{TRIGGER WARNING! EXPLICIT CONTENT! DO NOT READ IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE IT, THANK YOU! Otherwise, enjoy!}
I look at myself in the mirror and wonder where Brandon got these tops from.
It looks like a corset, but it's not actually a corset, and I absolutely love it.
But that's beside the point.
I need to tell Leya and Tiago about my travel plans with Vincent.
I should've told them a while ago, but I just didn't know how to. And I hate keeping it from them because it feels wrong.
So today's the day.
I'm telling everyone about my plan.
I nod and take another look at the outfit Brandon picked out today.
He said he made sure everyone's outfit matched today.
He also told me to get ready because we're leaving in two hours, but I'm already done.
I decide to head downstairs and get something to eat before we go shopping for some dresses.
Just as I take out some leftovers from the fridge, I hear the front door open and wait for that person to say something.
'Neveah!' Marco shouts from down the hall. 'I'm in the kitchen!'
It takes him less than two seconds to run into the kitchen, and I frown at him when he looks me up and down as I take a bite.
'Where's Leon?' He asks while he walks over to my side of the kitchen island. 'I thought he was out with you guys.'
'He was, but then Rio called him back and he left, but now Rio's telling me that he needs to talk to Leon, so-' What?
'What are you talking about?'
Tiago had to get out of bed early today. He didn't really tell me why, apart from the fact that it had something to do with a deal coming up and that he was going to check something out with Marco and Vincent, but that's it.
'Just- Do you have any idea where he is?' I shake my head and drop the spoon on the counter, panicking a little. 'You're telling me you don't know where he is?'
'I-' I can hear the front door open again and wait for someone to shout something like Marco did. 'Any clue on where he is?'
This time it's Vincent.
'No, but what the fuck is going on?' I ask as I walk over to the hall. Vincent walks up to me and peeks over my shoulder, right at Marco, before turning back to me. 'We have no idea, but Rio told us to search for him.'
'And this is the first place we thought he would be at since... you're here.' Right...
'Did you try calling him?' I ask as I reach for my phone already. They both nod and follow me back into the kitchen.
I put the phone on speaker and place it on the counter while we all wait for him to pick up his phone.
'Neveah, I don't think he's going to pick up.' Marco says, sighing deeply as I feel my heart racing in my chest.
They probably tried calling him a few times, but I need him to pick up. If he doesn't pick up, I'm going to lose my shit.
'Why wouldn't he?' Vincent asks.
I keep my eyes on my phone, waiting for him to pick it up. Because he needs to pick up.
'We called him five times in the past ten minutes, tell me why he would pick up with-'
'Cara, everything alright?' I allow myself to breathe again, relief washing over me when I hear his voice. 'Yes, are you?'
'I am, what's wrong?' His voice is coated with concern and all I can do is smile a little, but Marco isn't enjoying this as much as I am. 'Why the fuck didn't you pick up when we called?'
I can tell Marco wants to grab my phone and explode on Tiago, but it's no use. 'I was talking to Elias about something and when I wanted to call you back, Neveah called me.'
'We thought something happened.' Vincent chimes in, handing me a new spoon as he throws the other one in the sink.
'Thank you.' I whisper, before turning back to the phone. 'I'm okay, everything's fine. What did you need me for?'
'Rio has some questions.' Marco replies, looking up from the phone, straight at me. 'About what?'
'I can't say.' He mumbles, making me frown a bit. 'Because I'm here?'
Marco nods and takes a deep breath as he looks at Vincent. 'If it is really that important, it shouldn't matter if I'm here or not.'
Marco looks at me again and shakes his head.
'Look, I don't know if I'm allowed to tell you so I would rather not tell you, but I would love to tell you.' He continues, slightly panicking.
'So tell me.' He shakes his head again, before turning to Vincent.
'Just tell him what it's about, he can tell her when he gets here.' He says, shoving Marco a little. 'If Rio finds out, I'm so blaming you.'
'Guys...' Tiago says, getting a little impatient himself. 'Fine, he has some questions regarding Alessio's situation.'
Alessio? I have never heard that name before.
'I thought he didn't care about him?' Tiago asks curiously. I can hear some amusement in his voice. Just a little. 'He doesn't care about him, he just wants to know more about Zahra's death.'
'Tell him what I told you a million times already.' I can hear a car door open on his side of the phone, and wonder what he's doing right now. 'He doesn't listen to me.'
'Alright, fuck. I'll see what I can do after I talk to Veah first.' Shit. My heart starts racing automatically because of his tone.
'I- What do you need to talk to me about?' I ask as I take another bite. 'You know, that thing.'
I can feel my cheeks heat up and just hope that the guys don't see it. But I can feel their eyes on me.
'I have no idea what you're talking about.' The front door opens and closes again and I hold my breath for a second. 'Oh, you will.'
We all look at him as he enters the kitchen, but his eyes are completely glued to me.
'Alright, we will leave you two to talk about that thing.' Marco says, basically rushing out of here. 'I'll tell Rio you're coming over once you're done.'
