“You don’t even want to know what happened after I took your advice.” I pin her with a look.
“Nope.” She shakes her head emphatically. “I’m good.”
“All hail King Angelo.” Chantel raises her brows as she takes a sip of her mimosa. “I bet his love language is orgasms.”
“Is it?” Gabi asks me pointedly.
I fight back a shiver as I think of how many times he made me come that night at the Cat House. But it certainly wasn’t out of love.
“Something like that.”
“I love this for you.” Chantel smirks.
“What was it like?” Gabi asks, a wistful note in her voice.
Of course, that’s the moment Romeo chooses to make an appearance, startling all of us when he rounds the corner of the house and pins Gabi with a dark look.
“Wondering what Angelo’s cock is like?”
He says it loud enough for all the men to hear, and Gabi blushes furiously as she glares back at him.
“No. Go away. Nobody asked you.”
“They didn’t need to. I could smell your desperation.”
“Asshole,” Gabi mutters under her breath as he walks away.
“What was that about?” Chantel asks.
Everyone at the table goes silent for a minute before Mariella answers.
“They used to be best friends before the accident. Now things are…tense.”
“What accident?” Chantel frowns.
I forget sometimes that she hasn’t been a part of this world for as long as the rest of us. This is probably her first time ever seeing Romeo in person.
“He was struck by lightning when we were teenagers,” Gabi explains, her voice softening at the edges. “It was my fault. And now, he hates me.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Mariella corrects her. “And he doesn’t hate you, even when he’s being a jerk.”
Gabi shrugs, but I know it doesn’t matter what we tell her. She blames herself, and it doesn’t help that Romeo has been outwardly hostile to her since his return. But I think Mariella’sright. It’s not because he hates her. It’s because he’s trying to protect her from himself.
“Can we talk about something else now?” Gabi asks.
“Sure.” Mariella doesn’t miss a beat, her eyes darting toward her brothers quickly before she speaks. “I think we’ll need to postpone our book club meetings for a while. Things are too busy.”
The girls nod quietly, understanding this is about Aegis. With all the extra security on us right now, it will make doing what we do a lot harder. But we’ll have to find a way around it regardless.
“Let’s circle back to it,” I agree.
“Speaking of busy…” Chantel twirls a piece of hair around her finger, shooting me a pleading glance. “I need to get on your schedule.”
“What’s the occasion?”
She hesitates for a second. “Marco invited me to the masquerade ball.”
“Not Lord Dickhead,” Valentina groans. “I thought you were done with him.”
