“What?” Ben asked confused.

“You play college ball,” Romero turned to Sal, “right?”

Both Rose and Ben exhaled at the same time as Romero smirked. “Yeah, I play basketball at UC San Diego.” Ben smiled.

The guys weren’t as bad as Sofia had made it sound like they might be. There was a little teasing and some light-handed warnings about messing with someone in their family. Romero cracked his knuckles a few times, but otherwise it went well.

As Rose and Ben made their way through the guests, making small talk and answering some of the nosier questions from a few of Sal’s aunts, Rose stomach did that little thing it did when she saw Angel and Sarah walk out into the patio. But it was quickly squashed when she saw Lorenzo just behind them. Sarah smiled when her eyes met Rose’s then glanced curiously at Ben.

The moment Lorenzo spotted Ben, Rose knew—he remembered. Immediately she regretted not warning Ben that Lorenzo would be there because Lorenzo glared at him then at her, making no attempt to hide his distaste for what he was looking at.

Thankfully Angel and Sarah walked up to Rose, each hugging and congratulating her. Any pitter-pattering her heart would’ve normally done because of Angel was drowned out by the feeling of dread: dread that Lorenzo might actually say something to Ben.

“Thank you,” she said quickly. Even though Lorenzo had walked in a different direction and at this point showed no interest in meeting Ben, Rose was very aware that he hadn’t taken his eyes off them. She introduced Angel and Sarah to Ben. “You guys, this is my friend Ben.” She turned to Ben. “Ben this is Angel, Sal’s youngest brother and his wife, Sarah.”

A little annoyed at herself that she chickened out of referring to Ben as her boyfriend just because Lorenzo was within hearing distance, she continued the small talk pretending not to notice his heavy presence. He moved about the backyard a few times, but the entire time made it very clear he was watching them.

Everything had been going so smoothly up until he arrived. She’d finally relaxed enough and tried to enjoy herself. Now she couldn’t even think straight. This was ridiculous! And did he have to make it so obvious that he was watching her? He may as well have held up a sign that said, “I’m watching you with this ass**le, and I’m disgusted.” It was exactly the message his body language and facial expressions conveyed.

Finally unable to take his scrutiny, she decided to leave his sight at least for a few moments, so she excused herself to use the bathroom.

She was in there for just a few minutes. Looking at her reflection, she practiced her fake smiling a little and tried to shake off the discomfort brought on by Lorenzo being there.

Walking out of the bathroom and turning up the hallway, she was startled by Lorenzo’s voice behind her. “So how long did you actually wait after my brother left to start seeing this dick?” Rose spun around to face him. He was leaning his shoulder against the wall, arms crossed in front of him. “Or were you seeing him before Vince left?”

“No, if you recall, I’m not the one that messed things up between me and Vince,” she reminded him standing her ground.

He dropped his arms and pushed away from the wall: the very wall Vince had once kissed her so passionately against. “How long?”

“That’s none of your business,” she said trying to drown out the hurt that came with the memory of Vincent’s kisses.

“Oh, I think it is.” Lorenzo and Vince were one and the same when they were angry, and she saw it in Lorenzo’s eyes now. He was hot. “Because if that f**ker was pulling a fast one on my brother, messing with his girl even before he left, I’ll go out there right now and kick his ass.”

“No!” She gasped, knowing that from everything Vincent had told her about Lorenzo, she knew he’d have no qualms about making a scene even here. “It’s only been a few weeks.”

“You told Sofie he was your boyfriend at Uncle Sal’s party. It’s been longer than a few weeks, and even then she’d said it’d been months.”

His eyes were as piercing as Vincent’s, especially right now that he looked so determined to get to the truth. She knew he’d been listening that day; she just had no idea he’d been listening this closely. That alone told her one thing—Vincent knew. As adamant as Lorenzo was being now, she knew there was no way he hadn’t told his brother. Her heart ached, remembering her promise to Vincent that she’d belong to him and only him forever. He was now under the impression that she’d broken that promise when her irrational heart still secretly didn’t ever want to.

“It’d been months since I started talking to him again, and Sal and Grace had met him long ago because he and I went to high school together. But I’ve only been seeing him for a few weeks.” She lifted an eyebrow as she turned to walk away but stopped and added. “And it’s not even that serious.”

Angry that she’d given into her heart and added that last part in hopes that he’d make sure he told Vincent that, she started to walk away.

“Serious enough that you’d have him meet the whole family?”

Rose slowed but didn’t respond to that. She didn’t even turn around.

“He still loves you, Rose.”

Squeezing her eyes shut, she struggled to keep her composure but couldn’t even speak; she was so overwhelmed with emotion. She panicked when she opened her eyes and saw Grace walking toward her.