My heart raced as I quickly pulled down my dress and stood on my wobbly two feet, staring at the door. I was ready to explain the situation even though I’d be making it up. In slid a woman, tall with short blonde hair and red lips.
“What the fuck are you doing, Grace?” Emilio spat out as he zipped his pants.
“I should be asking you that,” she smirked as she looked between us. “I saw Barbie’s fiancé knocking; I figured something was going on that he wasn’t supposed to see. So, I sent him on his way and bought whoever was in here some time. Unfortunately, I’m too nosy to just walk away.”
Emilio nodded to her, “You both go first. I’ll wait five minutes.”
“You should go first,” Grace replied, “Luca was asking for you.”
It was obvious Emilio looked uncomfortable, and there were several reasons why. Grace is now aware of the situation, which only means this can now be used against him; my brother is looking for him, so if he doesn’t have an alibi that makes sense, it will look suspicious; to top it off, this was poorly planned—how were we going to sneak out if we didn’t know who was watching from the outside. Emilio walked out without a word while Grace stayed behind with me.
“Hey.”
“Hi,” I blushed from embarrassment.
She stood there looking at her watch.
I smile, holding my hands in front of me. “What you saw… um... it...”
“I saw nothing,” Grace shot me a smile. “Ready to get back out there?”
Nodding my head, she then leads the way. Although no one in the room noticed I was gone, it felt as though everyone was eyeing me and whispering to one another about my scandalous ways.
“Bethany,” Pio wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me in for a kiss on the cheek. “Your wine.”
“Thank you.” As we pulled apart, I saw Emilio standing with Alfie directly looking at me.
I want to say I felt dirty standing next to my fiancé after getting fucked in the bathroom by another man, but I wasn’t. Not in the tiniest bit. Pio led me to a few people and introduced me to his side of the extended family from Connecticut. It felt like hours of smiling and pretending to be in love with the man I would marry in a few days. Emilio and I didn’t speak the entire night, not that it was anything new, but each time he crossed my line of vision, I just wanted to run into his arms.
I was ordering another glass of wine. The amount I was drinking tonight, I’m surprised I wasn’t falling all over the place.
“Macallan 1926 single malt.” Looking beside me, I saw my brother ordering a drink. “Getting cold feet?” he asked.
“What makes you say that?” I shifted on my feet. Was I not smiling enough?
“Alfie mentioned you were hiding in the bathroom and sent Grace to check on you.”
“Just feeling weird, that’s all.”
Luca gave me a look, “Pregnant?”
I laugh, “No!”
“Good,” Luca laughed in return, “Mother can’t handle a pregnancy out of wedlock.”
We laughed, and, at that moment, I felt we had reconnected. Being the two youngest who grew up differently from our older siblings, it was important to me that Luca and I held our bond. Luca was in a good mood tonight, like he was his old self again.
“I want to stay in Chicago.”
Luca nodded his head, “Figures.”
I blush in panic, “Why?”
“Leaving your family isn’t your thing. When you left and ran away, I didn’t come for you because I wanted you to know what it was like without being around us. If it weren’t for Emilio to convince me to bring you back, you might still be out there.”
I shook my head, “Maybe not.”
“Guess we will never know.”
