Vice, Virtue & Video: Devoted

by Bianca Giovanni

  “Yes, Theresa,” a sour voice says after the applause dies down, “we’re all very proud of our little girl marrying a porn star.”

  There are a few quiet murmurs and everyone turns their heads to see Lola’s dad, Kevin, standing at a table toward the back, holding a drink in his hand as he frowns at Lola. Oh, fuck! This could get ugly.

  “It’s such an honor to have your child grow up and marry into that,” he spits sarcastically.

  I take Lola’s hand and give it a squeeze when I hear her gulp. Her whole body language has changed, and now she’s tense and shy.

  “Kevin, sit the hell down!” Theresa scowls. “You’re behaving like an asshole at our daughter’s wedding, for Christ’s sake!”

  “Big surprise, I’m the bad guy again.” He laughs and rolls his eyes dismissively at her.

  “Dad, I think you should probably just sit down and be quiet,” Lola says with strained politeness. “Or maybe you should go on back to your room. This really isn’t the time or the place.”

  “I think it’s exactly the time and the place,” he refutes.

  “Asshole, sit the hell down,” Lola’s Uncle Pauly shouts from his table. Even Lola’s Nana, who’s sitting next to him, looks like she wants to spit on Kevin.

  I’m really surprised when I hear Joey’s voice saying, “Yeah, close your mouth and mind your business.”

  Kevin ignores them both and starts making his way up toward our table. Uncle Pauly stands up to follow him. Quietly, Alejandro gets up from the table and tags along, followed soon after by Chad and Jonathan. There are a group of dudes getting ready to surround Kevin like they’re Seal Team Six.

  “You happy for yourself?” Kevin says harshly to Lola when he gets a few feet from our table. “You happy that this is what you did with your life?”

  “Kevin, maybe you should go to your room and sleep it off,” I say sternly, standing up from the table and coming around to the front like I can block Lola from his rudeness.

  “Oh, I see,” he says as he gives me a squint, “now he’s a gentleman. A real gentleman. Trying to act proper when everyone knows what he really is.”

  “Dad, please don’t do this,” Lola says. Her words are shaky and I know she’s on the verge of tears.

  Pauly rubs his fist against his palm like he’s getting ready for a fight, and now Joey and even Ethan Dane have joined the perimeter of this huddle. Everyone knows Lola’s such a sweetheart, and Kevin’s being such a dick, that I’m genuinely concerned we’re about to see a fuckin’ brawl.

  “Come on, just tell me.” Kevin smirks at Lola, not noticing the gang closing in around him. “Are you proud of yourself? Do you think you’ve made good choices in your life, or did I just waste that college tuition money so you could go play house with a porn star?”

  Theresa moves to intercept, but I jump in first.

  “All right, Kevin, that’s enough!” I say, walking right up to him until I’m about six inches from his face.

  I’m so fuckin’ pissed off. What kind of an asshole does something like this to his daughter on her wedding day? What kind of prick starts making her feel ashamed of herself when she should be feeling like a princess?

  “James,” I hear Lola whisper and I feel her at my side as I stare down her dad. “It’s not worth it.”

  “Listen to her, Ron Jeremy.” Kevin snickers. “Why don’t you settle down and keep trying to convince all these people that you aren’t the trash we all know you are.”

  “Dad!” Lola says firmly. “Stop this right now! Shut your mouth and do not speak to him that way!”

  “Do you even realize you’re going to carry this around with you for the rest of your life, Lola?” he scoffs at her. “He’s trash. He’s filth. You want people to think you’re trash by association? Because they will.”

  “Kevin, you son of a bitch!” Theresa shouts. “Get the fuck out of here immediately! You will never speak to our daughter like that again!”

  Lola’s lip shakes and her eyes get watery. I squeeze her hand and try to give her strength, but she’s hanging on by a thread.

  “Ex-Excuse me for just a second,” she whispers, wiping a tear off her cheek and darting out of the room.

  “You happy now?” I growl at Kevin. “Happy that you made her cry? Happy that you made her feel like shit on what should be the happiest day of her life?”

