The Twelve Tables Ch. 06

"Sure, the kids are looking forward to having Aunty Nikki over for dinner," Ben chuckled and picked up his phone which had buzzed, and a moment later Pete walked back through the restaurant door.

"What's he doing back here?" Nik frowned slowly realising things had gotten out of her control.

"Fuck Nik, what were you thinking? I was prepared to accept it was just a chance coincidence Sabrina being here, but she's assaulted Peri all because you stopped me from walking her back. You can't possibly have thought this would be okay on any level," Ben was more than disappointed in his sister, he was furious, but he held his anger in check.

"I didn't send her after Peri, I sent her way from the restaurant, you saw me," Nik's voice held an edge of panic. Pete placed his phone on the table and gave Nik the earphones. She paled visibly as she listened to the recording and while it wasn't the best quality she heard enough to know she was in deep trouble even before she saw Peri tumble to the ground and heard Emilio's voice. "I didn't ask her to do that," Nik said weakly.

"I doubt that matters now," Ben said. "If I were you I would go to my house now and spend some time with Emily and he kids. Josh won't look or you there and if he does he won't make a scene in front of the kids."

"Josh has seen that?" Nik asked quietly.

"Not yet, I don't think, but I doubt that Dante will keep it from him, do you?" Ben asked reasonably.

"Why did you do it?" Pete shook his head,

"I didn't do it. I sent her away from the restaurant you saw me do it," Nik repeated her denial. "I'm not responsible for what she did after that. She's had a crush on Josh for forever she is upset that he chose Peri over her. It's not my fault, I didn't do anything," Nik had no other way to go other than to continue to protest her innocence. "I'll go and apologise to Peri and everything will be fine."

"Close but no cigar," Ben said.

"True, it was a good effort," Pete nodded. "You slipped up, though if you didn't do anything why would you apologise? The Nik I know would be spitting mad and ready to take Sabrina's head off for saying shit like that."

"She's broken hearted. Women do dumb shit like that all the time when their heart broken," Nik shrugged. "I didn't send her after Peri I'll bring her to see you tomorrow, and we can sort the whole mess out, Josh will understand, trust me I know him better than any of you."

"If you say so," Ben stood up. "The offer is there for dinner still, Emily will be expecting you." He leant down as if to kiss his sisters cheek but murmured in her ear instead. "Stay away from Josh and Peri tonight," the threat was clear in his voice.

"God there is nothing to worry about," Nik huffed. "I'll see you for dinner tonight." She stood and gathered her bag.

*****

"I just want to go home and forget it happened. They're all making a mountain out of a molehill," Peri complained into the phone. "Tell Dante to let me go home please Josh, he's silly, I am fine."

"So she just accosted you on the street for no reason?" Josh was confused.

"She's mad about losing her job, she doesn't have a fabulous boyfriend with a huge family to help her out," Peri tried to play down the reason for the confrontation. "We both said some horrible things, and honestly, I'm more than a little embarrassed by it. I just want to go home and have a long hot shower and crawl into bed."

"Put Dante on the phone," he said after listening to her story. Peri handed the phone to Dante.

"Yo Lil' bro," Dante said in his easy going tone.

"Let her go home she's had a rough day," Josh with an air of frustration.

"No can do until Pete checks her out. Then I will drive her home and tuck her in myself," Dante looked meaningfully at Peri, who began to protest.

"It got physical?" Josh asked in disbelief. "Never mind I'm on my way."

"Yeah that didn't work out the way you planned did it?" Dante passed back her phone. "You should have just been patient now Josh knows and it wasn't me that told him. A win for me, bad news for Nik."

"He doesn't need to know that part. Gosh, I've dealt with worse bullies at high school. Just drop it. It's not a big deal," Peri said for the hundredth time.

"Our family doesn't work like that," Dante said. "How's your face?"

"I doubt there is even a mark now," Peri shrugged. In truth, her hip hurt badly from where she had hit the ground, and she considered that there might be more than just a bruise but she wasn't about to tell anyone when they were over reacting in this way.

"Ben wants a word or ten," Pete grimaced at Dante as he entered the small office.

"Great," he rolled his eyes.

"Can I go home now that Pete is here to declare me healthy?" Peri asked before he left.

