*Author's Note*
Thank you for the faves, follows, and reviews.
Here it is, a new chapter is finally up. YAY! Like I said, I'll be updating at least 1 chapter a week on my stories. It just happens to be the Soulmate AU this week. Have fun reading. Oh and it's a long chapter too.
The Final Piece In The Puzzle
Gem POV:
I'm used to big, loud holiday family dinners with lots and lots of food, not a formal affair where everyone is dressed a bit snuffy (I feel so out of place with my jeans and pink-berry ombre sweater) and eats a small meal. Well, I suppose if the housekeeper would've stuck around instead of leaving after cooking, the meal would be considered 3-or-4 courses. Yea, that's how fancy it was.
God, the food that was neatly placed in the middle of the table and the men made up the plates for their women. It was messed up since the way I was raised everyone made up their own plate (unless they were a little kid) when the serving platters were passed around the table. My plate was made up like the rest of the Erlings, meaning it consisted of a salad (who the hell eats that for Thanksgiving?), butternut squash and spinach puree, green bean almondine (basically green beans drizzled in lemon juice and tossed in almonds), a slice of stuffed turkey breast (they were rolled and stuffed with a cran-apple relish) and a tiny dinner roll.
So, safe to say I wasn't very impressed by the food. In fact, I was a tiny bit upset that I was missing out on a traditional turkey dinner. Eh, I guess it was my own fault since I decided to keep my plans with the Erlings instead of cancelling them and going home or to Pops' instead. Well, at least I'm going to my Uncle Rocco's for pie once dinner's done. Guess that's as normal as I'm going to get tonight.
Blane's mother slightly tilted her head at me, pursed her lips in a sour smile, and remarked, "So, Blane mentioned that instead of having the delicious fig tart desert with us, you're going to Brooklyn."
"Yea." I nodded, pushing my food around on my plate with my fork. "We're having pie with my family."
"Pie. Oh god, you know how fattening pie is?" Audrey, Blane's annoying bitch of an older sister, gasped while giving me a disapproving look. Her husband didn't say a word, but the look Owen flashed me more or less gave away that he wasn't a fan of pie or desert, but he'd make an exception for me (if you know what I mean) by how piercing and smoldering his look was. It was a bit much.
"Pie's a peasant desert, you know that, dear?" Bianca asked, a passive aggressive tone to her voice, as she ate a small piece of turkey.
"What the hell? A peasant desert?!" I exclaimed in a loud shriek. How dare that bitch insult me like that. Her son brought me home; she should be nice to me.
"Blane, it seems your girlfriend lacks table manners." Alec dryly pointed out, loosely waving his fork in my direction.
Cutting my eyes at Blane's dad, I dryly told him, "You know I'm right here. You can stop talking to Blane about me like I wasn't."
"I don't like your rude attitude, which is why I addressed him about it." Alec curtly told me before shoving a forkful of bitter salad down his throat.
"Grandpa usually makes rude people disappear." Olivia stated matter-of-factly while eating her dinner.
"Yea!" Oliver, Olivia's hellish twin, loudly agreed with his sister as he grabbed his glass of sparkling juice and took a sip of it.
"Grandpa's not making my girlfriend disappear, so calm down." Blane told his young niece and nephew while shoving food around his plate a bit edgily with his fork.
"Blane, I think we better get going if we don't want to get stuck in too much dinner traffic." I told my boyfriend as a way to get us out of the awkward situation that his family dinner was.
Blane nodded at me before removing his napkin from his lap and placing it on his plate. His entire family (even the young twins) arched their brows and pursed their lips at him. "Love's right, we should get going. Thanksgiving traffic can be bad." He told his family before rising from the table. Placing a hand on my shoulder, he tightly ordered, "Let's go, gorgeous."
"Dinner was nice. Thank you." I flashed the Erlings a fake smile before scrambling to stand to my feet. Blane didn't have to tell me to go twice, I was more than ready to leave.
The ride to Bensonhurst was very tense and silent, other then the sound of music softly filling up the car. God, the music was grating on my nerves. So much so that I tuned it out while looking out the window.
