“Luca, your refrigerator is open,” another voice joined the conversation sounding closer than his mother’s.
“Oomph!” Without warning, the door pushed hard against my hip, thankfully not on my injured side, my mumbled shout alerting the newcomers to my presence.
“Fuck, baby!” Luca rushed over to me, his hands taking hold of my waist pulling me back to lean on him. “Did you hurt your arm?”
“No, it’s fine, my hip caught the brunt of the door being slammed on me,” I grumbled, annoyed. Who the hell walks into another person’s house and closes the fridge door without being asked?
“This side?” Luca rumbled, rubbing my hip, his face back in my neck.
“Mmmm, getting there.”
“Luca? Who is this?” Yet another voice piped up, this one sounding snippy and annoyed.
“What the fuck?” That came from the voice I knew extremely well, Luca’s normal voice back and quite pissed off.
“Naomi? What the hell are you doing here?” Luca pulled me away from the cold air and closed the door soundly, without me in it this time.
“I came for brunch, of course, you haven’t been at breakfast once this week.”
“That doesn’t answer why you are here in my house this morning. I invited my family, not you.”
“Luca Donatella!” his mother reprimanded, “do not use such a tone or language when speaking to a lady.” I swear her nose lifted and sniffed when Mrs Donatella glanced briefly in my direction. One five-second look and I felt a target forming on my forehead.
Not good.
“Mother, I did not invite Naomi. This was meant for you and the girls to meet and get to know Meadow without Naomi.” Luca stressed his grip on my hip, now more bruising than pleasurable.
“Spunk,” I hissed under my breath, nudging him.
“Fuck, sorry baby.” Immediately he loosened his hold but didn’t let me go. That was good, and he was showing his mother that I was important to him, unlike this Naomi chick who was staring daggers at Luca’s hand holding me.
“I do not care for your language, young man. If you want, we can reschedule for another more appropriate date and time when you can be more civil to your guest and when you don’t have … company.” Again she sniffed, casting her eyes at my arm that was covered in tattoos, her eyes widening.
“Mum, Meadow is the lady I wanted to all to meet. You asked Naomi, not me,” Luca repeated and I could feel his annoyance that his plans had been messed up.
“I did not ask to meet this person, Luca. Kayla has already informed me of the type of person she is, and what I don’t understand is why you would be so mean to Naomi in preference to this.” Mrs Donatella fluffed her hand at me as if she was swatting a fly.
“Now, hang on a minute!”
“Mother, apologise right now!”
Luca and I yelled at the same time, me louder than him.
“Luca, I will not be spoken to in this manner. Your father, God rest his soul, would be appalled at your behaviour right now.” At the mention of his father, Luca deflated right before my eyes. His hand dropped from my body, and he took a step away from me, leaving enough space between us that spoke volumes.
“Mum, please, I didn’t mean to shout at you. But this isn’t exactly fair to Meadow, and she got hurt yesterday and—”
“And what son, you rushed to her instead of coming home to see me, your sisters?”
“Mum, it wasn’t like that. Meadow is my girlfriend, and we love each other.”
“Luca,” the Naomi chick cried, rushing out of the kitchen, heading to the front door.
“That takes care of the interloper,” I snickered, four sets of brown eyes glaring at me.
Jesus, get a grip ladies, your son and brother is a grown arse man. Cut the strings, for bugger’s sake.
“Baby, not the time,” Luca leaned down and whispered in my ear, his teeth grazing my lobe in a sexy warning.
“Luca, if you don’t mind, I think we should talk as a family,” a younger version of the mother sniffed, not even bothering to look at me.
Great! Another sniffer. What, do they all have allergies or something?
Soft sobs broke the silence, and to my horror, it was coming from Mrs Donatella. Luca rushed to his mother, his head lowered to hers, and murmured something I couldn’t hear in her ear. Every now and then, she nodded her head, sniffed loudly, and continued to sob as her daughters entered the fray and circled around their mother and brother.
This whole situation was so whacked, and I couldn’t begin to make sense of what was going on. The Donatella matriarch had so much control over her son, getting him to leave my side with her tears, effectively shunting me to the background, and gaining back Luca’s attention.
Okay, this is something you haven’t had to deal with before, girlie, but nothing you can’t handle. You just have to get inside her mind and beat her at her own game.
The impromptu pep talk sounding positive, but it did nothing to ease the ache in my chest seeing Luca completely surrounded by his loved ones, focused on them.
I needed to think, lick my wounds, metaphorical and physical ones.
I needed Trish and Spring, and maybe Prue if she could make it home for another emergency meeting.
Spying my mobile phone over on the coffee table in the open plan dining room, I quietly slipped out of the kitchen, completely undetected. Grabbing my phone, I sent off a message to Spring to come and pick me up. Clocking my handbag and shoes, I picked them up and headed for the front door, slipping out without looking back at the scene still going on between the family members.
I wasn’t giving Luca up, he loved me and I loved him. The Donatella’s may have won this round, preying on Luca’s love for his family and the promise he made his father. The difference between them and me, I
