Inceptive

by M. D. Melai

  “Yes, he was, but Roscoe, the weekend manager at the club, called him right before he was supposed to head over here. He told Lucas his wife was sick and she didn’t have the strength to handle the kids on her own. So Lucas offered to take his shift since Emilio is part of the wedding party and needed to be here tonight.”

  “Are you upset?” she asked as her eyebrows creased.

  “Yes, and no. I was really looking forward to seeing him tonight, but I was dreading having both Emilio and Lucas in the same place—it would be so awkward. How they work together, I have no idea.”

  “I can understand that,” Elle said as we stepped off the last step and turned towards the living room.

  Emilio was standing in the middle of the living room with Lorenzo, Paolo, and a couple other guys I had seen on more than one occasion. I didn’t even have to ask. I already knew this was the security team Emilio had assembled for the night.

  “Let’s have a safe evening tonight. Report anything to me immediately,” Emilio said, before dismissing the group.

  He looked as handsome as ever tonight in a red short sleeved collared shirt, black dress pants, and a white belt. His face lit up, and a huge smile spread across his face the moment he caught sight of me.

  I was about to say something to him when the doorbell rang. Everyone was starting to arrive. My brothers and their families, my mother, Violet’s family, and our friends started filing into the house and backyard. Tonight was going to be awesome!

  When the call finally came that Dante and Violet were only fifteen minutes out, everyone started to get excited. The house looked festive, the food smelt amazing, and Dante and Violet were about to be surrounded by everyone who loved them.

  When we heard the alarm for the front gate, everyone went into the house to find a place to hide. I knew as soon as Dante and Violet saw all the cars outside, they would know something was up, but an engagement party would probably be the last thing on their mind.

  Emilio looked out the kitchen door, and when he saw them pull into the garage, he ran and hunched down beside me on the other side of the bar. He was excited, and it showed in his eyes. It made me wonder what he was thinking.

  “Here they come,” he whispered to me.

  “I wonder what’s going on?” Violet asked with concern in her voice as soon as the door opened.

  “I don’t know. Hopefully Emilio didn’t kill Lily,” Dante laughed, “or vice versa.”

  I thought that now was a good time to pop up, and apparently, everyone else did too.

  “Surprise!” everyone yelled in unison.

  Violet and Dante both jumped.

  “Welcome to your engagement party,” I said, walking up to them.

  “What?” Violet said surprised. “How did you do this without me knowing?”

  I laughed, because it was hard to hide this from her. “Elle helped me.”

  “Wow, thank you so much, Lily,” Dante said before he gave me a hug and went to start greeting guests.

  “Yes, thank you,” Violet said, still shocked. I was pretty sure we scared her, and she was trying to regain her composure.

  “You’re welcome,” I said, giving her a hug. “You and Dante are perfect together. You deserve this. Plus, look who I flew in,” I said, pointing towards her family.

  She squealed as soon as she spotted her family, and ran straight towards them. Her mother, father, and brothers had flown in, as well as her aunt, uncle, and cousins. It had been a while since she had seen them, and since Violet didn’t have any sisters or close girlfriends, her female cousins would make up the rest of her bridesmaids.

  All was right in that moment.

  ***

  Everything about the party was perfect. The food was amazing, the music was rocking, and everyone was having a great time. Dante and Violet looked so happy. I was standing beside my mother, watching them dance.

  “You know he hasn’t taken his eyes off of you tonight,” my mother said, nudging my arm.

  “Who?” I asked, dragging my eyes from Dante and Violet to her.

  “Emilio,” she said, nodding her head in his direction.

  I followed her gaze, and sure enough, there he was, talking to Benito. He smiled at me as soon as our eyes met.

  “I talked to him earlier, you know?” my mother said.

  “You did? What did he say?”

  “A lot.”

  “Care to elaborate?” I asked, still looking at him.

  “No, but I’m glad you two are on good terms again.”

  “Me too,” I said, turning towards her.

  “You know I am unbiased when it comes to your love life, right?”

  “Yes,” I said a little confused.

  “Here is some motherly advice for you. Be careful. I see the way he looks at you, and the way you look at him. Make sure before you choose between the two, you know your own heart first,” she said, kissing my cheek and leaving me standing there stunned.

  I couldn’t retort even if I wanted to. She was right, though, and I had known it for a while. I had to be, without a shadow of a doubt, clear on which one I wanted… now if my heart would just remember that, it would help out a lot.

  I stood there a while longer and just watched Emilio. He kept sneaking glances at me, and then would go right back into conversation. At one point, I finally started to mingle again. I moved slightly to the right, and when he looked up for a second, I caught a slight glimpse of panic in his eyes. Seconds later, relief flooded his face as he found me. I gave him a teasing smirk as he shook his head at me and smiled.

  The dance floor started filling with people as the sun started to set and the outside lights shined brighter. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Emilio approached Gabriella and me.

  “Dance with me?” he asked, holding his hand out to me as a slow song started to play.

