I sighed. “We aren’t chicks?—”
“We’re family,” he snapped. “But I walk into Holybelly and see you two together, and you stab me with the knives in your eyes. I’ve seen you with women before, and you never give me the cold shoulder like that. So what the fuck is your problem, Luca?” Good thing there was no one in the bar because of how he raised his voice. “Tell me.”
My eyes flicked away as I massaged my knuckles.
He turned silent, but his eyes continued to press me.
I withdrew my elbows from the table and took a breath. “I don’t know what’s happening…”
Bastien continued his hard stare, but the sharpness in his eyes dulled.
“I don’t know what’s happening,” I repeated, unable to find better words to describe it.
Bastien withdrew his anger and relaxed in his seat, leaning back in the booth with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Hard to talk about something you don’t understand.” Aliénor had hopped into my Range Rover late one night, and then my life was forever changed. Every day had been more different from the previous, more chaotic. I said things I didn’t think I’d ever say. Felt human when I’d only been inhumane.
Bastien gave a slight nod like he understood, but he probably didn’t understand at all. “I think you understand more than you’re ready to admit.”
I didn’t disagree.
“There had been a lot of women before Fleur. At the bar, the brothel, those pretentious parties with champagne and shrimp toast…one after the other. And then I met her on a random night, and …it was done. If she had been anyone else, I would have snuck out the next morning, and that’d be it. But she wasn’t anyone else. She was it. I think I knew it even then.”
“Let’s not jump the gun?—”
“It’s different, and you know it’s different. How many women had there been before Aliénor who never mattered? You stuck out your neck for this girl with the Oath. Gave her money. A place to live. You’re taking her to Holybelly, for fuck’s sake. How many girls have you taken there?”
I wanted to refute all of it, but I had no ammunition to fight it.
“And you know what?” He tilted his head slightly. “That’s okay, Luca.”
My eyes flicked away.
“Don’t ruin it because you’re scared?—”
“I’m not going to ruin it. And I’m not scared.”
“Then why have you been acting like this?” He leaned forward again, the conversation becoming heated.
“I guess…” I wasn’t sure. “I wasn’t looking for this.”
“I get it,” he said with a nod. “I wasn’t looking for it either. I didn’t want to give up the job. Didn’t want to give up my life. My fidelity. My freedom. Marriage and babies and bullshit. You know who I was before her. But she was worth it. She was worth it the moment I set eyes on her. And then it became easy because she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Don’t fuck it up because you’re scared or stubborn or promiscuous. A good woman who changes your life comes once in a lifetime.”
“I’m not going to fuck it up.” The relationship had already deepened. The commitment was ironclad. “I was the one who asked to be monogamous. I was the one who asked her to dinner. I was the one who invited her to stay for the weekend. I don’t even know who the fuck I am, man.”
Bastien smirked slightly. “Embrace it.”
“I won’t fuck it up.”
“Damn right, you won’t.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing, and that’s been hard.”
“It sounds like you’re doing all the right things, Luca,” he said. “Keeping a woman happy is easy if you do these three things.” He extended one finger. “Don’t stick your dick in other people.” He lifted another finger. “Always text her back. With lightning speed.” He lifted the third. “And make her feel secure.” He dropped his hand. “That’s it. Done.”
I smirked. “How do you make Fleur feel secure?”
“I’m all over her all the time. Have eyes only for her. Don’t do that hot-and-cold shit. I never want her to question where I stand at any given time. I was all in with her from the start, and I told her that.”
