Unfortunately, it looked as though Ana was spent for the night because she looked to her husband and made a face of pure misery. Julius pressed a light kiss to her lips before he took over. “She wants to meet all of you.”
Why did this sound like something bad was coming? “No problem. Bring her to dinner one night and she can meet us all then.”
But Julius shook his head. “She wants to meet you first.”
Because that didn’t sound sinister at all.
What was going on here?
“Okay,” I drawled then laughed cautiously. “What’s the issue?”
Julius looked me deep in the eye. “Been keeping something from you, Lex.”
Well, shit.
Secrets.
Nuh uh. Did not like that.
My lips thinned and my brow narrowed. “What have you been keeping exactly?”
Julius looked at me a long while. “Manda is family. More specifically—” He licked his bottom lip. “—she’s A.J.’s aunt.”
Okay. Officially confused here. “What do you mean?”
Everyone at the table looked to them in complete silence, before Julius revealed, “Manda is Twitch’s biological sister.”
My breath left me in a whoosh.
“She’s the daughter of Antonio Falco Senior, making her A.J.’s aunt.” Julius mistook my silence for refusal. I know this because he put up a hand and said, “Now, hold up a second and think about it.” He went on. “She’s a really nice woman. A doctor, Lex. Real respectable. In fact, she kind of reminds me of you. But she didn’t want us to tell you about her, not until now. And she would really love to meet her nephew.”
My lungs began to work again, and slowly, I took in a deep, burning breath then replied through an exhale, “I want to meet her.”
Julius blinked at me. “Yeah?” Then he smiled. “Shit, Lex. She’s gonna be over the moon. She’s dying for an introduction.”
When I looked to Ana, she looked so happy, but I couldn’t function.
Oh my God.
Twitch had a sister.
***
Twitch
“You stupid son of a bitch.” Happy glared at me when I opened the front door.
“Come again?” I said in deathly calm.
This asshole’s got another think coming if he thinks he can walk into my house and talk to me like that. I mean, we’ve been friends a long time. You’d think he’d know better by now. I would pop him in the mouth quicker than he’d see it coming.
Happy strode in and I shut the door behind him. He paced, and as he did, I noticed he was holding a container in his hands.
“That for me?”
Happy’s lip curled and he tossed the container at me. I took it, opened it, and my stomach rumbled at the sight of the spaghetti and meatballs. My baby could fuckin’ cook, and I loved Italian food. Without another word, I went to the sink, picked up a washed fork, and went to town. I shoved a forkful into my mouth and made a sound low in my throat, chewing, and then garbled, “I love her meatballs.”
When he stopped pacing, he turned to me, and uttered, “Are you out of your fucking mind, or is it your mission to get caught?” When I threw him a dark look, he pointed at me. “I would not push me tonight, fucker. I just came home from a fourteen-hour flight and haven’t had my dick sucked in a damn week. You think I wanna be here with your surly ass? Nah, man. I wanna be at home, not lecturing you.”
The fuck was up his ass?
I chewed slowly then swallowed. “Fuckin’ leave then, bitch. I don’t care.”
But then Happy put his hands on his hips, and muttered, “You been visiting A.J.?”
Oh.
I stopped chewing.
That.
What the fuck was it his business anyways? I wasn’t hurting anyone.
I held his eyes, and he ran a hand over his bald head then scoffed. “Lexi wants to take him to a shrink, Twitch. Thinks he’s suffering from grief because, for the life of her, she can’t understand why he’s suddenly imagining you everywhere.”
Okay. That might have been an issue.
Happy asked, “How long?” but I didn’t answer.
There was nothing wrong with my boy. He didn’t need a shrink. He needed his father, and I was working on that.
I inwardly sighed, picked at my food, and then muttered glumly, “I’ll cool it.”
Happy blinked at me a second before he waved me off and marched away. Before he slammed the door, he said, “I don’t fucking believe you, man.”
I ate the rest of my food in silence, trying not to be resentful that my friends got to hang with my woman tonight while I sat in the darkness, watching stealthily from across the street.
Chapter Five
Lexi
I was nervous.
I probably shouldn’t have been, but I was. I mean, from what I knew, Manda had never even met Twitch. But she carried his genes, and that made me nervous.
Would she look like him?
Was she as authoritarian as he was?
I knew nothing about her, and Julius thought it would be better that way, that my impressions should come from the woman, not stories about her, and I had to respect that. But as I sat in front of the dresser, applying some light makeup, I couldn’t help but wonder about her.
I quickly dressed in a cute skinny jean and tee combo, then threw my hair up in a high ponytail. When I looked at myself in the dresser mirror, I sighed contentedly. This was as good as it got. I didn’t bother dressing up much anymore, and nerves had me not wanting to go overboard for fear of looking like an idiot. So, this was it.
As I attempted to walk out of my bedroom, my eyes caught a flash of pink on my nightstand. Frowning, my feet took me to it, and with a soft, confused smile, I picked up the little Zinnia that had been clearly plucked from our front yard and put it to my smiling lips, breathing in its delicate, earthy scent.
My son was so pure of heart it slayed me sometimes. I was doing my best to teach him the declining art of the gentleman. He hated the dance lessons I forced on him, but I swore he’d learn the basic waltz, and for the most part, we had fun while doing it. I tried my best on the manners front, but, well, he was Twitch’s child, so I did what I could with that.
I don’t know how long I stood in the kitchen, looking out through the large bay window in the family room, but when I saw a silver sedan pull up, my heart stuttered. I put a hand to my belly in a weak attempt to stop it from fluttering around as it was.
My heart began to race.
What if she didn’t like me?
Oh, no.
What if I didn’t like her?
Ah, crap.
Too late. The tiny ginger-haired woman dressed in black jeans and a white blouse was already halfway across my front lawn. Her massively oversized sunglasses made it hard to make out her features. And then the doorbell rang.
I counted to seven before I opened the door and stood there silently. When the little American woman removed her sunglasses, revealing striking blue eyes and a smatter of freckles across her nose, I was surprised. She looked nothing like Twitch. I couldn’t help the sudden irrational disappointment I felt.
But then she smiled, and there he was. “Lexi?”
I didn’t mean to. I really didn’t. I tried hard to stop it, but I couldn’t.
Putting a hand to my quivering lips, my vision blurred as I cried in complete silence, nodding.
The little woman’s face crumbled and she came forward, wrapping her arms around me, hugging me a long while. When she pulled back, her own lashes were wet, and I let out a soggy laugh. “Hi.”
She swiped at her cheeks before she choked on her own laugh. “Hello.”
Managing to get a hold of myself, I blew out a long breath. “Well, that didn’t go how I planned it.” An embarrassed chuckle bubbled up my throat. “Please, come in.”
Somehow, the unexpected outburst of emotion on both parts forced a connection between us, and I immediately felt at ease with this woman. I walked into the kitchen, twisted back, and asked, “Coffee?”
Manda dropped her satchel onto the floor and sounded almost relieved, pulling out a chair and sitting on it, and the at home gesture made me like her even more. “You’re an angel.”
“Funny.” I grinned as I put the coffeemaker on. “That’s what your brother used to call me.”
Strangely, she said, “I know.” But when my puzzled expression landed on her, she immediately amended, “I mean, so I’ve heard.”