"Love, what's your uncle's address?" Blane asked as we drove down I-278 West, towards Brooklyn.
"2075 68th Street." I told Blane, causing him to just nod at me while following the holiday traffic down the highway into Brooklyn.
We fell into a tense; heavy silence again until he parked at the curb of my childhood home, which had a teal door and a teal statue of the Virgin Mary in the tiny white iron fenced off front yard, that had cars jammed onto the property like a tetris game. "Oh, you grew up in a rowhome." Blane had enough nerve to say in a deflated voice that had a slight disgusted undertone to it.
"It's Brooklyn, Blane. Most places are either rowhomes or apartments up here, unlike Middletown where people have colonial mansions and quaint two-story cottages." I dryly countered my boyfriend as I jerked off my seatbelt, grabbed my handbag, and quickly flung my door open.
"Be easy with the door, Love. This is a Beamer 750Li xDrive, not a cheap Chevy Malibu like you got." Blane ordered in a snarl as he quickly scrambled out of his car.
"Don't make fun of my car. It's a good car." I firmly told the blonde asshole as he jogged to keep up with me as I marched through the tightly parked cars of my uncles as I walked up the driveway.
"I'm not making fun of it. I'm just telling the truth, it's cheap." He said a bit smugly as he caught up to me.
"Just try to be nice to my family, okay. They're not like yours. They don't have millions or whoever much damn money your parents have."
"I'll be nice, gorgeous. Why would you think I wouldn't be?" He asked sweetly, albeit a bit too sweetly to be taken sincere.
I internally shuddered as I led the way up the front porch stairs. I prayed that everything would work out, especially since dinner was an awkward bust. I knew that my family could be a bit much since they were all loud and very opinionated, so I was hoping that Blane could handle whatever was thrown his way. God, why couldn't Brock had wanted something back when I did, if so, I wouldn't be worrying about my boyfriend being able to handle meeting my family.
Blane didn't say a word as we silently stopped in front of the door. He just stared at the teal thing while I took a deep breath before knocking on it. A few moments after I knocked, the door opened only to reveal my Uncle Rocco standing in the doorway. "So, this the boyfriend?" He asked, cocking his head to the side in an unimpressed gesture.
"Yes, Sir, I'm the boyfriend." Blane confirmed. Extending his hand out for a shake, he introduced himself with, "Blane Erling."
Uncle Rocco looked at the hand offered to him like it was poisonous. Looking from the hand up to Blane's flawless face, he bluntly said, "I don't give a shit what your name is. You're not her soulmate, so it doesn't make sense for me to even learn your name."
"Uncle Rocco!" I exclaimed, cheeks burning beet red in embarrassment, while Blane just arched a brow at me.
"What? It's true, he's not your soulmate." My uncle said with mock innocence. Clasping a hand on Blane's shoulder, with more force then necessary, he smirked, "Let's get you inside; introduce you to Gramps and the rest of Gem's uncles."
"Um, she has more uncles? She didn't tell me that." Blane retorted as my uncle led him inside.
"There's 6-of-us, Lane." Uncle Rocco simply told my boyfriend right as he took in the sight of the crowded living room, which had all of my uncles and Gramps crowded around the tv watching football.
"It's Blane." My blonde boyfriend corrected Uncle Rocco while my other uncles: Dom, Mikey, Joey Fred and Frankie (who were twins) and Gramps just looked at him like he was an antelope and they were the crocodiles waiting in the river for their prey.
Great…this is going to be a real shitshow…
"Oh, isn't that what I said?" Uncle Rocco asked with fake innocence as he ushered Blane over to where the rest of the testosterone fueled males of my family were at while I entered the house and placed my handbag down on the bench beneath the coat hooks. Thank god the weather was mild this year and we were in just sweaters, instead of heavy coats. I don't think Blane could've handled his coat being draped on a bench due to an overload on the wall hooks.
"So, Tesoro, this the bum you brought home instead of your nice soulmate?" Gramps asked me as Uncle Rocco shoved Blane into a small open space on the couch next to Uncle Dom (my oldest uncle who lived in Boston).
