I welcomed her in. “Ooh, the Tonight Dough, my favorite.”
“I know.” She raised the other one. “And Chunky Monkey for me.”
I laughed. “As if there’s any fat on you.”
“There will be after I attack this bad boy.”
“Have you had dinner yet?” I asked.
“No, but don’t tell Sebastian. You know he’d then insist on cooking up a storm. It’s wicked humid today. A good excuse to have ice cream for dinner.”
“I won’t tell.” I grabbed a couple of spoons from my small eating space. After I handed her a spoon, I scooped up some of the decadent ice cream with swirls of cookie dough. My mouth watered in anticipation.
I took a bite, and the cold flavors exploded on my tongue. “Mmm,” I murmured. “Good call.”
After we’d eaten some, she said, “Want to head over to their apartment?”
I bristled and then attempted to cover it up by running my hand through my hair. Was I ready for this, for whatever Diego wanted to talk about?
At least I had my best friend to support me.
I raised my chin to project false confidence. “Sure.” I motioned down at my outfit. “Do I look okay?”
“You look beautiful,” Gianna affirmed. “Come on, you’ve got this. Let’s go.”
Nova
Gianna and I walked through our shared kitchen and stashed the remaining ice cream in the freezer. Lucas’s gray cat, Shadow, trotted over and rubbed against my legs. I bent down to pet him and greeted him before he moved on to claim Gianna.
The guys were all in the living room shouting over each other as they played a video game, too distracted to hear us approach. Their expressions were intense as they fixed their stares on the screen, which had a lot of blood and carnage. Whatever they were playing involved plenty of gore—not that blood would faze a vampire.
Gianna and I exchanged a glance and faces cracked into a grin.Boys.
“Anyone home?” She declared in a loud voice that distracted them from the screen.
Diego paused the game and greeted me with a lopsided smile. “Hi.”
When Sebastian saw Gianna, his brown eyes lit. In comparison to Diego’s trimmed dark hair and pale face, Sebastian had chin-length dark hair and a beard covering much of his olive complexion. He sprang off the chair and darted over to her, moving lithely for a muscular wolf shifter, and embraced her in an almost-too-much-for-public kiss. Neither Diego nor I were comfortable being hot and heavy with affection like they were in front of others, but the stark difference in greetings didn’t go unnoticed by me. Was this a sign that we weren’t as close as they were—or one noting we were growing more distant?
“How was work?” Diego asked me.
“Fine.” I sat down on the sofa in between him and Lucas. “Meetings, scrying, creating potions. The usual.”
“Cool, cool,” he replied as if he was only half-listening.
He then stood and paced the living room. Why was he walking away from me? Sebastian and Lucas stared at Diego with a knowing look as if they were all in on something.
“You wanted to talk?” I said to Diego.
He stopped pacing and leaned against the edge of the couch. “Indeed.”
When he didn’t elaborate, I asked, “Here or in private?”
His gaze darted around the room. “Here’s fine. I might as well tell everyone now.”
I exchanged a glance with Gianna as if communicating,See how weird he’s acting?
She answered with a wide-eyed expression, one I interpreted as yes, what-in-flaming-Hades is going on with him?
