I could barely see straight.
All I could see was how close the boy’s body was to hers. How he kept flexing his fingers. Thinking about reaching out and grabbing her hand.
Then one of the headlining artists walked out.
The crowd went wild.
Sistine included. She clapped, whistled with two fingers in her mouth, and then punched the air around her. She accidentally punched lover boy, and she didn’t even seem to realize, or she didn’t care. She started to sing along to the song.
The men around me were already grinning at how she had punched lover boy, but Marciano was laughing his ass off—all raspy and shit—at the timing of the opening song.
“Your theme song! She’s your problem now.” Marciano roared with laughter. “And Spicy Sissy is getting down to it something fierce.” He mimicked her. “Hell yeah!”
Sistine was. She was singing the song as hard as the singer was. She was creating hand motions to the lyrics. She didn’t care that lover boy was looking at her like he’d never seen her before, still rubbing his head where she’d whacked him on it. Or that her friend was looking at her, trying to connect over the song. Or that she was singing louder than anyone around her. She was having a fucking blast.
Looking at her from a distance, there was no doubt—she was in her own world. Only her and the music.
And Marciano had hit the truth on the head.
Sistine had been somebody else’s problem—now she’s mine.
The thought made me fucking giddy.
I turned my baseball hat around to make sure I was seeing all of her. Not missing a second. I grinned at how much fun she was having. She’d even gotten lover boy to give her a wide birth because she kept slapping him when her hands would do whatever the fuck they wanted. Still no apologies. He’d been warned when she’d first hit him, and she wasn’t going to squeeze into a small space when this was her thing.
What else made me fucking giddy?
When she wasn’t waving her arms around, she’d grab for the Annie pendant. I wondered if she wished I was next to her. She’dgrab me instead and have fun while in my arms. She’d sway, singing all the songs to me. It was such a girlie thing to do, and suddenly, I fucking wanted it.
I wanted all of it.
All of her.
A group of girls danced their way in front of us. We could see over their heads, but their bodies were getting closer and closer. Scottish by the sound of their accents. The one in front of me turned some and winked at me. I didn’t acknowledge the move.
Marciano wasn’t reciprocating either. He was pumping his arms and hands over their heads. Angelo was laughing so hard, sounding just like his old man, that it didn’t seem like he could breathe. Probably at how Marciano was getting in his own groove. Remo was taking the women’s grinds in stride. All business, but occasionally, it seemed like he’d get curious and look at their asses.
A scent I recognized seemed to suddenly surround me. Lavender. My sister. When I turned to look, she was dancing through the crowd, her husband’s hand in hers. He’d twirl her every so often. The sight of her made me grin. She was wearing a floral dress with cowgirl boots. Rio looked like he was falling even harder for her. He’d always loved her. I knew he always would. He’d live for my sister. Die for her.
My eyes went to Sistine.
Yeah, I fucking got it.
I still didn’t know what they were doing here, though. Maybe this was date day for them. They were sticklers for keeping date night.
Mia danced up to us, Rio’s hand still around hers. My brother and I kissed Mia on her cheek, then Angelo did. Remo nodded. Then we all shook Rio’s hand.
“Date day?” I asked.
Mia beamed up at me. “Yes! When RiRi told me where two of my brothers were headed, I had to come!”
“It hadnothingto do with getting to know Sistine either. Only the music.” My brother-in-law grinned.
Mia rolled her eyes, then stood on her toes, placing a kiss on his lips. Then we all turned forward, getting back to business. The girls in front of us were backing up, getting closer, though, and I could tell Mia was getting irritated.
My sister tapped one of them on the shoulder. The girl whipped her head around. Mia smiled at her, but it wasn’t all that friendly. My sister had an even temper, but piss her off, and her maiden name came out full force.
“As much as I’m enjoying you and your friend’s dance moves, I didn’t pay to watch you sing, so, if you’d please…” She made a shooing motion with her hand. Then my sister, who had a lot of Fausti blood pumping through her veins, turned back to the stage—as if the girls had already moved out of sight in her head.