  “Don’t take that tone with me! I’m her goddamn father!”

  “Then act like it!” I shout. “Jesus Christ! Just for once, be her fuckin’ father and stop treating her like shit!”

  “Watch it!” he scolds. “I don’t have to take this kind of crap from a little shit like you! Don’t try to take some moral high ground with me.”

  “Why would you do that to her? Why would you make her feel ashamed of anything? She’s a fuckin’ treasure, Kevin. She’s smart and kind and thoughtful. She’s generous and loyal. Everyone here, everyone in this room right now, we can all see it. Why can’t you?”

  “You brought her down.” He shakes his head at me. “Always knew you would. A goddamn porn star. She couldn’t have done any better? You’ve just gotten to her, probably filled her head with lies since she was a girl. You were bound to get her into trouble. Surprised you didn’t do this to her sooner.”

  “Kevin, I think it’s time for you to leave,” a voice says from behind me. It’s my mom and she looks fiercely angry.

  “Oh-ho-ho, the mother,” he says, laughing in her face.

  I step forward, and she puts her hand on my arm. She knows I am mere seconds away from knocking his drunk ass into next week if he doesn’t shut the fuck up. In fact, I think everyone knows I could snap at any second, and we’re teetering on the edge of a fuckin’ smackdown.

  “As a parent, I’m amazed that you would say such things to your child—especially a child as wonderful as Lola,” Mom politely argues. “How on earth would any parent not be proud of a girl like that? Why would you do this? What kind of a father deliberately hurts his own child? She’s such a wonderful person with such a wonderful heart.”

  “And now she’s married to a porn star,” he scoffs at me. “What’d you do, knock her up?”

  SLAP!

  Mom’s hand whips across Kevin’s face, and there are collective gasps from every mouth in the room.

  He grabs his cheek, and he looks totally shocked.

  “And you think my son is trash?” she says with a shake of her head.

  “You’re even worse than your goddamn son!” Kevin says furiously when he switches from shock to rage.

  Mom lunges at him and I go to step between them, but I notice that my dad has stood up from the table and he’s moving to break things up.

  A quick glance around reveals that the surrounding dudes are giving each other nods like they’re coordinating a strike. It’s about to pop off. If I stay here and a fight breaks out, I’ll probably get arrested for what I’ll do to Kevin. Back in the old days, I probably would have jumped at the chance to beat the hell out of a guy like that, but my priorities are different now.

  “I’m gonna go find Lola,” I say to my parents before turning back to Kevin. “You better be gone by the time I come back.”

  “Don’t you threaten me!”

  I step closer to him and stare him down. “You make my wife cry one more time and I’m gonna do a lot more than threaten you,” I say in a low whisper.

  I take off down the hallway and I spot the ladies room. I’d bet a hundred bucks that’s where she is. I couldn’t give two shits if anyone else is in there right now, so I push the door open and walk right in.

  The place is empty, but there are sniffles coming from the last stall in the back, so that’s where I go. The door is cracked and I push it open a little more to reveal my beautiful, broken angel sitting there wiping her nose with toilet paper and looking down at the floor while she cries.

  “Lola, baby, are you all right?” I softly ask her, stepping right in front of her.

  “I knew this w
as going to happen,” she says, shaking her head. “I knew he’d figure out a way to shit on this entire day.”

  “He didn’t shit on the whole day,” I reply, trying to brighten her mood. “Everything was beautiful at the ceremony, and he only turned into a total dick after he’d had a few drinks.”

  “I’m so sorry that he made a scene like that,” she apologizes, looking up at me with her mascara smeared all down her cheeks.

  “Don’t be sorry, babe,” I reply, putting my palm to her cheek. “It’s not your fault that your dad’s an asshole.”

  She laughs a little at that and nods her head.

  “And if you want to talk making a scene, you should have seen what went down after you ran out.” I grin. “I got all up in his face, then he said some shit about you probably being knocked up, and then my mom slapped him.”

  “Shut up!” she gasps as her eyes light up.

  “She did, dude,” I say, nodding proudly. “Right across the face.”

  “Oh, my God!” She laughs loudly.

