Guns n' Boys Book 1 Part 2 (2 page)

“Come on, don’t be so gloomy.” Father
grinned as they neared the entrance and the sound of many voices.
People had gathered in the mansion, eager to see Seth’s bride.
“It’s not the end of your freedom. You can still live a little,
right?”

“I sure hope so.” He laughed nervously and
dared to look back at Dom, who followed them with a face that could
as well be a mask. At least the shades were gone. Seth’s palms were
sweaty so he shook his hands to calm down. They entered the hall,
where several men stood, discreetly looking through the windows and
through the wide open doors, Seth could see a black limousine with
tinted windows. His knees went so soft he almost stumbled over his
own feet.

Father let him go and went outside first,
moving like a man half his age, but it left Seth alone with
menacing eyes that studied him for any weakness. He had to
straighten up and deal with this marriage because it wasn’t going
away any time soon. Dom wasn’t about to elope with him, so that
matter was sealed. Without Dom on his side, escape was not an
option.

Seth followed his father, his heart pounding
at the sight of three black cars in the driveway. Like on command,
some of the doors opened and men started emerging from the first
and third car. Only then two of them rushed to the limousine in the
middle and opened its back doors. In the same moment, Santo exited
from the front seat, buttoning up his black suit jacket as if he
were conditioned to do it. His hair was tamed with some product,
slicked back to emphasize his strong jaw and pronounced cheekbones,
and his shirt was open at the top, revealing an ugly scar across
his throat. He shut the door behind himself and nodded at the
middle-aged man who appeared on the other side of the car.

Seth’s nerves were stretched over capacity,
and they broke the moment a slim, high-heeled foot peeked out.
Santo gave Lucrezia a hand and helped her out of the car. With his
face completely frozen, Seth watched the girl, because he could
hardly call her a woman. She couldn’t be more than twenty years
old, and was light-skinned with blonde hair arranged into an
elegant conservative bun. The lilac pencil dress fit her delicate
frame perfectly, the whole look finished off with a pastel yellow
jacket with elbow-length sleeves and a pair of long white
gloves.

When Lucrezia looked up the stairs and
smiled at Seth, his heart sank. He didn’t want to be a monster who
lies to his wife.

Before he could dwell on it any further, the
middle-aged man he noticed earlier appeared in front of him, his
steel gray eyebrows bushy over lively eyes. The man had a jovial
face with a pale scar running across the side of his lips and a
cleft in his chin. He was shorter than Seth, with thick hands and
the figure of an aged bodybuilder. Seth didn’t even consider
extending his hand in greeting when Father came along and did it
for him. So, this was his future father-in-law. Possibly the man to
kill him when he found out that his daughter’s husband fucked men.
With hands like that, it would be a piece of cake to twist Seth’s
neck.

Seth swallowed and wasn’t sure if he should
go down to Lucrezia, but while he was still trying to decide, Santo
already led her up the stairs. Each careful step of her pretty
shoes pushed Seth a mile farther away from what he had with Dom. He
licked his lips, hoping his lack of a smile would make him look
mysterious instead of unhappy.

Despite being in high heels, her head only
reached his chest. Even Peter was bigger, but comparing her to his
ex-boyfriend was the last thing Seth should be doing. Lucrezia
looked up at him with big blue eyes, and Seth bent to kiss her hand
through the glove. They were very thin, and he could feel her
warmth through the fabric.

“Told you they’d like each other,” boasted
Father from the side, but Seth was too distracted by his bride’s
wide-eyed look to comment on that. Lucrezia’s soft mouth moved to
form a smile, which combined with a smooth flush made her look
doll-like.

“Hi.”

“Hi,” was all he managed without having his
voice tremble. Seth tried to compare the situation to fighting an
assailant who had a knife instead of a hand, which did give him a
different perspective on this meeting. “Would you care to come
inside?” he asked when he figured his voice could handle it.

Her eyes lit up, and her other hand slid from
around Santo’s arm to curl around Seth’s. “Thank you, I would love
that. It’s quite chilly outside, isn’t it?”

She was no longer an immaterial concept. Now
she was a person he could talk to, a human being whom he couldn’t
blame for this situation. Her hand on his arm was all too real.