Vincent follows after Marco, leaving me alone with Tiago.
I'm happy that he's on the other side of the kitchen, allowing me space as I try to finish the leftovers.
'You didn't say much on the phone.' He states, slowly moving closer, but still staying on the other side of the island. 'I was eating and I didn't want to interfere.'
I did. I have a lot of questions right now, but I know they would tell me if it mattered.
'Are you sure that's all?' I nod and take the last bite before putting everything away. 'What else could it be?'
'I left in a rush this morning.' He continues as he slowly makes his way to my side of the island. 'That's fine, I fell asleep again.'
'Good.' I turn around and take a deep breath when he kisses my cheek, 'so you're well-rested?'
'What's with the questions?' I tilt my head a little, staring into his eyes. 'I just want to know if you're okay?'
'I am.' Besides the part where I still have to tell you that I'm leaving after the wedding... 'I just... We need to talk about something.'
'Mhm.' He kisses me softly, our lips barely touching each other, as he takes a step closer.
He lifts me onto the counter and I can't help but enjoy the gentle touch of his hands on my hips. 'Tiago-'
He silences me by pressing his lips on mine, a soft moan escaping my lips, and he pulls me closer.
I'm almost hanging off the edge of the counter, but I hold onto him with all my might.
'I love you.' He mutters against my lips before slowly dragging his lips down my jaw, 'I love all of you.'
'Ti-' 'Every inch of your skin.' He continues to leave a trail of kisses down my chest, 'You're scent.' Fucking hell...
'I need to-' He sucks on the skin right above my top, making me bite back a moan as my toes curl up a little. 'Your sounds.'
I let go of him and trust him enough to not let go of me as he looks up at me. 'I have to tell you something.'
He shakes it off and gets on his knees, spreading my legs apart as much as he can. 'Tiago-' I inhale sharply when I feel his hand on my inner thigh, slowly crawling his way up.
Heat rushes through me and my brain melts when he reaches my panties and shoves them to the side. 'What is it, cara?'
He knows exactly what he's doing.
His fingers stroke my clit in the most magical way ever, sending me into oblivion, making me forget about what I was about to tell him in the first place.
'I- Fuck- Please-' I fight the urge to shove my legs together to keep his hand right where it is, and let my head roll all the way back. 'Tell me.'
Soft and gentle hands. Not rough or hard. Exactly what I need...
'Please.' I need to stop this. I need to stop and tell him about- Fuck... 'Wait-' I try to move back, but he pulls me back to the edge of the counter, making sure that I can't go anywhere by keeping a firm grip on my thigh.
Everything blurs for a second and I shudder as my orgasm washes over me, refreshing me entirely, making everything shine in a new light.
'Just for me.' He whispers as he slowly removes his hand and licks off his fingers. Fuck...
'You-' He kisses me and wraps my legs around his waist, his rough jeans scraping against my sensitive skin. 'I want to fuck you...' He whispers against my lips, making something inside me spark again.
'We- We need to talk first.' He shakes his head and kisses me again, the thoughts almost melting again.
Almost.
'Tiago-' He gets on one knee again, ready to do whatever it is his mind desires, but I stop him and shake my head, 'Stop.'
Something switches in him and he takes a step back, letting go of me completely as I shove myself further onto the counter.
'Did I take it too far?' I look straight into his eyes, noticing the clear fear in his eyes. 'What- No.'
I jump down the counter, taking a second to collect myself before I stumble over to him. 'You didn't take it too far, I'm okay.'
I grab his hand and kiss it, placing it on my chest. 'I'm okay, I promise.'
He inhales slowly and wraps his arm around my waist, slowly pulling me closer. 'Okay.'
'I just wanted to talk to you first.' I say as I pull him back to the counter. He lifts me up again and smiles. 'What did you want to talk about?'
'Well... Vincent and I have been talking and we decided-' The door slams open once again, making the both of us freeze for a second.
'You two better not be fucking again!' Brandon shouts down the hall, making me roll my eyes. 'You're being dramatic!'
He quickly makes his way to the kitchen and dramatically gasps for air. 'In the kitchen?! Really?!'
'It's my house, so we should be fine.' Tiago says, staying right between my legs, not making this any better. 'It's unsanitary!'
'Oh shut up,' I let go of Tiago and hop off the counter again, before turning to Brandon, 'It's not like you and Killian haven't been fucking on every surface possible.'
'Not every surface possible.' He jokes as he walks over to the fridge, opens it, and probably looks for something to eat. 'You guys are animals for fucking in the kitchen.'
'We weren't fucking, and could you drop it?' He leans back, raising a brow at me, before turning back to the fridge. 'So he was going to go down on you?'
'Brandon, why do you have so much interest in our sex life?' I almost slap Tiago on the spot, but don't when I hear Brandon's laugh.
I can hear Victoria's footsteps coming down the stairs and freak out a little. She's too young to hear about sex and I don't want to have that conversation with her right now.
