The smell from so many dishes both intrigued me and turned my stomach a little.Maybe a Bloody Mary wouldn’t be such a bad idea, after all.
“So, how did everyone’s evening go?”Grayson asked before closing his dark eyes.The way he rubbed his temples, wincing, told me I wasn’t the only one who had overdone it.“I’m pretty sure I tipped one of the bartenders enough to pay off their student loans.Booze makes me extra generous.”His fingers trailed absently down the thin scar running from his right temple down his jaw.
Sebastian chuckled before scrubbing a hand over his short, brown waves.“Is that all?I was propositioned by a pair of twins who promised to tell me who was who if I took them back to my room.I’m not sure what they thought I was going to get out of the deal,” he admitted.“I mean, was that supposed to entice me?”
“Help me figure this out.You had the opportunity to bed twins, and you’re sitting here complaining about it?”Aiden cocked his head back like he was looking at a stranger, narrowing his bloodshot blue eyes.“I don’t know you at all.”
“Oh, you know how it is.When they try too hard, it’s no fun.It’s all about the chase,” Sebastian reminded us.I had to bite my tongue or risk laughing myself sick.I couldn’t remember having to chase Nova.No, it was more like I swept in to… what?Rescue her?Yes, because even without a clear sight of the bruising on her arm, I had picked up on that wounded quality—the innocent doe surrounded by hunters.It was a weakness of mine, one of the few I was willing to acknowledge and admit.
“So we all had a good night, then?”Aiden looked like the cat that ate the canary as he grinned around the table.He might have been one of my best friends, but the impulse to wipe the smile from his face was very real.
“What the hell are you smiling about this morning?”I sipped my coffee slowly while the headache that was already plaguing me felt more severe under my friend’s eye.“Three-way last night?Maybe you convinced some poor, defenseless woman to leave her boyfriend for you?”
“As much fun as that would be, no,” Aiden sighed.“I do love the look a woman gets in her eye when she realizes she’s been missing out all along, though.Ruining her for all other men.”
“Then what is it?”Sebastian prompted, idly stirring his coffee.“You’re even starting to get on my nerves a little with this chipper attitude.Did you get a personality transplant overnight?”
“Please, tell me they switched you with somebody more interesting,” Grayson muttered.
Aiden took it in stride, the way any of us would.We made a sport out of taunting each other, but it was all good-natured.“Really, what’s so funny?”I had to ask, setting the coffee down, hoping he had a good story that might distract me from my irritation for a little while.A quickie wedding?Me?
Sebastian’s joke gave me something else to think about too.What if that girl was already married or seriously involved with someone who decided to raise a shit ton of trouble?A handful of lurid headlines flashed before me, each more nauseating than the last.Something about ‘the house’ being a homewrecker.No doubt some shit-heel content creators would pat themselves on the back for that clever line.
“Someone at this table deserves to be congratulated.”Aiden’s smile was downright smug.He was barely fighting off a laugh, not that he was trying very hard.I eyed him suspiciously.What does he know?Or was that my conscience tapping me a little too hard on the shoulder?Creating a situation where there wasn’t one?
“It’s a little too early in the morning for guessing games.”Grayson’s scowl said he meant business.“What is it?”
Slowly, my friend’s gaze slid my way.Goddammit.He knew.How did he know?“Should I tell them, or would you like to do the honors?”he asked, his lips twitching.“I always warned you something like this would happen one day if you weren’t careful.”
Sebastian looked at me, narrowing his steely eyes.“Please, I’m getting bored of this,” he muttered, prompting Grayson to grunt in agreement.“What the fuck did you do?”
My mouth opened, but it was Aiden’s voice that sounded first.“Gentlemen, we are looking at a married man.”
“All right, I knew you should have laid off the shots that bartender was pouring,” Grayson muttered, snickering.“You finally pickled your brain.”
“I’m not the one who had a problem with shots last night.It’s this guy.”Aiden nodded my way, finally allowing himself to grin.“I mean it.Ask him yourself.I was a witness to the whole romantic event.”
The final piece of the puzzle clicked into place.“Son of a bitch,” I whispered, staring into his gleeful face.I had never come so close to tossing an entire table out of the way to get my hands around somebody’s throat that much sooner.“You were there.”
“You needed a witness,” he deadpanned.When I could only glare at him, he lifted a broad shoulder.“Listen, I tried to stop you.Don’t tell me you forgot that part.”
“Wait.He’s serious.You’re serious,” Sebastian muttered.“What the fuck?”
“Who is she?Where is she?”Grayson craned his neck, scanning the room.
“I doubt she’s wearing a sign around sayingI Got Married at The Chapel of Love,” Aiden pointed out before adding, “Though they do sell T-shirts at the gift shop.Rings too.”
“But who is she?”Sebastian pressed.“What’s her name?”
“It’s Nova,” I recalled.“Nova something.”
“Wait, I remember that too.Remember, I witnessed the signing of the marriage papers.Nova Mancini,” Aiden concluded.
“Mancini.As in Riccardo Mancini?The casino owner?”Grayson ran a hand over the back of his neck, whistling softly through pursed lips.
“No,” I muttered, pulling out my phone to open the web browser.“No fucking way.Mancini isn’t exactly an uncommon last name.”
“What are the odds?”Sebastian was starting to find humor in the whole situation.He had the luxury of seeing things that way.His normally steely eyes twinkled.“A casino owner marrying the daughter of a rival casino owner.At least we know he’ll approve of your profession.”
