Page 47 of The Vow

They all sat together at the same breakfast table, and it was awkward as fuck.

Pina was tucking into a huge bowl of cereal, looking fresh faced and unscathed from the night before, at that early stage when hangovers don’t bite like they do when you’re older. Ardian was simmering with rage, scowling from the other side of the table, clearly hadn’t had enough sleep and was probably feeling rougher than Pina was. Colt piled his plate high with everything from the buffet, shoved half of it in his mouth before even sitting down.

“Where’s April this morning?” Carmelo asked, trying to break the atmosphere at the table.

Colt shrugged, mouth full of food. “Can’t walk. Filled with cum. Legs don’t work.”

Carmelo nodded, Pina choked on her cereal. Ardian rolled his eyes.

“Gonna take this to the room for her.” Colt winked, stood up from the table, and sauntered towards the door with a plate full of food.

“Excuse me Sir, you can’t take food from the buffet back to the rooms… Sir? Sir!” The waiter hurried after Colt, who merely turned and fixed a look to the young waiter.

The waiter gulped and stood still. Colt carried on walking.

Lena flowed into the room then, like a breath of fresh air. She had her hair tied back and gym gear on; leggings, a skin tight top and a hoodie.

“You’ve been to the gym already?” Pina asked incredulously.

“Yes.” Lena sat down, smoothing her hair back on her head and poured herself coffee. “Good morning,” she said, the definition of a diminutive mafia daughter.

Carmelo swallowed his eggs with difficulty, loving that he’d had her trembling in his lap merely hours before.

Jovan and Camilla joined them then, and Kavan, sour-faced even at that time in the morning.

“Oh, Lena darling, why are you wearingthatto breakfast?” her mother berated her before even greeting her.

“Because I-” Lena started to talk but Jovan cut her off, seeming smug. “Last night was successful.”

Lena choked on her coffee. Carmelo tried to hide his grin. Yeah, he’d made it successful as fuck for her.

“The menu is picked out for the rehearsal dinner and the wedding breakfast, so that is a big check off the list,” Camilla said, holding her glass up while a waiter hurried to fill it. Carmelo blinked, it was champagne flowing into that glass. He also had no idea what had been decided for the menu, food was food, he’s certainly made no decisions except to stay and make Lena cream all night long-

“Now, the dress! Milena, I have the perfect dress-maker picked out for you already-”

Lena flashed Carmelo a little glance, and she elegantly began cutting up the eggs florentine that had been placed in front of her.

“And Carmelo, what are you going to wear to this wedding? Have you thought about a decent suit? It will be something cheap off a rack I imagine, on your cop salary,” Lena said haughtily and tossed her hair back.

Ouch, that was unnecessary, Carmelo thought.

“I haven’t thought about it yet, I’ll… er… look at suits-”

“You needn’t bother, the wedding isn’t happening,” Lena said, barely looking at him.

She was cold this morning, not just pretending last night hadn’t happened for the sake of propriety at the family breakfast. She was pretending last night hadn’t happened at all. Carmelo felt a sting of… hurt. He recognized it. It wasn’t just his pride that took that hit. He shouldn’t care but…fuck it, he did. He felt it within him.

Well fuck her then.

“Fine, I’ll head to the thrift store then and see if I can pick up something to match my cop budget, as you say, it’s hardly anything-”

“I’ll get Ardian to get you a designer suit that matches the color scheme, the decorative theme and Lena’s dress.” Camilla waved her hand dismissively.

Ardian paused, his coffee half way to his mouth, his face stone. Carmelo was pretty sure the guy had no desire or interest in suit shopping on his behalf.

Lena got up and headed to the buffet. Carmelo took this as his opportunity to get through to her, one on one. He came up behind her, a respectable distance away, then when she’d rounded the buffet table, he grabbed her wrist, pulling her through the swinging doors into the kitchen.

“What the fuck is wrong with you this morning?” he hissed as she let out a muffled, surprised little gulp.

---