Mine to Promise (Southern Wedding #6)(33)

“We bought you condoms for you to use.” She throws up her hand in the air. “It’s a monthly

subscription.” She then trails off, mumbling all the bad French words.

“Are you done?” I ask her, and even my father shakes his head.

“Ne me cherche pas, Stefano Dimitris.” Don’t you start with me, she hisses at me, and she uses my full name, which anyone knows is never a good thing. Never. “Am I done?” she mimics my question.

“Do you want to meet her or not?” I ask her, my tone tight as I think she might say no. I don’t know how the fuck I will explain this to Addison. I can’t even imagine what she is going to say if my parents say no. Them saying no is really not an option.

“What kind of a stupid question is that?” my father shouts out. “Do we want to meet her or not?”

He then looks over at my mother, waiting for her to say something.

“On arrive demain.” We are coming down tomorrow, my mother declares.

“Her parents are going to think we raised a bouffon.” I have to laugh when she calls me a bouffon, but then I look down, trying to ignore the comment about her parents. I think about if I should tell them about her parents or not. It takes me over a minute of not saying anything for my father to pick up on the silence.

“What’s the matter?” I think about lying to him about what is bothering me, but I also know my parents will want to meet her parents to show them that I’m not an idiot. I also know I don’t want her to feel bad about it.

“Her parents kicked her out.” My words come out crystal clear, and the silence of the room just makes the words echo more.

My father’s hand comes up and he slams his hand down on the coffee table, the movement making the phone shake a bit. “Stefano,” he hisses out my name.

“Dad, you don’t think I know this?” I ask him, sitting on the edge of the bed as I hang my head down. “I feel.” I blink away the stinging of tears, but for the first time, I let them out. “I don’t even know what I feel, it’s like this burning in my stomach,” I tell them both and my mother uses her thumb to wipe away the tears that are coming out of her eyes. “And then my chest is tight and I feel like I’m going to throw up every seven seconds,” I say breathlessly.

“It’s called love, you dumbass,” my father says softly. “We are coming down tomorrow,” he reiterates what my mother just said. “We’ll take them out.”

“You can’t,” I tell him. “She said they are already eating out on Saturday.”

“Stefano.” My mother grabs the phone from the table and makes sure I can see her whole face.

“You call her and tell her that your parents are taking her out because we owe her a lot more than a meal.” The glare and tone are something I’m not going to argue with, especially after what just happened.

“Fine.” I take a deep inhale. “I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess.”

“Idiot,” is the last thing my mother says before she hangs up on me.

I toss my phone to the side and look up at the ceiling before I rub my face with my hands. I then

lean forward, putting my elbows on my knees and hanging my head. It’s maybe five minutes before I hear the sound of footsteps running up the stairs. I look at the door, hearing a knock for one second before the door opens, and Matty stands there in shorts and no shirt. “You told your parents?” I just stare at him. “The Bat Signal has been unleashed.”

“Well, it’s been five minutes,” I say, looking at my watch, “the family is slacking, if you ask me.”

Matty laughs and shakes his head. “I just got four messages from Uncle Max and Matthew asking if they have rentals in the area.”

“Say no,” Sofia yells from somewhere in the house, “they can stay with us!”

“Are you insane?” Matty yells over his shoulder. “Don’t you dare even speak that out loud, they might have Spidey senses.” He walks out of the room. “This is going to be fun,” he states right before he closes the door behind him.

I pick up my phone, wanting to speak to only one person. I pull up her name, and instead of calling her, I text her. If she’s sleeping, I don’t want to wake her.

Can you talk?

I look down at the phone and see the gray bubble with the three dots pop up before my phone pings with a text.

Haven’t we spoken enough?





addison

. . .

I press send on the message and put the phone down, but the phone rings softly beside me. I can hear his laughter fill the phone as I bring it to my ear. “Hello.”

“Am I bothering you?” His laughter is still coming through. I don’t know why, but his laughter makes me smile.

“Well, it’s been about twenty minutes since the last phone call,” I reply, sinking into the bed.

“I called my parents,” he says, and everything stops. I don’t even think I’m breathing at this point.

“Oh,” I say.

“Yeah, they are coming down tomorrow.”

I immediately sit up. “What?” I say in a whisper, but it comes out in a yelp.

“And asked if they can take you out for dinner to meet Avery.” My heart, which is normally beating in my chest, is now beating so freaking fast and hard I feel like it’s about to come out of my rib cage.