Save Me

Chapter 19

"Gross," Romeo states from behind me, and I land back onto my feet when Axel and I pull apart.

Turning to face my brother along with Mika and Alexi, flipping my brother off for his comment with a smirk; "Fuck off, Romeo. Find yourself someone to fuck, so you'll stop being such a pain in the ass."

Alexi, Mika, and Axel laugh at Romeo's scowl while he grumbles under his breath about me being a pain in the ass, too. The five of us walk into the living room, joining Da and Lucca, and Da's turned 'Bluey' on for my son.

Moving to sit on the couch, Axel stops me with his hand on my upper arm, and when I give him a curious look, he just grins. He settles himself on the edge of the couch closest to Da and Lucca, and pulls me down to sit on his lap sideways. Smiling at him with a fond shake of my head at his action, I love it though.

Lucca squeaks loudly when he notices Axel's here, and he instantly climbs off Da's lap, to crawl onto the couch in between Axel and Romeo. Lucca wraps his arms around Axel's neck, and Axel wraps his arm around Lucca's waist with a gentle squeeze.

"Hello, Lucca," Axel softly greets with a fond smile. "Happy birthday, buddy!"

"Fanks!" Lucca giggles into Axel's neck with a tiny squeeze of his own, and I can feel eyes upon us, and I'm positive without looking that it's everyone else in the room with us.

Leaving for 'Wacky Wally's' a few hours later, I grab Lucca's cake, and his presents from Axel and I are already loaded in the trunk of my vehicle. Axel places the cake on the floor behind the front passenger seat while I buckle Lucca into his car seat. We settle into the front seats, and I drive us to the location of the party. Turning the radio volume down to a comfortable level, so it's quiet background noise while we chat the twenty minutes.

"Hey, my parents were wondering if you'd like to come to a family dinner this upcoming weekend on Sunday?" Axel asks a few minutes into the drive, and he sounds hesitant.

Chewing on my lower lip as I think over his question, and I've met his parents twice so far, and they've been very nice and friendly, but those were short meetups, and not a family dinner; "Sure, that sounds lovely. What time and where? What shall Lucca and I bring to the family dinner?"

"Really?" Axel eagerly replies, and I hum in agreement with a quick nod of my head. "Um, dinner's at my parents house at six. Um, I'll let you know if they want you and Lucca to bring anything to dinner, but if I had to make a guess, you won't need to bring any for dinner. I'm glad you and Lucca are gonna come!"

"Of course we'll come, love," I reply with a soft smile. "The couple of times that we've been around your parents, they've been lovely to Lucca and me."

"They really liked you and Lucca," he answers, and I can hear the sincerity in his tone, and that makes me feel better about attending his family dinner. "Thank you for agreeing to this, baby."

"Of course, you spend time with my family, and they adore you, so why wouldn't Lucca and me do the same?" I answer, flashing him a quick smile before focusing on the road again.

Pulling into the parking lot and parking, I lean over the armrest to give Axel a tender kiss before getting ourselves and a very excited Lucca out, along with his cake and gifts. Heading inside, I speak to an employee, and she shows us to the section that's been blocked off, that's been prepared for the party. Placing the cake and gifts down onto two different, small tables, before looking around at what the employees did for the setup, and I'm impressed and happy with what they've done. Da, Papa, Romeo, Alexi and Mika arrive a few minutes later, and by the time the party starts thirty minutes later, everyone we've invited has arrived, which surprises me because normally not everyone comes that are invited to whatever the activity is.

Lucca and the other kids run around playing the available games as us adults wander around with them, talking among ourselves and playing with the kids, too. Yes, those of us who are in the Mafia are carrying our guns, but these are in the holsters, and are tucked under our shirts. While I'm off to the side speaking with Papa and Da, I can feel eyes upon us, so I discreetly glance around the interior to find who is watching us, and I find Mika and Alexi watching me and Axel and Lucca, who are a few feet from us.

"Everything okay, son?" Papa questions when he notices my scanning the room.

Nodding, I assure him everything is fine, but he doesn't seem to believe me because his and Da's gazes land on Alexi and Mika, and they realize they're watching Axel, Lucca and me.

"That's strange, why are they watching the three of you?" Papa questions, and by his tone, I can tell he doesn't understand why they're doing this.

"I have no idea, Papa," I answer with a quick shrug of my shoulders. "Maybe they're just making sure nothing happens to Lucca while we're here."

"Perhaps," Da answers, and I don't miss the look that Da gives Papa.

"What do you know that I don't?" I ask them, my heart rate picking up slightly as the anxiety starts to build in my body.

Papa and Da sigh softly before Da answers with a soft expression; "Alexi and Mika don't trust Axel, but he's never given them a reason to not trust him. Hell, they both know that he works for us, and that before we hire anyone to work our business, we do an extensive background check, and obviously Axel's passed because we hired him."

"Well, I appreciate they're concern, it's not their place to watch him," I softly answer, looking at my boyfriend and son playing a game together. "Like you said, he passed the full background check, and if I didn't trust him, I wouldn't have allowed him to meet my son, let alone be around him."