'Because I just love drama, and I love to know more about-' 'Okay! Next subject!' I chime right as she walks into the kitchen with a smile.
She runs over to Tiago and jumps into his arms, letting him spin her around in the air, before he puts her back down.
Pure joy fills my heart and I wonder what it would be like if she stays with them while I travel with Vincent.
'Neveah?' I turn to Brandon who already closed the fridge and is waiting by the door, 'Can we please go now?'
'We're going already?' Victoria rushes over to Brandon and grabs his hand, before looking at me. 'Let's go!'
'Everyone is ready, we'll be waiting in the car.' They leave again and just as I turn around, I feel Tiago's hand on my waist, slowly being pulled closer to him.
'One day we're going to have a bunch of Victoria's running around.' He whispers into my ear, making my heart race and break at the same time. 'I still have to talk to you.'
He nods as he slowly leans down, his face buried in my neck. 'Talk to me.'
'Not-' I lean into him, absolutely loving the way his hand strokes down my waist. 'Fuck-'
He chuckles softly, slowly moving his hand back up. It's almost making me groan because he's teasing me too much.
'Maybe we should talk when you return?' He whispers and all I can do is nod.
It might be a better idea to tell Leya first, but at the same time, I should tell him first. Or tell them at the same time?
'Neveah!' It's Celine shouting my name this time, and I instantly break free from his grip as I turn around, kiss him, and run out of the kitchen to get to the car waiting outside.
'Took you long enough!' Brandon says, making space in the precious van again.
'I didn't take that long.' I say as I try to catch my breath from the short distance I ran.
'Whatever you say, Veah.' Leya jokes, shoving her leg against mine.
I want to laugh, but I feel wrong. My heart dropped the moment she looked at me.
We barely talked over the past days, apart from the part where she asked me about some wedding shit and the update on what happened between her and Rio.
But that might be because we've all been busy.
'We have a lot to go through today.' Brandon says as he focuses on Leya again. 'Like what?'
'For starters, dress shopping. We also have to talk about venues and food and oh, the guest list. And let's not forget about your bachelorette party.' She looks at me and smiles.
'That's a lot.' I nod and watch as the nerves take over in her eyes.
I can tell she's excited, but she's also getting nervous.
'Wait, aren't you going to make her dress?' Isabelle asks, looking at Brandon.
He sighs deeply and slightly glares at Leya, 'Rafael really wanted us to check out this boutique downtown.'
'What about the guest list?' Celine asks, trying to defuse the tension. 'Rio suggested to let Marcello take care of it, but I told him I would run it by you first.'
Leya nods and tries to ignore Brandon's death stare. 'If he thinks that's a good thing to do, I trust him with it.'
'Are you-' 'We're here.' Leya's the first to get out of the car.
She's out before Kai can even stop the car. What's up with her?
Everyone looks at me with a frown, waiting for an explanation, but I have no clue what the fuck is going on either.
We all hop out and thank Kai for the drive, before rushing after Leya.
'Welcome to la bellezza!' An older lady chimes as we walk into a fancy-looking store. 'Hello, we're here for the appointment at two.'
'Yes, of course! Come in, come in. My name is Gianna and I'm here to help you find the dress today!' She chimes as someone else closes the door behind us.
The entire boutique is empty and it's all bright and shiny.
'Can I get you anything to drink?' A few ladies walk over to us, waiting for us to take off our jackets.
'Some water should be fine.' Celine says, smiling as she hands her jacket over to the girl standing close to her.
'Alright, someone get a few bottles of water to stanza angelica!' She sneers, the other people rushing out of the room right as she turns back to us, 'Follow me.'
We follow her towards a long hall and enter through some heavy curtains.
Everything looks squeaky clean and bright, it's as if you're walking into the sun.
As soon as my eyes adjust to the bright light, I take a look around.
We're in a round room with separate rooms, sectioned off by cream-colored curtains, and a lot of couches and fluffy pillows.
There's also a little dais in the middle of the room.
'Wait, is this what I think it is?' Isabelle asks as she looks around a little dreamy.
'Where are we?' Victoria asks as she grabs my hand and stays close to me as people flow in and out of the room to get us that water.
'Are we all going to try on dresses?' Celine asks as she drops onto one of the couches.
Gianna frowns at us, before looking at Leya. 'Was that not what we agreed on?'
'Rio probably wanted this to be over with all at once.' I mumble, making all of them look at me.
'Great, so I'm here for no reason and-' 'You can try on dresses as well.' Leya chimes in, trying to keep Brandon here before he heads out.
'Or you could help me and find the right dresses for all of them?' Gianna asks, curiously waiting for Brandon's reaction.
His face lights up a little, but he's trying to act annoyed by the fact that Leya's not letting him design her dress. 'Really?'
'I wouldn't wear a dress you wouldn't approve of.' Leya says, making Brandon smile a little. 'Okay, I guess I'll help.'
'Grande!' Gianna chimes, trying to get Isabelle to take a seat on the couch as well.
