“Don’t worry, Gina.” Luca pulled her back in step with him. “It’s just soundcheck.”
“But I don’t want to miss anything.”
He squeezed her hand and chuckled. “You won’t.”
“So, who’s this girl the two of you are, um…dating, anyway?” she asked to distract herself as they left Third Avenue at Ash Street. That, and Gina was genuinely curious.
Kevin smirked, a wicked glint entering his eyes. “It’s okay to say fucking. That’s what it is.”
The hell?
“Don’t look at us like that.” Luca nudged her with his shoulder, trading a glance with his boyfriend. “It’s not how you’re thinking.”
Sure, it’s not.
“Lexi’s a senior on the cheer squad,” Kevin said as if that should explain everything.
It didn’t.
“We have a good time together, but she’s going back to Ohio after grad next year, and that’ll be the end of it.” His shrug half-hearted, Luca sighed. “It’s cool, though. We all knew it couldn’t be a forever thing going in.”
And he was okay with that? Luca wasn’t a player. Sweet and sensitive, Gina couldn’t bear the thought of another brother’s tender heart breaking.
“How long have you all been together?”
“I met her a month or so after I got with Kev.” Luca’s lips quirked up as he dipped his chin, ebony hair falling into his eyes.
“The football team threw this sick Halloween party.” With his head bobbing, Kevin dug his teeth into his lip and grinned. “Lexi was there, and we—”
“Yeah, okay, I get it.”
She didn’t need the graphic details, but with the seed planted in her head, Gina tried to picture what it might look like.
Kevin poked her side and winked. “It’s been us and her ever since.”
“Good luck finding another girl that can put up with the two of you,” Teo murmured with a soft snort.
“I know, bro. I miss her already.” His shoulders slumped, Luca glanced her way. “Lexi went home to visit her folks for a few weeks.”
“She’s coming back right after the Fourth,” Kev said, slinging his arm around her brother.
“Sounds like she’s missing you, too.” Gina figured the girl didn’t have to return until classes resumed in August. That had to mean something, right? “Maybe Lexi will change her mind and stay in Chicago.”
“Maybe.” But Luca didn’t sound convinced.
“Not getting my hopes up and neither should you,” Kevin said as they walked past the red double doors at the corner of First and Ash.
The smell of funnel cakes, popcorn, and saltwater taffy greeted her nostrils. High in a hazy western sky, the sweltering sun beat down on the pavement. And smashed between her brothers and Kevin, their clammy bodies cramped together like sardines in a tin, they got caught up in the horde, inching their way toward the midway and Coventry Park.
“Don’t look now, Gi.” Teo clutched her hand tightly, leading her through the never-ending sea of people. “Just keep going straight ahead.”
“Look at what?” She wrinkled her nose. The guy in front of her reeked of body odor and cheap cologne, cumin radiating from his pores. “God, I can hardly breathe.”
“Asshole over on the left,” Luca said, tipping his head in that very direction.
She looked. Vinny pushed a girl off his arm and, breaking away from his group of friends, came toward her.
Dammit.
