“Wish she would learn to drive a goddamned stick, though,” he says as we slide into his SUV. “Neither of the girls can. I tried to teach them, and they were both shit at it. Always wanted them to know how to in case of an emergency, but fuck, it was painful to watch. To listen to. All those grinding gears.” He cringes at the thought.
I text the girls when we’re almost back to the house with their shakes and food, and they meet us at the front door like starving animals. They both look a little out of breath.
“We were playing Beat Saber when you texted.” Lil grabs the bags and takes off for the kitchen, followed by Marco, leaving me holding shakes and sodas in a cardboard tray.
Ariana reaches up and gently turns my head to the side to get a better look at my cheek. It’s red and will probably bruise up a bit. I take her hand in mine, which then makes her notice how red my knuckles are. Shit. She kisses them lightly, like a butterfly’s wings barely grazing my skin, and if she didn’t already own my fucking heart, I would make me sign it over to her now.
“I’m fine, promise.” My voice is thick, all my emotions trying to make themselves known in the timbre.
She takes a deep breath, then nods. Threading our fingers together, she leads me to the kitchen. After taking a shake off the tray, that is.
“I texted Mom. She’s on her way down. And Becca said her show has three minutes left,” Lil says with a laugh as she and Marco take the food out of the bags.
“I’m here, and I smell burgers!” Mia calls out from behind us. I expect Ariana to drop my hand, but she doesn’t, even when Mia stops next to her. Ariana holds her shake out for her mom, and Mia takes a sip before kissing Ariana on the forehead. “Thanks, sweetie.”
Marco’s forehead crinkles as he frowns. “Ah, my love, I would have gotten you a shake if you wanted one.”
“Nope, don’t want a whole one. Just gonna steal a couple of sips from my girls and eat the extra calories instead of drinking them.” Mia sends a wink his way. Lil holds her shake out at the counter, and Mia repeats the process with her. Becca walks in and immediately starts fussing over me like a concerned grandma, making sure I’ve already iced my bruises.
We all gather around the counter. Ari only lets go of my hand once we start eating, but she stays close by my side while Marco and I tell them about the fights and my win.
“Wait, so your fight only lasted three minutes?” Ariana asks after stealing another fry from me. The girl has a whole pile left in front of her, but she keeps swiping mine.
“Technically, yeah. But it was over after about thirty seconds. I landed that first punch and knew there was no way he was beating me.”
“We should make you a trophy,” Lil suggests with a smirk.
“Meh, maybe just a sticker chart. After ten wins, he gets a ribbon. A trophy is more like twenty wins,” Ariana reasons.
I shrug. “Works for me, I always did like sticker charts.”
Ariana smiles as her eyes drop to the ink on my arm. “Obviously.”
Lil pulls out her phone. “Now to look for stickers. Cats wearing bow ties? Nah. SpongeBob? Possibly… hey, are you still scared of frogs, Luca?”
Ariana’s head whips around toward me, her whole body following from where she was leaning to look over Lil’s shoulder. She bumps into me and starts to lose her balance, swaying on the stool.
I reach out and steady her.
“You’re afraid of frogs?”
“No,” I scoff, lying through my teeth. Fucking frogs. Why are their eyes so big? And their feet are weird.
“Oh my god, you are! You’re afraid of frogs! All of them? Even adorable, tiny baby frogs?”
My nose wrinkles against my will. “There’s no such thing as an adorable frog.”
“What about this one?” Lil turns her phone, some kind of terrifying tree frog on the screen. A shiver runs down my spine, and I shudder. Fucking hell.
My girl laughs uncontrollably next to me, her forehead dropping to my bicep. The sound warms every part of me. My hand is still on her waist from when she almost fell off the fucking stool, so I tickle her.
She yelps, then giggles while squirming around. “Frogs. My big, strong Beefcake is afraid of frogs.”
My fingers still. Holy shit, she called me hers. In front of her family. My family. Well, that’s still kind of weird… but whatever, I don’t fucking care. Her eyes are bright, and I don’t know if she even realizes what she said or how it made my heart jump in my chest, but I’m the happiest motherfucker in the world right now. I don’t fight the smile I feel take over my entire face.
She called me hers. No one has ever been so right about something. Because I am absolutely hers. And fuck if I don’t love being owned by her.
Marco clears his throat quietly. “My love, we saw the Maserati again tonight and—” Ariana and Lil’s heads snap toward their parents.