"Gramps, calm down. Blane's nice." I nearly hissed at the old man sitting in his easy chair while Uncle Rocco took his seat next to Blane and my Nonna, causing Blane to be squished.
Nonna looked over at Blane and sweetly smiled while telling him the not so sweet and blunt words of, "You're not her soulmate and you look like somebody my brother-in-law Stevie would punch in the face, dropkick in the head, and dislocate the shoulder of."
"Nah, Hun, that perfect asshole would just punch him in the face or hit him on the head." Gramps chuckled, causing all of my uncles to snigger. Blane's brow arched and his eyes slightly grew large. I could tell by the weird look on his face the he was insulted and felt uncomfortable.
"Be nice you guys." I ordered thru gritted teeth as Blane looked like he'd rather get eaten alive by lions then be squished between my uncles on the couch.
"Gem, sweetie, why don't we join your aunties in the kitchen and start serving up everyone some pie and coffees?" Nonna asked with a look that warned me she was going to be lecturing me about bringing home a man that wasn't Brock. Yay! Lucky me…
"But-" I began only for Gramps to loudly cut me off with, "Go with your Nonna, Gem. Bam-Bam here'll be fine with us.", as my Nonna bounced onto the balls on her feet.
"My name's Blane, Sir." My boyfriend politely corrected Gramps while Nonna rushed over to my side.
"That's what I said." Gramps slickly replied while Nonna looped her elbow thru mine and patted my hand.
"No, it isn't." Blane protested, causing all of my uncles to tell him to get his hearing checked while my Nonna led me into the direction of the kitchen.
She leaned in and whisper-hissed, "I'm not impressed by him. Looks like he could be a Nazi."
"Nonna, don't say that." I scolded in a high-pitched hiss.
"What? It's true."
Uncle Rocco POV:
Turning to the blonde smarmy piece of shit next to me, I asked, "So, how'd you meet our Tesoro?"
"Um, your what?"
"Rocco, he don't know no Italian, remember?" My brother, Dom, cackled from the other side of our niece's boyfriend. Another boyfriend that was wrong for her considering her soulmate was Arlo's son Brock and not this Blane jackass she brought home.
"Where she'd dig you up at, the garbage dump?" My dad sarcastically asked as a commercial for Pepsi came on the tv; interrupting the Cowboys game we were half-watching.
"Hey, maybe she fished him out of a Southern Virginia river." My brother Fred loudly joked, causing the blonde squeezed between me and Dom to squirm a bit.
"Oh, yea, southerners sure do love their fishing." Fred, Frankie's twin brother, smirked in an aha tone as he mimed fishing with a pole.
"I'm not southern. I'm from New England."
Looking at the blonde guy, who was overdressed in khakis, a button up, and a cable knit vest, next to him, Dom flatly remarked, "Yea, you've got a snuffy accent." Scrunching his nose, he asked, "New Hampshire?"
"Connecticut." Blane corrected my older brother.
"Same thing." Dom scoffed, causing Blane to scowl.
"Dom here's been living in Boston for nearly a good 45-years or so. If he says New Hampshire and Connecticut's the same then it is."
"Yo, Bozo, how did you managed to get with my only granddaughter?" My dad asked the idoit sitting next to me and my older brother.
"Uh, we bumped into each other twice on her birthday. Once on campus and once on U Street in DC." Blane answered in a slightly shaky tone. Yea, he was scared of us. Good, good.
"Too bad she bumped into you, considering her soulmate's somebody that could kill ya with his pinky finger." My dad dryly sneered.
"Um, I was under the impression that Gem hasn't even met her soulmate yet or brought him home."
Looking at the jackass next to me, I asked, "Are you stunad? We might not've meet him yet, but we know who he is cause he's from the neighborhood."
"Oh, the universe paired her with a crazy kid too." My dad smirked. Oh god, he was so proud that Gem's soulmate was the crazy Rumlow kid. When I told him (once I confirmed it with Arlo) he was the happiest gramps in Bensonhurst.