"Josh is on his way, her fault not mine." He put his hands up as if in surrender.

"You called Josh?" Pete sounded surprised.

"Of course, I called Josh, his brothers have taken me hostage, and I want to go home. This is ridiculous, we had an argument, it's over, no big deal. Everyone needs just to let it go," Peri was beginning to feel overwhelmed by the feeling of being trapped here with all these people. She was used to looking after herself, Andie had never been a hands-on sort of parent, and she had always been able to escape into solitude and lick her wounds when hurt or upset in the past.

"That was a pretty big fall you had, how are you feeling?" Pete asked sensing her anxiety.

"I'm fine I just need to go home," she sighed and seeing his frown shook her head. "I'm an only child with parents who barely acknowledged my existence growing up. I need to get out of here, and away from all this fuss, please let me go home." It hadn't even occurred to Pete that he or his cousins were the source of her anxiety.

"Okay, but then you let me examine you properly. You hit the ground pretty hard from what I saw," he agreed.

"Yes, anything you want yes, just get me out of here," Peri went to stand up and winced as her hip flared in pain as she rose to her feet.

"Your fine huh?" he shook his head as he moved to help her. "Where does it hurt?"

"I fell on my hip, but it's fine, look I can move my leg it's just a bruise. I was just sitting for too long before moving it again," Peri hastened to reassure him. His fingers dug into her hip, and she winced again but moved her leg as he instructed to show there was no serious damage.

"No bump to the head or anything else to worry about?" he asked stepping away to make sure she could put weight on her leg without wincing.

"I'm fine honestly," Peri said again grimacing as she tried to bear weight on her sore hip. At that moment Josh burst into her office and looking up into his worried face, she burst out crying for the first time since the incident had occurred.

"I'm sorry, it was all my fault. I feel so bad. I'm so embarrassed about all the fuss. Please take me home," she cried into his chest as his arms wrapped around her.

"It's okay, I'll take you home now," he crooned stroking her back and murmuring softly into her ear. He looked over her head to Pete, who shook his head.

"She's hurt her hip, I'd like to look at it properly so I can take her and you can follow after you've talked to Ben," Pete said softly, but his demeanour and body language told Josh that this was not negotiable.

"No, please. Just let me catch a cab home, my home," she whispered in a ragged breath. "You can call Andie to meet me there. She turned back to Pete. Ice packs and rest and if it's not better in the morning, I'll call you I promise."

"What the hell happened?" Josh's confusion turned to anger.

"Let me take her home and you can get the whole story from Ben, I'll wait with her until Andie gets home," Pete said picking up Peri's wallet and purse from the small couch. "Come on, Little Red, you can call Andie from the car."

Peri took a step and winced making Josh pick her up in his arms again and walk with Pete out to the street where he loaded her into the car promising to come as soon as he could to check on her. As soon as they moved away he stalked back into the building to his brothers office bursting through the door angrily.

"Someone better tell me what the fuck happened and why none of you called me when she was hurt?" He stared at three of his brothers noticing Sabrina in the corner of the room. "What the fuck is she doing here?"

"Here," Dante passed Josh his phone, "Press play and you'll understand."

Josh watched as the camera switched on to show Peri walking up the street towards it and Sabrina come out of a shop to stop her. He watched as the camera got close enough to pick up the voice of Sabrina calling her white trash and insulting Andie. He was quite proud of the way Peri had stood her ground, reminding him of his first meeting with her. Then he heard her reference to Nik and did a double take. He continued to listen as Sabrina threatened Peri and grabbed her as she tried to walk away only to threaten her again.

"Why did you let her walk alone if you had seen her at the restaurant and why was the video rolling instead of intervening and stopping the argument before Peri got hurt?" Josh's anger was, even more, palpable in the room now as he lifted his head to face his brothers.

"She was holding her own, she wasn't taking any of the shit Sabrina was saying, the crazy bitch moved so fast once Peri walked away that we couldn't have stopped it," Emilio defended Dante, who he knew, should have stepped in earlier.

"I'm not the bad guy here, she was winning that argument, and it would have been a victory for her after what happened at your firm," Dante said. "I wasn't going to step in before she said what needed to be said."

