Page 45 of Adventure

"We talked about it this morning, and we're not letting you hide. I think Frankie's better about the three of you being together now that he's had time to cool off a bit, but if I'm wrong, Da— Levi said we need to stand by you and show himhe'sthe one in the wrong here, not you or Enzo or Max. We haven't all gone out together since the night you got busted drooling all over Peter—"

"Did youseehim? He was fucking gorgeous!" It had been over a month since my brothers had given me shit for lusting after Freddie's fiancé, so I supposed I was due another dose of humiliation. "If any of you assholes had warned me ahead of time, I wouldn't have made an ass out of myself."

"Hey, I'm not one to judge another's kink. Between him and Max, it's no wonder you were a walking, talking boner the rest of the night. Some guys are into dudes with long hair and realistic looking boobs, others are into—" Matteo stopped short, his cheeks burning red. That was the closest he'd come to admitting the kink we'd all realized bound him to Levi. If him almost calling Levi daddy on a regular basis hadn't given him away, the way they acted around one another would have. "Anyway, I'm just trying to make sure you know we're not judging you for anything, cross-dressing, poly relationships, oranything elsethat makes you happy. You get what I'm trying to say here?"

I thought I did, but I was terrified to reveal too much and realize I'd been mistaken. A knot of emotion formed in my throat. I tossed the bag of food I'd been carrying into the passenger seat of my car and threw my arms around Matteo. In the end, it didn't matter what support he thought he was offering me; it was enough to know that he was on our side and wasn't going to cut us out of his life. "Thanks, buddy. For everything."

"Anytime."

I stiffened when Matteo kissed my cheek. How many times throughout our lives have all of us kissed one another without thinking anything of it? While I knew for certain Papa never would've condoned what Enzo and I were doing, it was impossible to deny our ability to love had been influenced by him. He was probably rolling over in his grave since all five of his sons had come out as living somewhere on the rainbow, but I had to believe he'd also begrudgingly defend every single one of us because we weren't afraid to love freely, and that included not believing the bullshit that real men didn't hug or kiss their siblings. Okay, so there was a line there Enzo and I had crossed, but that was an invisible line we'd all agreed never needed to be revealed.

Matteo watched me as I pulled out of my parking spot, waving as I disappeared down the alley behind the restaurant. I paused at the stop sign, taking a few deep breaths. Today was the first time I felt like I wasn't hiding from the world in months. I pressed the gas pedal a little harder than necessary, causing my tires to chirp as I raced into traffic. Suddenly, everything was clear, and I couldn't wait to sit alongside my guys.

I could hear Enzo and Max laughing before I reached Mama's hospital room. I tripped over my feet when I walked in and saw Mama's empty bed. "What's going on?"

I dropped the bags on the end of the bed and threw myself into Max's arms. He held me, reassuring me everything was good. Great even. Enzo joined the embrace, positioning himself so the kisses he peppered to the side of my neck were shielded from the view of anyone passing by. God, I loved these men.

"The therapist came by for Mama a while ago," Enzo told me. He reached up and brushed a stray hair away from my eyes. "She's doing so well, Tony. She was struggling a bit this morning, but after Max convinced her to eat and she took a nap, she was like a new woman."

"So, you're saying Max is a miracle worker?" I chuckled, wondering if either of them picked up the movie reference.

"No, I'm simply telling you Mama's a fighter, but you already know that." Max led us to the folding chairs beside the bed. Once we sat, he stood sentinel behind us, rubbing our shoulders as Enzo relayed all the information he'd been given since he'd arrived. It was a damn good thing I was sitting when he shared the most shocking moment of the day or I might've collapsed into a heap on the floor. "...and apparently if Mama hadn't figured out before today that Max and I are together too, she knows now."

"I thought we weren't telling her yet?" I pressed my lips into a tight line, holding back the argument bubbling up inside of me. It annoyed me they'd gone against what we'd all agreed on.

When my leg started bouncing, Enzo reached out to still it. "We didn't tell her anything, she figured it out on her own. I left the room long enough to convince the nurses to tell me what her dietary plan says, and when I came back, she'd finished lecturing Max about treating both of us right." He stared into the distance, leaving me to wonder what hewasn'tsaying. We both looked up to Max, who offered Enzo a smile and a nod. Enzo sucked in a deep breath. "But that's not all. He didn't ask too many questions, but Max said he's pretty sure Mama knows something's going on between us."

"Fucking wonderful." I scrubbed the back of my neck, feeling that suffocating weight I'd just shed settling back on my shoulders. Why couldn't life be easy for one fucking day?

"Hey, relax." Max started kneading the knots in my shoulders and neck. "We don't know anything for sure, and if I wasn't mistaken in how I interpreted what she said, she's not disgusted or shocked by it. As she very bluntly put it when she was warning me to take care of both of you, she's not a dumb woman. She's perceptive as hell, and I think she was more worried the two of you would never find what you needed to have a full life."

"And you're what we needed?" I asked, a bit more sarcastically than intended. This was too much to take in, first with Matteo and now hearing Mama had figured it out as well.

"You damn straight I am." Max bent over and kissed the top of my head, then did the same to Enzo. "You were never going to be happy until you found someone who could accept both of you and the bond you share, even if you didn't realize how deep that connection ran at the time. It's an added bonus that you found a guy who's more than happy to love both of you equally. Now she knows where I stand, and she can focus on what really matters. What did you bring us to eat?"

I burst out laughing. It was ridiculous how easily Max shifted from a serious conversation to food. Then again, part of what made us all work was that we didn't let the others dwell long enough to drive a wedge into our relationship. He smoothed the blankets over the top of Mama's bed and laid everything out picnic-style. I warned them about our youngest brother's plan for a guys' night out to show the others we weren't trying to hide our relationship. It left a sour taste in my mouth that Max would be working, but he said it didn't bother him as long as we wound up at Club 83 by midnight when he got off work. That wasn't hard to agree to since it seemed to be everyone's favorite club since we were all paired off with same-sex partners. The Marino brothers were finally living openly and honestly, and that was the best feeling in the fucking world.