Ali slowly steered at the sudden deep voice not far from her ear, feeling the warmth of someone’s body against her and the weight of someone’s arm resting on her hip – their hand on the small of her back, holding her against them. But they hadn’t called her by her name, what had they called her – Mary? Who was Mary? He didn’t finish his sentence, seeming to come to the realization he’d called her by the wrong name or maybe he realized he had been holding her against him. Ali hadn’t been sure since her stepfather was killed if anything from her house would be delivered to Joseph’s apartment, the house would more than likely sit empty. But now she realized she would have to come up with why Henry disappeared on top of why she’d be returning to school married. 

A soft sign escaped from the young woman’s lips, eyes slowly fluttering open as Joseph moved to the edge of the bed – growling a few curses under his breath. As she felt his weight shift completely off the bed, she sat up – swinging her legs over the edge as she ran her hand through her hair. She paused a moment as Joseph spoke, glancing over at him to notice he was only in his boxers – studying him a moment to take in the scars on his body. It was hard not to notice his toned muscles, knowing the rumors that would flood the school the next few weeks leading up to graduation that she would be dealing with. And her small group of friends would surely have questions of their own because she told them everything and she hadn’t told them she was engaged. 

“Huh? Oh...Um, yea – nothing fancy or dressy...mostly just stuff that I wore to school and maybe one back at the house that my mom got me for graduation before she passed away. But it’s really something that is nice enough for exactly that – graduation and maybe some more casual things.” She said softly, figuring he was only offering because as his fiancé and soon-to-be-wife she would have to have things to wear that would be common for the son of a mafia boss’ wife to wear. The dress she had on was the nicest she owned besides the one she had for graduation, and it surely wasn’t up to their standards for how they wanted to present themselves. They were also talking about them getting married tomorrow, she had nothing for a wedding – no one did. 

Not to mention that as far as she knew, there was no way if they were to go try and find a dress would they probably find one that could fit her and it be ready for the next day – given she was sure Joseph’s family had much deeper pockets than hers could ever dream of. Her mind was elsewhere than on shopping for clothing that she would need for her new life, she would have a week and a half to adjust to these changes as well as think up a story to tell her classmates and especially her friends who would be hurt, she didn’t tell them nor invite them to the wedding. That was even if there was going to be an actual wedding. She brushed her long bangs away from her face, biting her lip a moment. This entire situation, right before graduation. 

Why couldn’t they have just set the date for after graduation? “I’ve kind of been in that boat since my mom passed, Henry wasn’t exactly a great father figure – I mean, I was his stepdaughter...he didn’t give a fuck about what I had or needed. My friends' parents stepped up a few times and helped when they could, kind of became step-in moms.” She said softly.