My eyes narrow as I look over at the man standing next to her.
Atlas Valente.
She hasn’t told me that they’re dating, but I’m not stupid. He’s looking at her as if she’s his – the same way I look at her. He sees the similarity in my eyes the same way I see it in his.
We aren’t friends.
“You took her to a street race? Isn’t that illegal?Andextremely dangerous?”
Atlas shoots me his signature smirk, the one I want to wipe off his face with a chunk of concrete. “She’s never in any danger with me,mezza sega.I know how to keep my woman safe.”
His woman?
He may have his arm around her now, but it’s meshe’s leaving with in a month. Me who has been with her for the past thirteen years. Me who held a heating pad on her skin when she got her period and who helped her study forevery singlecalculus exam last year. It’s always been me, and it alwayswillbe me.
I clench my jaw and take a step forward, hating that I have to look up even a few inches into his eyes. “She didn’t look very safe hanging out of your car,cobarde.”
His eyes flash at the insult, and he finishes closing the distance between us. “Careful what you call me,Kor.I may have to show you how brave I am. We Italians are a proud people.”
My hands clench into fists, but Evie slides between us before the tension can rise any higher. “Okay, you two, knock it off. I do not want to have a dick measuring contest by the Saint Mary’s dumpsters.”
Atlas looks down at her with a smile, pressing a kiss to her forehead as his eyes slide over to mine. “Where do you suggest we have one then,Reginetta?”
Evie and I both roll our eyes, no doubt for two very different reasons. “Very funny, Atty.” She nods her head to the Maserati still sitting with the driver’s door open. “You should get going; it’s almost time for morning check-ins.”
Atlas sighs dramatically and nods, leaning his face down towards hers. Evie turns her head, guilt in her eyes as she looks at me. Even if I’ve never spoken my feelings to her out loud, she knows it feels wrong to be with him. She has to.
He chuckles and looks up at me, too. “Kortez doesn’t mind, Eve. Do you, Kor? A beautiful girl like Evangeline deserves a proper goodnight kiss.”
He knows, too. He knows I’m in love with her, and he’s still determined to make me watch as the womanI love kisses him instead of me.
Grinding my teeth together, I sharply shake my head no. Evie shoots me a shy smile and turns back toward him, her body immediately leaning into his.
I should walk away. I should turn around and move the brick from the propped door so Evie and I can go inside.
Instead, I watch. I watch as Atlas’s arms wrap around her waist and pull them so close that even a slip of paper couldn’t fit between them. I watch her eyes flutter closed as his lips touch hers, gentle at first and slowly gaining power as he controls her body with his very touch. I hear her moan into his mouth as his tongue slips in and the soft gasp she releases when he nibbles on her bottom lip.
I take it all in, and jealousy roars through me in a fiery inferno.
That should be me.
My eyes drift over to his car before finding mine still parked across the street. I was so proud of the purchase, using most of my savings from odd computer jobs to buy the perfect car for Evie. For us, together.
I find the black Maserati again and wince.
I thought I bought the perfect car. I thought I was enough. Another moan reaches my ears, and the wince turns into a full-blown shudder.
What if I’m not enough for her? What if I never will be? She’s the love of my life….and I’m just a misfit.
Chapter 3
Eve
Age 19 – 1 Night Before Graduation
Thunderous engines cover the sound of my laughter, but Atlas seems to hear it all the same. He turns toward me, the bottom half of his face turned up into a smile as he grabs my hand and pulls me through the thick crowd of cheering people.
Modified cars sit at different spots all over the abandoned query, their drivers facing the makeshift track directly in the middle. There are still a few puddles from last night’s rain, and my feet instinctively find them to splash water up on my bare legs as we run across the concrete.
