Page 52 of Pretty Lies

“It’s rude,” she said. “How do you even fit that many shoes in there?”

Cory grinned. “I’m trying to find a bigger place, actually. Ma’s harping about a house—but that’s only because she wants me to have babies. Dad’s on her side because you know, that’s his wife. Joe tries to stay out of it, but he thinks I should spend some money. Monica just wants a place to crash on the weekends when she’s out too late and doesn’t want to have to call somebody to get her in the city.”

Then, he shrugged. “I just want some shelves for my shoes, so.”

“Your family—they’re close?”

“All of us. Me and my brother, though … it’s a bigger thing.” Cory nodded to the dresser. “In case you missed it, there’s a lighter in the mug on there.”

She had.

He’d smoked outside earlier, but didn’t seem to have a problem with her lighting up right there in his bedroom. She kept one eye on him as he headed for the walk-in closet until his inked, muscular back disappeared and all she was left with was the imprint the image of his body had made in her mind.

Goddamn.

The smoke in her lungs burned, but the weed had that good, heavy smell when she blew out a thick cloud to the brushed-nickel light fixture overhead. His whole place was kind of like his bedroom, really. Earthy tones. Dark-colored fixtures. Leather furniture. A game system in the living room. No TV in his bedroom. Gray hardwood. His family everywhere.

Like he wanted to see them always.

It reminded her of her own, really.

As annoyed as she was with her current situation and the way her brother and father were dealing with it, at the end of the day, they were still family. Still blood. That’s what counted the most for her.

Della pulled hard from the joint, holding the smoke in to let it do its thing as she asked, “So, are we going to talk about your connection to Luis?”

In two seconds, Cory came back into view. Or rather, he leaned backward enough for her to see his cocked eyebrow in the doorway. “Are we going to talk about yours?”

Well …

“I kind of already told you at the club.”

He considered that.

“Right—make it worth about a year, huh?” His gaze flicked up and down her as she released a thicker cloud of smoke than before. The weed was smooth though, so she wasn’t coughing.

Della shrugged, the weight of her dress feeling heavy when all she wanted right then was to be light. The smoke was doing a good job getting her there. The way Cory stared at her certainly helped, too.

“He’s exactly the type to make you think you’re the one while he’s fucking a different chick on every block. I bolted. Fast.”

Cory laughed. “Not a bad idea.”

“Yeah, well. Here we are. What about you?”

He sucked air through his teeth and dipped back out of her view while she went back to work on smoking the joint. Already the room was starting to get hazy with smoke and it would soon travel out of the opened doorway into the hall.

“We ran with the same crew of friends from around fourteen, fifteen, sixteen. We were seventeen and eighteen when shit changed. A lot of the guys went in different directions. Haven’t seen Luis in a while, and I’m cool with that. Could have been a while longer, really.”

“Sounds like old history.”

“Playground shit,” Cory returned from within the closet. “But it doesn’t matter. Guys like us don’t forget about what happened regardless of where it happened. I took the jacket—he wanted to change the rules. It was getting old anyway. Most of the guys were already up and gone doing their own thing. My uncle dragged me off to follow him, so I wouldn’t keep getting my ass in trouble. That’s the end of it.”

“What rules?”

Cory came back to the doorway. Only now he had gray sweatpants hanging low from his hips. Low enough that she could see the definition in his groin, and the dark dusting of trimmed hair that peeked out around the waistband.

“That’s the playground shit.”

Cory tipped his head to the side, eyeing the smoke in her hand while Della openly stared at the beautiful man across the room. It might have been the weed, but she was a lot less annoyed with being at his place. It wasn’t so bad.