Ronny

Chapter 31

We walk up the hill a little until we reach where  his car is, because he obviously has a car for the once a year trip he makes up here. Obviously.

Thankfully, the drive is only five minutes and Ronny's speeding habits get us there in three. Everything is so close together here, we probably could've walked if I wasn't in heels. And if it wasn't uphill.

I need to start going to the gym again. The hills on campus take me out.

We get out of the car and are at a very nice looking Mediterranean restaurant.

Walking in, I cling to Ronny's side as my nerves skyrocket. I rehearse in my head what to say and how to respond to different things they may ask me.

We walk through a room full of people eating and talking, and into a private room in the back. I immediately see Owen and Mike and feel a little comforted that I know people here besides Ronny.

"Look who's finally here." A woman stands up and gives Ron a hug. She wears a red dress and has long dark hair and tanned skin. Another man also stands up to greet Ronny, who looks very similar to him but also completely different. I assume these are his siblings.

"Who's this?" Vivi, his sister, gives me a repulsed look and I want to go and die in a hole.

Stop being dramatic Lina.

"Adelina. My girlfriend." He responds, and her jaw drops. "Why did you not tell us you had a girl friend, let alone that you were bringing her here?!"

This is so freaking awkward. Why didn't he tell them I was coming?

"Surprise." Is all he says, "Now stop being rude."

She looks to me, disgust clear in her eyes. She just turns and sits back down. Okay.

"Hi, I'm Matthew." His brother greets me, shaking my hand. He has the same features as Ron but has a nice little beard and is a little shorter than him.

"I'm Adelina" I say to both Matthew and to the people sitting around the table.

Ron and I sit down, I'm between Owen and Ronny.

"That was fucking awkward dude." Owen whispers to me. "Was it that bad?" I whisper back, to which he makes a yikes face.

Oh gosh.

Luckily, as we settle in all of Ron's cousins, uncles, and aunts talk to me and seem very nice.

His sister definitely hates me though.

"Aren't you a part of that Torres family?" Vivi asks.

"Yes I am." I say, unsure where she is going with this.

"Ah, so you're with my brother as some kind of way to fix your daddies sinking company?"

"Excuse me?" I recoil at her question, my heart beating so fast I have to try and calm myself. She freaking hates me.

"Vivi." Aaron says, a threatening undertone behind his words.

She rolls her eyes, "I take it Aaron isn't the only wealthy man you've slept with to try and save your family's company?"

Everyone in the room goes silent.

"Outside." Aaron says sternly, getting up from his seat. Vivi scoffs, "Really?" She says when he goes to leave the room.

"And now you're starting fights in the family." She mutters as she leaves.

Okay. So. This. Sucks.

My face is red with embarrassment and awkward silence fills the room once they're both gone.

"Lina don't worry, she's just protective of him." Owen assured me, but his words didn't make me feel any better.

I felt like I was intruding just being here, and even if it wasn't directly my fault-- she was right: I am starting fights between their family. He was so excited to see them, and now they're arguing because of me.

"Dear it's not you, ever since his ex she's not let women near him." his Aunt Becca tells me.

His ex?

I remember him saying he's had a girlfriend before, but I don't have any details on it. Was it bad? Bad enough his sister freaks out just at my presence?

"She will warm up. Once she gets that stick out of her ass." Matthew comments. "So how'd you meet Aaron?" He asks me, and I'm grateful the conversation has shifted.

"Downtown one night I ran into him, then he worked with my dad so I saw him again." I say.

"You're strong for being with him. He can be a pain in the ass." His cousin Marlo jokes. "Oh I know, but he's alright sometimes." I joke back, and luckily they laugh.

They ask me a few more questions like how long we've known each other, what I do, and all that fun stuff, and I feel myself relax a little.

Aaron Hendrix

"What the fuck was that?" I ask Vivi the second we get outside.

She rolls her eyes, "What?" She says like she didn't just blow up at meeting Addie for no reason.

"You know what, now why the hell are you being a bitch?"

She scoffs, "I'm being a bitch?!"

"Yes."

"Sorry that you are too dumb to see she only wants one thing from you...well two things." She looks down to my waist when she says the last part and for the second time in my life I want to hit a woman.

"The fuck did you just say to me?" I feel myself getting angrier with her by the second.

Assuming Addie wants money and sex is fucking ridiculous. If she spoke to her for five minutes she would probably see this, but she is too fucking entitled to even consider that Adelina has no ulterior motives in dating me.

"I'm just saying, it happened before and you were crushed, sorry I don't want to see it happen again."

I tense at her mention of Gianna, my ex girlfriend from six fucking years ago. Who the fuck does she think she is dragging this up? I wasn't crushed over her, I was pissed that she cheated on me. There's a difference.

Gianna and I met when we were nineteen and we instantly started dating. I hadn't even spoken to a woman before her, since my fathers influence made me steer clear of them.

Something about spending every night from the age of ten to eighteen in strip clubs where your father tries to 'make you a man' by forcing you with women made them repulsive to me.

But she was different.

Until she wasn't.

She said it was okay if I wasn't ready to sleep with her, and then she fucked my father. My father.

Now Vivi thinks I'm not a grown ass man who can make my own choices, and I can't stand it.

"You don't know her." I say, "So stop acting like you know everything and go inside and be nice because she was so nervous to meet you." I almost yell at her.

"She paced around all day terrified that you wouldn't like her and now she's inside feeling like shit because you can't get over my ex from six years ago." I say, leaving my sister and going back inside.

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