“Oh my god, who told you?” I demanded, pulling back.
Alexio burst into laughter. “There are no secrets amongst family, and you made them family, my love.”
I did, but… “I’m going to murder them.”
He tugged me close and kissed me again. “If you go to prison, I promise I’ll wait for you.”
His mom and sister-in-law weren’t there yet. Nikos hit traffic, so it was going to be a while, which gave me time to corner Caleb, who was in the middle of talking about metalsmithing with Vanya.
“I want to learn,” Vanya was saying. “You know, I’m very good at all things. Best at hockey, but maybe I retire soon. Maybe I need another job. To make money.”
“I’ve seen your contract, Vanny,” Alexio called over the patio. “You’ll be fine.”
“Yes, but I’m buy Land Rover prettier than yours, Zeki!” he called back. “Leather seats, gold steering wheel! So I will be broke.”
Caleb snorted. “Are they always like this?”
“Yep,” I sighed as Vanya got up to go argue car shit with my boyfriend. Silence settled between us, and then Caleb cleared his throat, though he didn’t actually say anything. “So. Are you going to cuss me out, or call me a coward, or a mama’s boy, or…”
“What she did was fucked-up,” Caleb said. “Like,sofucked-up. My poor girlfriend has been listening to me freak out nonstop about it.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
He scoffed. “Because I was scared you were going to defend her, and I couldn’t handle that shit, Jo. She was horrible to me because I wasn’t blind enough. Dad was cool with me until I was too blind to do the crap he wanted to do. So then they forgot about me, and every time I complained, you…” He stopped, but he didn’t need to go on.
I made excuses. I knew that. But I’d apologized years ago, and I thought he’d forgiven me.
“I wish you wouldn’t hold that against me still,” I said softly. “I didn’t do this for her. I did it because Dad is sick, and she dumped him in an apartment and walked away like he was nothing. Just like she did to you. I wanted to give him a little dignity.”
“I get that now. Anya told me I was being a jackass. I just…you know. I hate apologizing.”
“Well, I love Anya more than you,” I told him.
“I love your boyfriend more than you,” he fired back.
I grinned. “Yeah. That’s fine with me. I love him too.”
“That is so fucking weird. But I’m happy for you.” His chair creaked as he reached over and squeezed my thigh. “Should I take on your weird goalie friend as my apprentice?”
I shrugged. “It probably wouldn’t be the worst thing. He’s fun. And kind. He’s made Matty his best friend, Alexio his best friend, Tucker andmehis best friend…”
“So I’m not fuckin’ special?”
“Sorry, bud.”
“Ah, fuck you both,” Caleb said, but I could tell he was smiling.
Vanya bounded over a few minutes later and tugged me to my feet. “Come. Is emergency!”
He sounded half-hysterical, so I took his arm and let him run me into the house, where he came to a skidding halt in Hugo and Bodie’s game room.
“What the fuck is this?” I demanded.
“You must break up with your boyfriend,” he demanded. “He’s challenging me to air hockey. Has your brother on his team. Want to play doubles so we can eat his ass?”
“It’s beat—wait,actually…” I trailed off, and Alexio choked.
Micah booed loudly. “I don’t want to hear that shit.”
