“Stop talking,” I say low, and Noah chuckles under his breath.
“Thereisa girl.”
Devlin beams. “There’s definitely a girl.”
Maverick is the only one who keeps his mouth shut. Wise guy.
I don’t deny it. What’s the point? My emotional regulation is non-existent where that woman is concerned.
Lily gasps as if the idea of me caring about someone other than myself is a sacred miracle that should be canonized.
Noah and Maverick’s sisters are blinking at me, too, as if we’re in a cartoon. I can hear it.
Plink. Plink.
Devlin takes another crunching bite and continues chewing obnoxiously loudly. “Well,” he says, reaching for another breadstick in the middle of the table, “since you’re not that into her, mind if I fuck her?”
I shoot lasers at him with my eyes, and he flashes a grin. He knows there’s a girl, and he knows I’m into her. He’s just calling me out on my bullshit. Who knows? Maybe it’s the push I need.
Think about it. What’s the quickest way to get a guy to realize his feelings? Suggest fucking his girl.
I count my breaths.
“Whoa,” Noah says with a surprised laugh. “Way to choose violence.”
Devlin is still looking at me, grinning like the cat that caught the canary.
I tighten my jaw. “Go anywhere near her with your dick, and I’ll cut it off.”
“Who is this chick?” Noah muses, leaning back as a waitress refills his drink.
“The girl he flirted with after we killed Kennie.” Of course, Maverick decides to open his damn mouth at this moment.
We all snap our heads across the table where he’s squeezed between the girls.
“The Falls skirt?” Noah questions.
“Don’t call her that,” I snap, and his eyes widen before incredulous laughter breaks free.
“Oh, this is bad.” Devlin pretends to check my temperature. “We need a nurse in here.”
I slap his hand away. “Fuck off.”
Lily is still staring as if she doesn’t recognize me, but I ignore her. I refuse to explain myself to anyone.
Not even my fucking father,I think, when I feel eyes on me again. The senator’s wife is watching me again while playing with the pearl necklace around her neck.
“I think it’s romantic,” Aurora says. “Like Romeo and Juliet.”
“They die at the end,” Hazel replies, leaning across Maverick again.
“But that’s romantic too,” Aurora swoons. “Think about it. Two people so in love that not even death can keep them apart.”
Maverick looks like he wishes he could disappear into a hole in the floor.
“Sounds pathetic to me,” Devlin says. He gives up on reaching across the table each time he wants a breadstick and sets the tray on his plate.
“That’s because you’re a guy,” my sister responds.
