Page 75 of Accidental Fiancé

He clenched his jaw, and Apollo snapped his fingers between us. “Hey, hey. Eyes on me.” “You, up the trail.” He pointed at me. “Marcus, back to the house. Now.”

“We're not kids anymore, Apollo. You're not the boss of us,” Marcus said. For once, I was inclined to agree with him. “This is between me and Julian.”

“Fine, but hand me your pieces.”

We both turned over our shotguns. “Chloe's been lying to you, and if you want to play the family card, remember it goes both ways.”

“And I'm sure Maggie's been so perfect.”

“She didn't fuck the teacher! And we never dated in high school, so even if she had, she still wouldn't have been cheating on me!”

“You seem to just roll over for whoever cheats on you, including Britney.”

Without much of a thought, my fist collided with his face, and time slowed down. Next thing I knew Apollo’s hands were on my chest, shoving me against a tree. “What the fuck is wrong with you? We’re fucking family, Julian!”

Uncle Dino caught up to us, eyeing me, then his son. He crouched over Marcus to study his face. I couldn’t look away as blood poured from his nose. Uncle Dino had been a boxer, I assumed he was assessing the damage.

My uncle grunted, “I warned you.”

“Papa, I?—"

“I tell you not to speak of his lady friend. And what do you do?”

Marcus huffed out a breath. “But Papa?—"

“What did you do?”

His son didn’t answer. He pinched his nose instead.

“Apollo.”

“Yes, Papa?”

“Take Marcus back. Get him cleaned up. And Julian?” he said my name as he stood and faced me.

I felt so small when I looked at him. It was worse when the rest of the guys caught up to us, all spouting questions at the same time. But Uncle Dino held me in his cold gaze, and I couldn’t look away. Hitting his son was one thing. Looking away would be an unforgivable insult. “Yes, Uncle Dino?”

“Never pull your punches.”

I didn’t hear that right. “What?”

“You had good form. But you pulled it at the last second. Never pull your punches. It’s disrespectful.”

I was aghast. “He’s your son?—"

“And my son can take a hit. Don’t disrespect him like that again.” He nodded curtly, then continued on the trail as his sons went the other way back to the house. I followed Uncle Dino into the hills.

Chapter 27

Maggie

Ilazed in bed as long as I could stand it before I got up. I was too excited. Julian and I were finally going to talk about things and clear the air. Nora was right. I had to make a choice to pick a path. I wanted Julian on that path.

I wasn't sure when it happened, but I was a woman in love.

I cleaned up and dressed for the day then hunted Piper down in the kitchen having breakfast. She was humming along, singing a waffle song to her pancakes with her other cousins. What one had to do with the other, I didn't know. But she was happy, and she grinned with a mouthful of pancake when she saw me.

The breakfast kitchen was bright and sunny, painted in yellow with white daisies everywhere. The friendly staff tended to the children’s needs, while the caterers kept a large breakfast buffet full with a vast variety of choices.

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