“I’m sorry, Sydney. That must have been really hard for you. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose one of my parents.”
“It’s hard. She and I were extremely close. Not to mention my dad died when I was eight. So now, it is just me and my step-father. Both of them were victims of cancer. My mom got breast cancer and my dad had lung cancer. He was a heavy smoker.” She bit her lip and seemed unsure how I would react to the next statement. “Which is why, Mr. Damien, you really need to quit.”
I couldn’t help it. I reached for her and drew her into my arms and surprisingly, she didn’t fight me. It felt good to have her there again. She pulled away, and I could see the unshed tears glistening in her eyes. “I’m sorry. I can’t imagine. I’ll try for you.”
My poor girl was pretty much an orphan. She said she had a step-father, but he wasn’t blood. She didn’t mention him much, so I didn’t know what their relationship was like. This had to have been really hard on her. It was unimaginable. I knew what I had to do.
“Sydney, what are your plans for the rest of the day?”
“Well, nothing. I was just going to do some laundry and catch up on some reading.” She readjusted her ponytail. I had to admit that after sleeping, she still looked really good.
“Perfect, you can do that, but you are going over to my parent’s house with me for family dinner. We normally go over there at five.” I took a swig of my drink.
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and thought about it silently. But see didn’t take long to reply.
“Well, I don’t want to impose.” At least it wasn’t a no. She needed to have some family in her life, and mine was the perfect one to embrace her. We were a loving family. Half Italian. Family meant everything to us and so did food, so there would be plenty of it there. I would just call my mom and let her know to set another plate.
“It would be no imposition, Sydney. My family will love you. Plus, the food is fucking good.”
“Really, you should come. You have to taste our mother’s cooking. She is full-blooded Italian and usually whips up a feast,” Justice said.
“Guys, you are too sweet. I just don’t know, let me think about it.” She called me sweet—that was a step.
“All right, babe. Think about it but don’t take long. I want to call my mom and let her know you are coming.”
“Okay, give me a few. I’m gonna go take a shower, and then I’ll come back with an answer.” She looked at my brother. “It was nice to meet you, Justice.”
“Likewise, I hope to see you later.” He grinned at her and she smiled back at him. Oh, hell to the no. He better not be checking her out for himself.
She walked down the hall and my brother looked at me. “You got it bad, man.”
Oh, little did he know. But I wouldn’t touch her. I wasn’t the type of guy to get involved with anyone, especially where I laid my head at night.
It didn’t matter how much they crawled under my skin.
And let me just say—she was under my skin, fucking deep
Sydney
We were making our way in Damien’s car to his parents’ house. I had decided to accept the invitation for family dinner, but I brought back-up. My girl Shaina had agreed to come with me and I was ecstatic. Damien had suggested it, or I wouldn’t have been so rude as to ask. I had noticed the way she’d watched Sebastian on stage and knew she was crushing on him, even if she hadn’t said anything. He thought it would be a great idea to have someone with me. He thought it would make me feel more at ease and not overwhelmed with everyone. But honestly, I would have gone anyway. Family was important and so far, I had liked the brothers I had met. They seemed like good guys. I liked that they were a very close family. It was something that I had before my mother died. After we lost her, it just wasn’t the same. Especially now.
Tapping my foot to Sublime that was playing on the radio and I started to sing along to Badfish. It was one of my very favorite songs. Damien looked over at me. “Your voice is amazing.”
I felt myself blush the color of a Red Delicious Apple. Shit, I didn’t want him to know I could sing. It was one of my hidden talents, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to share it with anyone here just yet. “Thanks.” I started fiddling with my hands in my lap and quit singing aloud, but I sang in my head.
“You know I should pull you up on stage sometime. It would be great if we had a female singer.”
“Yeah, no. Not interested.” The houses were starting to get bigger the closer we got to his parent’s house.