Julietta
Igot rid of Vito and Ricco just like Gio asked me. I told them Gigi and I wouldn’t leave my apartment, but I needed to be alone. It took me chewing their heads off to convince them with my little white lie. I told them Aunt Flo was visiting and gave them attitude. Ricco hates when I have it and any chance he has to get away for a couple of days, he takes. They know I normally won’t leave my place, so I don’t have to worry about them coming back. Well, not this time. We’ll be gone by tomorrow night.
It’s Saturday afternoon and Gio and his brothers should be here soon. I’ve done everything he asked and anything else I could think of. I’m wearing a path into my wood floors from pacing the living room. He texted me when he landed, and I can’t wait to see him. It’s been so long, but most of all, once I see him I’ll be able to breathe again. The last few days I’ve felt like I’ve been suffocating from all this shit. I’m a strong, independent woman! I was raised to be, but this is more than I can handle on my own.
“Jules, stop! Please, you’re making me nervous. Come sit and tell me about Gio. I don’t really remember him. I’ve heard a lot about him, and I know my sister and our family regard him highly. I think she may even have had a crush on him for years. What’s her deal with him?” Gigi asks to distract me.
I need it and remembering the good times will help.
“Your big sister has more than a crush on him, but you need to keep that to yourself,” I say taking a seat. “I’ll tell you all about him and them, you just have to promise me what I say stays between us. She can’t know I told you and he definitely can’t find out from us.” She nods her head agreeing and perks up.
“Bella has been in love with Gio since she was five-years-old. She and I would play dress-up and she would dream he was her very own prince. Bella loved to wear the Princess Bell dress he gave her and hang out in the ballroom. She would dance and listen to the Beauty and the Beast song repeatedly, as it blared through the room. When she could get the guys to dance around with her, it was Gio she was always imagining. When he’d dance with her, she’d be giddy for days.
“The day Gio left the first time... Bella changed. She became hard, harder than she was before. After the second time... She closed herself off for good. You don’t remember Bella before he left, she was always a ray of sunshine. The guys would tease her, calling her smiley.”
“What do you mean she was happy? Are you saying she wasn’t happy before she was hurt? I don’t get it?” Gigi asks, she doesn’t remember her sister back then. Bella has put on a good front through the years for all of us, especially Gigi. She loves her little sister and protects her from everything. She’s more than a big sister, she’s been like a second mother to her. Bells would never let Gigi see her... weak, only Ces and I have seen her at her lowest. Depression has a unique way of taking over a person, even the strongest woman. Alcohol doesn’t help; it just covers it up.
I’m about to answer her when the doorbell rings. I tell her we’ll continue this later and run to the door to check the peephole. The second I see the man, I know it’s him. He looks older with a lot of muscles, and more tattoos, but he’s still the same man I remember.
I quickly open the door to greet him. I don’t wait to say hello, I plow into his chest and hold on tight. Taking a deep breath for the first time, he even smells the same.
“God, Gio, it’s so good to see you. Thank you.” I mumble into his chest as he holds me in his arms.
“We need to move this little reunion inside before someone sees us, darlin’.” The smooth, sexy voice says, causing me to feel all warm and tingly inside again. From the moment I heard his voice yesterday; my insides have been upside down. When he said for me not to worry, they were going to help, I believed him. I felt his words in my heart and soul, and I knew instantly I could trust him. That’s something I don’t do easily, trust people. Trust is earned, not given, but with him, I felt it in my bones and guts that I could.
I pull back from Gio a little embarrassed at my display of affection and wave the men in. Gigi comes up behind me, pulling on my arm, and before I can do anything else, I need to introduce her to Gio.
I don’t get the chance because Gio takes the lead on this one.
I step back and get a good look at the man next to him. His blue eyes draw me in. I glower into his eyes and feel an instant connection. He’s looking straight through me, to my soul as his joins with mine. I see the man he is. He’s loyal, loving and... broken inside. My breathing hitches from all the emotions that pass through us, as they slam into my chest, my heart.
Oh, fuck! He’s my Gio! I can feel it in my heart. No, he can’t be, I can’t feel anything for him or any man. I have built walls around my heart, so I never hurt again. I can’t care about another person and lose them too, especially, if he’s my other half. I push those feelings away and concentrate on things that are more important, like Bella.
“Holy fuckin’ shit,” he says, shaking his head. I see it in his eyes, he sees Bella. “Sorry, Gigi, I can’t get over the way you look. You are the spitting image of your big sister the last time I saw her, beauty and all.”
She moves around me with a bright smile on her face and hugs Gio. “It’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you from the guys,” she says, then she raises up on her tippy toes to whisper in his ear.
“Please save my sister from the monster that hurt her and don’t let him do it again.” She has tears in her eyes now as she moves back. He keeps her in his arms and wipes them away.
“Mini princess,” he says, calling her by her nickname, the one our family gave her when she was a baby. “I’m going to take her away from here and protect her from him with my life. I promise you. He’ll never hurt her again.” He touches the tip of her nose with his index finger, then places a kiss on her forehead and clears his throat of any emotions.
It warms my heart how loving he is with her and I know Bella would feel the same way.
“Jules, it’s so good to see you. I can’t believe my eyes, you're all grown up. You look as beautiful as ever,” he says, and I blush. My cheeks have to be bright red, especially with the sexy God next to him staring at me.
“These are my brothers. Brothers these are my little sisters, Jules and Gigi.” He does the proper introductions, telling us their names. Ace is the man I spoke to on the phone yesterday. We meet Blaze, Hawk, Snake, Wolf, and Cowboy.
Blaze has light green eyes, short blonde hair, and a sexy full beard. He’s taller than Gio by an inch or so and more built. His body is rockin’ with all his muscles and full of tattoos, from his neck down his torso. I’m sure he has more that are covered.
All the guys are muscular, like tanks and full of tattoos, but Blaze is the only one with them on his neck. They are all handsome in their own right and look very intimidating. Not to me, of course, just in general. Men don’t intimidate me at all. I can handle myself. In my life, growing up Mafia, you build up a tough skin around men and learn to put them in their place to earn their respect.
Ace has light brown hair and bright mesmerizing blue eyes. He has some sexy scruff on his face. The tribal tattoos on his arms look inviting. I want to take my finger, trace every line, and learn the stories behind them. I think I even see a word in the one on his left arm. I wonder if it’s a name. Maybe he has a girlfriend or wife at home. This is why I have to check my feelings and leave them at the door.
Hawk and Snake have dark brown hair and brown eyes. Snake’s eyes have gold flakes in them. Cowboy is the odd man out with strawberry blonde hair, freckles, and bright emerald green eyes. He must be of Irish descent.
I don’t think I’ve ever had so many sexy, rugged men in my place before and they are all charmers to add to it.
After the introductions are done, we get to work. We work through the night and before taking Gigi to bed with me, I notice how she gravitates towards Gio, Ace, and Blaze. She has good instincts just like me and can tell these men are all genuinely good.
I take her to my room to bed, leaving the guys to do what they need to.
Once we settle in for the night, sleep takes me under the second my head hits the pillow. When my eyes close, I see those sexy blues looking into my soul. Seeing everything inside me and so much more.
I feel a peace wash over me for the first time since losing my parents and bask in those feelings in my dreams.