Joey: Chapter 23

My chest aches. It feels like my heart is actually breaking. I stare at the backs of my brothers’ heads as Lorenzo drives us home. How did my life shift from a dream come true to my worst nightmare in the space of half an hour?

Never in my life have I seen Dante and Lorenzo so angry with Max. I have no recollection of them even having an argument. And now, because of me, they hate him. You’re dead to me. That’s what Dante said.

But nothing hurts more than Max telling me to leave. After everything he said last night, everything we did, he didn’t fight for us.

A sob sticks in my throat. I can fix this. I’ll make my brothers see that they’re being massive overbearing assholes. That they’re overreacting. Then I’ll talk to Max and we can figure out what to do next.

“Did you choose him just to fucking spite us?” Dante asks, his voice little more than a snarl. It’s the first thing he’s said to me since he got into the car ten minutes ago.

“What?”

“You heard what I said, Joey. Did you fuck around with Max just to cause trouble?”

I swear he couldn’t have shocked me more if he’d turned around and slapped me in the face. The rage in my chest spreads to my arms and legs, making them tingle. “Are you serious right now?”

Dante turns in his seat and glares at me. “One hundred fucking percent serious. It wouldn’t be the first time you’ve pulled some fucked-up shit just to piss me off.”

I scowl at him. He’s referring to the time I helped Kat with her escape attempt after Dante kidnapped her. That was before I knew how much she meant to him and how much she loved him. Before I knew she was pregnant with my niece. Before she became one of my favorite people in the world. But I can’t fucking believe he thinks I would use Max that way. His low opinion of me hurts more than it should. “Not everything in this world revolves around you, Dante.” The wrath inside me spills into my voice. It’s not enough for the two of them to treat me like a child, he has to accuse me of being a complete bitch too?

“So, why him, Joey? Why not any other guy?”

I lean forward, squaring up to him as he goes on giving me that infamous Dante Moretti glare. “Like you two have ever let me be around other guys?” I yell. “Wherever I go, whoever I meet, as soon as they hear my last name, guys shrivel up and back off faster than I can blink. You think it’s easy being me, Dante?”

“What about Toby?”

I shake my head. “I don’t like Toby that way.”

Lorenzo remains silent, eyes fixed on the road ahead while Dante practically foams at the mouth. “Someone else then!” Dante shouts.

“I don’t want anyone else. I want Max. I’ve only ever wanted Max, and despite your huge ass ego thinking this is about you, it really isn’t. It is so not about you. It’s about Max and me. Nobody else.”

He grumbles something under his breath and throws himself back into his seat. He’s acting like a petulant child, throwing a fit because I played with his best friend. And I’m the spoiled brat?

My phone rings, and I take it out of my purse, groaning inwardly. If I don’t answer it now, Mo will just keep calling.

“Hey, Mo.”

“Hey, girl. How was your date?”

“Fine.”

“Fine?” She snorts. “Sounds fun. Did you at least pop your cherry?”

“No.”

“No?!” she shrieks. “For fuck’s sake, Joey. What the hell are you waiting for?”

“I can’t really talk right now. I’m in the car with Dante and Lorenzo.”

“Oh, I get it.” She snickers. “So you did?”

“No. It’s not that.” I sigh.

“You’re in the car at 7:45 a.m. with your brothers, and it’s not because they had to come pick you up from a guy’s house?”

“I’ll call you later, Mo.”

“Make sure you do. I can’t wait to hear all the juicy details.”

Then she hangs up, and I go back to glaring at the backs of my brothers’ heads.

As soon as we got home, I was marched back into the house like a runaway teen. Ignoring the sympathetic glances from Kat and Anya, I stomped upstairs to my room.

I’m beyond pissed at my brothers right now. I can’t even think straight. I want nothing to do with them, and that includes their wives too. I’m so over being treated like a second-class citizen in this house.

I lie on my bed, unshed tears blurring my vision as I stare at my phone. No word from Max. Not even a text. Nothing. Was last night a lie? All just a part of his possessive asshole routine? Is he like that with all the women he fucks?

I scroll through my recent calls, and my finger hovers over his name. I could call him, right? But ugh! Why should I? He told me to leave.

Someone taps softly at my door.

“Go away!” I shout.

“I would, but I can’t. Your niece is demanding to see you,” Kat replies.

Damn! That sneak brought the big guns. “My niece who is five months old and can do nothing but giggle and squeal?”

“And cry,” Kat adds, laughing. “But, yes, that’s her.”

I groan, tossing my phone onto the nightstand and wiping my eyes. “Come in.” Kat walks in holding Gabriella, and I sit up and grin as my niece gives me the biggest smile I’ve ever seen. At least one person in this family isn’t constantly disappointed in me.

“Hey, smooch.” I take her from Kat’s arms as soon as she’s within my reach. “You can go now,” I say, not bothering to look at my sister-in-law.

Kat ignores me and sits on my bed beside me instead. “How are you?”

