They both chuckled for a while, then fell silent.
“Okay, okay, I'm not your father, I can't keep you here,” Mr. Tocci sighed and stood upright, leading Wulf towards the door to the living room. “Just know that I'm rooting for you, son. I hope you and Katya can work stuff out.”
Wulf felt warm at hearing that, and he nodded as he followed the older man out of the study.
“Thanks. That means a lot,” he said in all honesty.
“But,” Mr. Tocci continued. “If you make my daughter cry again, I swear to god, I will beat you unconscious with one of my textbooks, and then I'll back over you with my car.”
“Jesus, okay.”
“You think I'm being facetious, but you forget that I have friends who teach forensic pathology at Quantico. I know how to make it so your corpse isn't distinguishable from a rotting pig's.”
Wulf didn't laugh that time. He stared at the other man, then nodded.
“Understandable. If I knew someone was making her cry, I would feel the same way.”
“Would you?”
There was a tense moment while they stared at each other.
“I would.”
“Good, glad to know I can count on you to take care of her. Now get out of here before Elena finds out about the fight and starts looking for you. Hell hath no fury like my wife when someone misbehaves,” Mr. Tocci faked a shudder.
“Thank you. And … thanks, for bailing me out that night,” Wulf added at the last minute. Mr. Tocci smiled, adjusting his glasses at the top of his nose.
“Any time, son.”
18
Katya didn't see Wulf or Liam again. When she finally got herself together and went back down to the party, both men were gone. Her mother seemed none the wiser that anything had happened and her father was keeping silent. He gave her a stern look, but didn't say anything while they had guests.
It wasn't till she was helping her mom clean up that Vieve came over to help. She also explained that the boys had left. They'd already headed back for San Francisco. She seemed surprised that Katya didn't know anything about it, and informed her that Wulf had arranged for Vieve and Brie to bring her back.
Katya was a little stunned that no one had said anything to her. Sure, things had taken a super weird turn, but she'd driven down there with them. Had basically planned the whole trip. What if Vieve hadn't been there? And to not say anything – Wulf was a quiet man, but this was taking it a bit far. And what about Liam?
It wasn't till she went back upstairs that she realized she'd left her phone up there all day. She had dozens of missed messages and voicemails from Liam, all explaining that he was embarrassed over his actions and didn't want to make her family more uncomfortable than he already had; he'd felt it was best to leave, and apparently, Wulf had agreed. Had even been willing to call a truce on their little fight so they could drive home. She learned all that just from Liam – there was only one message from Wulf.
Remind your father that I'll be sending a check for his car.
The drive to San Francisco felt like it took an eternity. Vieve owned a huge black Cadillac Escalade, it was kind of ridiculous for a single woman. Brie, who Katya hadn't seen once over the weekend, had made her grand entrance when they were leaving. Wearing sunglasses that covered half her face and a tank top paired with yoga pants, she'd climbed into the back seat, stretched out, put her earphones in, and never said a thing.
Vieve made small talk, and Katya managed to join in a little, but she didn't really pay attention. She kept going over the weekend in her mind. Her own actions, Liam's outburst, Wulf's reaction. She was embarrassed, and not just because she'd acted like a fool in front of her family, but because she'd been making some extremely bad choices. Tori had said to do what felt good, but none of it was feeling very good anymore.
Oh yeah, sure, so funny taking them home. Hilarious. It didn't occur to you that by embarrassing them in front of your parents, you might also potentially embarrass you parents!? You're no better than the two of them.
By the time they were driving down Katya's street, she'd pretty much decided to give everything up. If the men wanted to pursue her, fine, but she didn't need to engage them. She didn't need to react to everything and provoke them. Liam was clearly on edge – she hadn't realized how much he was being affected by everything. He was usually so laid back and easy going. If anyone was going to have a meltdown, she would have guessed it would be Wulf. He had, after all, shoved a handful of cake into her face and smeared it all around last time she'd pushed him too far.
When they pulled up in front of her building, Vieve actually got out of the car and came around to the back, helping Katya grab her small weekend bag. Brie didn't say anything – she was still lounging across the back seat, her feet sticking out the window. Katya leaned over the trendy shoes and waved at the young woman.
“It was fun, Brie,” she said, though she hadn't spoken to her once all weekend. Brie had never bothered to stop in at the Tocci's party.
“Super duper fun,” Brie said, pulling one earphone away.
“Must have been fun to see Wulf again,” Katya tried again. She couldn't help it, she had the strongest urge to crack through Brie's prickly exterior.
“Fun isn't a word I would ever use to describe my time with Wulf.”
“Huh. Well, did you like Liam? He's a blast, everyone thinks he's fun,” Katya pointed out. Brie sighed and picked her earphone back up.
“I went out with some friends, didn't get home till around four in the morning,” she replied before plugging back into her music. Conversation over. Katya frowned. It was really Brie's loss, because even though he was somewhat of a bumbling idiot, Liam really was a lot of fun, especially when someone first met him.
“I had fun,” Vieve offered, stepping up next to her and smiling that smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. “I went over to see why everyone had disappeared, and Wulfy was pouting in his room and Liam was sitting at the table, nibbling at an apple, looking so sad. So I made food and we had dinner together. He's very nice.”
Katya was a little shocked. Calm and cool and perfect Genevieve, sitting down to dinner with loud and raunchy and deviant Liam. It had probably been adorable.
“Good, I'm glad. Well, it was definitely an interesting weekend, that's for sure. It was good to see your mom again. Have you decided whether or not you're going to stay in S.F.?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Vieve nodded. “I think I'm going to. I've got a couple job prospects, and of course Wulf would find me somewhere in one of his companies. Since I'll be here for a while, maybe we could have lunch sometime?”