Page 38 of A Game of Ruck
It’s off.Like she’s the outsider at her own damn family event.
The aunts and uncles are polite.Smiles, handshakes, lots of“oh, so you’re a rugby player,”followed by awkward pauses like they don’t know whether to congratulate me or apologize.
They all work for her dad, Marco Martinez.I can tell they’re either in awe of him or they secretly hate him.Maybe a combination of the two.
Corporate sharks dressed up in pastel linens and polite charm.
It’s the only reason they aren’t even ruder to my girl.And that makes me fucking hate them.
They keep referring to Marco as “the Boss” like he’s Tony Soprano.
But I know real guys like that.
Hell, my own father is one.Anthony Moretti is a reformed mafia boss, or so he claims.I wouldn’t know since I haven’t talked to him in the two years he’s been out of prison.
I can say with the utmost certainty that whatever the Martinez family is into, it’s legit.
These people are snobs, not gangsters.But between you and me, there isn’t a lot of difference between billionaire CEOs and mafia.
What I do notice that makes me unreasonably angry is that not one of these people embraces my girl with genuine affection.
None of them make her laugh.
None of them light up with surprise or even forced interest when they see her.
She’s tolerated.
Not loved.
And that pisses me off more than I’d like to admit.
Annabeth stands tall through it all, smiling like it doesn’t hurt.
But I see it.
The stiffness in her spine.
The way she keeps tugging her dress down like it’ll make her more acceptable.
And the second the bridesmaids sashay in?I feel the power shift in the room.
Fake tan.
Fake-ass laughs.
And compliments so dripping in condescension they might as well come with a side of glitter-coated knives.
“Oh my God, Annabeth!You look so, um,comfortable!”
Comfortable.
Comfortable?
Who the hell says that to someone at a rehearsal dinner?
“What acutedress!”the next one pipes up, dragging out the last word like it’s a crime against fashion.
Cute.That’s social code forsafeandforgettable.
