Chapter 15

Two months. I’ve been dating Travis for two months. It’s been intense. The feelings I have for him grow deeper and deeper every day. I miss him so much when he’s away. I’ve been flying in to as many games as I can. I’m now a regular at the home games. Along with my brotherand cousins. I refuse to sit in the box with them, though. Instead, I stay right near the bench. Where I can see Travis close up.

There’s something insanely hot about watching him play hockey. He has a passion for the game like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Well, that’s a lie. He’s really passionate about my body too, and bringing it all kinds of pleasure.

“You okay?” Travis’s hand reaches over and wraps around mine, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Uh-huh, just nervous. What if they don’t like me?” I ask him.

“They’re going to love you. I mean, really, what’s not to love?” He grins down at me.

Love.We haven’t uttered those words to each other yet. Am I in love with Travis? Yes, I am, but I’m not a crazy person, and I’m not about to tell him that. Not until he tells me first at least.

“I just… I don’t want to embarrass you or anything.”

“You could never embarrass me, babe. You are perfection and anyone who doesn’t think that can go and fuck right off,” he says.

I smile. “Thank you.”

Travis uses his free hand to push inside the house. His parents’ house. It’s a nice home. Two stories, white siding with blue shutters. And the complete opposite of how I grew up. There are no armed guards, no cameras following our movements, no one scrutinizing what we’re doing at every turn.

“You’ve met my mother. And trust me, babe, she already loves you.”

“I met her once. The morning after we fucked, not the best first impression,” I hiss under my breath.

“Ma, Dad, you here?” Travis ignores my comments as he yells out through the house.

“In here,” a female voice calls back.

Travis leads me into the kitchen and throws out an arm towards his mother. “Ma, this is Liliana. Lili, my mom, Frances.”

Mrs. O’Neil wipes her hands on a tea towel before stepping up to us. “I know who she is, Travis. We’ve met.” She glares at her son before turning to me. “How are you, sweetheart? It’s so good to see you again. I’ve been bugging Travis to bring you around.”

“I’m good. Thank you for having me. You have a lovely home, Mrs. O’Neil,” I say as she pulls me in for a hug.

“It’s just Frances.” She releases me with a smile, then looks over to Travis again. “Your father’s by the grill. You two can go on out. I’ll be there in a sec.”

“Do you need a hand with anything?” I offer.

“Oh, no, sweetheart. You’re our guests. Travis, get the girl a drink,” she says before waving us off.

“Come on, babe.” Travis guides me through a sliding glass door and out onto a deck. “Dad, you grilling or cremating those steaks?” he calls out to his father in a teasing tone.

A middle-aged man, who appears to be a carbon copy of Travis only older, turns around with a huge smile on his face. He sets a pair of tongs aside and walks over to us. “You must be Liliana. My son hasn’t stopped talking about you. I’m Sean. It’s so good to finally meet you.”

“You too,” I tell him and can feel the blush creeping up my cheeks.

“Dad, do not embarrass me. She still thinks I’m cool,” Travis grumbles.

I look at his father and shake my head. “I let him think that, but I’ve seen his collection of Star Wars figurines. The cool factor went way down the moment I saw those.” I laugh.

“Oh, I like you. Come on, have a seat. What can I get you to drink?” Mr. O’Neil asks.

***

“Your parents are really nice,” I tell Travis on the ride home. “Normal.”

“As opposed to what?” He laughs. “Were you expecting aliens or something?”

“No, but you’ve met my family. Some of them. And they’re certainly not normal,” I remind him.

“Your family is fine,” he says.

“Really?” I ask with raised brows. “Okay, let’s do this.”

“Do what?”

“Go to my place. My parents’ house,” I say. I haven’t taken Travis home yet. I haven’t wanted to scare him. He’s dropped me off at the gate plenty of times. But I’ve never invited him inside.

“Okay,” he says, seemingly unfazed.

“Just, um, whatever you see at my house, you didn’t see it.” I pull out my phone and send my mother a quick text.

Me:

Mom, I’m bringing Travis over. Do me a favor and send Dad out on an errand or something.

Mom:

He’s already out. But you know he’ll find out you have a guest the moment you drive through the gates.

Me:

Can we at least pretend to be as normal as possible for an hour? Just an hour.

Mom:

We are normal, Lil.

I tuck my phone away again. I don’t bother arguing with my mother. She knows we’re not normal. Despite being mafia royalty, she didn’t grow up in this world. Her parents were from warring families—some real-life Romeo and Juliet type shit. They ran off together and raised my mom and my Zia Lilah under aliases. So as much as she gets it, she also doesn’t. She tries her best though.

When Travis pulls up to the gate, I instruct the guard to let us through, speaking in Italian while pleading with him to wait fifteen minutes before calling my father. I know he won’t. My father’s men are loyal to a fault. As they should be.