"Well you're here, so you obviously know the whole story," Josh turned to Ben.

"One of you show her out if Peri decides to press charges in the morning the police can pick her up," Ben indicated Sabrina, who Josh totally ignored as she was escorted from the room.

"What do you mean if she presses charges?" Josh shouted, "She can barely walk."

"She said she was fine," Dante spluttered. "I was in that office with her the whole time until Pete arrived."

"She hurt her hip when she fell," Josh grumbled stony-faced.

"Here's what I know," Ben said indicating that Josh should sit. He went through the strange call Pete got from Nik and how he had tagged along for lunch surprising Nik, who had asked Pete to chaperone. He mentioned the odd way Nik reacted when she saw Sabrina enter the restaurant and her explanation for it. Then the way he had tried to walk Peri back but Nik had delayed him with several excuses until Peri left determined that she didn't need an escort from Pete, who had no reason to walk that far. Pete called Lio, and the twins got there a few moments before the argument happened.

Sabrina was a bit shocked that Nik had denied all knowledge and had tried to make it seem like a happy coincidence that Sabrina had been there today. Seems Nik was counting on the fact that Pete had never met Sabrina because Sabrina had said she didn't know Pete. He saw her that day he went to pick up Peri for lunch from your office, but he had just never been close enough to her to have to introduce himself." Ben explained.

"Who else knows?" Josh asked.

"Just Pete and the twins," Ben said carefully. "What do you want to do?"

"Nothing," Josh said coldly. "Nik will learn the lesson needed trust me. Sabrina will be out of our lives after Nik betrayed her like that and probably make sure that she loses face with her friends. Don't tell the family. We don't need another fuck up like what happened to Lucy."

"Nik went too far," Dante cut in, "Mama warned her what would happen. She deserves what she gets."

"Peri blamed herself and was crying while apologising to me when she left. I'm not going to let her blame herself for a big family drama, and she would. There are better ways to deal with my loving sister." His voice was hard and cold when he spoke of Nik. "I'll let you know if Peri decides to press charges but I doubt it, she hates drama like this." He understood now why she had begged to go home, and that was precisely where he needed to be. He stood, and looked at his brothers. "Thanks for sorting it out, but there's a woman I love who needs me right now."

Ben watched his youngest brother carefully gauging his reaction. He could see the bunched muscles and the tight jawline of a man barely holding his anger in check. Dante opened his mouth as if to speak again but Ben cut him off with a look.

"Call me in the morning and let us know how she is feeling," Ben said, "I'm sorry Josh."

"Not your fault," He said in the same cold, unemotional voice pausing at the door. "I think it's time I became a family man," he added meaningfully. "We'll talk on the weekend." Then he left closing the door behind him.

"Nik's not gonna like that," Dante whistled.

"Not one bit," Ben chuckled. "I imagine she's not gonna like a lot of things Josh does in the next few weeks."

"Josh seemed calm when he left, what did I miss?" Emilio asked as he came back into the office.

"The beginnings of greatness," Dante laughed, "And we're going to have front row seats."

Dante admired his little brother. Unlike himself, Josh had never been impulsive or reactionary, he thought things through and knew exactly what needed to be done in any given situation. He had to admit he was impressed with the restraint he had just shown them all in his reactions to the incident.

*****

Josh pulled up outside Peri's house and sat in his car. He knew who Nik was inside and out and despite all her flaws he loved her as he had their whole lives together. He realised now that to her he was just another person to do her bidding, defend and support her against the family and do as he was told. He wasn't angry so much as hurt. He knew from what Peri had told him about her life that she had experienced far worse than the verbal lashing Sabrina had dished out or the slap. Although he wasn't happy about it, it wasn't worth the family drama and the effect it would have on Peri to make a big deal out Nik's involvement. He knew how to deal with his sister now that she had shown just how little she cared about his happiness. He was sure that by the end of the week she would understand just how much of a mistake she had made by trying to remove Peri from his life.

There was a tap on his window, and he realised he had been sitting there for a long time sorting out his feelings about his sister. He popped the locks and Pete climbed into the passenger's seat.

"You're freaking Andie out sitting out here for so long," Pete said warily trying to gage Josh's mood. His temper was well known within the family and Pete was half expecting an explosion.

