Page 15 of Bound to the Mafia Guard

“You should talk to Trev about your time with Russo,” Connor said as if he could read my mind.

I shook my head. “I don’t love talking about it. Between talking to Andro, my father, and a counselor, I’m all talked out.”

“I’m sorry,” Joey said.

“Don’t be. It’s in the past. I still work with my counselor on a lot of things, and being with Trev is amazing. He makes me feel safe.”

Just then the door clicked open. Orsino’s omega Ethan, whom I hadn’t met yet, came into the room. “Sorry I’m late. Marcella refused to be put down. She’s going through a phase where she only wants me, but then the next day she only wants Orsino. Of course today was my turn.”

“Oof. Both twins went through that phase, separately, of course,” Jeremiah said.

I reached out a hand, and Ethan shook it. “It’s nice to finally meet the omega that tied Orsino down.”

Ethan laughed. “I understand congratulations are in order for you as well. I’m glad I’m not the only omega still learning about…you know…the business.”

Joey and Connor laughed. “It’s not as exciting as ya’ll make it out to be. Mostly they just look scary. Our alphas are all softies when it comes to us.”

“I have a hard time picturing Orsino being a softie. But it is nice that I’m not the only newbie. You’d never guess I’d known the Ferrini brothers since they were kids.”

“Oh, I bet you have good stories! Jeremiah won’t share any.” Ethan stuck his tongue out at his brother-in-law.

“Hey, I need something to hold over Andro’s head so I can get my way. We’ve got years together, guys, the stories will all come out in time.”

I grinned. “I never thought about it that way… I do have a few stories.”

“Do tell.” Connor leaned closer.

“Have you guys visited the house in Aspen? Does Uncle Vern still own that?”

Jeremiah nodded. “Yeah, we haven’t been there in years, though. We should make it a family trip! You guys can see the mountains. The kids will love it.”

“You have a house you haven’t visited in years?” Ethan asked.

Jeremiah grimaced. “Yeah. Probably a few of them, if we’re honest.”

“We used to do Christmases there,” I said. “One year there was a blizzard and we were snowed in. But it was so cold you couldn’teven go outside. Orsino and Andro were so pissed because they couldn't go skiing. I think they just wanted to meet omegas on the slopes.”

“Orsino skis?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah, he was pretty good too. Louie was terrible, but he liked hanging around the hills to meet omegas.”

“Of course he did,” Connor said.

“What did they do since they couldn’t go outside? Sounds like a recipe for trouble. Andro doesn’t like being told what to do.” Joey crossed his arms as if he was annoyed. He’d probably tried to boss his alpha around once or twice.

“Oh! I remember this!” Jeremiah exclaimed. “So funny.”

“They had the bright idea of skiing down the stairwell. It worked the first few times, but eventually they realized they were scratching up the wood floor badly. Like really bad. There was no way to hide it. Uncle Vern was so mad.”

“They had to work alongside the kitchen staff for six months! Rowan and I didn’t get in trouble because the alphas wouldn’t even let us try.”

I grinned. “That’s right. They kept telling us they didn’t want us to get hurt.”

Joey snorted. “Glad some things never change.”

“No kidding. Those guys are buzzkills.”

We all laughed at that.

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