“You can park over there.” I point to the side of the driveway, and Travis pulls us into the open spot.

“You look more nervous here than you were meeting my parents.”

“I just don’t want you to leave me,” I admit.

He turns in the driver’s seat to look at me, reaching out a hand to tip my chin up and force me to look at him too. “Lili, I promise I’m not leaving you.”

“Okay…” I sigh. “When we go in, they’re going to want to search you. It’s protocol. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. Come on, show me this palace you grew up in. I can’t wait to see pictures of you as a kid. I bet you never even had an awkward teenage phase.” Travis laughs.

I take his hand and lead him through the front door. We make it two steps inside before three men stop us. “Miss Valentino.” They nod at me.

“This is my friend, Travis,” I say, waving a hand between them. “Travis, this is John, Michael, and Chris.”

“Good game last night,” Chris says, a slight smile spreading his lips before his professionalism snaps back in place. “We need to search you, Mr. O’Neil. Please hold out your arms.”

Travis does as he’s instructed while Chris pats him down.

“Okay, that’s enough. He’s a hockey player, not an assassin,” I grind out, tug on Travis’s hand, and lead him through the massive foyer. I can’t help but wonder what it’s like to see this place from his point of view. I grew up like this and have never known anything different.

I stop short when we approach one of the living rooms and curse under my breath. I knew I shouldn’t have told my mother we were coming.

“Mom?” I question as my eyes scan the room full of people. Not just people, family. All of my aunts are here. Nonna too. “What’s going on?”

“Oh my god! No wonder you’ve been keeping him hidden away,” My Zia Savvy says before letting out a low whistle. “Damn, Lil, you did good.”

“Kill me now,” I grumble as I cover my face with my hands.

“Sorry, Lil, I swear I only told her,” Mom says while hitching a thumb towards my aunt. “She was already here.”

“Travis, this is my mom, Maddie. Mom, Travis.” I do my best to force down my embarrassment as I make introductions.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Valentino,” Travis says.

“You can call me Maddie,” Mom corrects while tugging Travis into her arms. My mom’s a big hugger.

“This is my nonna, Holly,” I explain and then move on to my aunts.

“You’re staying for dinner, right, Travis? I’ve already told the kitchen staff to prepare a feast,” Mom says more than asks.

“We can’t stay, Mom. Travis has… things to do.” I try to come up with a quick excuse and fall short.

“We can stay, babe,” Travis interjects. “Thank you, Mrs. Valentino. I’d love to stay for dinner.”

“Great.” My mother beams at him.

“What the fuck is going on in here?”

The sound of my father’s voice booming from the doorway has everyone turning in his direction. And I immediately jump in front of Travis. I don’t think my dad will shoot him, not in a room full of women, but I also wouldn’t put it past him to forget he has an audience.

“Theo, language,” Nonna scolds.

“Sorry, Ma,” Dad replies before turning to my mother. “Maddie, you didn’t tell me we were having a party?”

“I didn’t know I needed your permission,” Mom fires back.

“What are we celebrating?” This comes from my Zio Romeo, who walks up behind my father.

“Lil has a boyfriend,” his wife, my Zia Livvy, tells him.

“Does she now?” He takes Travis in from head to toe, likely envisioning all the ways he and the rest of my uncles could dismember the guy.

The whole time, I haven’t taken my eyes off my father. I walk over and wrap my arms around his waist. “Dad, please, for once, just be nice. For me,” I whisper.

“I’m always nice to you, Liliana,” he says.

“To Travis. Be nice to Travis,” I huff.

“He’s not good enough for you,” Dad grunts.

“No one is. But we can pretend your standards aren’t ridiculous for one night,” I try again. “Because I happen to really like him.”I drop my arms and give my dad my best puppy-dog eyes before moving over to greet my uncle, right as his twin strolls into the room.

“Who died?” My Zio Luca asks, his hands in his pockets as he rocks on his heels.

“No one. Yet,” Dad tells him.

“Theo, a word,” Mom says in that no-nonsense tone she has when she wants to make a point. I know she’s going to read him the riot act and warn him to be on his best behavior.

“Lil brought a guy home, Luc,” Zio Romeo says.

“Shit. Really? Fuck, Lil. Why are you doing this to us? When did you even start dating? And who the fuck let that happen on their watch?” Zio Luca rambles while raking an exasperated hand through his hair.

“Funny. You do know I’m an adult, right? Travis is not my first boyfriend,” I tell him.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” my uncle says to me as he walks up to Travis with an outstretched hand. “I’m Luca. I’ll be the one holding you down while my brother skins you alive—ya know, if you make the dumbass mistake of hurting my niece.”

“Travis, and that won’t happen, sir. I might not be Lili’s first boyfriend, but I will be her last.”