“What did they tell you?” Just how much of my sex life has been discussed by my family over the past few hours? I rest my lips against Gabriella’s head, kissing her baby-soft skin and inhaling her sweet scent.

“That you spent the night with Max.”

My cheeks turn pink with embarrassment, and I roll my eyes. I have no reason to feel embarrassed—my brothers and their wives can barely keep their hands off each other. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve walked in on Kat and Dante groping each other in the kitchen. Anya and Lorenzo are into some freaky shit. He’s her Dom and she wears a collar. Yet none of that is ever talked about. It’s just the way things are around here. So why is my sex life a topic for discussion?

“You want to talk about anything?” she asks softly.

“Like how it was the best night of my life until my brothers completely ruined it?”

“Yes, if you want to.”

Tears prick at my eyes again, and I shake my head. It feels too raw and personal to share, even with Kat, no matter how much I adore her.

“He told me to leave, Kat. He said I should go with them.” I swat a tear away and Gabriella reaches for my finger, curling her chubby little hand around it.

“Well, given how your brothers reacted, he probably thought it was for the best.”

“He hasn’t even called or texted me.”

“Won’t he be driving back? If he’s on his bike, he won’t be able to make a call.”

“I guess,” I admit with a shrug. “But he told me to go. Like what we did meant nothing.”

“Joey.” Kat frowns and places a hand on my cheek, catching a rogue tear and brushing it away. “Do you really think he would risk his friendship with your brothers for nothing?”

I let that sink in. Max loves my brothers. He isn’t only their friend, he’s a part of our family. Suddenly, an incredibly offensive smell drifts into my nostrils, and I gag.

“Wow! Smooch.” I chuckle, looking down at my niece who’s still holding onto my finger and smiling. “That is nasty.”

She giggles at me as I hold her up to her mom.

Kat laughs too. “I guess I’ll go deal with that.” She puts my niece on her hip and starts to head out of the room.

I call out her name, and she pauses, looking over her shoulder.

“Thanks.”

Giving me a gentle smile, she shakes her head. “I know they act like overprotective jerks sometimes, but your brothers love you, Joey. They just want you to be happy and safe.”

I’m tired of arguing, so I don’t say anything else as she leaves my room, closing the door behind her. Safe? Yes. Happy? I’m not so sure.

I flop back onto my bed and stare at the ceiling, and like a pathetic loser, I wonder what Max is doing. When my phone rings a few seconds later, I almost dislocate my shoulder trying to get to it. And when I see Max’s name on the screen, I damn near burst into tears.

I answer it quickly. “Hey.”

“Hi, baby girl. You okay?”

“No,” I sniff.

“You left your pendant.”

I instinctively reach for my neck, and my fingers brush over bare skin. Shit! “Will you take care of it for me? Please don’t let anything happen to it.”

“I’ll wear it until I can give it back to you. Maybe it will protect me the way it protects you.”

“You don’t believe in St. Christopher,” I remind him.

“No, but I believe in you.”

“Max …” I practically sob his name. This is too hard.

“I’m sorry, Joey,” he whispers.

“What for?”

“For not doing this right. I shouldn’t have taken you to my cabin.”

Oh my god, my heart is going to split in two. “Are you saying you regret what we did?”

“No, baby girl. Not a single fucking second of it. But I do regret causing trouble for you.”

“I can handle Dante and Lorenzo.”

He laughs softly. “Better than anyone I know.”

“I’m sorry for what they said to you. What they did.” I choke back another sob as the events of this morning play through my head.

“You have nothing to be sorry for. I knew what would happen if I took you there.”

“But you took me anyway?”

“Yeah. I’m a selfish prick.”

“No, Max,” I insist. The fact that he knew what would happen and risked it anyway makes my poor aching heart feel like it’s going to burst. “But what do we do now?”

There’s a deep sigh followed by a silence that seems to last an eternity. “I have something I need to take care of. It’s going to take me a few days.”

“What is it?”

“I’ll tell you all about it, I promise. I just need to focus on this and give your brothers time to cool off.”

“And then?”

“I told you, you’re mine, baby girl. I’ll find a way to fix this, okay? You just hang tight and let me handle it.”

“But how long, Max?” I breathe. “I miss you already.”

He groans loudly. “I miss you too, Joey. I can’t stop thinking about how good you feel. How good you taste.”

Holy fuck. My pussy throbs painfully, reminding me of everything we did last night in delicious detail. “Max?” I moan his name.

“Just a few days, baby. I promise. I can’t live without you any longer than that.”

“Don’t leave me here alone, Max,” I plead, feeling lonelier than I have since my brothers shipped me off to Italy four years ago.

“You’re not alone, baby girl. You’re fucking mine.”

I swallow my emotions, determined not to cry.

“Whose are you?” he asks, and the deep timbre of his voice makes goosebumps prickle along my forearms.

“Yours,” I whisper with a smile.

“Every fucking part of you. I’ll talk to you soon, okay?”

“Okay. Can I call you later?”

“Call me before you go to sleep.”

“I will.”

“I love you, Joey.” He hangs up before I can say it back.