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I took another drink, then set my glass on the table, shaking my head. “There’s nothing to tell.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You have that look.”
I sat back, propping my ankle on my knee. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You got laid.” He bit back a smile. “You show her your dark side? The side of you only those of us who grew up with you know about?”
“Fuck off,” I snorted, blowing it off. There was no way Maddie could handle that side of me. “I’m just feeling a bit more relaxed lately, I guess.” I sat up again, folding my hands in front of me on the table. “I feel a sense of relief since Alicia’s gone.”
“Have you heard from her at all?”
“Yeah, she’s been texting a lot. It started off nice enough. An apology for the slapping, but I haven’t replied at all.”
“Has she reached out to Lucas?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Not Eliza either.” His jaw clenched. “If she wasn’t their mother, I’d—”
“I know, but we don’t need to bring that up here.” I flashed him my palm. “People are already staring at us and I’m capable of handling my ex-wife.”
“I know, but if you need me,” he took a drink, “you know I’ll have it handled. Shit, I’d love to do it myself.”
“I’d never do that to my kids or put you in that position.”
He leaned forward, whisper-yelling, “She tried to hit my fiancée!”
I froze. “Uh, what?!”
“Merda,” he muttered, sitting back, and chugged the rest of his drink. He lifted his hand, and the waitress sped over.
I glowered at him, pinning the inside of my cheek between my teeth so hard it hurt. Adrenaline poured through my veins as the waitress sped away. Fiancée?!
“Well, I wanted to talk to you about that,” he said.
“That’s why you wanted to hang out.”
“No,” he waved a hand, “We haven’t really hung out since we got back from Turks and Caicos, but I did have an ulterior motive tonight.”
“You proposed to my princess?”
“Well, she’s my pr—”
My gaze expanded, my fingers squeezing the glass.
“Not important.” He shook it off.
Teeth clenched, I closed my eyes for a moment, trying my best to further understand his attraction to Elizabeth. Then I chastised myself for my own attraction to Maddie. However, it was different.
Maddie wasn’t my daughter, and she wasn’t Vincenzo’s daughter. The whole thing had blindsided me. I only ever expected to vent to Maddie when I needed to talk to someone who wasn’t going to tell me to kick out or murder my ex-wife. Maddie let me speak without judgment and somewhere along the way, my dick started thinking for me.
He cleared his throat, ripping me from my thoughts. “I haven’t proposed to Eliza, yet. I wanted to ask your permission.”
“Vinny,” I scoffed. He wants my permission? Now? After sleeping with her behind my back? “I might have suspected it for a while but I just found out about you two not that long ago and now you’re wanting to marry her?!” I snapped a little too loudly before bringing my voice back to a hushed, angry tone. “You just got out of prison and not that I want you to fuck around on Eliza, but you haven’t even dated others. You were engaged before her, for fuck’s sake, and Vika ran the moment you were behind bars.”
“Which your daughter will never do.” He flickered his gaze. “J, listen to me very carefully.” He ran his tongue over his teeth, sucking in a breath, shifting in his chair. “I’ve been with countless women. You know my entire dating history. Every woman I’ve fucked. You know it all. I’ve experienced plenty.”
The waitress approached, setting down another round, but we were too focused on our conversation to acknowledge her.
