Page 83 of The Vow
Pina stuck her tongue out playfully at Carmelo. “Who said you could take my sister away? I miss the good lipstick and clothes I could readily borrow-”
“Er, your dad, Pina, he explicitly said I could take your sister-”
“Speaking of, we really need to go and say hello,” Lena said, reaching her hand back out for Carmelo, who took it.
Colt patted Carmelo on the back. It was a light pat but Carmelo felt the shooting pain run down his shoulder from his gunshot wound. He tried not to wince but Colt clearly saw.
Colt’s face fell. “Sorry, buddy, is it still giving you pain?”
Carmelo pursed his lips and put a brave face on. “No, sorry, that just caught me off guard, I’m fine-”
“Uh huh,” Colt said sarcastically with a flat face.
Fuck, Carmelo couldn’t hide anything from the Prez of the Black Coyotes. “It’s still tender, a bit, I’m still off work-”
“Yeah, well, you were shot, through-and-through to the shoulder at your own fucking wedding last month, that is going to sting for a while.”
“Yeah, Greta said there might be bone fragments or something, I’m keeping an eye on it, don’t worry.”
“Hmm,” Cold said, unconvinced.
“Anyway, better say hi to Jovan,” Carmelo said, trying to distract Colt.
It worked. “He’s over there somewhere, I’ll leave you to it. I better go and check on April anyway,” Colt said.
Carmelo frowned.
Colt pursed his lips, holding back a smile coyly. “She’s sick.”
It was Carmelo’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Uh huh.” He echoed in Colt’s sarcastic tone, but Carmelo smiled, too. It was too early to say anything, but that meant April was probably pregnant again. And Colt seemed pretty pleased about it.
Carmelo slapped Colt on the back now. “Well, you better get to her, then.”
“Yeah, thanks brother,” Colt said casually. Then paused and flicked a look into Carmelo’s face.
Carmelo let his hand rest on Colt’s back a moment longer. “Brother,” he repeated.
They were brothers after all. The Police Sergeant and the MC Prez. Half brothers anyway. And Carmelo had felt like a missing piece of him had sprung into place.
Jovan caught sight of them approaching, Pina trailing alongside Lena.
“Ahh, my darling, you have returned!” Jovan handed the plate to thin air, expecting someone to take it off him. Someone, in the form of the ever-patient Ardian, the newly promoted chief consigliere to the Zakarian clan, was there, of course, and took the plate. Jovan then struggled to get up from the chair, it creaked worryingly as the overweight, older man heaved himself up.
He held his arms open and Lena smiled and went to kiss him on both cheeks.
“Daddy. Lovely to see you.”
Jovan then looked at Carmelo, who froze suddenly. What the fuck was he meant to do, apologize? Bow? Give Jovan a high five? He wasn’t sure, but Jovan stepped forward and embraced Carmelo and proffered his cheek to him. Carmelo kissed it, and the other side, too, realizing this probably was a normal event in their culture. And then realizing that he wasn’t being blamed, he wasn’t in trouble, in fact he was wholeheartedly accepted into the family.
Lena reached for his hand and gave it a little excited shake and a wide eyed smile.
“Er, Jovan, Sir, good to be back,” Carmelo stuttered.
Jovan smiled but waved Carmelo’s niceties away. “Yes yes, very good, now I hope you two are going to think about settling down now, hmm?”
Lena rolled her eyes. “Daddy, honestly, we literally just landed from our honeymoon this morning! We have no plans-”
Jovan’s face went thunderous. “No plans?”