Page 90 of Vicious Sentiments

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It takes a whole three minutes for Julian to climb the flight of stairs to the main floor and while that’s not normal for him, it’s still way faster than I thought possible with a gunshot wound. Cape tried to tell him to take it easy, as did I, but Julian looked at us like we were crazy. His eyes darted between the two of us with suspicion, as if we’ve teamed up against him in his absence.

Cape smirked, satisfied with the wary, yet comical look on Julian’s face, meanwhile I blushed, thinking about what he could be suspicious of.

When we are all at the table, Marney and Dillon included, alongwith Denny, Margo brings out a massive spread. A spread so big that we could survive for a month on the food in the dining room alone.

It’s all Italian food. Everything from lasagna to cannolis, and my mouth waters when I realize that I’m starving, having not eaten properly recently. But I put my stomach aside and fill Julian’s plate first. Me and Margo start loading it up with a bit of everything.

“Here, this too.” Margo scoops a creamy pasta with bacon in it onto the plate. “Oh, and this.” She grows a third arm and starts heaping more.

I snag some of the stuffed mushrooms with parmesan and tuck those in as well. There’s a meat sauce that I pour onto the plate too when I realize there’s silence in the room.

I look up to find everyone looking at me and Margo as if we’ve lost our minds. I slowly put the ladle back and try to hide behind my hair.

“Well fuck, little bro, hope you’re hungry.” Cape laughs under his breath, and my cheeks burn.

“You all stop that.” Margo shakes her head. “He needs to eat to get his strength back.”

“Do you need to get big and strong?” Denny asks in baby talk.

Dillon laughs and then tries to cough to hide it.

“Laugh it up guys, but I don’t see you two being served right now.” Julian gives me an appreciative glance, and I set the plate in front of him.

Cape grabs a plate with an eye roll and then starts piling it up. I sit and watch Julian take a bite and I know I’m being ridiculous but I can’t help it. The food smells so good, and I know I need to eat but I’m more concerned that he can eat with a hole in his body and that he’s up so soon.

Denny thanks Margo for making such a fine meal and starts digging in as well. After a beat, everyone starts in and dishes clatter. Marney launches into asking Julian questions, and I know it’s the start of avery lengthy interrogation. The only one that hasn’t sat down to eat is Cape, who is still loading up his plate. Even Margo is eating already, albeit with a meager portion of chicken parm.

Julian takes another bite and tells Marney that he doesn’t have any pain. She narrows her eyes at him, clearly not taking his bullshit, when suddenly a plate gets placed in front of me.

I look up to see Cape leaning over the table, his hand still holding the edge of it. He gives me a sarcastic shrug and I suck in my lips, blushing. He winks, clearly in good spirits, and my eyes become saucers when I see that it has even more food than I put on Julian’s plate.

“Thank you,” I whisper just to him.

Looking uncomfortable, he lets go and grabs a cannoli before sitting down and leaning back in his chair. Denny gives him a long side eye, as if he can’t believe what he just witnessed.

A little over an hour later, I’m somehow still eating. I’ve moved onto the tiramisu and Ido nothave room for it but it tastes so good that it would be criminal not to force it down. Marney has moved her questioning on to me when every answer Julian gave her was PG and clearly sugarcoated.

“I don’t know anymore than you do,” I tell her honestly through a creamy bite.

She huffs.

The only thing that has been explained is how the boys got back. Cape said he had to get a private charter to get Julian home. Denny shuddered when Cape brought it up, and I can’t imagine his massive hulk like frame crammed into a single propeller shoe-box.

“Oookay. If no one wants to tell meanything,then we’ll talk about something else.”

I see Dillon visibly relax, like he has been holding his breath, waiting for someone to tell his little sister something graphic. I really don’tknow what he was on about when he said she knows things she shouldn’t. As far as I’ve witnessed, everyone keeps her pretty in the dark.

“Since Julian is back, we can finally go shopping,” Marney says to me.

I sag. “Shopping?”

She juts her chin out at me like I’ve offended her. “You need something to wear for your birthday!”

Oh no. I’ve completely forgotten about this obsession she has with my birthday. It’s in five days and there’s no way I’m going along with anything without Julian.

“Maybe we can put it off a bit?” I beg her. I have no idea what she’s cooked up. I want to think it can’t be that bad. What could a thirteen-year-old plan? But she has access to money I can’t even dream of and I know her last birthday was in Hawaii.

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