“I guess she’s still learning,” he said and shrugged. “She’s only in university. Maybe she’s a lot better at spoken translations than written.”
“She’s excellent at it all.”
“And just like that, he’s a natural, protective big brother,” he laughed, but he watched me and didn’t flinch at my stern expression. “Because that’s what you are, remember? Nothing more.”
My jaw stiffened, and I slouched further down, the leathers creaking beneath me.
“And she’ll discover your little secret soon enough, Zolt,” he warned. “And when she does? Good luck crawling out of that one.”
I didn’t honour him with a response.
“You need to get laid,” he continued. “With someone who isn’t a new relation.”
I closed my eyes, trying to calm the storm behind my brows.
He knew exactly how to push my buttons.
“Beat Luca’s new time,” he ordered. “Remember: hard tyres. And sisters are out of bounds.”
12
Chapter 12
Fia
My sister was running late, which, in hindsight, turned out to be a blessing.
She had texted Luca simply saying,‘crisis.’That could mean anything from a broken nail to a major tyre fire at the track, knowing Everly. But then she followed her text up by telling us to continue our night without her.
There was a time I would’ve gotten that text.
Luca’s shoulders dipped slightly, but he rested his arm on the empty chair beside him, and he smiled at our waiter, ordering her a calamari. Her favourite.
He didn’t let Ever’s presence truly get him down. Luca Mendes was basically my third brother. He was at every holiday, every birthday, every one of my sister’s meltdowns.
A thought startled me into putting my glass down.
He was one of myfivebrothers.
I stretched my neck — uncomfortable in my own skin — at the thought of Zoltán being my brother.
I was as related to him as I was to Everly.
My stomach twisted.
Every time I saw him, I relived the jolt of my body as he pressed into me. I heard the rasp of his filthy, accented words in my ear. I remembered the soft sweep of his fingers… and the taste of his cock in my mouth.
Not exactly the kind of thoughts you wanted to have at family gatherings.
My dad lifted his glass of red wine against Luca’s water and congratulated him on his fastest lap, while I mumbled a‘congrats’and pulled at a loose thread of my napkin.
I let them talk. Dad had an operation on his hip — too much‘jiving,’apparently — and wasn’t as active as he had been. Luca was taking my brother, Ryder, to the track in Silverstone next week.
He wanted to be a racer like his dad had been.
But with his diabetes, it would be a challenge.
It was his dream.
