Lucio’s the first to stand, stalking toward my cousins with open arms. “You fuckers. I wasn’t sure you’d show your ugly mugs.”
“Get the fuck outta here.” Joe waves my brother off as Lucio tries to hug him. “We weren’t missing this for anything in the world.”
Joe never seems to age, and his edge never fades. The man has always been intense, more intense than me, which is saying something. His dark hair has splashes of gray near the temples, no doubt caused by having daughters on the verge of dating.
Vinnie’s on his feet and next to Lucio within seconds, excited to meet the cousins he’d been too young to hang out with. “Hey,” Vinnie says with a chin lift, always trying to be the cool bastard in the room.
“There he is,” Mike says as he steps forward and grabs Vinnie, lifting him off the floor like he isn’t freakishly large. “You little asshole went and became a badass football player and shit.”
Mike was always the silly one. We’d laugh at him until we couldn’t breathe. He was such a dork and a complete ass-kisser. Color us shocked when he grew up, filled out, and eventually became a champion fighter. That’s the day we all stopped laughing.
“Fuck, man, I can’t breathe,” Vinnie grits out, trying to break free of Mike’s bear hug, but Mike isn’t having any of it.
It’s funny to see someone as big, if not bigger, than Vinnie holding him like he’s a rag doll. By the time the kid turned sixteen, none of us could do shit to him physically because he grew at a freakishly fast rate.
Mike squeezes him tighter, lifting him higher, ignoring Vinnie’s whining. “Pussy,” he mumbles before he places Vinnie’s feet back on the floor.
“Fuck off.” Vinnie punches him square in the shoulder.
Mike barely flinches, but he looks down to where Vinnie’s hand touched him, then stares at my brother. “Was that supposed to hurt or something?”
“Are you two ladies done?” Lucio asks, taunting them. “Or do you need more time to hug it out and shit?”
Thomas pulls up a chair and reaches for an empty glass and the bottle of whiskey. “Longest plane ride of my life,” he groans and looks over at James.
“The way the kids bicker, you’d think they were all brothers and sisters,” James adds, sitting down next to his brother-in-law and pushing another empty glass toward Thomas, wanting a drink and clearly in need of one. “My ears are still ringing from all that whining.”
James and Thomas have a solid bond. More like natural brothers than legally by marriage. It comes from their time working together undercover at the DEA and then opening their own private investigation firm. They’re both pretty badass and not anyone I’d fuck with even if they weren’t related to me.
“Did you ever think we’d be here?” I ask, looking around the room at the men before me. “I sure as fuck didn’t.”
We were such shitheads when we were young. Out of control, really. Even though we were younger than them, that didn’t stop the antics and shit we pulled. We weren’t sitting inside playing Legos or building forts. Nah. That wasn’t our style. We were city kids. Hood rats. We played in the alleys, getting dirt under our fingernails.
“I wasn’t sure any of us would make it to this age.” Joe pulls a chair across the floor, making the most horrendous noise, before he turns it around and straddles the back. “We did some dumb shit.”
“Not me,” Mike says, which is technically true. He didn’t get into the kind of trouble the rest of us did because he was too busy with sports to give a flying fuck about playing with us. “I was too busy.”
Anthony rolls his eyes. “You were always a suck-up. Still are. You didn’t want Ma and Pop to think differently of you. Always thought you were better than us.”
I’m still amazed Anthony settled down, joining adulthood, and quit his rock band. The man swore he was going to be famous someday and have an unlimited supply of pussy at his disposal. He and Vinnie are so alike in that way, but here they are, taken and one-woman men.
Mike waves his hand in the air. “I am,” he answers flatly. “I can’t help that I’m pure perfection.”
Thomas drags a hand down his face, muttering something into his palm. “Anyway, are we just chilling here for the night?”
Vinnie shakes his head. “Nope. I made all the plans. Our ride will be here in ten.” He smiles.
I pinch the bridge of my nose, wishing I’d called this off weeks ago. The last thing I want to do is party my ass off the night before my wedding. I don’t give two fucks about drinking, strip clubs, or whatever insanity Vinnie has planned. And I know there will be insanity.
“Where are we going?” My voice comes out harsher than I’d planned, but I plaster a smile across my face instead of grimacing in an attempt not to come off as a complete asshole.
“Well…” Vinnie clears his throat, and I brace myself. “I know you don’t want to go to the strip club.”
“No,” I blurt out. “I have the only tits I ever want to see at home.”
“Amen,” Joe agrees as his brothers and mine nod their heads in agreement.
“Yeah, Bianca would have my balls anyway.” Vinnie glances toward the ceiling and sighs.
