Page 21 of Fragile Union

"Fuck." The guttural curse from Alex makes my heart clench. He was my friend, he loved working for the bosses. But he fucked up. He should have never said a word to me about my marriage. He should have never crossed that line. That's on him, yet I somehow feel responsible.

"Come near my wife again and I'll slit your fucking throat." Romero's threat is the last thing I hear before I walk into my bedroom and close the door, I need a shower. My gut is churning, I know that Romero's going to have something to say about this morning's antics. I'm not in the mood to listen to it.

Two hours later and I'm sitting on the kitchen counter eating pop tarts. They're something that I didn't eat while in Ireland but since I moved here, they're one of my favorite foods.

"How the hell can you eat that shit?" Makenna asks as reaches into the fridge for some pop. "I swear you and Romero are made for each other."

I roll my eyes, "Yeah, sure." I mutter, "what's the plan for today?"

She grins at me. "You always were my favorite."

I glare at her which makes her grin wider. "You're a bloody liar, Makenna Gallagher-Bianchi. A God damn liar. Out of all your siblings, you prefer Finn. Then out of your nephews, it’s Danny."

She nods. "That is true, but you are my favorite niece, and out of my cousins, I’d pick Hayden."

"Whatever," I mutter, "have you spoken to Hayden recently?" I'm still pissed at my Aunt Edwina, she didn't come to the wedding, nor did Killian.

"No, but I have spoken to Killian, he's with them, or he was last week. Something about Annemarie being a bitch." Annemarie is married to Hayes, our other cousin. Aunt Edwina’s eldest son, who’s a bloody moron.

"Knew that," I say quietly which has Makenna laughing. "What, we all knew that. I swear the Gallagher's have something missing or broken in our DNA, we all go for complete and utter arseholes. There's our Ma's, not to mention that cow Annemarie."

Makenna nods. "Yep, the women are bitches and the men we marry are bastards." Oops, seems as though there's trouble in paradise, then again, the way these two bicker, it's almost foreplay.

I lift my coffee cup. "Amen to that." I salute her and she giggles. "So, what's Annemarie done now?" I ask, as the men walk into the kitchen.

Makenna grins as she hops up onto the counter opposite me.

Dante glares at us both. "Do you have to sit there? I make food there."

I raise a brow. "I make the food," I remind him, as the housekeeper that Makenna had, is now gone, she stayed for a while but as they're moving, she decided to retire. "I also wash down the counters, so I can put my arse wherever the hell I want."

Makenna nods. "It's my house. I can do what I want."

Romero stalks over to me and snatches the box of pop tarts from my hands. "Hey!" I cry as I reach for them again. The tricky bastard already stole one. "Get your own."

He grins at me and it reaches his eyes, my heart stutters at the sight. Damn it. Why does he affect me this way? "What's yours is mine," he tells me, and I stick my tongue out at him. I've learned there's no point in arguing with him. He's a caveman and just shuts me down no matter what I say. I'm pretty sure he's born a couple of centuries too late.

"So," I say, ignoring the heat in my husband's eyes. "What did the bitch do this time?" I ask Makenna again.

She grins. "Get this," she begins, and I know that whatever it is, isn't going to be good. "She told Aunt Edwina that she wished that she had never gotten married to Hayes."

"She should have kept her legs closed then," I say as Romero snatches the box from my hands again. "Will you quit it? I'm hungry." I whine and turn to face him to see him staring at me with his lips slightly parted, his eyes are wide, and he’s got a cheeky grin on his face. "What?"

Makenna's smiling as she glances around at the men, they're all looking at me as though they've never seen me before. "What the hell is wrong with you three?" she questions.

"I've just never heard Holly say something so..." Alessio begins, and I grin, he's making an effort to be better, he's apologized for how he treated me, and I accepted, and we've moved on.

"Bitchy," Dante answers for him.

I shrug. "Eh, you've not known me long. I can be bitchy when I need to be. Besides, have you met Annemarie?" They all shake their heads, "What about Hayes, Hayden, and Jade?" Again, they shake their heads in the negative. "Well, you're in for a right treat," I say sarcastically, knowing just what arseholes my cousins can be to people they consider as the enemy.

"Right," Makenna comments. "So, she tells Aunt Edwina that she wishes she'd never married Hayes and well, you know our Aunt, she didn't take that lying down."

"Oh my God, what did she do?" I ask with a smile, "Please tell me she hit her."

"Damn, doll face, I never expected you to be so bloodthirsty." Romero smirks at me. As he moves closer to me. Having him this near sends my pulse skyrocketing.

"She didn't hit her, but she told her to keep her mouth shut. She's married now, there's no divorce and if Annemarie wants out, Edwina would be more than willing to assist her. Besides, it's not Edwina that Annemarie should be worried about." Makenna tells us and sighs, we've dealt with women like Annemarie for years, no doubt we'll still continue to deal with them.

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