March (Calendar Girl #3) (7 page)

Throughout it all, Angelina kept up a dialogue about her brother and our relationship. It was starting to wear and not in the good way the pair of slacks I’d just taken off had.

“So have you and Tony set a date for the wedding yet?” Angelina asked.

I shook my head. “Not yet.”

She pulled at the top I was wearing flattening it against my hips. “Really? I mean, you’ve been dating on and off forever right? At least, that’s what Tony said.”

“You could say that.”

“I guess I don’t understand what the holdup is. Mama said she’s going to talk to you and Tony about a wedding this month while you’re here. Just make it all official.” Both Hector and I stopped and stared at Angelina, neither one of us moving a muscle. “What?”

Hector got back his breath far quicker than I did. “You aren’t serious?” His dark eyes were wide on his face and his lips pulled into a deep scowl. He was not holding it together very well.

“Hector,” I warned.

Angelina shrugged. “It’s not like it’s a big deal right? I mean you’re in love, you’re not getting any younger and Mama wants that male heir. She’s having lunch with Tony now as a matter of fact.”

My mouth dropped open and I’m pretty sure my eyes were bugging out of my head. Suddenly it got way too warm in the dressing room. I fanned at my face. “Um, Tony and I haven’t really thought about the details.”

“Doesn’t matter. What Mama wants, Mama gets. Right, Hector?” she looked over at Hector who was walking backwards slowly until he’d hit the end of a chair and fell into it. “Right?”

Hector nodded, put his elbows on his knees and hung his head while running his hands through his hair. I’d not seen a man this defeated since I told Wes I couldn’t stay. I jumped off the pedestal and knelt down in front of Hector. When he lifted his head, there were unshed tears in his eyes. I clasped his cheeks and shook my head trying to convey silently that it wouldn’t happen. No way. No how. Tony loved him. He closed his eyes and breathed through his nose. One solitary tear slid down his cheek.

“It will never be me,” he whispered.

“But it is you,” I swore with as much finality as I could muster. I brought our foreheads close and repeated it. “It is you,
you
he loves.” 

Unfortunately, both of us forgot who was in attendance during our little bonding session.

“I knew it!” Angelina said and slumped into the chair next to Hector.

That’s when Hector turned into a different person. His spine stiffened, his hands locked around his knees and he sat up. It was if he’d transformed back into cool, calm, all-together Hector everybody knew and loved. Not the love-stricken mess of a man battling some serious issues with his mate.

“Uh, Hector’s just going through something, and I’m helping…”

“You’re helping him and Tony pull the wool over the family’s eyes about them being together.”

I did not expect that. Hector’s eyes turned a startling greenish brown color. “I don’t know what you mean...” He tried and failed…miserably.

“Save it. You think I don’t know that you and my brother have been in love since college? What do you take me for? I’m Tony’s best friend. Well, besides you that is.”

“He told you?” he whispered.

She shook her head. “No, but I know Tony. And I know you. Neither of you have had a partner all these years. Once and a great while Tony would bring a ‘date’ to dinner but it was always obvious he wasn’t interested in her. Though I will say, when you popped up, I got a little concerned.” She glanced at me and smirked. “If there was ever a woman that could make a gay man straight it would be you.”

“What an oddly awkward compliment. Thanks...I think.” I sat down on the floor in front of both of them. “So what now?”

Angelina shrugged. “Tony needs to tell Mama.”

Hector shook his head so fast I thought it might disconnect from the spine. “Not an option. He does not want to disappoint Mona or the family. Plus, there’s business issues involved, and the boxing league he still enjoys.”

“Screw the league. He doesn’t even box that much for them anymore since Pops died. Sides, Rocko has all that under control, and Tony can participate any time he wants. The league is a bullshit excuse.”

“And the business?” Hector egged her on. “What of that? You think a family company like Fasano’s can handle the tarnish to its image having a gay man running the helm?”

Angelina shrugged. “Work is work. I don’t really care what the business thinks.”

Hector sighed. “But Tony does. It’s everything to him.”

I placed my hand on Hector’s knee. “No, I think you’ve got that wrong. You’re everything to him.”

