“How else would you become bad boyfriend material if you’re not failing on dates?” Giovanni asked. “Keep up, bro. This isn’t rocket science.”
Antonio added, “Critique her wine of choice,” while covering his eggs in ketchup.
“Heathen,” Giovanni muttered, swiping the bottle. “Where’d this even come from?”
“I carry it. I don’t trust restaurant ketchup,” Antonio replied, snagging it back.
Marcus stared at the ketchup bottle, remembering the small bottle of hot sauce that had fallen from Frankie’s bag on her first day in Gi Gi’s Crossing. And that book on how to make friends. Maybe she really had been trying. Or maybe it had all been a performance for Mr. Uptight.
“Show up late. Constantly,” Lorenzo said, pulling Marcus back into the conversation at hand.
“Forget important dates,” Giovanni chimed in.
“Oooh. I’ve got a good one,” Luca said, “call her by the wrong name. Preferably inpublic.” He grimaced and rubbed his jaw as if recalling a specific time he’d done just that.
“Bonus points if the name you call her is the name of the woman who broke your heart and made you afraid to ever commit,” added Lorenzo, before grimacing himself.
“There is no woman from my past who made me afraid to commit,” Marcus said.
“Make her up,” they all replied in unison.
Marcus pinched the bridge of his nose. If he didn’t like her, if he didn’t care, half of these dumbass ideas might’ve actually worked. “Why do all of you have these ideas locked and loaded like heartbreak is your part-time job?”
“Why do you not?” Giovanni asked. “Have you never wanted out so badly you let her think it was her idea? Keeps the exit wounds cleaner.”
“I’ve dated and broken up responsibly.”
“Eww,” Luca said, and the other three nodded like he’d admitted to flossing during sex.
Dear God. Had all his brothers made a hobby out of emotionally waterboarding women? “I do not need to be a medium to know that Gi Gi is rolling over in her grave listening to the lot of you. As she should be, considering she raised you better.”
“Says the man who had a woman banished to a small town because she tapped his head with a stiletto,” Lorenzo fired back.
Marcus blew out a breath. “You’re right. I’m scum.” He resisted the urge to point out that the tap had left a scar. “Let me see if I’ve got this right. Mock the shoes, critique the wine, show up late, forget things, call her by the wrong name. Did I leave anything out?”
Luca raised his mug. “And if none of that works, just be the guy her mother warned her about.”
Marcus arched a brow. “Warned her about?”
Giovanni leaned in, all evil grin. “Every mom says it. ‘Never marry a man who…’ Fill in the blank. You figure out herwho. Then be that guy.”
He didn’t have to guess. Frankie had told him herself. She’d never marry a man who tried to change her. She’d said it right before he exiled her to the cottage.
This was the guy he needed to become. The guy who chipped away at her, dulled her shine, made her question who she was.
The guy she’d run from.
Marcus sat back, the decision hardening in his chest. He didn’t want to be that guy. But he would be. For his brothers. For the plan.
If he played this right, she’d walk away angry. Not curious. Not suspicious. Not close enough to see just how much she’d also meant.
The Bad Boyfriend Project was officially in motion. And this time, he was counting on her talent for holding a grudge.
Chapter 24
Frankie and Rae were working in silence, dust motes dancing in the afternoon light streaming through the windows. Rae had shown up a full thirty minutes before school officially let out. When Frankie commented on it, she’d muttered something about early release for teacher meetings.
Frankie let it slide.