  “I don’t think anybody could have predicted that. Even my dad looked surprised,” I recall. “She was ready to kick his ass for talking shit about you like that.”

  “Go, Brenda!” she says, smiling again. There’s happiness returning to her eyes, and I’m really glad about that.

  “I didn’t think he was going to make it out of there alive,” I joke. “Everyone in the room looked like they wanted to tear him to shreds. I swear, your Uncle Pauly was about to slit Kevin’s throat. Fuckin’ Alejandro, Chad, Jonathan, Joey, even Ethan had him surrounded, and I’m guessing they all ‘escorted’ him out of the ballroom. They might be tag-team kicking his ass right now. I just hope nobody has to call the cops at any point tonight. But you’ll be happy to know that I behaved,” I playfully boast. “I walked away. I’m not gonna spend my wedding night in a jail cell.”

  Now she laughs hard and gives me an appreciative smile.

  “Come on, let’s get out of this stall,” I say, reaching out for her hand.

  She takes it, and we walk toward the sinks. Her eyes shoot open wide when she sees her reflection in the mirror.

  “Oh, shit!” she murmurs to herself. “Well, there goes that makeup job.”

  I laugh and stand behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist. “Who cares?” I smile and kiss the top of her head.

  “Look at me!” she says, chuckling. “I look like I woke up on the floor of Kesha’s tour bus!”

  I crack up laughing, and I rest my chin on the top of her head as she looks on in horror, touching her drippy mascara and smudged lipstick.

  “Take it off, then,” I say with just a hint more sexiness than I meant.

  She shoots me a little smirk through the mirror.

  “I meant your makeup,” I clarify with a chuckle.

  She reaches for the paper towels and starts wiping the smeared makeup off. The dark tracks of her mascara-stained tears disappear. She tries to salvage it, but the shiny gloss of her lipstick is smeared, so it goes next. She manages to smudge her cheeks enough to erase her tear tracks, but most of her elaborate makeup is gone. Aside from a little bit of eye shadow, she’s au naturel, and she looks radiant.

  “I like you better like this anyway.” I rotate her hips so she’s facing me. “You’re beautiful, with or without makeup.”

  She gives me a cute, bashful smile, and I take her head in my hands and kiss her forehead.

  “Will you come back to the party with me, cupcake?” I softly ask her.

  “I can’t go back there after what happened,” she quietly replies, looking down in embarrassment.

  “Sure you can. Everyone there knows your dad was a dick and that he was the one who was wrong. They’re all waiting for you to come back and make your triumphant return.”

  “But look at me,” she protests. “I’m a mess.”

  “No you’re not.” I laugh as I shake my head. “You’re gorgeous. You’re always gorgeous, but you’re extra gorgeous tonight because you’re my beautiful bride.”

  Another adorably bashful smile and I see her cheeks start to get rosy.

  “Come back there with me, hmm?” I whisper to her, pulling her into my body. “Don’t let that asshole win. This is your night and you should enjoy it. Besides, I didn’t go through all this wedding shit to not be able to share a dance with my wife.”

  She laughs in that wonderfully sweet giggle of hers and she nods. “Okay, James.”

  “Good.” I smile back at her, happy to have cheered her up after the fuckin’ shitshow that Kevin sprang on her.

  I lean down and give her a tender kiss before I take her hand, and we walk out of the bathroom into the hallway.

  We’ve only taken a few steps when I see my dad come around the corner. He clips over to us and immediately scoops Lola up in a hug.

  “Are you all right, sweetheart?” he asks her.

  “Yeah, I’m okay,” she replies, though she still sounds a little worn down by this whole Kevin episode.

  “I don’t want to be rude, but your father’s a real son of a bitch,” he says.

  “Oh, I agree with you there.” She laughs and he gives her shoulder a squeeze.

  “Your husband over here was about to knock him into next week,” he adds as he points to me. “Don’t think anybody would have stopped him if he did, though. He deserved it, that bastard.”

  She nods in agreement.

  “Brenda really let him have it,” Dad says, chuckling. “Slapped him right across the face like something out of a soap opera.”