'Okay, any design ideas?' I chime as I drop down next to her. Victoria stays next to Leya, looking around the big room in complete awe. 'Honestly, I think this wedding is going to be the best one I've ever been to.'
Leya smiles at Isabelle and takes a seat across from all of us.
'I honestly don't know.' She admits as she finally looks at me.
Something's off. And it feels wrong.
'Okay, ladies. Everyone in a room!' Brandon chimes as he walks back into the room, carrying a bunch of dresses in his arms.
'Me too?' Victoria asks as she over to me. 'Yes, even you.' Brandon answers.
Victoria takes my hand and drags me towards one of the fitting rooms, shoving me into the one beside hers.
I turn around and watch as everyone goes into a different room, watching as Leya heads to one as well.
But just as she turns around to close the curtain, Gianna rushes over to her and shakes her head. 'The one over there is for la sposa!'
'That means the bride!' Brandon shouts all the way across the room. He leaves one of the dresses with Isabelle. 'Oh, right.'
'Could you help Victoria once you're done?' Brandon asks as he hands me a dress and closes the curtain before I can even answer.
'I can do it on my own!' I chuckle at her response and take off my clothes, before slipping into a white dress. It's flowy and a bit too long for my liking, but it's pretty. Very pretty.
I stare at the little details through the mirror in this fitting room. It's cute.
'I absolutely love this dress!' Celine chimes from her side of the room. I peek through the side of the curtain and search through the room.
A snap of someone's fingers startles me though, and I move back. 'No peeking!'
'I'm sorry!' I walk over to Victoria's side and hear her struggle with her dress. 'Everything okay?'
'I can do this!' I love her.
I can hear them mumble on the other side of the room and wait for them to tell us that we can come out.
'Brandon, I'm not sure about this one...' Leya mumbles, sparking my curiosity. Because I didn't see them bring in a red dress.
So I have no clue what she's wearing right now. 'That's what I thought, did you tie it up right?'
'I think so.' I can hear Brandon sigh from over here and can't help but chuckle a little.
He didn't want to help, but he's the one doing the most at this point. 'Veah, are you done?'
'I am.' Within seconds, my curtain swings open, and Brandon smiles at me. 'You look adorable!'
I do a little spin and can't contain my smile when he takes me all in. 'I love this dress on you, but I need you to be hot, not adorable.'
'Agreed.' Brandon snaps his fingers and turns the other way, followed by Gianna. 'Stay right there!'
Right...
As soon as they're out of the room, I slip towards Leya's room and slip inside.
Her room is way bigger than the others, she has a little sofa in the corner of the room, and I can't help but gasp for air when I see what she's wearing.
It's a white dress that clings to her figure like a magnet and it has a long veil with a flower pattern on it.
'It's not red.' She mutters as she struggles with the veil. I head over to her and make sure that it falls down her back perfectly.
'I like the details in the veil and the way it fits.' She looks at me through the mirror and smiles. 'I don't think I've ever heard you say something bad about anything I have ever worn.'
'I have!' I walk over to the sofa and touch the soft pillow. 'If you say so.' She chimes, staring at the dress again.
'Is the stress getting to you already?' I ask jokingly as I take a step back to her. She smiles and takes a deep breath, before looking at me through the mirror. 'Or is it something else?'
She takes another deep breath, making me frown for a second, before she turns around and faces me entirely.
'When were you going to tell me that you're going away after the wedding?' What?
'How did you-' 'Were you just going to leave without saying a thing?' She starts pacing around the room, the long trail dragging across the floor from side to side.
'No, I was trying to find the right moment to tell you, but it's not like you didn't know I wanted to leave.' And then it clicks.
She didn't think I was going to leave after the wedding.
She thought I changed my mind because everything is going fine.
But I didn't.
'You-' 'Why?' I can't tell if she's asking me why I didn't tell her or why I'm leaving, but both questions are a lot to handle right now.
'Why didn't you tell me?' She's hurt, I can tell, and I hate it.
'I didn't want you to hate me... Or hurt because of me... You know, you're wedding is coming up and all.' She takes a deep breath, trying to contain herself the exact same way Ariana used to do when she would end us.
'I think keeping it from me hurts more than telling me straight up.'
'But that's the thing, I never... You knew I was leaving after the wedding.' I don't think now is the right time to have this conversation, but I want to get it over with at the same time.
'I thought you changed your mind, I thought everything was going great?' She asks as she takes a step closer and grabs my hand. 'I- Everything's okay. I just need some time off.'
'So you'll be back?' Well... 'I don't know.' I answer honestly because I don't know what the future holds. 'What does that mean?'
'Vincent and I will travel for a while and I have no clue how long it will take.'
'But why?' She asks as she turns away and looks at me through the mirror.
'Because I need a break from all of this.' I point at her dress that's probably worth a lot more than we used to be able to afford before all of this, 'Because every time we leave to go somewhere or the boys go to handle some things, I freak out.'
I take a deep breath and hope that the others are just chatting on the other side of the room, clueless about what's going on over here.
