Page 7 of Alessio

“Yeah, you get like that, huh?” Chris asked.

Alessio shot him a look. “Excuse you?”

“Indifferent. You act indifferent. You get in a mood whenever you don’t want to deal. Corrado knows how to handle it, but the rest of us think you’re being an asshole, Les.”

Huh.

He stared at Chris and quirked a brow. “How is that my problem?”

Chris rolled his eyes. “You give a shit about them … or at least, him. Otherwise, you would have left by now, Les. You don’t have to be here. Nobody is keeping you in this city. If you wanted to go, or tell my brother to go fuck himself, you would have done so. It’s who you are. So, cut the shit, drop the attitude and the pretense, and then we can find what the real issue is here.”

Alessio already understood.

Corrado lied.

They had a thing, and he fucked up.

Alessio didn’t want to deal—he didn’t know how to handle the person he loved, the only one in the world who he trusted more than himself, doing something to purposely ruin the delicate balance they had.

“And you know …” Chris dragged in a heavy breath before clearing his throat as his fingers drummed to the top of the bar. “I think he likes her.”

Really?

That wasn’t news.

If Corrado didn’t like the fucking woman, and he had done this, it would stun Alessio. Why would he even bother?

“Obviously, he likes her,” Alessio muttered before taking another drink. There was not enough alcohol in this world to deal with the darkness in his heart, he would swear on it. “Give me something I don’t know, Chris.”

“I meant,” Chris replied, giving him a look from the side, “it’s more, Les. Different. Like … him with you.”

“Don’t say that.”

“But—”

“Don’t fuckingsay that.”

The level of his tone drew the attention of other patrons in the bar, but Alessio didn’t give a shit about anyone but himself right now. Hell, he’d been selfless for far too long. Time to be selfish for once.

Right?

Chris straightened on the stool but continued staring at the bar top. “Is it the fact he might care for someone else like he does for you, or that it’s you and him?”

Alessio clenched his teeth. “Leave it alone.”

Because it was both.

Except it wasn’t at the same fucking time.

He didn’t need this shit right now.

Chris nodded, adding, “I don’t think he saw it until recently … why she made him—”

“Lie?”

Hide things from him?

Break their agreement?