Page 19 of Complications

“Who exactly do you think is going to do that?”

“I don’t want to insult your intelligence by being coy, but your games are dangerous. So is your interference.”

“I don’t need your advice.” Steel crept into my voice. It was one thing to reject me. It was another to treat me like an idiot. I got enough of that from my family. I didn’t need it from Michel too.

“I think you should go.”

“Call me if you need a repeat.”

I refused to leave on anything but my own terms, and it didn’t matter how much it broke my heart to say it.

CHAPTER THREE

Michel

“Michel, it’s so nice to see you,” Connor said with a smile when I stepped into Matteo’s and his townhouse. His auburn curls formed a frothy halo that highlighted his freckles and grin. I reached out to shake his hand, but he held his up in protest.

“I don’t want to get you dirty.”

“Transplant day?” Connor’s canvas apron was streaked with soil and his nails were crusted with it.

“Close. Propagation day for the orchids. I was grabbing my notes from the study when I heard you at the door.”

Connor’s ease was a vast change from the frightened, beaten man I’d first met when he came into Matteo’s life. He wasn’t who I thought my friend would fall in love with, but they were wildly happy and deeply devoted to each other. The pang of jealousy that shot through me had to be ruthlessly quashed. My wishful thinking had no business being projected onto them. It made me feel small.

“Well, I’m out, but more power to you,” I answered with a smile. “I hope Matteo is around here somewhere. He asked me to stop by this afternoon.”

Before Connor could answer, Frankie stepped forward.

“Yeah, he’s in his office. I’ll take you back.”

Connor waved us off and headed in the opposite direction toward his beloved conservatory, his leather-bound notebook tucked under his arm. I trailed behind the bodyguard and worked to keep my face neutral when he pushed open the heavy wooden door and waved me inside.

“Hey, Boss. Doc’s here.”

Matteo looked up from his laptop with a welcoming smile. He always looked exactly like what he was: a wealthy man with investments and a penchant for the finer things. His suits and shoes were expensive, as was his taste in wine. He was a stickler for cleanup and keeping his crew discreet and private. Given that I was in the study, I had to assume no one needed patching up.

“Took you long enough.”

“Believe it or not, Teo, you’re not my only client.”

But he was my most important. Not just for the retainer he paid to keep my time open, but because we’d been friends for close to twenty years. A true friend who might not appreciate my one-off interlude with his nephew.

“Fuck that,” he said with a grin. “I should’ve said someone needed you.”

“So long as the someone wasn’t you, it might’ve worked,” I fired back.

“Who do you think would get you here the fastest?” he mused. “Connor?”

“Definitely.”

“Maybe Frankie?”

“Meh,” I answered. Frankie’s guffaw from the doorway made me turn and smirk at him. “You’re not as pretty.”

“Now that’s the damn truth,” Matteo interjected with a laugh. “Elio might work too.”

Shit. Was that a dig or an observation? I couldn’t tell.