'I need a break from the whole getting kidnapped thing, you getting kidnapped, people dying, danger, this whole money thing. I just need a break from everything and see what it is I want and work on everything that happened and-'
'You need to heal.' She says as something in her eyes changes.
As if the anger melted away at my fucked up explanation. 'Yes.'
'And you didn't tell me because you didn't want to hurt me?' I nod and step in front of her, hoping that she'll understand. 'And I didn't want you to stop me.'
'You think I would stop you from healing?' It sounds wrong when she says it like that.
'Not like that... I just feel like you don't want me to go.' She nods and grabs my hand, squeezing it tightly.
'I don't want you to go,' She starts as she looks at our hands for a second, 'But I won't stop you either.'
Some of the weight on my shoulders vanishes. Just some of it.
'I want you to heal, Veah. Why would I ever keep you from healing?' Tears form in my eyes and I shrug, all while trying to blink the tears away. 'I don't fucking know Leya.'
'Are you going to cry?' I shake my head and start blinking like an idiot, 'Veah...'
'Stop, don't make me cry! We're not supposed to cry unless it's about a dress, not this emotional friendship bullshit.' She chuckles and pulls me into her arms.
'I love you.' She whispers into my hair, making me more of an emotional wreck than I already was. 'You're not mad at me?'
'As long as you keep me updated and don't ghost me, we should be fine.'
'Impossible.' I hug her a bit tighter, trying to keep the tears in, and hear her chuckle because of it. 'You're going to kill me.'
'Sorry.' I slowly let go of her and grab her hand again. 'You know, you could also take me with you and-' 'Girl, you are getting married.'
'So?' She asks, frowning at me. 'You're not leaving the man of your dreams after the wedding.'
Something flashes through her eyes, it's something very similar to the spark I saw when she finally found out how Rio felt, but it's stronger. A lot stronger.
'I'm really getting married, aren't I?' She asks as we both turn to the mirror in front of us.
'You really are.' I look at Leya and can't stop smiling at her excitement.
She's getting married to the man she loves in less than three months. 'Okay, everyone come out!' Shit.
Leya grabs my hand and opens the curtain, making everyone look at us. They're all standing in the middle of the room already. As if they have been waiting for us.
Celine and Isabelle are both wearing white dresses as well. Only Victoria is wearing a red dress that seems a few sizes too big for her.
'I love that dress.' Isabelle chimes while Celine and Brandon keep their eyes on me. 'It's not red though.'
I stick to Leya's side as she walks over to the middle of the room, stepping onto the little dais just for her, making sure that the veil and trail of the dress fall down perfectly.
'Are you really leaving?' Fuck... Of course, they heard our conversation.
It's not like the curtains did anything to stop them from hearing.
'Brandon-' 'Answer the question.' Celine says, her tone just as hard as Brandon's.
I take a deep breath and take a step back, taking a seat on the only empty couch left. Victoria jumps off her seat next to Celine and takes a seat right next to me.
'I'm leaving after the wedding.' Celine nods and I'm shocked by her calmness for some reason.
I expected her to react more, to tell me that what I just said is the stupidest shit she has ever heard. But it's Celine we're talking about here.
She's the definition of calm when it comes to shit like this.
Brandon on the other hand scoffs as he jumps to his feet and simply stares at me.
'Are you kidding me?' He asks with annoyance clear in his voice. 'Brandon.' Celine warns, but Brandon ignores her and keeps his eyes on me.
'She needs a break from everything, Brandon.' Isabelle adds, her voice just as calm as Celine's.
'When will you be back?' He asks as he takes a step towards me. 'I don't know.'
'What the fuck does that mean?' Usually, he doesn't cuss in front of Victoria, at least not like this. But right now he doesn't give a fuck.
'I don't know if I'll come back, Brandon.' He shakes his head and takes the final step, leaving just enough space for me to get up as well.
And I do. Because I want to get this over with.
I don't want to hurt him, but I need a break.
'I hate you.' He states, making my heart scream at me for hurting him like this. 'I'm sorry.'
It's like he crumbles at my apology, his body slumping down onto me as he wraps his arms around me.
'I'm going to miss you so much.' He admits, shaking as he exhales slowly, 'So fucking much.'
'You'll be fine, you still have the others.' Tears prick in the corner of my eyes again and I hate it. Because I'll miss him too. So fucking much.
'You're my drinking bitch, how the fuck am I- It's not going to be the same!' I can't help but chuckle a little.
'You better write us every week!' Everyone frowns at us while he holds onto me for dear life. 'I could call you if-' 'Letters are way more dramatic!'
Everyone chuckles and watches as Brandon has a hard time keeping the tears in his eyes.
'I swear to god, Neveah, if you don't keep us updated on how you're doing and where you are, I will fucking hunt you down and kill you myself!'
'I will, I promise.' I say as I wipe my own tears away.
The only time I've seen Brandon cry was when Roman died, and now he's crying again.
It breaks my heart to see him cry, even if they're... Not really sad tears?
Well, he's sad, but he's not sad like he was when Roman died.
