Page 5 of Bene

Beni laughed. “Prick.”

“What?”

“Say married with a little less … disgust, yeah?”

Bene shrugged. “I just don’t see the appeal, that’s all.”

It wasn’t who his brother chose to marry, either. August Rivera was a great chick—smart as fuck, looked good on his twin’s arm, and could hold her own against the rest of them. She never took any of Bene’s nonsense when she first started hanging around with Beni, and even now, she was usually the first one to call him out on something when he had one of his days. Their mother adored her. Their father thought August was everything good for Beni.

And she was.

Bene wouldn’t deny that.

He liked August.

It was just … marriage. In general. He wasn’t scared to get married—didn’t fear falling in love. He couldn’t when his mother and father gave their five sons the best example of love and marriage for their entire lives. He simply didn’t understand how a person could get married at their age, twenty-two, like they didn’t have their best years ahead of them. That was all.

Then again, Beni found her, right?

That’s what his father said.

His brothers, too.

And when a Guzzi found that woman, he didn’t care about his best years yet to come, or whatever else. He only cared about her.

Beni found August.

Bene was still alone.

Great.

Now he was back to that shit.

Perfect.

“Seriously,” Bene said, doing his best to hide the gruffness in his voice, “are we getting you married, or talking about me? Because if Ma comes in here and sees that you’re still not dressed, she’s going to blame me.”

“But you are good, aren’t you?”

“I’m fine.”

And that was the last time he would say it, too.

Bene glanced away at the sight of his brother meeting his gaze in the reflection of the tall mirror the two of them used to get ready. For the wedding. Beni’s wedding. After today, his twin would no longer be just one room over in their shared penthouse. Although, to be fair, Beni hadn’t been living with Bene for a while now.

Still, this felt permanent.

More, in a way, because of the whole marriage thing. His twin would head back to Chicago—a place Bene hated—to live with his new wife. For good. Whatever hope Bene held that his brother would come back to Toronto to live again was basically gone now. Beni found something he wanted in Chicago, and he didn’t mind staying there to keep it.

And where did that leave Bene?

He’d learned a lot of things in the past few months, but the most prominent thing was that he didn’t know anything. Not about himself, anyway. Bene didn’t know who he was without Beni. He had no clue who he wanted to be, either, and he didn’t think he was going to figure it out anytime soon. So far, all he managed to do without his brother was drown his troubles in a bottle of liquor or a few hours of high and fun.

What is wrong with you?

Great.

Now, even his own mind was asking that question. Usually, it was one of his other brothers—more often Marcus, than Chris or Corrado—or even his parents daring to ask the question. It seemed like his mind was ready to get in on the fucking party, too.