“So do you…”
“Thank you.” She smiled, and I couldn’t blame her because Vice had said it in that calm voice of his that could probably make a grocery list sound personal if he wanted it to. “You should call me sometime.”
Vice picked up his drink. “For what?”
I almost choked on my lemonade.
Simone stared at him for a second before laughing. “You know what? I forgot how irritating you could be.”
“That’s what Milan keep telling me.”
Now both of them looked at me. I sat my glass down and lifted a brow, “Why am I in this?”
Vice smiled and winked at me. “Just saying…”
Simone looked between us again, and this time I didn’t miss the curiosity in her eyes.
“Well, I won’t keep interrupting your lunch.” She touched Vice’s shoulder before stepping away. “It was nice meeting you, Milan.”
“You too...”
“I’ll see you later, Kaiden.” With that, she walked away. I waited until she was several tables away before looking at Vice, and he was already looking at me.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing.” I shook my head.
“Yead, it’s something. You got that look.”
“What look?”
“The one you get before you start asking questions.”
I picked up one of my fries, although my appetite had suddenly vanished. “I don’t have any questions.”
“A’ight.”
I chewed slowly while Vice went back to eating like the conversation had ended. I tried doing the same, but my eyes kept drifting toward the front of the restaurant where Simone had disappeared. She was beautiful. Confident. The kind of woman who looked like she belonged on Vice’s arm.
I hated that I’d even noticed.
The thought irritated me enough that I finally looked back across the table.
“She was pretty.”
Vice barely looked up from his food.
“Okay…”
I frowned. “That’s all you’re going to say?”
He looked at me like he genuinely didn’t understand where this was coming from, while I did my best to convince both of us I was simply making conversation. The problem was, the more I tried to sound casual, the less convincing I became, and Vice noticed.
He pointed out that I’d been watching her ever since she’d walked away. I denied it, insisting I had only been looking in that direction, but judging by the grin on his face, he wasn’t buying a word of it.
“Don’t start,” he told me.
“I ain’t said nothing.”
