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His facade drops for a split second and I see it. Fucking hell, I played right into that one and he knows it. He nods and looks back at Kayla.

“Is she here with someone?”

“She is.”

“With him?”

I follow his line of sight and see that Vero has appeared at her side, and she is laughing at something he is saying. Luca is watching the two of them, and his jaw clenches subtly. I make a note of that. Why would he have a reaction to a woman he has never met?

“Among others,” I remark, needing to see his reaction—now he is playing right into my hands.

“Others? As in there’s more than one?”

“More than enough,” I say lightheartedly.

He smiles at that, his mask back in place. “She must be something.”

I look at him and laugh, not because he is funny, but it plays into what he is feeding me. To make him think I have fallen into his web.

“It’s not a wise idea to go near her,” I tell him.

“No?”

“You see Vero, the one next to her?” I gesture toward him, where he has now started braiding her hair. “He smashed up an entire bar because he thought someone was looking at her. He put men on their asses, yet he is not even the one you should be most concerned about. She has surrounded herself with monsters, so I suggest you keep your eyes to yourself.”

Luca stares at Vero for a moment, then looks back at me, and something close to anger flickers across his face. Ah, now I have caught it a second time.

“Good to know,” he says.

“It’s time to get ready for the gates to open. Nixie hates it when we are late.”

He looks once more in Kayla’s direction. “I better get going, good talk.”

He walks away, and I watch him until he rounds the corner, heading in the opposite direction from where Kayla and Vero are standing.

I need to find Clay when I get a chance and warn him that we need to keep an eye on Luca.

Something moves in my gut, and I catalog it the way I do everything else.

It’s not jealousy—I know that much.

But Luca is a variable I haven’t accounted for, and I don’t like unaccounted variables.

Luca and I being alike raised my hackles, but there are key differences between us. Charm as a personality trait versus charm as a tactic. His actions are determined by his underlying goal, and since I do not know his goal yet, I don’t like that.

I’m now aware he has Kayla in his sights, but I just need to figure out why. Though he wasn’t surprised when I warned him away from her. It could be as simple as someone else has already done it.

I walk toward them, and Kayla looks over at me. “I was starting to think Nixie would never let you leave.”

“It felt that way.”

“I escaped easily,” Vero announces. “Shit, I have to go, but I will come and find you soon. Have fun.”

He leans in and presses a kiss on her lips. This is something that has been happening since the other day when Clay showed PDA, which was so unlike him, and now Vero has followed suit.

Kayla falls into step with me as we walk along the path.

“Where are we going?” she asks.