THIN ICE |BOOK I |BWWM|

•ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 23•

I snuggled in as she hesitantly sat on the edge of the bed.

"Olivia?" I found her figure in the dark and sighed.

"Would it be bad if I stayed Monroe forever with Matìas? Like....never told him about Julia or my life before."

She reached over to the other side of my bed and turned on the night light.

"What are you talking about Jules?"

"It's just, Julia comes with a lot of baggage. What if he doesn't want me after he finds out who I was with?" 

"Julia is who you are, baggage and all. Monroe is what you created to hide from that demon. Mat isn't the type of person to hold something like that over you- I mean, look at what he does for a living. He ain't in no position to criticize." Olivia pulled her legs to her chest, her brows sympathetically knitting together.

"Hm...."

"Is that what he told you?"

"Something like that...among other things." I swallowed hard, my mind still hanging on to our conversation.

"Like what?"

"How'd Vincent treat Veronica?"

"Oh, um." —Olivia's gaze shot to the other side of my room as she hunted for the right words—"Hmmm, well, he definitely didn't make her feel like family. Being Catalina's friend was one thing, but marrying Mat was....they really went through it."

"That didn't happen with A-Adrian," —I stumbled, still getting used to saying his name out loud again—"People in the family didn't like us together, but he kept me from a lot of it, ya' know, and they wouldn't say stuff out loud. I don't know, maybe I was just really blind."

"That's possible. But look, you're gonna have to face Don Vincent sooner or later; and you're not Ronnie."

"What's that mean? I'm still black."

"And you're a fighter. You don't take stuff lying down. Julia, d'you realize you ran away from the most ruthless Underbosses while pregnant with his baby and got his brother to help you? Give yourself some credit."

"You're right. I'm a spitfire!" I jolted forward, alcohol and new resolve buzzing through me.

"Exactly! You're gonna meet his family and-

"And I'm gonna go right up to Vincent and say, 'Hey racist prick! I had sex with your son on the beach and he loves me!'" My voice rose as I bit my bottom lip and did a pelvic thrust.

Olivia fell backwards as she cackled, "YEAH, AND SHE'LL DO IT AGAIN!"

My rowdy laugh echoed as I dropped back down to my knees and I glanced at Liv.

"Ha...yeah...I'll do that, "I giggled, "Thanks Liv."

"Don't mention it." She sighed through her nose and stood to stretch as I laid back down and turned on my side.

"Jules?" Olivia spoke in her sad puppy-dog voice.

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry about the phone thing. That was outta line. Its just that- I just want you away from the Maniscalco family so bad."

"I know Liv. I'm not gonna say it was okay, but I forgive you. That way you can stop losing sleep over it."

"How gracious of you." I could hear her scrunched smirk forming.

"I love you Liv." My words slurred.

"Love you too Jules. It'll all work out in the end, I promise."