  I took his hand as I excused myself and let him lead me to the dance floor. He spun me around before he pulled me in close. Out of habit, I instantly laid my head on his shoulder as we swayed to the song that was playing. He still smelt wonderful, even after being outside for a couple of hours now. I closed my eyes and just took in the moment with him.

  After the song ended and another one started, I finally looked up at him. My heart stopped. If I could have taken a picture of him in that moment, then I would have. He looked so happy and content.

  “You looked like you needed some help earlier,” Emilio finally spoke.

  “Umm, help?” I asked confused.

  “Yes, with Gabby,” he said, averting his eyes to where I had been earlier.

  “I did. Thank you,” I laughed.

  Emilio laughed lightly back.

  I continued. “It’s just weird, you know—knowing everything. I love Gabby, but I’m very grateful that she didn’t raise me.”

  “I can understand that.” He smiled genuinely at me. “She’s a little bit… higher maintenance than you and Rosaria.”

  I nodded in agreement—that was an understatement.

  “Emilio,” I whispered, trying to decide what to talk about next.

  His stormy gray eyes lowered to lock on mine. It was like he could sense my inner thoughts and he quickly spoke up. “Did I tell you how beautiful you looked tonight?”

  “No,” I said shyly. “Thank you, though—you don’t look so bad yourself.”

  He slowly placed his hand on my face, his thumb caressing the scar on my cheek. It was the first time he had done that in months. My breath hitched, and my heart felt like it stopped as he leaned down, placed his forehead on mine, and looked deep into my eyes. He was so close I could feel his breath against my lips.

  “Lily,” he exhaled out. I knew, in that moment, he was about to kiss me.

  Just about the time his lips were about to touch mine, Elle’s voice rang out of the speakers. We both jumped and our foreheads collided.

  “Ouch!” I said, rubbing my head, about the time Elle was instructing everyone that the fireworks would begin soon.
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  “Come on,” I said, grabbing Emilio’s hand, trying to avoid an uncomfortable conversation about what just happened. “We better hurry up or we won’t get a good seat!”

  We found a double lounger in the middle of the group that was still vacant. Dante and Violet fell into the one next to us. She looked at me, raised her eyebrows up and down, and displayed the silliest grin I’d ever seen on her face. She had seen what happened between me and Emilio. I knew just by the way she was looking at us. Leave it to Violet to make me feel embarrassed.

  As I laid there next to Emilio, I couldn’t help but think about the engagement party I would someday have. I would love to have one just like this one, but different—maybe one day. The only thing I wasn’t sure of was who the groom would be.

  The fireworks were magnificent. They lit up the sky with some of the most beautiful colors I had ever seen. It felt like they were so close I could reach up and touch them.

  Every now and then, there would be an outline of a purple heart. It made my heart flutter at the sight of it. Lucas was the one who designed the firework show, and it made me happy knowing that he put in something special for me, since those were my favorite. I was surprised that he had remembered that. I had only told him once that they were my favorite—it was the night of our first date.

  As soon as the fireworks picked up pace, I knew that this was the finale, and that was when I realized that Emilio had taken my hand at some point, because he was stroking it. I turned to look at him once I noticed, and he was staring straight at me.

  “Isn’t the view beautiful?” I asked, smiling at him.

  “Yes,” he said, smiling back at me, never taking his eyes off of me, “it most definitely is.”

  Chapter 9

  “I’m getting married on Saturday…” Violet said—the recognition on her face was apparent. Not even a light day lounging around the house working could make her less stressed. Ever since her engagement party, she hadn’t stopped worrying about every detail, especially when she realized how close the wedding was. Even though that was over a month ago, her nerves hadn’t weakened, but had only grown stronger. She wanted everything to be perfect.

  Elle looked up from her sketches and stared straight at me. Her knowing glare told me that it was my turn to calm Violet down. Elle and I had been trading off on who would comfort her when her anxiety attacks happened.

  “Hell yeah you are!” Dante shouted from the living room.

  “Not helpful, Dante!” I shouted back before I made my way to Violet’s side. “I think I know something that might help ease some of your tension.”

  “Oh yeah. What’s that?” Violet said sarcastically.

  “Follow me,” I said as I turned on my heel and headed to the garage door. “Elle, do you mind cleaning up? We’re done working for the day.”

  “Sure,” she replied.

  “It’s only noon, and we still have a lot to finish up,” Violet retorted.

  “And we’ll get to it on Monday. Work is putting extra unnecessary stress on you. If there is an emergency, then Elle or I will take care of it. You just need to concentrate on not stressing before you give yourself a heart attack. We’ll be back later,” I yelled at Dante and Elle.

  My keys were on the hook, so I quickly grabbed them and unlocked my car. Violet looked confused as she got into the passenger seat. She didn’t ask me where we were going, but I had the perfect spot in mind. Hopefully it would help her as much as it had helped me in the past.

  I drove us for a while, before reaching my place of serenity: the beach. It had been so long since I had been at this beach. The one in Barcelona was a lot more beautiful, but this one would do.

  The beach was a place that I always went to when I was feeling stressed, smothered, or just wanted to run away. I was hoping that it might have the same effect on Violet as it did on me.

  “What are we doing at the beach?” she asked.