  “That’s what James told me.” Lola giggles and nods to me. “Brenda’s become quite the badass.”

  “You have no idea!” Dad says with a big hearty laugh. “She wasn’t about to let him get away with spoiling your special day, sweetheart. Took matters into her own hands.”

  There’s bubbly, adorable laughter from Lola, and I look at her lovingly. Yes, angel, be happy. Don’t let anybody take that away from you, even for a second.

  “Honestly, I thought James was going to lay his ass out.” Dad grins at me. “Weren’t you, boy? There was a minute where I really thought there were going to be some fists flying.”

  I shrug, but I nod. It’s true, if Kevin had pushed me just a tiny bit further, I would have beat the crap out of him right there in front of everyone. Nobody makes Lola cry, especially on her wedding day.

  “He loves you, honey,” Dad says after giving me an approving smile before turning back to Lola. “Always has, I think. You got yourself a lifelong protector in my son.”

  “Don’t I know it!” She grins up at me.

  “Proud of you, boy,” Dad says with a smile, patting my shoulder.

  Lola’s jaw drops for a second, but she quickly recovers.

  “You’ve grown into a good man. Turned out all right,” he adds, trying to play off just how monumental this is for me.

  “Thanks, Dad,” I reply. My voice is sort of muted because I’m a little bit in shock. My dad just said he was proud of me. My dad, who’s never been proud of me in my entire fuckin’ life, said he’s proud of me right now.

  “You better hurry back, sweetheart,” he says to Lola, still trying to ignore the weight in those words. “I believe you owe me a dance tonight.”

  She blushes and nods before the three of us head back to the ballroom.

  Chapter 22

  Lola

  THE SECOND WE’RE IN THE DOORWAY, all heads turn to us and I feel like someone just shined a spotlight on me. It’s silent in here—pin-drop silent. I look like shit, my makeup is virtually nonexistent, my dress is probably wrinkled, and my hair has seen better days. I hate that everyone’s gaping at me like this.

  James takes my hand and raises it up like he’s declaring me a champion, and everyone laughs before they start applauding.

  I look up at him through my shy giggles, and he gives me a wink before leading me back to our table through the smiling crowd.

  I laugh to myself at how Jonathan, C
had, Alejandro, Uncle Pauly, Joey, and Ethan are all standing in a circle chatting. Apparently almost kicking my dad’s ass was quite the bonding experience for them. My uncle, three porn stars, James’s smart-ass childhood friend, and his jackass brother, all getting along like they’re in some kind of secret society. Everyone goes back to chatting, and things feel surprisingly mellow.

  My Nana comes up to me and takes both of my hands. “He’s a chickenshit excuse for a father, honey,” she says. “You don’t need that son of a bitch in your life.”

  “I agree with you there,” I say, chuckling.

  “If he shows his face again, I’ll take a page from James’s mother’s book and slap the bastard myself.”

  The funny thing is, she totally would. My Uncle Pauly didn’t get his hair trigger from my Nanu. It’s Nana who’s the hotheaded one.

  She kisses me and then looks up at James, raising her hand to pat his cheek a few times. I can tell in that moment that she understands exactly what he did for a living, but that she couldn’t care less. Everyone in my family has accepted James with open arms, so my father can kiss my ass.

  We get to the cake cutting part of the evening, and I give James a warning look when we each take a piece to feed to each other. Fingers plus mouths could be a sexy combination, but we need to cool it on the steaminess.

  “Be good.” I smirk, reaching up to feed him his bite.

  He leans down and pops my fingers in his mouth, licking all the frosting off. It’s cute, but it’s also kind of sexy, and I can feel my cheeks turning pink, seeing as how we’re standing in front of our friends and family members.

  “Here we go, baby,” he whispers before grins at me as he takes his piece and lowers it to my lips. Clearly he’s heeded my silent warning, because he gently feeds me the cake, making no attempt to sexualize the gesture.

  The second his hand leaves my mouth, he swiftly pulls me in for a kiss. I’m laughing at his playfulness, but also at the way he just took charge. He’s keeping it PG-13, even if the subtext says he’s quite eager for the wedding night.