Page 6 of Chaos & Corruption

I hate him.

I seriously hate him.

“She won’t be needing anything,” Dad grinds out. He steps away from the television and crosses his massive arms against his chest. His blue eyes glare at the guy in the doorway and his jaw clenches. “Victoria is fully capable of taking care of herself. She’s a trained boxer.”

Um…

Wrong kid.

Sure, I can throw a punch and maybe even dropkick someone who tries to assault me, but there’s only one boxer in the family and newsflash—it’s not me.

“Slow your roll, Bianci. Your daughter might have a mean right hook, but a girl as pretty as yours can never have too many friends in her corner,” Uncle Riggs says, flashing Alex a grin. “She’s pretty, right?”

My cheeks flame as he elbows the poor guy.

Someone please make him stop.

Grandma Maria!

She’s usually quick to put an end to Uncle Riggs’ shenanigans with a nice thwack to the head. My aunts unpacked the pots and pans, there’s got to be a frying pan lying around here somewhere. I’m about to go and search for one when Uncle Loose Lips continues to embarrass me.

“I mean look at all that long brown hair and did you check out her eyes? She’s got something for everyone. If you’re in the mood for a blue-eye feline, she’s got one of those. Feeling like brown, she’s got one of those too! Victoria is the cat’s meow!”

Kill me.

“I’m going to kill him,” Dad hisses, uncrossing his arms.

Yes, please and thank you.

Alex studies him for another moment, watching as my uncle takes another massive bite of his pizza, then his eyes flit to me. The disgruntled expression on his face morphs into one full of curiosity and the longer he stares the more compelled I feel to speak.

“I’m sorry about him,” I mutter.

“Sorry—”

“Riggs, shut it,” Aunt Lauren warns.

Alex continues to stare at me for another minute. Then he removes his hat and pushes his fingers roughly through his hair. Turning the hat around, he fits it back to his head and looks back at my uncle.

“Can I go now?”

“Just a sec,” Uncle Riggs replies, shoving the pizza box at him. Alex takes it from him as my uncle reaches into his kutte and pulls out his phone. Sucking some sauce from his thumb, he lifts his eyes to Alex. “What’s your number?”

I glance around the room expecting someone to object and put an end to this craziness, but they all stare at Alex expectantly . . .even my father!Clearly, they’ve all lost whatever sense they had left. There is no hope.

“Seven, one, eight, nine, eight, seven, three, three, two, one.”

My gaze darts back to Alex and I raise an eyebrow.

“Now, can I go?” he grunts.

Uncle Riggs smacks his thumb against his screen and a second later Alex’s phone starts to ring inside his gray sweats. He fishes it out of his pocket and waves it in front of Riggs.

“Had to check and make sure you weren’t giving me a fugazi number,” Uncle Riggs explains cheekily. “Now, you can go.” He takes the pizza box from Alex. “Oh, and thanks for the grub, man.”

Alex’s fist closes around his phone and his eyes slide back to me for a split second before he turns and disappears down the hallway. Shrugging his shoulders, Uncle Riggs kicks the door shut and holds up the pizza box.

“Who’s hungry?”

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