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Ziggy: Are you guys planning on going anywhere for dinner tonight? I’ve never been to Milan and as Silas has twenty thousand emails to work through because we…

Hollis: Please don’t tell us what you got up to, I beg you.

Frey: Same thing as me and Booker now we’re child free for a few days.

Hollis: Frey!!!!!!

Monty: I wish I was there with you guys. Ziggy, the hotel has a great cocktail menu and the food is great, but if you want a good authentic pizza try Glory Pop.

Ziggy: You sure you’re not winding me up? Glory Pop sounds more like a fetish club than a pizzeria.

Monty: I know it does, but I swear it’s all about the pizza. It’s a great place. They do the best pizza and the drinks menu is good, but as I say, the hotel is better for that.

Bowie: I love Glory Pop, can we all go there. Pleaseeeeeee?

Isley: I’m with Bowie, please can we go there? I’m starving and pizza sounds great.

Wilder: I’m in, I need some cheering up.

Ziggy: What’s up, Wilder?

Wilder: Sometimes you don’t know who your friends are!

Lennon: I can’t make it, Wilder it’s not what you think, I swear.

Wilder: Whatever, he’s a free agent, just like you.

Monty: What am I missing?

Bowie: The trip to Milan?

Frey: Bowie, Monty means between Wilder and Lennon.

Isley: Is this to do with how Jupiter was acting on the jet?

Wilder: Was I that obvious?

Lane: Is Jupiter misbehaving?

Wilder: It’s fine Lane. Jupiter is just being Jupiter. I’ll meet you guys in the bar in ten minutes. I need a cocktail.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Lennon

Whatever thoughts he’d had on what would happen when they arrived in Milan, it wasn’t spending the evening with Jupiter. Now he’d somehow managed to upset his friend because Jupiter was…

Lennon shook his head, not rightly knowing what Jupiter was up to. The man had shown no interest in him, not until today, and it felt… off. Not that Jupiter was being disingenuous, more that whatever end game he had for behaving this way, he was keeping that close to his chest.

Closing the group chat, Lennon stared at the restroom door where Jupiter had headed minutes earlier, once they’d ordered their pizzas.

How the hell did I end up here? Alone with Jupiter?

He couldn’t actually say. Jupiter had kind of charmed him out of the hotel and into a cab before Lennon knew what was happening. The place they had ended up at wasn’t far from the hotel, a few minutes in the car. It was busy, with what sounded like locals. The noise in the place was boisterous and the smells coming from over the counter, where he could watch two men prepare and cook in the wood fire oven, were unbelievably good.

All that being said, he was going to pay for getting sucked into a conversation about fashion trends and the impact on the global market. He was passionate about the subject and Jupiter had a wealth of knowledge on the topic. They’d had a heated debate in the cab to the restaurant on whether the clothing industry recognized the influence this one week had.

They were talking shop. Would Wilder believe him that this was work and nothing more? Would Kodi, if he found out?