And it's all my fault, but it was going to happen nonetheless.
See, I see Brandon as a little brother. One that could get me in a lot of trouble, but would always have my back and would always be down to do some crazy and fun shit.
And here I am, hurting him by leaving.
'You better.' He says as he wipes his own tears as well, 'Because I love you too much to just let you go.'
'I love you too-' 'I'm going to fucking cry!' Isabelle chimes as she wipes her tears as well.
'Enough tears, please.' I cry, blinking a few times to get rid of those stupid tears, 'We're only allowed to cry over dresses today.'
'Screw that,' Leya says as she walks over to us, 'Come here.'
She wraps her arms around us, leaving just enough space for Celine and Isabelle to join in the hug as well.
'Huggies!' Victoria squeezes herself into the middle of the group hug and we all laugh at her excitement.
'I love all of you.' She chimes, pulling me even closer. 'Let's enjoy our time together okay?'
'Yes. And let's find the perfect dress for the best wedding of the century!'
Gianna rushes back into the room, holding a few other dresses, before looking at us as if we're insane.
'Cos'è questo?' She asks, looking at Brandon. His eyes are getting red already, but he puts on a smile. 'Niente, we should continue!'
He rushes over to help Gianna with the dresses and forces all of us back into the fitting rooms, before handing each one of us another dress.
After trying on at least ten dresses each, we end up buying a few dresses for the wedding.
Except for the bride herself.
They barely had any red dresses at la bellezza, and the ones that they did have were too bright to Leya's liking.
I figured she was going to have a hard time finding the right shade of red for the wedding, but we still have some time.
We make our way back to the houses and enter Rio's place. Everyone's there except for Tiago.
'Where is Leonardo?' Victoria asks as she carries her dress around the entire room. 'We're going to have a catwalk!'
They all smile at her and I can't help but smile too. She said she wanted to show them all what we bought and we said we would only do it if everyone was around.
'He was dealing with some stuff, but he should be done already.' Vincent says while he takes a sip from his mug.
'You should go and talk to him.' Leya says, looking at me with a concerning look on her face.
'We'll watch Victoria so you two can talk.' Brandon says while he tries to take Victoria into the other room.
Rio frowns at all of us for being kind of mysterious, but I'll talk to him after talking to Tiago.
'Thank you.' I mutter as I quickly slip back through the front door and head over to Tiago's place.
The entire house is silent and when I close the door, I can hear it fall in its lock.
'Tiago?!' I'm going to tell him and hope that he won't get too angry.
I walk over to his office and as I make my way up the stairs, I can hear him talking to someone.
'Yes, but how did that happen?' He asks, sounding a lot tenser than he was earlier today. 'Be more specific, who else was there?'
I open the door and peek inside, watching him behind that desk of his.
It's the same desk he fucked me on when Ariana called and he- Get it together!
He lifts up his head and looks at me, his eyes lighting up a little.
'As long as you won't give me more information, I can't help you.'
'Everything okay?' He shakes his head and sighs deeply. 'And how about you explain how that happened in the first place?'
He places his phone on the desk and puts it on speaker.
'I had no intention of going through with all of it!' A guy with a British accent shouts. 'There's no need to get loud again.' Again?
Tiago massages his temples and tries to calm down.
'One last time, explain how it happened.' He states, making the guy on the phone go insane, 'I don't give a fuck about any other aspects, understood?'
His hard tone is making my heart rate go up instantly.
I slowly make my way over to him, taking his hand in mine and bringing it to my lips.
He places his other hand on my waist and pulls me closer, placing me on his lap. 'You seem tense?'
He mutes the call and pulls me even closer.
'This shit is always the same.' He whispers, burying his head in my neck.
I rub his back, letting my other hand go through his hair. 'So end the call.'
'I did.' He mutters, looking up at me, 'Five times.'
'Five times?' I ask shockingly. He nods and kisses my neck while the British guy continues to blab in the back. 'We need to talk.'
'I would love to talk to you, but Adriano is going to kill me if I don't fix this first.' I nod and kiss his cheek, wishing that he doesn't take too long, but takes his time at the same time.
'Okay.' I turn to the phone again and unmute it again. 'Listen Tretton, I need names.'
Tiago places his hand on my thigh and massages my skin, slowly moving his hand up and down.
I inhale slowly and try to keep my breathing steady.
'I told you already, I don't know.' His hand tenses on my leg and I place my hand on his, trying to calm him down.
'Jesus fucking Christ, just tell me those names so we can get this over with.'
He moves his hand up, pressing his thumb on my panties, right on my clit.
My breath staggers in the back of my throat and I lean back, holding onto his leg.
'Tiago-' 'Sshh... He'll hear.' Fuck...
He rubs a little harder, impatiently waiting for Tretton to answer.
I thrust my hips forward and bite back a moan, enjoying the way his free hand is placed on my other thigh.
'Tretton, I need you to hurry up.'
'Please Curzio, I can't tell you. They're going to kill me.' My heart stops for a second, but Tiago doesn't seem fazed by his response at all.