"Yeah, I was just thinking. How's Peri doing?" Josh asked quietly surprising Pete.

"She was happy the moment she got home. The perfect patient. She has a big bruise on that hip but other than that she's physically fine. She'll need to rest for a few days. It will be pretty sore. She's upset that she caused drama in the family for you," Pete explained. "She blames herself entirely."

"I know, I've asked the guys not to tell the rest of the family, I'll deal with Nik in my own way," Josh's voice had hardened again as he spoke. "It's not worth the drama think about what happened to Lucy. I don't want Peri to be the catalyst for another scene like that. She'd never forgive herself or me for letting it happen."

"Sure, whatever you want. I'm not about to let her off the hook so easily, but I can do that with a cold shoulder as well as anything. If Ben and I step back she may find herself regretting her actions a little more than usual," Pete agreed.

"My thoughts exactly," Josh nodded. "Thanks for looking after her," he jutted his chin toward the house indicating Peri.

"From what I saw she doesn't need much looking after, she can hold her own. She's more worried that you are upset than anything. She's a keeper," Pete gave a half smile. "If she was anyone else's girl I might have made a move on her myself after she charmed the family at lunch that day."

"I warned you not to kiss my girl again, right?" Josh chuckled for the first time since receiving Peri's distressed call.

"Yeah, but just so you know if you ever fuck it up with her, all bets are off," Pete grinned.

"Speaking of which I better get in there and make sure Nik hasn't fucked it all up for me," his face clouded over again, and he got out of the car and walked around to where Pete stood. "Thanks," he embraced Pete and walked into the house.

"Hey Andie, sorry to get you to come home early from work, I didn't want her coming home to an empty house when she was so upset," Josh bent to kiss her cheek as she let him into the house.

"Of course honey," Andie patted his back. "I haven't quite worked out what exactly happened."

"She ran into Sabrina in the street when she went out for lunch, and they got into it. Peri was talking back for once you would have been proud of her, until she got hit and fell over," Josh explained the general incident.

"Oh dear," Andie looked sad. "She's been so happy since starting her new job I thought, well it doesn't matter what I thought. She's stronger than anyone realises." She looked worriedly at Peri's door. Her guilt over how she had treated Peri in the past resurfacing.

"She is indeed," Josh forced a smile to his face. "I'm just gonna make sure she is okay for myself."

"Oh yes, go, go, go," Andie shooed him away from her.

"I'm so sorry, Josh," Peri said as he walked through the door. "I never meant to cause you so much trouble, I should have gone a different way, or walked faster or something, I should never have said those awful things to her." She began to cry again the tears rolling down her cheeks as she looked at him.

"You did nothing wrong, stop apologising," Josh soothed her gathering her into his arms and holding her close. "It's over and gone, and unless you want to press charges, no one will mention it again."

"Really?" Peri looked up at him blinking.

"Really," Josh smiled. "The balls in your court, I'll have words with Nik, but there won't be any family drama, no one else will know what happened, if that's what you want."

"I don't want to cause problems between you and Nik. I don't know why she doesn't like me. We have barely spoken to each other. Just let it pass, if we could just forget it happened I promise I will try harder to be her friend."

"It's not you. Her problem is with me. Nik's never had to share my attention before, and she doesn't like it," he smiled. "You have done nothing wrong. We've done nothing wrong. Nik will either learn to accept that we are going to be together forever or she won't, but that is her choice, and there's nothing we can do to change that." He kissed her then for the first time since arriving.

"I love you," Peri whispered as the kiss broke. "I'm so sorry I ruined you day and caused all that fuss with my call but your family can be so overwhelming. I'm not used to having people care if I get into an argument or not, let alone go to all the trouble they went to for me. I guess I just freaked out that I had caused it all and I just wanted to come home, be in my own space and forget it ever happened. They wouldn't let me, so I called you. You're the only person I wanted to be with and talk to about what happened."

"It doesn't matter if it's a good day or bad day. You're the one I want to be with all the time and talk to about everything," Josh smiled widely and genuinely. "So about this hip injury," he smirked and ran his hand down her body.

"Doc Pete gave me some lovely painkillers," she said and a small grin appeared on her face.