Page 3 of Blood & Loyalties
“Antonio had the fucking balls to screw some chick while he was here with you?” Kiera broke the silence between us, obviously not done talking about what had happened. In truth, I wasn’t done, either. I needed to get shit out and calm the hell down.
I chuckled even though I didn’t find any part of it a bit funny; it was just what came out with an evil death twinge to it. “Stupid, huh? And he must have set it up ahead of time because he wanted to make it quick. There’s no way he just picked this chick up tonight. He was in there less than five minutes. I should feel bad for the woman, but I don’t. He never could keep it up long. Loser,” I growled with the laughter. He always had been fast to the punch, but it was one of those things I’d overlooked.
“I thought you said he was good in bed?” She raised her eyebrow in question, staring at me. I had never lied to Kiera and never would.
I shrugged. “Define good. He made me come. Was it mind-blowing? Fuck no, but he made me feel good, told me I was beautiful, blah, blah, blah. He acted like he wasn’t afraid of my dad or brothers beating the shit out of him, but who the hell knows?” I wondered if all of that was a lie, too. More than likely, yes.
“Dumbass. He should have worried about you,” Kiera said with another slight giggle.
She had seen my handiwork over the years. Some of it was a bit overdone, but I always had a purpose, like tonight. I wasn’t one of those women who were lovers and not fighters. While I wanted to be, I was more the opposite. I always blamed it on my brothers because I sure as shit didn’t want to blame myself.
“No shit there.” I laughed for real this time. Everyone, including my family, sometimes underestimated me. It worked out in my favor, though. I was a snake—lethal when you pissed me off and would strike when you least expected it. “What a fucking pussy. Did you see him?” I rolled my eyes, waving my hand, unable to help myself. “I didn’t realize how big of one he was until tonight.” Antonio didn’t come off to me like that for all the months I had known him. He had always been a standup guy, even to my father. It was like he did a one-eighty.
“Sorry, babe.” Her arm snaked around my shoulders, and she pulled me to her side, giving me a squeeze as I leaned into her comforting touch. The compassion she gave me filled my heart.
If anything, I knew I would always have her by my side. We might grow old and gray together because no man had the balls to step up to either of our fathers, but we would have each other.
The waitress flounced back into the room, setting glasses full of clear liquid, the bottle, and a bowl of limes onto the small table in front of us. Kiera released me, leaned over, and handed me a shot while taking one for herself. Then she held it high in the air, and I followed. She was clearly in a toasting mood tonight. Fine by me.
“To one day finding Mr. Right who loves to eat pussy and not be one!”
I laughed hard at her words, clinking my glass to hers and watching the clear liquid sway around the glass. We tossed back the shot in unison, and I felt the burn race down my throat then splash into my stomach. I sucked on a lime and squinted at the sourness on my tongue, already thinking it was time for another.
If anything, Kiera’s love life was worse than mine when it came to her family. With her dad—my Uncle Vino—being the head of the family, guys flocked to her, too, but their main goal was to be with the boss’s daughter, marry her, and then take over the business. At least with my dad as second in command, it wasn’t as bad.
Who was I fucking kidding? We were both doomed.
Several shots and some serious lime sucking later, our laughter billowed all around us. My body relaxed, and the tension fromthe assholemelted away.
I scanned the joint, seeing if there were any potential men in the crowd—hey, I was a free woman now—but none were calling to me. Maybe it was just me. Getting laid had never been the problem; it was all the other shit in my life that came into play. After the night I’d had, I wasn’t feeling it all that much.
There might not be potential men, but that was a moot point as my brother Val, his best friend Ace, and a man I had never seen before—but holy hell would like to see more of—entered the VIP section. I breathed out deeply and quickly turned away from the handsome man, my body fluttering by merely being in the same room as him.
What was wrong with me? Men didn’t do this to me. Ever. My eyes connected with my brother’s, whose tight brows, sky blue eyes glaring, and thin-lined mouth told me he was pissed as shit. Too damn bad. I was too drunk to care.
“What mess did you get yourself into this time?” Val asked in a clipped tone. Most people would probably fall at his feet and pray for mercy or cower in a corner at that tone. Me? Not so much.
Being my younger brother by two years, he thought it was his job to protect me. For some reason, he thought he was the older sibling and took the overprotective brother thing to another level. Too bad he was wrong.
Val and I were almost carbon copies of each other, with the same dark hair and golden-toned skin. The only difference was Val had blue eyes, while I had ones that were sometimes blue and sometimes green. It simply depended on the lighting. Even with his more rough and demanding features, no one would mistake that we were siblings.
I waved him off, flicking my hand in the air because nothing would tap down his anger. It was too raw in his eyes. Whenever something went badly that involved me, he had serious issues. God love him, but he needed to calm the hell down.
I leaned back in the chair and took a sip of the cranberry juice and patron I’d had the waitress bring a while ago. “Scraper’s handling the cleanup. No big deal,” I told him. It was over and done with, and Scraper had guys taking care of the rest.
“Bullshit. That asshole fucks some bitch in a bathroom while he’s datingmy”—he pointed his finger to his chest and pressed firmly for emphasis—“sister. I’ll handle this shit,” he growled deeply, the veins in his head throbbing and his face turning beet red. He was seriously going to have a heart attack before he reached thirty at this rate. He needed to relax and not let this shit get to him so bad.
“No need. He learned his lesson. If he didn’t and comes after me, I’ll take care of it.” I took another drink, feeling maybe a little bit cocky, letting the liquid bounce to my stomach, but by then it didn’t give me any aftereffects.
I had every bit of confidence in myself that I would be able to handle whatever situation came up. Even drunk, I could deal.
“Hey, Val,” Kiera greeted, breaking up the thick tension that was spiraling out of control from my brother. “Take a breath, boy.”
Kiera was my age, only younger by three months, but that didn’t matter with her brothers, either. She dealt with this same shit, so she understood. She normally would have a calming effect on my brother, which she had on most people, but not so much this time.
Val turned to Kiera with the same fury, but he lightened up just a tad. “Kiera, your dad’s gonna be pissed you’re in this shit.” He pointed at both of us with a hostile glare, his eyes darting between the two of us. “You know he’s part of the Capella family.”
Since rolling my eyes at him and yelling duh was way too immature, I decided against it. “No shit, Sherlock. I don’t care.” It was my turn to growl at my brother. Family was family. If the Capella’s had a problem, they could deal with their own fuck-up of a member. Not my problem.
