs.”

I rolled my eyes and looked back at him. “Of course not, because he never listens to anything.”

“Well,” he looped a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Ian and Jen invited us over for pizza and swimming before they have to shut the pool down for the season. And after everything that’s been going on, we’re taking tonight off. I asked Ian and Luke to be present for the ceremony. Angelo and Frankie have agreed to have it at Ian’s brother’s bar.”

“Is there a back room or anything?” I asked.

“No,” he shook his head, “he’s shutting the bar down for the night for inventory.”

I nodded.

“Anyway,” he said, lifting his chin at the bags of food. “Brought you guys some stuff. I have to go meet up with Ian, but I’ll be back to get you and Luca around four.”

“Thank you.” I stood on my toes, pressing my lips to his.

“Mmhm,” he said, placing his lips next to my ear, “you can thank me properly later.” Sliding a finger up my slit, he kissed my neck. “Have fun training. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

After stepping over to greet and say goodbye to both Luca and Nadia, Tyler left, and the three of us meandered to the kitchen, getting coffee and eating the pastries and bagels he’d delivered. They sat on barstools, side by side, and chatted with me as if nothing had happened between them. I wanted to ask, but if they weren’t willing to bring it up, I wasn’t pushing it.

When we were finished and allowed our food to settle for a few minutes, he disappeared back upstairs, and she and I continued our training. We messed up a few times, but once we had the choreography down, we decided to come up with a couple of backup plans in case our bluff was called, or we needed to switch it up in the middle. We’d come up with several code words to say in the ring should one of us need to make a change or get seriously hurt.

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