Father walked up to them with Luciano Bruni,
who eyed Seth as if he could read his soul. Fortunately he
couldn’t, or else Seth would be a dead man. They exchanged some
greetings and all headed inside, followed by Santo and Domenico at
the end of this funeral procession. It was the death of Seth’s
freedom.

The house seemed even livelier than it had
earlier, with men drinking wine and smoking cigarettes in the
corridor and hall as the family headed to the living room where
Seth was supposed to get to know his bride before popping the
question. Lucrezia was keeping up the small talk, but Seth felt
completely out of his depth, and the fact that all eyes were on him
again didn’t help.

As they all sat down around the coffee
table, Seth ended up awkwardly close to Lucrezia on the only
sofa.

“It feels like I’ve been waiting for this day
forever,” Lucrezia said, looking at Seth with a bright smile.

He didn’t know what to say, but then his
eyes briefly met Domenico’s. The dark, handsome figure didn’t join
everyone at the coffee table and stood by the wall where Seth could
spot him. How was Seth to ever focus with Dom’s presence
overwhelming all of his senses?

“Don’t look so nervous, Seth, she doesn’t
bite.” Luciano laughed at Seth, and Father patted his knee.

“I am very happy to finally meet you,” she
added, making Seth want to howl.

“Would you like some wine?” asked Father,
gesturing to one of his men, who quickly made his way to a large
globe, which contained numerous bottles of alcohol. Within two
minutes, the coffee table wasn’t empty anymore, and as Lucrezia
picked up her glass, Seth wondered if he should do the same.

“They do look good together,” said Luciano
with a wide grin, which stretched the scar on his lips.

Seth definitely needed that wine if he was
going to get through this day.

“Seth has spent a few years in America, and
he seems to have only benefitted from it,” Father added. “Cheers to
the approaching bond between our families.” He raised his glass,
and all others followed.

Luciano drank up his wine with a smile. “We
have some things to discuss, Dino. Maybe the young couple should go
for a walk, get to know each other?”

Seth’s stomach plummeted, and he picked up
the wine, despite Dom’s disapproval burning a hole in his hand from
across the room.

Father nodded. “That is a good idea. I don’t
want to bore your daughter to death.” He smiled and acknowledged
Lucrezia with a gesture.

This was Seth’s cue. He got up and only a
moment later remembered he was dealing with a woman, so he gave her
his hand and helped her up. He was to officially pop the question
in the garden, even though the whole ordeal was already agreed to
anyway.

“The weather is especially nice for a walk
today,” Seth said the only thing that came to his mind. What were
they supposed to talk about? Swap recipes?

“Quite chilly though. I’m happy I took my
gloves. My fingers get cold easily,” she said, gently brushing them
over his arm as they moved toward the French doors.

“You look very elegant. My mother always
liked to wear gloves to formal occasions. She was even buried in
them actually,” he said before realizing that his mother’s funeral
was probably the worst topic of conversation he could ever choose
before proposing. And sure enough, Lucrezia’s eyes widened, and she
stumbled over the threshold, saved only by Seth’s arm.

The other men must have missed it because all
Seth heard from inside was, “Acerbi, get back here. We’re
practically family anyway.”

Seth couldn’t help but look over his
shoulder, even though he and Lucrezia were already leaving. “I’m
sorry to have brought that up,” he muttered, catching a glimpse of
Domenico retreating into the shadows. It felt odd to leave him
behind, as if he were going out into the wild without his trusted
guard dog. In this case, Lucrezia was the wilderness. If he slipped
and said the wrong things, she could be just as dangerous as any
spy.

She sighed and patted Seth’s arm. “Don’t
worry about it. You must be as stressed as I am.”

Seth took a deep breath and managed a smile.
“Yes. I wasn’t expecting all of this when I came back from the US.
But the moment I saw you, I had no regrets.” The words came out of
his mouth so smoothly he wanted to rub his tongue with bleach in an
act of self-punishment.

Predictably, Lucrezia bit her lip, blushing.
“Thank you. I’m not disappointed either. The pictures didn’t do you
justice,” she said as they walked through a peaceful vine tunnel in
the garden. It seemed that the gardener had a day off, as there was
no one around.