'We've been over this four times already, give me that list.'
I can hear a door open downstairs and wonder who it is, but I stay put.
'Hello! Anyone home!?' Isabelle shouts, making me frown, 'Neveah! Are you here?'
I place my hand on Tiago's arm and make sure he stops moving.
'Isabelle...' I whisper and he nods in response, leaving a kiss on my neck, before letting go of me.
I slip off his lap and walk out of the door, hearing him say something about a list of names again.
When I get to the top of the stairs, Isabelle looks up at me and smiles sheepishly.
'I'm so sorry to bother you, but I wanted to talk to you about something.' She says as I make my way down the stairs. 'What about?'
The closer I get, the redder she gets.
'I- we can talk about it later if you guys were busy.' She says as she nervously fidgets with her fingers.
As much as I want to go back up the stairs, I feel like the mood is already kind of ruined, so I stay and shake my head.
'What did you want to talk about?' She frowns for a second, wondering if she should just leave or not, but decides to just go for it and ask me the question that's been waiting on the tip of her tongue for a while now.
'So you know how you and Vincent are going to travel to take a break from everything, right?' I freeze for a second, wishing that Tiago doesn't hear her talk about this, because I still haven't told him about it.
'What about it?' I ask as I slowly take her to the living room just in case Tiago is standing in the hallway upstairs. 'I was wondering... You know, since I have been on islands for almost half of my life so far, if I could... Join you guys and you know... See the world?'
Wait- what? For a second I thought she was going to lecture me about leaving everyone behind. But she's not.
She wants to leave after the wedding. She wants to see the world because she was unable to for almost twelve years.
'You want to leave as well?' She tilts her head from side to side and shrugs. 'I want to travel and see the world.'
'I would love to take you, but you have to ask Vincent too.' I wouldn't mind having her tag along, she's an amazing girl to be friends with, but this whole travel thing wasn't my idea.
She has to ask him, I mean I doubt he would say no, but still.
'Really?' She asks a little shocked that I said yes. 'I don't see why not.'
She jumps into my arms and hugs me tightly, something she's never done before, before thanking me a billion times.
'It's okay! I would love to travel with you!' She squeezes all the air out of my lungs and takes her time letting go of me again.
'I'm going to ask Vincent right now! Thank you, Veah!' She runs out of the door before I can even follow her, and I can't stop smiling because of it.
'She seems excited.'I exhale slowly and turn around, staring at the handsome man waiting at the top of the stairs.
He's waiting there, just for me.
'She's amazing.' He tilts his head and smiles back at me.
I want to run up the stairs and jump him right here and now, but I don't want to rush anything this time.
'You like her?' He slowly walks down the steps, clearly having a hard time containing himself too. 'You don't?'
'I don't know enough about her to like or dislike her.' So she's neutral grounds...
I know for certain that Rio doesn't like her. Not just because she used to be with the Steels, but because she's a distraction to Marco. His words... Not mine...
I keep my eyes on him as I lock the door, which takes longer than necessary because I won't look at what I'm doing, and inhale slowly.
'Now let's hope no one interrupts us this time.' He smirks at me and takes his hand in mine, while shaking his head.
'I wish we could continue where we left off, but dinner's ready.'
He grabs my hand and unlocks the door with his other, before leading me back to Rio's house.
Once Tiago and I enter the room and take a seat, a bunch of waiters walk in with silver platters filled with all kinds of food.
Marco rushes into the room just in time and we all stare at him strangely.
'What the fuck did you do?' Brandon asks, staring at his brother as if he's insane.
Marco cut his hair. It's too short to be put into that bun he always keeps it in. 'You cut your hair?'
He looks at Kai and rolls his eyes. 'No, I just magically got rid of it.'
'I think he was more wondering why you cut it, but go on.' Celine says, taking a bite off her plate.
'You look stupid.' Brandon says, making Marco roll his eyes again. 'Stai zitto.'
'It looks good.' Marco looks at me and smiles. 'Thank you, Neveah.'
'You're just saying that because you don't want him to feel bad.' Brandon continues, looking at me, but I shake my head. 'It genuinly looks good.'
'It really does.' Vincent chimes in, patting Marco on the back. Marco thanks him as well, before he starts eating as well.
'Mom is going to kill you when she sees you.' Brandon jokes, making Marco look at him as if he's ready to launch over the tabel and kill him.
'It's just weird seeing you with short hair.' Tiago says while he looks at Marco for another while.
'You have always had long hair, but North's right. You look more decent.' We all look at Rio who lifts his glass towards Marco right before he takes a sip.
'I'll take that as a compliment.' Marco says, smiling as well.
We all finish our plates and stay seated as we talk about how our day went.
All until Killian says he's getting tired and gets up from his seat. He also offers taking Victoria to bed, because everyone else is still talking about a bunch of stuff.
As soon as they leave the house, the mood suddenly changes and I don't like it at all.
'I have an announcement to make.'
Everyone looks at Vincent as he jumps to his feet and raises his glass.
