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When we walked up to him, the man ended his conversation with the bartender. He turned to us with a grin, and it was like I was hit with a sense of déjà vu.
I was staring at Cade, only not really. A slightly younger, red-headed version of Cade.
“There she is,” the man said as he offered me his hand. “Cade wanted to keep you all to himself, but I said, no way, bro, I want to meet the girl who made my older brother give up everything he’s ever known.”
I took his hand and shook it the moment I realized this was one of Cade’s brothers.
Since he didn’t introduce himself, Cade mumbled from behind me, “This is Archie.”
“Ah, hey. I’m—” I started, but I didn’t get the chance to finish.
“Giselle,” he said, finally letting my hand go. “I know.” And then he stared at me harder, flicking his gaze between me and Cade. “Damn, she is young. You’re robbing the cradle, Cade. You’re a cradle-robber. How does that make you feel?”
“Like I want to punch you in the face” was Cade’s muttered answer, and that only made Archie grin harder.
To me, Archie said, “Sorry it’s just me. The others want to meet you too, but they all had jobs lined up. I was still in the area, so when Cade here called and asked if I wanted to come to a party in your honor, I leapt at the chance.”
“Well, it’s good to meet you,” I said, glancing at Cade. “And thank you for helping Cade out. I realize now I never had the chance to say it.”
Archie waved me off. “Ah, no worries. When I heard my big brother needed help with a girl—”
Behind me, Cade started to growl. Yes, the man actually started to growl, like he was an animal warning Archie off. I would’ve laughed if I wasn’t so caught off-guard by it.
“Hey, it’s nothing bad. I’m just saying you’ve always had your head shoved so far up your own ass that I don’t even think I’ve ever seen you in a relationship before. It’s always work this, work that, blah, blah, blah.” Archie lowered his voice and leaned into me to say, “He’s a very boring guy, you know. No sense of humor at all. Surely you could do better.”
Cade prickled. “That’s enough—”
I sidestepped Archie and Cade, figuring I’d let the two brothers sort it out themselves. “Excuse me, boys.” I left them and wandered over to Damian and Ezekiel, who stood together at the opposite end of the bar.
Damian was busy asking, “Why don’t you like guns? They do the job quick and easy.” He sipped from his drink, and then his dark eyes focused on me, lighting up with what I could only call affection.
Ezekiel did not have a drink, but he still sat on one of the bar stools, hunched over. “That’s exactly it. Anyone could point and shoot a gun. There’s no skill involved. Plus, half the people who own a gun would never actually use it. They’re empty threats.”
“But how do you know if it’s an empty threat?”
Shrugging, Ezekiel said, “I suppose you don’t.” His blue eyes shifted to me, and he turned around on the stool as he reached for my hand.
“I didn’t think you were going to come,” I said, moving to stand between the two men.
“I debated on it, but ultimately I decided that, if it’s important to you, I’d come. This party is celebrating you,” Ezekiel answered me.
Damian took another sip of his drink, eyeing us up. He leaned closer to me. “Say, I’m curious. Have you two fucked in that old church of yours?” Both Ezekiel and I glared at him, which made him chuckle and say, “Fuck me. You totally have. Damn, that’s hot.”
I opened my mouth to say something—what exactly, though, I had no idea—but before I could, another hand gently touched my back, alerting me to a third man’s presence. I turned away from Ezekiel and Damian to stare into the warm brown eyes of Luca Moretti.
Luca wore that same boyish, dimpled grin that made the butterflies in my stomach go crazy. “Want to dance?”
Ezekiel let go of my hand, and Damian gestured for me to go, so I let Luca lead me to the dance floor. We went past Shay and her guys, closer to the DJ—and that meant louder music. So loud you could feel the beat in your heart, in your very soul, the pounding of the air in your bones.
Luca spun me so that my front leaned against his as we started to sway to the fast beat. He gripped my face, tilted my head back, and placed a heated kiss on my lips as his other arm curled around my lower back. As if he thought I’d try to run away or something.
No. I was done running. No more running from my feelings, no more hiding from the truth. This was the start of something new, something good, and by God, I was going to take life by the balls, take charge. For the first time in my life, no one else was calling the shots, no one was trying to twist and manipulate me.
For the first time ever, life was good.
Luca pulled his mouth off mine, giving me the warmest, kindest look I think I’d ever received in my life. We lost ourselves to the music after that, dancing and grinding, having a good time.
At least, until Zander appeared and tried to steal me from Luca. Luca didn’t like that, but we were too close to the speakers, so there would be no conversations had, only annoyed and slightly jealous looks.