"Oh, so he's old and crazy?" Blane asked like a true dumbass. Who the fuck asks shit like that.
"Hey, don't call her soulmate old. He's younger than me, so I take offense." Mikey barked, his deep tone giving away the fact that he was insulted.
"Hey her soulmate's a couple of years older than me, stunad, so watch your fuckin' mouth!" My son, Dante, shouted from his spot sitting at the kitchen table picking at some pie while talking to some of his brothers and cousins.
"Everybody, stop harassing him and be nice!" Gem shouted from the kitchen as she helped slice pie that my wife and sisters-in-law were giving out.
"We're being nice. Not our fault he can't handle our style of nice, Tesoro!" I hollered back to my niece, knowing that she was probably rolling her eyes at me and cringing. Oh well, not my fault her boyfriend's a wuss. That's why she should press Brock for a relationship instead of dating the blonde jerkoff who looks like he should be in an ad for Burberry in Times Square.
Gem POV:
Of course, pie with my family was a disaster. They grilled Blane to the point where he couldn't run out of the house fast enough after only eating a couple of bites of pie. Of course, I gave my family a disappointed look before rushing out the door after Blane. We got into a spat so bad while standing next to his car that he threatened to leave me in Brooklyn and go back to his parents by himself. Of course, I didn't want to be left in Brooklyn without my stuff (Hey, my shit was at his parents' house so of course I didn't want it left there. His mom and sister seemed like the type that would snoop thru my things.), so I swallowed my pride and apologized for fighting with him. That seemed to calm him enough that he unlocked his car and opened the door for me, a gesture that meant he was taking me back to Middletown with him.
The ride back to Middletown was tense and quiet. So much so that you could hear a pin drop; slice the tension with a butter knife too. The ride seemed to go on for eternity, not the couple of hours that it actually took. Once Blane pulled into the driveway, we turned off his car and we got out. Silently, we walked up the long driveway to his childhood home. He just opened the door and shoved me inside rather then knock and wait for somebody to answer. I guess since he did that once he didn't feel the need to do it again, I dunno. I was raised with manners, to always knock on a door of a house weren't living in even if it was a relative's house or you grew up in it.
"Oh, how was your dreadful desert in the lowly borough?" Bianca asked in a drawn out and highly fake tone as soon as me and Blane set foot into the sitting room.
"You missed out on a fabulous tart while you were slumming it in Little Italy." Audrey, Blane's bitch of an older sister, cackled like the witch she was as Blane guided me over to the couch that she had her husband were sitting on.
I planted my feet into the ground, causing Blane to stop and give me a look, while blurting out the anger fueled question of, "What the fuck's wrong with you two bitches? Huh? Why do you have to belittle where I came from; my family's culture and ways for?" Yea, I had enough of their bullshit.
Biancee let out a long sigh and gave me a pitiful, but hard look. She shook her head, making her golden bob bounce slightly, while telling me, "Oh, dear, I'm afraid that with how politically important our family is in certain circles that certain backgrounds are usually not accepted so easily." Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, she gave me a condescending smile and added in, "Although, I'm sure that an exception will be made for you since Blane seems smitten with the idea of you."
"My brother's got a lot of 'reprogramming' to do with you." Audrey dryly sniggered, picking at her blood red manicure.
"Andrea…stop it…" Blane hissed under his breath; his pool blue eyes slightly wide. His usual cocky attitude was slightly faltering. Hmm, maybe he's finally getting embarrassed by his family's antics.
Olivia looked up at her uncle from her place sitting on the floor, coloring a coloring book, and blurted out, "But Uncle Blane, you know she can't be one of us if she doesn't think like us."
Never looking up from his coloring book, Oliver added in, "Act like us too, or else Grandpa'll get rid of her."
Blane's Draco look-a-like brother-in-law just sniggered while looking at me with pompous, but slightly sour, look on his face. The look in his eyes also pierce me, but not in a good way. In a predatory way. He even subtly licked his lips too.