She was as sweet as a fresh meringue and made
the conversation flow all the way to the grand old gazebo at the
end of yet another alley made out of shrubbery.

When Seth got down on one knee, he wished he
would have drunk more wine.

Domenico was standing next to Vincente and
the other men, still unsure what to think about being included in
the bonding activities. Meanwhile Seth, the future Boss and groom
whom they were supposed to be celebrating, sat on a rock and was
clearly separated from the rest of the men. Dom on the other hand
was all of a sudden treated like one of the boys, and he didn’t
like Vincente’s change of heart one bit. Santo was also invited to
the entertainment, and he did quite well with a gun, which wasn’t
all that surprising considering how much he’d grown as a man during
the last few years. Yet another slap to Seth’s face that he didn’t
even realize, sitting there and watching others shoot the rabbits
when he should be the one exuding power. It wasn’t that he wasn’t
invited either, but Vincente clearly chose this type of
entertainment hoping it wouldn’t be to Seth’s liking.

The day was going all right so far. Bruni
was happy with his future son-in-law, and it was a good thing he
was engaged with the Villani Boss and couldn’t see how bad at
shooting Seth was. The girl was pretty, Dom supposed, a sweet
blushing virgin his own mother would have loved as a
daughter-in-law. But that didn’t really matter since she made Seth
as pale as a sheet. He had been a shadow of his usual self since
they returned home, and Domenico wasn’t sure how to talk to him
either. He couldn’t stand him walking around with that woman,
possibly kissing her back then in the garden, even if there was no
feeling behind it. When Seth looked toward them again, Domenico
discreetly winked at him, though he doubted it would make his
lover’s day any better.

There was a loud bang, and Domenico’s hand
immediately curled around the grip of his gun. But he was not in
danger, it was just one of the other men who scared the animals,
and in some cases, let out caged ones. He raised his hand, watching
the sprinting rabbit as it ran through the grassy field, desperate
to get away from the sound. It wouldn’t get away. The moment
Domenico pulled the trigger, the animal tumbled through the air and
fell to the ground, dead.

Seth made a face as if that rabbit were a
personal acquaintance, but someone else was already fighting for
Domenico’s attention.

“Good job, Acerbi! That’s what I call a
shot.” Vincente laughed and patted Dom on the back. “You should
learn from this man, Seth. You know, get some shooting practice.
Your wife’s not going to be happy if you shoot blanks,” he shouted
with a wide grin, probably proud of his tasteless jokes.

Seth rolled his eyes. “I save my bullets for
better targets.”

“Seth’s learned quite a lot, considering his
age and the time available. He will be a fine shot,” said Domenico,
unwilling to tolerate what was both criticism of Seth and himself
as a teacher. Though he was pretty sure Vincente didn’t intend the
latter. The man was curiously friendly all of a sudden. After years
of treating Domenico like a lesser man, it was bound to raise
suspicion.

“I suppose so. Even a master baker can only
do so much with poor flour.” Vincente sighed theatrically, and
Santo smirked, aiming his gun at yet another rabbit.

At least Seth wasn’t sitting close enough to
hear this comment. This family reunion wasn’t going well at all,
and the late November sunshine wasn’t helping anyone’s mood but
Vincente’s.

“That’s not what I said.” Domenico narrowed
his eyes, but wasn’t intent on protecting a grown man’s honor.

“What do you mean then?” Vincente asked and
only continued after yet another bang rolled through the air.

“He is making remarkable progress, we’re both
working hard for that.” Domenico gave Vincente as sincere a smile
as he could muster.

Seth didn’t even look up at them as he got up
from the rock, but just when Dom was hoping that the moody blushing
groom was coming over to do some shooting, Seth began a slow walk
down the meadow. The men froze, still ready to shoot rabbits as the
star of the day casually gun-blocked them to smell some daisies.
Domenico wanted to howl, but with everyone’s nerves close to
snapping at Seth, he didn’t want to be the one to start, especially
not with an audience.

He cleared his throat. “And how are things
going with your woman?” he asked Santo, as it was the first thing
that came to his mind as a distraction. Everyone around here liked
to discuss the ladies.