Hector stood abruptly. “No offense Mia, but if that were true, you wouldn’t be here.” With those parting words he left the dressing room.

Getting up off the floor I slumped into the chair next to Angelina. “What a mess.”

“Yeah it is. I’d suspected for a long time but this is the first time I ever felt like I had to stick my nose into it. Mia...” Her blue eyes, so like Tony’s, were watery. “Mama really believes you’re the one. She is convinced that she needs to marry the two of you off so you can get started on baby making.” At the last part she bit down on her lip and looked away.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’ll talk with Hector and Tony. We’ll figure something out. It will all be okay. I can stage a big breakup or something. No need to get so upset.”

“It’s not that, it’s just, Rocko and I have been trying for some time to have a baby and nothing’s happening. Mama doesn’t even ask about it. It’s all about Anthony having a son and carrying on the name.”

I petted her on her back. “That’s got to be difficult. Always feeling like second fiddle.”

She huffed. “There’s five of us, Mia.” Her tone was tired, sounding drained of all life. “Someone is always second, third, fourth or fifth. It’s just Tony’s always number one.”

I heard what she was saying and understood it. After dinner with the family and seeing the way Mona doted on her son and her grandchildren, the fact that Tony went so far as to hire an escort to pretend to be his fiancée to fool his mother showed the kind of power she held over the family.

“So what do you think we should do?”

Angelina stood and picked up the clothes we’d decided upon. I went over to the clothes I’d arrived in and started to put them back on.

“I don’t know about Mama yet. The league will survive just fine. The business, well, we’ll hire Tony an amazing publicist. Someone who can spin the fact that Tony’s gay into something not warranting any news. I run Marketing, and I can brainstorm with my team, come up with some ideas. Either way, it’s
our
family’s company.” She sounded more confident the more she spoke. “The news that the President is gay may be fodder for some talk for a while, but we have a good product. We won’t go broke or lose the bulk of our business. People love Mama’s recipes, and the prices are solid on a blue collar budget.”

“It is damn good food. Best Italian I’ve ever had.”

“Exactly! Tony needs to just get out of the habit of trying to please everyone. Trying to be everything to everyone. You know?”

Instead of responding, I nodded. It was true. I did know. More than I was willing to admit to someone who was virtually a stranger. Ever since my mom left, I tried to keep the family together. Do everything that needed to be done.

Take care of Dad when he was three sheets to the wind. No problem, Mia would handle it.

Help Maddy get through school. Yep, I’d work with her on her homework and stay up late into the evening hours trying to catch up on my own studies. But Maddy always came first.

I even made sure food was on the table and a roof over our heads. I worked my ass off at sixteen waiting tables in casinos to make a buck. Some nights I’d bring home the leftover buffet items before they changed it over the next day. Those were belly filling nights for sure. Even Dad would pat me on the back and tell me “good work” in one of his drunken slurs.

Of course, I’d done it all while under the age of eighteen. Hell, I’d worked enough jobs by the time I was eighteen to collect Social Security. Even now. I was an escort to bail my dad out of debt. Really, I had no business trying to tell someone else how to live their life since I’d sucked so horribly at living mine. However, all of that was changing. Things were slowly getting better. I now had resources. People who cared about my wellbeing. Maddy, Ginelle, Millie, Wes, even Alec would help me out of a jam. I couldn’t put a price on that. And I liked Tony and Hector. Believed they were meant to be.

“I just want to help Tony and Hector in whatever way I can.”

“How did they find you anyway?”

I wasn’t sure what I should say. If I told her I was a hired escort would she think poorly of me? Usually when the term escort was used, people immediately thought hooker or call girl, but in my case, it wasn’t true. Well, it mostly wasn’t true. Technically, I did sleep with Wes and Alec. And admittedly, I drooled over Tony initially, but those feelings were long gone.

Angelina seemed to wait patiently for me to work through my response in my head, which I appreciated. There was a quiet calm about her. An admirable trait for sure. I stopped and glanced at her pretty face. Her eyes were kind, serene and so blue a person would want to swim in them.

“I’m an escort.”