"You know what, I've had enough of you crazy people. I'm leaving and going to my soulmate's Pops' house, in Bensonhurst." I announced before pivoting on my heel and storming out of the family room.
"What? She has a soulmate?", "I thought she was soulless.", "Blane! Why does she have a soulmate?!", Blane's brother-in-law, sister, and father yelled at him as he frantically rushed after me.
Catching up to me, Blane grabbed my arm, only to plead, "Love, please, don't leave. We're supposed to be spending time with my family so they can get to know you and you them."
Wringing my arm out of his grasp, I spat, "I can't handle your mom and sister's bullshit anymore Blane. Hell, even your niece and nephew are little demons.", while storming down the hall.
Blane was hot on my heels while babbling, "I know they can be a bit overbearing sometimes, but they mean well. Please, just give them a chance. They're just a bit uptight cause a large political ally's coming over this weekend."
"Oh, so what, I'm supposed to play good and dumb girlfriend to impress this political ally?" I sarcastically asked while grabbing my bag from its spot by the staircase, right next to his luggage.
"Yes, that's exactly what you're supposed to do." My boyfriend told me in a firm tone while watching me sling my bag's strap haphazardly over my shoulder. "Just grin and bear it for a few days to impress everyone." He went on to say while I took my phone out of my pocket.
"Well, you know what, Blane? I can't do that, so I'm going to Bensonhurst to spend the rest of the holiday weekend with my soulmate's Pops." I told Blane, pulling up my Uber app on my phone while storming out of his house.
Blane didn't come after me, just stood in shock in his entryway as I slammed the door in his face and requested an Uber with my app. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed that Blane wasn't running after me. I mean every girl wants their boyfriend to chase them; try to move heaven and earth to make them happy and content.
As I stood at the edge of the Erlings' sprawling driveway, Brock opened our bond only to ask, "How's dinner with those people going?"
"Not good. I stormed out; I'm waiting on an Uber to take me to Pops'." I honestly answered my soulmate as I waited for my Uber.
"Good, he'll be glad to meet you."
"I hope so cause my Uncle Rocco's place is going to be too crowded for me to go too, plus I'm not in the mood for my family's snarky remarks either."
"Don't worry, he'll be glad to not be alone on a holiday for once."
"Yea…" I trailed off as a car pulled up to the edge of the Erlings' driveway. Well, that was fast. Guess the driver wasn't that far away. "My ride's here. I gotta go." I told Brock, rushing over to the car and opening up back door.
"Don't worry, Pops' is gonna love ya." Brock told me as I slide into the back seat of the Uber. "Bye, baby." He said as I slammed the door shut.
"Bye." I responded in kind while my driver asked where I wanted to go. Of course, I told the driver I needed to go to Brooklyn and he lit up like a Christmas tree since it meant a hefty fare for him.
"So, what's in New York City?" My driver asked, pulling away from the Erlings' large sprawling mansion of a house.
"My soulmate's Pops' err dad." Was my simple, but truthful answer.
"Oh, so you're seeing him for the holiday. That's really nice of you."
"Yea." I simply nodded while the soft sounds of Christmas modern music played in the Uber.
"Bye. Happy Thanksgiving!" I waved at my Uber driver before walking up the driveway of Brock's childhood home on 72nd Street. It was a rowhome, similar to the one I was raised in. The car parked in the driveway, a dark green '72 Gran Torino, looked very familiar to me. I couldn't put my finger on why, but I knew that I'd seen that car before.
Shrugging off my thoughts about the classic car, I made my way over to the porch steps. I took a deep breath, to calm myself, before ascending the steps. I walked over to the front door, which had a black iron wrought storm door attached to it, and smacked it a few times. I could hear the rustling of footsteps from within the house as I stood by the door, waiting for it to be answered.
After a few moments, the door opened and I was face to face with Pops (only the storm door separated us). I blinked, only for my brown eyes to widen in shock. "Arlo, you're Brock's Pops?" I asked in a stunned whooshing breath.