  “We’re going to relax, and if you want to, run. This is your escape away from anything and everything wedding related. It’s a stress-free zone.”

  “Thanks, Lil,” she replied. “Running sounds amazing right now.”

  “Then off we go,” I said as I started on a light jog down to the beach.

  Violet and I ran for a while before we found our turnaround point and headed back. The breeze felt amazing and the weather was slowly starting to get cooler at night.

  After our run, we decided to go to a small coffee shop not too far away from the beach. For a moment, it reminded me of my first time meeting Nikolas at the beach and how we went for coffee afterwards. I was thankful this was a different beach and a different coffee shop.

  Violet and I spent a few hours in the shop doing nothing but talking. I let her vent about everything. It was my duty as maid of honor and best friend to soothe some of her stress, and sometimes the best way to do that was to just listen.

  “I know that I may be overreacting, but I just want this day to be perfect. A girl only gets this once in a lifetime—at least I’m planning on only doing this once. It just would be great if it was exactly the way I always dreamed it would be.”

  “It is going to be what you always wanted, I can promise you that. If I have anything to do with it, then it’ll be better than anything you could ever imagine.”

  “I know. I just don’t want to put too much strain on you either. No offense, but you’re already strung out enough.”

  “True, but I’m definitely okay with being strung out even more. I’m okay pushing my problems to the side for one day. Trust me, I’ve had a lot of practice doing that.”

  “So nowhere closer on your decision, huh?” she asked.

  “Sadly, no,” I replied. “Each time I think I’m leaning one way, the other does something and I’m torn again.”

  “That’s what happens when you have two amazing men fighting for you,” she replied. “And not that I would want it to happen, but I hope I get to see the day that they are literally fighting over you—verbally, I mean.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Well, you know, if you three are in one room and they’re like ‘pick me,’ ‘no, pick me!’ I don’t know, I just thought it would be funny to watch.”

  “So my misery is that entertaining to you?”

  “Some days it is, but mostly, I feel bad. I hate to see you like this, Lil, which is why I'm praying for the day where you make your decision.”

  “Well, I’ve already came to the conclusion that my heart has to be a hundred percent on who I choose, and that there would be no looking back or wondering what could have been.”

  “Do you really think it will be that easy?” she asked.

  “I hope so,” I replied.

  We talked for a little while longer, and as the time went by, we knew that we needed to head back to the house. The sun was starting to set as we made our way back to my car.

  I could tell that our run, talk, and time away from all things wedding related had done Violet some good. Her whole demeanor had changed, and she definitely seemed more at ease. It was probably due to the fact that she had found her soulmate, and felt good knowing how lucky she was.

  “So, the beach, running, and talking…was it good or bad thing?” I asked.

  “Definitely a good thing,” she replied.

  “Good,” I said. “All better?”

  “Yes, just have to take one anxiety attack at a time.”

  “Well, if you feel another one approaching, then just let me know.”

  “Deal,” she said as I started the car and headed home.

  As we pulled into the driveway, my excitement could hardly be contained. Elle and I had done it again—we had kept a secret from Violet. There were a few cars in front of the house, and Dante and Emilio were already gone. They were having a night equivalent to ours.

  When we walked into the house, all of the lights were turned off, except a pink light emitting from the living room.

  “What’s going on?” Violet
asked as she turned toward me. I couldn’t refrain from the smile that spread across my face.

  All of the lights popped on, and Elle and Violet’s cousins came out from the office.

  “Oh my gosh. What are you all doing here? Again,” Violet said as she made her way over and hugged each of her cousins.

  “Did you really think we would miss your bachelorette party?” her cousin Liz said.

  “My what?” Violet said as a grin climbed up her face. She turned in my direction and gave me a questionable look. “So, the whole running thing was just to get me out of the house so they could set up my bachelorette party?”

  “Yes…and no. It was the plan to get you out of the house so they could, but I would have done it anyways. You really needed it.”

  “You’re seriously the best, Lil,” she said as she hugged me and turned to face the others. “All of you are. So, where are the strippers?”

  “I told you she would like them,” Elle said with a pouty face. I just shook my head.

  “I was kidding,” Violet laughed. “Now, let’s get this party started!”

  We showed Violet around the house. They completely cleared out the living room, and it had been replaced with six massage chairs. Six nail technicians were standing beside each one, along with our own foot massage water spa tubs.

  There was a table set up with snacks and drinks on it. We had a chocolate fountain brought in and there were strawberries and marshmallows to cover. There were also champagne glasses that had each of our names on it with a glitter trim. Elle and I had bought all of the ingredients to make cosmos, since they were Violet’s favorite.

  None of us wasted anytime as we all headed upstairs and changed into our robes. Hannah, Violet’s other cousin, was our drink mixer for the evening. As we all sat in our chairs she handed us each a drink before she made her way to her chair.

  All of us girls talked and gossiped as we got our nails done. It was wonderful being home and getting the full treatment. I liked being able to sit and have a conversation without everyone else in the nail salon listening in. If it didn’t cost so much, then I would have this done every time I needed my nails done.