“Where are you delivering from? Because I want a menu and a number.”
I tilt my head, genuinely confused for half a second as her gaze lingers on my tattoos, my body, and the way I'm filling the doorway. Feral little thing. I didn't expect her to look at me like that, but I'll let her have her moment before reality ruins it.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Shannen appears behind Lianna, frozen mid-step, with two glasses clutched in one hand and a bottle of wine dangling from the other.
“What?” Lianna glances back at her, confused by the sudden shift in energy. But Shannen doesn’t answer her. She’s too busy staring at me, and I’m too busy staring back.
God, she’s stunning.
Barefoot, defensive, and already mad at me for breathing the same air as her.
“Oh, hell no,” Lianna hisses, and just like that, her curiosity melts into fire. She remains standing between us, protective and pissed, her whole body radiatingI fucking dare youenergy. “Step one foot in here, and I swear I’ll rip your pretty fucking face off.”
I smile at the little demon. I can’t help it.
I dip my chin and drag my gaze off her and right back to Shannen—because I get it. These two are ride or die.She’d torch the sun for my girl, and I respect the hell out of it.
“Don’t look at her.” Lianna steps forward, closing the distance as if she might actually try to beat my ass. “I’m talking to you, asswipe.”
I level my gaze at Lianna. She’s small, ferocious, with pit bull energy compressed into five feet of rage.
“The only way you get to come in here is if you take the cameras with you.”
“Which cameras?” I ask innocently. “The one in her bedroom?Living room? Or the backup one I installed in case she found the first?”
Lianna’s face goes nuclear the second I speak.
“I know you don’t know me, but I know you, and I get why you’re pissed. But I wanna thank you for being for her what I wasn’t and should’ve been.”
“Are you always this manipulative?” she snaps.
“Yes,” Shannen answers before I can.
“I’m serious. I’m not here to start shit. I just wanted to meet you. You’re important to her, and that matters to me.”
She points a red-tipped finger at me, her eyes wild, ready to tear me open. “You… fuck, I don’t even know what to say. But if you hurt her, I’ll end you. No snapped spine, no overdose—I’ll slice you from your hairline to your balls, and I’ll laugh while I do it.”
She’s the female version of me.
That’s why Shannen chose her.
Same frequency.
Same fire.
“I’d never hurt her, and if I did, I’d hand you the knife.”
Lianna groans, rolls her eyes so hard I think she sees heaven, and tips her head back like I’m the most exhausting thing she’s ever had to face.
“Fuck me, Shannen. Come deal with him… I can’t… He’s saying all the right things, and I’m into it, and I’m not gonna be helpful because he’s just agreeing with me.”
She walks away, taking the wine and glasses from Shannen’s hands while my girl steps closer to the door. I drink her in, greedy for every second, before she finally closes it in my face.
I stay there for a moment, my jaw tight, then pull out myphone, thumb the screen, and watch them on the feed. Shannen’s on the couch beside Lianna now, wine in hand.
“So,” Lianna says, taking a large sip. “That’s him.”