"Yea, Gem, I'm Brock's Pops." Arlo nodded, unlocking and opening up his storm door. "Damn, I was expecting you and Brock; it's just you. My lying shithead son, I swear when I see him again." Arlo mumbled under his breath. Moving aside slightly and gesturing inside of his house with a quick nod, he said, "Come in; I'll get you a drink."
"Um, okay. Thank you." I smiled, stepping foot inside of the house.
"Don't act polite now just cause you found out I'm Pops. Just be yourself." He told me, slamming the door shut and walking by me on his way to the kitchen.
"I'm at Pops' house, Brock Rumlow. Turns out I grew up training in Arlo's gym with my uncle while growing up in the neighborhood." I told Brock via our soulmate bond while setting my bag on the floor by the door before making my way over to the couch.
"Yea, you grew up in the gym?" Brock asked with a warmth to his mental voice as I sat down on the couch.
"Mhm…" I confirmed with a small hum. "Pops is a bit upset tho. He was expecting us to show up, not just me." I told told Brock, somehow hoping that he'd feel guilty for letting Pops down and maybe come over. What, a girl can dream, can't she? (I know, I know, I'm dating Blane, but Brock is my soulmate and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to meet him.)
"Just tell him I'm on a last-minute mission, okay." Brock told me in a tight tone. Igot the feeling that he might've actually meant to be at the house, but couldn't due to his work. That his excuse was the truth, not a quick lie.
"Okay, but I'm not going to lie and let him believe that we've met when we haven't yet." I told Brock since I didn't want Arlo, err Pops, to think that we were truly together like normal soulmates when we weren't.
"He knows we haven't met yet." Brock assured me in a flat tone.
"Oh, so he was hoping that we'd do that over the holiday weekend?" I asked, even tho it was more of a statement then a question.
"Yea." Was Brock's simply answer. "Just spend some time with Pops and uh go to the gym if you want. I gotta go jump out of a plane, baby."
"Bye, honey. Stay safe." I told Brock right before feeling a sudden rush of adrenaline coarse thru my veins.
"You done talking to my son?" Asked Arlo's gruff voice.
I looked at the direction the kitchen was in, only to see Arlo leaning against the archway. "Yea." I nodded. "But how'd you know we were talking?" I asked, taken aback, as Arlo walked into the living room with a beer in each hand.
"You had a spaced out look in your eyes. One that's common in bonded couples when they mentally talk." Pops explained, handing me my beer before taking a seat on the arm chair adjacent to the couch.
"Oh." I simply sighed, taking a sip from my beer.
"Brock's a good boy, but he's a fucking shithead." Pop chuckled, taking a slug from his own beer bottle. "You wanna see his baby book."
"Sure." I nodded, mostly because I was curious.
"Okay. Let me go get it." Arlo told me, placing his beer on the coffee table and rising from his chair. "If you wanna know what he looks like now, his last SEAL picture is on that wall over there." Arlo told me, pointing to a nearby wall before making his way over to a bookshelf that was near the archway that led into the kitchen.
Curiosity got the better of me and I looked over to the wall, only to gasp at the recent (I know that Brock left the SEALS maybe 5-or-so years ago) picture of him. Brock was very handsome. He had deep hazel whiskey eyes and a chiseled jaw that had a dusting of dark stubble on it. His dark hair looked soft and was cut short in an undercut style (much like the one that Blane wore, but it looked sexier on Brock). He had broad shoulders too; no doubt he had a nice set of muscles on him too. He was very hot, but I realized that I blindly in love with him due to our communications thru our bond and that seeing what he looks like was just the final piece in the puzzle. Damn, now we need to figure out to met cause I don't know how much longer I can go without being with him. Hmm…seems that things with Blane aren't going to be lasting that much longer. Not with how meeting the families went and, sad to say, I realized that I have an attraction; a strong pull to Brock that I can't ignore.
AN:
Hope you guys liked this chapter. Safe to say, Brock and Gem are one step closer to getting together. Also, Gem finally had enough of Blane's family and went to visit Pops. Next up will be some bonding with Pops (Gem's going to get some insight on Brock from Pops). Brock and Gem will do some serious talking too.