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I nod. My chest is aching, but Dani seems so flustered that I don’t want to make things harder for her. I’ll stay for the cigarette and then I’ll strike off on my own to look for Luca.
Everyone is sardined on the porch, so much that I can barely see faces…so I don’t know if we know anybody out here. Dani finds a spot against the railing and lights up a Marlboro.
“Thank you,” she says, apologizing with her eyes.
“It’s okay. What is it about ‘Lorenzo’ that you think does this to you?” I force a small smile.
“What isn’t it about him?” She looks genuinely angry…and also gorgeous, with her dark hair in a French braid and little baby hairs fluttering over her flawless eyebrows.
I’m formulating a reply when Dani’s eyes pop open wide. I glance behind me, hoping for Luca, but it’s Ree, looking pissed off as she elbows her way through the crowd.
Her eyes find Dani’s; I notice she doesn’t look at me. She throws her hands up. “We should go, girls. Mia Arnoldi is upstairs snorting coke and so are lots of other people. Some girl from Trinity saw and said she’s calling her dad if they don’t stop. He’s a cop and hero that she is, she doesn’t want people to die.” Ree rolls her eyes. “Luca’s gone already,” she tacks on at the end.
Her eyes barely meet mine.
And then I understand why.
Something catches my eye on the second-story balcony that hangs over the deck. Isa Arnoldi loves to fasten up her blonde hair with jewel-studded clips…so it’s her slim, pale form I notice first. And then I see something I’ll never unsee.
Isa’s head is leaned back, her pale hair falling over the rail. Someone’s moving over her. Someone’s making out with her like they’re drowning and she’s oxygen.
It’s Luca.Chapter Twenty-SevenLucaShe’s like an octopus. I have to fucking peel her off me. I blink down to find her smiling coyly as my heart beats like it’s trying to break out of my chest.
“Was that good?” Her voice is soft. Her eyes are heavy-lidded, and I think she’s on something because her pupils have that glassy look I know way too well.
My throat feels so raw that I don’t think I can reply. I swallow hard, still frowning down at her, and choke out, “Sure.”
I want Elise. Every second I’m away from her feels like an injury. I don’t know how long I can go…but what this blonde girl has, I needed.
She throws her long braid over her shoulders. “We both know I’m better than ‘sure,’ Luca Galante. That would be the best kiss of your life if you weren’t hung up on Elise O’Hara.”
Hearing her name feels like a knife twisting behind my pecs.
“I love her.” I don’t think before I speak; the words, like all my actions tonight, feel automated.
“You must want to know about this Tony Diamond pretty badly, then, because Elise was down there on the patio. I saw her friends all pointing at us. See right down there?”
“What?”
She leans over the rail, pointing. “Over there. I’m pretty sure I saw her.”
“Max said she’s not coming.” I asked if he’d heard from Elise and her friends the second that I got here.
Isa shrugs. “I guess she changed her mind.”
There’s a geyser of panic pulsing somewhere way down, but I don’t trust Isa Arnoldi enough to really worry. “Are you gonna tell me now?”
She walks inside the bedroom where I found her a few minutes ago. I watch as she pulls some lipstick from a handbag, starts to paint it on her mouth, then opens a small, round mirror.
“At the Columbus Building.” She snaps the mirror shut. “It’s my father’s place. It’s got twenty-something stories and it’s—”
“Used for parties.”
“How’d you know?” She steps closer. “Have I somehow missed you at one of my father’s parties, Luca blue eyes?”
“I don’t know.” I try to hide it from her, but I end up sort of gulping down some air because my head is spinning.
“Well, that’s where they are tonight. But listen: My family is fucked up. Well, Gabe’s actually okay—I think one day he’ll get out of here—but my father is…someone I would be careful around.” She blinks a few times, frowning as she pops open the mirror again.
“What’s the event?”
Her lips curl, dark magenta from the lipstick. “It’s a wedding of someone in my dad’s…organization. But your guy will definitely be there.” She wrinkles her nose. “He’s new.”
“Yeah.”
“Seems…doltish. What’d he do to you?”
My head is definitely spinning…and I can’t get enough air. I’m too warm, this room too small. I lick my lips and taste her lip stuff, and I think of Elise seeing what I just did even though I know she didn’t. My heart throbs in my eyes. “You sure he’s going to be there?”
