Dive In

Chapter 13

•Nolani•

"Is Giovanni always this fun to be around?" I ask Leo with a huff.

"Oh yeah, he's the life of the party." He laughs and takes a seat on the couch beside me. "He wasn't this bad before Raf died but Raf was also shouldering all the responsibilities being the head of our family brings. G took me to get my first tattoo when I turned eighteen, he helped me supply my friends with alcohol when I was underage. He's the only one that encouraged me to go to college and become a surgeon like I wanted, even when Pops showed his disappointment in my career choice. Death changes people."

I nod, my gaze focused on my hands. "It does."

My mom was a horrible parent but losing her hurt, I can't imagine losing someone you actually cared about like they seem to care about Rafael.

Leo rises from the couch and offers me his hand. "Come on, I'll show you the guest rooms and let you pick one." I take his hand and he gives me a small reassuring smile. "I swear it's not as bad as it seems. G's easy to live with, he's hardly ever even here."

I don't know which is worse, being lonely in Giovanni's house or being alone with Giovanni in his house.

Leo shows me the guest rooms just as he said he would. They all pretty much look identical so I go with one that has an en suite and a nice view of the backyard. I push the thick curtains open letting the sun illuminate the room. My bedroom at home is open, bright and femininely decorated, I already miss it.

I gaze out the window at the beautiful neighborhood Giovanni's home resides in. There's a line of trees surrounding the edge of the backyard filled with leaves that are changing colors as fall approaches rapidly. There's a rectangular shaped inground pool surrounded by a tiled deck with lounge chairs placed along one side and a stone waterfall on the other. The grass is trimmed neatly, a flower bed is bursting with bloomed flowers lining the side of the deck, spilling over onto
the dark gray tiles and brightening up the area. The house next door is a good distance away from Giovanni's giving the backyard plenty of privacy so I won't have to worry about having my picture taken if I try to go swimming.

Something soft brushes against my leg and I jump with a gasp, my eyes flicking to the floor as a black ball of fluff darts into the en suite.

Leo chuckles from behind me and walks into the en suite, turning the light switch on as he enters. I follow him inside to see a black cat with large green eyes and a missing ear perched by the sink licking its paw. It glances over at us and pauses it's grooming, it's tailing flicking behind it.

Leo picks the cat up and it squirms in protest until he places it on the floor so it can run off. "That's Hades, she's sweet when she wants to be. Giovanni found her in the alley behind our family restaurant. Her head was bloody and she wasn't moving, he swears she was dead but when he picked her up she freaked out. She bit him and tried to get away but was too weak to even hold her head up much less fight him. He took her to the vet and she got her head stitched up where her ear should've been. After the vet checked her out and monitored her for twenty-four hours Giovanni took her home and she's been here ever since."

"Wow, how human of him." I mutter.

I can't say I ever pictured Giovanni being a cat person.

"That was before Raf died. Like I said he was different." Leo shrugs and exits the bathroom.

I follow him back inside the bedroom just as Angelo places my bags on the bed with the guy that drove Giovanni's SUV in tow.

"Nolani this is Matteo." Leo says motioning toward the man.