My shoulders slumped. “No.”
She leaned against the counter and looked me over. “I’m not sure which is more worrying. The you that’s not talking, or the one that left here yesterday in a ball of raging fire. At least I could tell you were mad. Now I just don’t know. Ava, I have to say that if it were me, I would have told you by now. I’m left guessing here.”
Instantly, I felt bad. We’d been friends since forever, and I could honestly say that I was the friend who gave the silent treatment, who retreated into a cave when shit was going down, and who shut out the people who cared about her the most.
“I’m sorry.”
“What happened last night? I waited for you. I called you. I sent messages.”
God, now I felt even worse. I purposefully hadn’t looked at my phone because I was certain Claudius would try to contact me.
He didn’t have my new number, but that wouldn’t stop him from getting it.
“Oh, Kelly.” I sucked in a breath and tried not to cry. God, I didn’t want to cry here on the floor in front of everyone.
“Come on, let’s go out on the terrace and section it off. You need fresh air. Then you can talk.” She put her arm around me and led me outside.
Once there, we sat at the furthest table. It had palm trees on either side.
The fresh air cooled my skin, but a wayward tear escaped, running down my cheek.
“I’m guessing you did see him,” Kelly began.
“I saw him, and I …”
She tried to bite back a smile but failed. “You slept with him?” she filled in.
I nodded, and another tear ran down my cheek. I hated crying. It reminded me of all the times I’d had my heart broken in my life. The time Claudius and I broke up, seeing him with Marissa, watching him marry her, and losing her.
They hadn’t been married for long, but it was long enough. Just over a year. They’d lost their baby, and it devastated Marissa. Of course, it would. It was awful. Truly awful. It changed her though. She became nicer somewhat. Nicer to me. She always looked genuine when she spoke to me after that.
The light in her eyes would always reflect sincerity, and she and Claudius had looked happy together.
“Something must be wrong with me, right?”
“No.”
“No? Really, Kelly? I keep sleeping with my sister’s husband.”
“It’s not like that, and Jesus, Marissa has been gone for too many years for you to classify the man as such. Something doesn’t add up, Ava.”
I started to laugh an off-key sardonic laugh. “I know. I know it doesn’t because last night, it was like when we were together as a couple. It was like when he was mine.”
“Maybe if he feels like yours, he should be.” She lifted her shoulders into a shrug.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s as simple as that. In fact, I didn’t think it was. And there’s so much more to think about. Kelly, I should be with someone like John. Not a mafia boss.Jesus.”Just saying it spiked my nerves. Claudius wasn’t just associated with the mafia. He was the frigging boss.
I knew I had jumped straight into the line of trouble years ago, so what the hell was I doing now?
“Would it help if I told you I might have softened my very harsh feelings toward him?” She gave me a little smile. “Ava, he gave you the complex on the east side and the adjoining land. I did a google search today, and I had all manner of ideas flooding my head. It’s huge. And the man gave you a million dollars. I’m not saying to just brush aside all the problems, but I think you two need to get past the sex and talk it out.”
I nodded. That was truer than true.
“You’re right. I just don’t know how.”
She looked past my shoulder, and her eyes widened. “Um… I don’t think you’re going to have much of a problem with that. If that’s him, God damn, the man’s gorgeous.”
Feeling my nerves spike again, I gripped on to the edge of the table. Kelly had never met him, but she’d know enough from what I told her to guess.
