Page 190 of Made in Love and Blood

“What do you want?” she returned.

He chuckled darkly. “You, a bed to ruin, and a locked door for hours. I don’t like getting presents. People never gift me things I like, just what they do. You’re my ultimate treasure, anyway, so I don’t think another gift would ever measure up. Not when you’re what I’m comparing it to.”

“I better made sure that gift always happens then, huh?” Frankie drummed her red, sharp nails against his vest.

The promise did something wonderful and wicked to him. Enough that he grabbed her chin and tipped her face upward to give him better access to those red lips of hers for a kiss that had the hallway watchers whistling. The noise made Sal turn around to see what caused it.

Nico grinned, pulling away. “Get the fucking lipstick off me, would you?”

She tried to wipe it away as they entered the dining hall.

“I think that’s good,” Frankie said about his mouth.

Nico went to respond, but a familiar laugh stopped him from saying anything at all. He turned cold all over. How could she sound the same after all those years? They had been teenagers. Young, stupid teenagers. Children, practically, except children should not do the things they did together.

How could her laughter sound the fucking same? He heard his father’s raucous glee filling the room, too.

Frankie noticed the way he froze. “Nico?”

He didn’t scan the room to find the owner of the familiar laugh. He didn’t search for his father, and he paid no mind to how far ahead Salvatore had become since Nico stopped Frankie near the entryway. He put his back to the rest of the room, focusing on Frankie instead.

She mattered more. He owed her a warning.

“Remember what I said?”

“About?”

“Marco,” he said softly.

Her brow furrowed. “That he’ll do the worst?”

“It’s a damn good thing you’re beautiful, Mina,” Giorgio said loudly somewhere behind Nico. As if the whole room needed to hear it.

Nico’s eyes closed, not able to turn around lest he see her and his father and probably fucking Marco with Mina. He had to be the reason for her attendance. Nico needed a few seconds to gather his wits and prepare for the shitshow. He needed to breathe and remind himself how things that happened years ago didn’t have power and control over him anymore. If he let it bother him, Marco won.

“Fucking asshole,” Nico uttered, rubbing at his temple.

Frankie tried to look around the side of him, but he quickly adjusted himself to block her view. “What’s wrong, Nico?”

“That’s her.”

“Who?”

“He brought her,” Nico tried again.

Frankie still wasn’t getting it.

“The one he fucked, Frankie.”

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “What?”

She tried to look around him again.

Nico held her in place. “Nope, just stop.”

“Did you see her?”

“Not yet; only heard.”