'After the wedding, I'll be traveling around the world.'
'You're leaving?' Celine asks.
Celine out of all people.
He looks at her, a soft smile playing on his lips, 'I need to travel or I'll go insane.'
Rio raises his glass and smiles at his friend. 'If that's what feels right for you, you should.'
Tiago rolls his eyes and snorts.
'He's basically saying you should stay.' Marco jokes, smiling at Vincent, 'But if it feels right to you, you should.'
Vincent nods, before slowly turning to me.
'And I guess I have to add to that announcement.' I say, making everyone turn to me.
I know Vincent was going to announce all of this soon, but I didn't expect him to do it today.
'I'll be joining him.'
'What?' Tiago and Marco asks in unison. Even Rio looks a bit weirded out by it.
'I said I was going to leave, remember. And I feel like I need to work on myself anyways, figure out what I want, become a better version of myself and... just work on myself for a while.'
Everyone goes silent for a while, not knowing what to say.
I mean Leya can barely look at me, but Tiago...
His eyes are pierced to me, as if I could disappear at this instant.
'You know you don't have to do that, right?' Marco asks with worry in his eyes.
'I feel like I do.' I admit, noticing Rio smile a little.
'What about us? What about our plans for the future? What about...' Brandon trails off as he looks at Tiago.
'Come on, everyone out.' I expected it to be Celine who would say it.
But it's not.
It's Rio.
And everyone slowly gets up and walks toward the door.
Leya has to pull Brandon out of the room, a reassuring smile playing on her lips even though I know she doesn't want this either.
'We'll talk more about this later.' Leya says as she closes the door behind her, leaving me with Tiago.
The room goes silent for a while.
A long while.
'Tiago, I-' 'Why?' He asks, keeping his eyes on mine.
'Because I feel like I need to change in order to-' He shoves his chair back and shakes his head. 'No. You don't. I thought you said everything was fine between us?'
'And everything is fine between us, but I just feel like-' 'Then why didn't you tell me? Were you planning on just leaving again?' I hate that he won't let me fucking finish.
'Tiago, listen.' I get up and walk over to him, keeping my distance because it feels necessary.
'I said I would be leaving and I know that we made up and all, but I did some messed up shit. I am fucked up and I want to change, I just feel like I can't do that when I'm surrounded by all of this.'
'Surrounded by me, you mean.'
He looks at me again and shakes his head, smiling, when he realizes that I won't deny it.
'But there's more.'
'Like what?' He asks desperately. 'Rio, Leya, Celine. Everyone else and then there's money, murder, and a lot of shit I still don't understand. I mean, I found out that my uncle knew about all of this way before I ever did. I did some messed up shit to ignore everything going on, I mean, that's some selfish shit.'
I could ramble on about a bunch of shit, but that would simply be too much.
'You're not selfish.'
'Maybe not to you, but I have been towards others.' He shakes his head, as if that makes it less true.
'What about me?'
He steps in front of me and looks down on me, fear in his eyes for my next words.
'You can grow as well. And maybe-' He steps back and shakes his head.
'No.' 'Maybe, we will find each other again. Right?' I step closer, trying to make him look at me since that's the only way this will work.
'So you expect me to wait for you while you move on from me?'
'I'm not asking you to wait. I'm asking you to let me go so that we can both grow and maybe meet each other again.'
I don't know how I could explain this any better.
I don't think I'll ever love someone the way I love Tiago, and I don't want to.
I don't want to move on from him, ever, but I need to change first.
'I want you to grow, but I feel like I've been holding you back.'
He shakes his head and looks at me with the most pained look ever.
'I can't grow without you, cara.'
Now I'm the one shaking my head, placing my hands on his chest.
I shouldn't be doing this. I shouldn't be touching him. It might confuse him more than it already is, but I can't help it.
'You can.'
'Neveah, please.' He gently grabs my face, pulling me closer, 'don't do this.'
'Two months.' He looks at me a little confused, 'We have a little over two months until the wedding, so let's make the most of it.'
'You expect me to let you go?' He mumbles, pressing his head against mine.
'I'm not expecting you to force me to stay here, so yes. I expect you to let us both grow.'
'Can't we grow together?'
I shake my head and feel him lean closer. 'We won't grow together. Not unless we've worked on ourselves separately.'
'And what if you find someone else?' The fact that he's considering it, makes me feel something inside. 'I won't ever find someone that will make me feel the way you do.'
He takes a deep breath and wraps his arms around me.
'I love you Tiago.' His arms tighten around me and he leans in close enough for our lips to touch.
'Two months it is.'
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A/N: LETSGOOOOO This chapter took LONG AS HELL... But okay.
I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH AND I CANT KEEP SAYING IT ENOUGH BUT I FREAKING LOVE YOU GUYYYYSSS
Thank you for being patient with me again, I know I'm suuupppeerrr slow lately and I'm SO sorry!
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, let me know in the comments and don't forget to vote! It keeps me motivated!
See you guys in the next chapter! Hope you have a blessed dayyyy!!!