Her eyebrows rose to her hairline and she gasped. Then, instead of cursing or calling me out for my profession, she tipped her head back, her hair a wave of black satin down her back and laughed. A full belly, piggy-snorting guffaw that had her in stitches in mere seconds. Her laughter was infectious, and I couldn’t help but join in.

When we met up with Hector at the register we both had tears streaming down our faces. “What in the world happened to you two?” Hector looked from me to Angelina. We both tried to stop laughing and failed. Finally, I caught my breath.

“She found out what I did for a living,” I chuckled. That got his attention. He clasped Angelina’s elbow and pulled her close.

“It’s not what it looks like.” Hector spoke through clenched teeth. 

“That you’re paying for Mia’s service for the month to get Mama off your back so you and Tony can go on living your life?”

“Okay, so it’s exactly what it looks like.”

That started both of us back on our laughing jag. Hector paid for the clothes then led us both outside. In the limo we got things back under control. Hector turned to Angelina and clasped her hand. “You can’t tell Mona. She’ll be devastated. I’ve promised Tony we’d get through this and I support his decision. He feels Mona is incapable of understanding what we are to one another. Knows that she believes real love is between a man and a woman.”

“Even if it means he’ll be hiding your love forever?”

Hector’s shoulders slumped and he frowned. He closed his eyes as if he was thinking. We both waited. “If that’s what it means to have your brother’s love, that it has to be in private? Then that has to be enough for me. I love him. I’d do anything for him.”

***

Turned out Hector wasn’t lying. He played the game well. Over the next week with the Fasanos we made appearances at business functions and family events. I spent most of my time with Hector and really just served as Tony’s ‘piece on the side’ or trophy when he needed a pretty thing dangling from his arm. It annoyed me on so many levels. Not because I was being used for my looks but because I knew every time Tony introduced me as his fiancée and people gushed over our relationship it killed Hector a bit more every time. Something had to be done. I just didn’t know what.

C
HAPTER 7

“She’ll be here any minute,” Hector skidded into the kitchen in his dress socks. “Where the hell are my shoes?”

“
Papi
, why are you wearing shoes anyway?” Tony smirked while checking out Hector’s feet.

“Ugh,” Hector groaned. “He doesn’t get it.” While practically running past me he stopped cold. “Are you wearing that?” Those dark eyes of his assessed my tank and jeans. By the pinched, sour twist to his lips, he found the look lacking.

“I thought your mom coming over to make dinner with us was casual.” I tugged on my tank, making sure it covered the slip of skin between my jeans and shirt. I’d left my hair down and wild. It was my best feature. Aside from my tits. Those were pretty awesome.

Tony glanced my way, gave me his own assessment and shrugged. “Hector’s the style guy. You look fine to me.”

I placed my hands on my hips. “See, I look fine to him,” I said sticking my tongue out at Hector. “You’re the one acting insane. What’s the deal anyway?” Hector ignored my questions and stomped off. “Seriously. Why is he acting like he should be committed?”

“Oh he’s committed all right, to making Mama believe he’s the perfect man.”

“He is,” I said and Tony nodded. He stared off down the hall where Hector had stormed off. “You do think that, right?”

“Of course I do.” His eyebrows pulled together as he cocked his head to the side. “I wouldn’t have been with him for all these years if I didn’t.”

Honesty time. I’d been dancing around between Hector and Tony for the better part of two weeks. I felt as though I had a pretty good handle on the dynamic. Hector seemed to be the passive, less dominant of the two and Tony the alpha male. Maybe I could appeal to that side of him and get him to see what would lie beyond my time here, and if he doesn’t come clean with his mother and family soon about his relationship with Hector, he stood to lose something he’s always had…Hector’s trust.

“Look Tony, it’s been great being here and I love spending time with Hector and you.”

“We’ve enjoyed having you, Mia. Truly. You’re welcome back here any time. Helping us through this bind, it means a lot.”

“Well, technically you’re paying for it.” I grinned and he smiled.

“It’s just, I was wondering, have you thought about coming out?” Tony’s smile turned into a frown. I held my hands out and stepped closer. “Just hear me out.”

His shoulders slumped and he leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. Damn, those arms. Even gay they still made me drool. I shook my head and leaned on the opposite counter.