Sweet Caroline

#56 That escalated quickly

Gina gasps when Nathan gets up from his chair, towering over all of us. "What the fuck, Angelo? What did you say to her?"

Jillian and Gina try to calm down the men, but Nathan and Angelo are both spitting fire. Angelo gets up from the sofa as well, looking just as menacing even though he has to look up to meet Nathan's gaze.

"I don't care if you want to fuck her," he hisses, gesturing at me. "I get it, she's young and hot. I'm not saying you don't deserve a treat like that every once in a while, but why the fuck did you bring that slut into my house?"

"If you call her that one more time, we're going to have to step outside," Nathan yells, his hands balling into fists. "Don't you dare talk about my girlfriend like that!"

"Nathan," I say soothingly, pulling at his shirt to get his attention. This was a mistake. I should have just pretended that nothing was going on and use this weekend to gain Angelo's respect. Now I've fucked up everything. "Sit back down. It's okay."

"It sure as hell is not okay," Gina says, standing up and grabbing Angelo by the back of his neck. "You. Me. Kitchen. Now."

She all but drags him away from us, letting out a stream of curse words. Gina way be small and nothing but nice to me, but I have a feeling I am going to see the fire in her veins that Nathan told me about. The minute they are out of sight, Gina starts yelling at Angelo in Italian. I have no idea what she's saying to him, but she sure sounds pissed. Angelo replies just as angrily, his voice low and menacing. He's speaking Italian as well, making it impossible for me to know what they are talking about. The only thing I understand is my name, that comes up every other sentence.

"Well, that escalated quickly," Sean says, grinning despite everything. "I guess I owe you twenty dollars, Jill."

His wife laughs along. "Yeah, I can't believe you thought Angelo would be calm and collected for an entire evening."

I feel horrible and I open my mouth to say as much, to apologize even, but Jillian won't let me.

"This is not about you, Caroline," she assures me. "You did nothing wrong. He's just very protective of Nate. He's been this way ever since Nathan got out of prison twenty years ago and it's gotten worse every time Elise fucked him over. The fact that you actually bite back doesn't help, of course."

"Yeah, I should have just kept my mouth shut," I say with a sigh. "Sorry."

Nathan shakes his head and sits back down so he can put a hand on my knee. "Don't you dare apologize, honey. He never should have said that to you. And I swear I will punch him right is his smug face if he ever treats you like that again."

"That won't be necessary," Gina's voice sounds from behind us. "I told Angel to go and have a cigarette and to not come back until he's calmed down. This won't happen again, not on my watch."

Honestly, I could use a cigarette as well, but I know that I shouldn't smoke just because I'm stressed. Besides, going out and talking to Angelo would definitely not be a smart move. Instead, I just sit there, listening to the others talk about their kids. There is still some tension in the room, but Nathan has calmed down enough to smile again, so I guess I should try to relax as well.

Angelo takes half an hour to show his face again and he doesn't so much as look at me when he sits back down next to his wife. He drowns his beer and puts an arm around Gina, smiling when she leans into him while she tells a story about their son. It's insane how sweet they look together, even though they were just yelling at each other. If I hadn't seen and heard it myself, I never would have believed that Nathan hadn't been exaggerating when he told me about these two.