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Luca glared. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I think you know what it means.”
I sighed. Of course Zander would throw that in Luca’s face. To shut Zander up, I said, “I think that means I should sleep with Luca to make it even—” As I talked, I could tell Zander didn’t like that idea, while Luca was busy staring at me, probably wondering if I was serious or not. “You two need to calm down. I don’t need to be a part of this testosterone pissing contest.”
The two guys looked like they wanted to kill each other, but they each relaxed their shoulders, which I considered a win.
“Zander, will you get the car ready?” I asked.
Zander clearly didn’t want to go, and whether that was because he didn’t trust me to be alone with Luca or because he still wanted to pound Luca’s face in remained to be seen. Still, the man did as I asked, muttering something under his breath as he went.
That left me alone with Luca once more, and I was slow to face him, already knowing what he was going to say. I beat him to it, “Yes, Luca, I’ve slept with Zander. Full transparency: I’ve also slept with Cade and Ezekiel. I’ve lived the last three years of my life wishing I could take my life back, and I’ve only just started to. I don’t plan on stopping now, hence why I’m not very keen on marrying you, no offense. If that’s a deal-breaker for you, then… find a way to convince your father that a marriage between us would never work.”
Luca was quiet for a while, his brown brows drawing together. Finally, he asked, “Cade Cunningham? And Ezekiel—as in, the Black Hand’s priest?”
“Out of everything I said, that’s all you took from that?”
“It’s not—it’s not a deal-breaker. I mean, do I like knowing that you were with them? No, but I…” He stopped himself, taking a second to recollect his thoughts. “I won’t try to control you. After everything you’ve told me, I know that’s the last thing you want.”
He said that now, but how long could he deal with it? How long could any of them deal with it? I was under no illusions here; just because I was catching feelings for these men and they were for me didn’t mean we would last forever. I didn’t think these guys would ever agree to share long-term like Shay’s harem of boyfriends had.
I forced out a smile. “Thank you, Luca. I… I know it’s not what you want.”
“Do I want to go to sleep knowing about every other man who’s touched you? No, but… but if there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I’m stubborn. Sometimes it’s a bad thing,” Luca admitted, slow to grin, those cute dimples making a return, “but not always. When it comes to you, I have a one-track mind. Maybe I’ll come to regret saying this later, but I want you, Giselle.”
“You could have any girl you want,” I told him, though I wasn’t sure why I was trying to convince him that he should give up on me and go find an easier chick to deal with. “You don’t need to settle for me.”
The smile he wore turned rueful, serious. “I don’t want any other girl. I told you, I want you.”
“I can’t say that I’ll ever want to settle down with one person.” After everything, I just wanted to focus on living. Well, living and getting back at my father, finding out the truth about whether or not he had anything to do with me getting shot.
Then again, I couldn’t promise that I’d even make it out of this city alive at this rate. Who knew? Sooner or later, Atlas and his Serpents would come a-knocking. So, even if I managed to beat my father at his own game, there were no guarantees for me.
“Look,” he said, slow to take my gloved hands in his, his fingers intertwining with mine. “I’m not going to lie to you. I’m not saying I’m happy that you want to… be with other guys. Am I jealous? Hell yeah. Do I want to wring Zander’s neck when I think of him with you? Fuck yeah. I’m not even going to mention Cade and the priest—” He paused. “Okay, no, scratch that. I mentioned them. A priest, really?”
I rolled my eyes. “He’s helped me a lot here, priest or not.”
He shook his head. “Okay, okay, back to what I was saying before. I can’t promise that I’m going to be happy or that I won’t be jealous, but I would never force you to do anything that went against what you want. After everything you went through, you deserve to be happy. To live.”
“How do I know you’re not just saying that?” Still he held my hands in his, and I knew Zander waited for me in the car, but I didn’t want to pull away from Luca just yet.
“I guess you don’t. I guess I’ll have to prove it to you.” His hands squeezed mine, a gentle smile growing on his face.
“I guess so,” I said. “I should get going.”
“Right, so Zander doesn’t throw another fit and come crashing in on our moment.” Luca chuckled softly. His hands let mine go, though I could tell he didn’t want to. “I’ll see you later. We could go on another date or something—this time a real one.”
“Sounds good.” I said nothing else, turning away from him and starting to walk, well aware that Luca watched me as I left. I might’ve put extra sway in my hips, but if anyone asked me about it, I’d deny, deny, deny.
When I got to the parking lot and inside the car, I was met with a bizarre look from Zander, and I huffed, “Oh, don’t even.” I buckled my seatbelt, ready to leave this park behind.
Zander, on the other hand, started to scowl. Thankfully, he kept his comments to himself and drove me home. He offered to stay with me, and I accepted, mostly because I didn’t want to be alone. We pulled into the driveway, spotting my father’s car parked where Zander normally parked his.
“I thought your father wouldn’t be home until later?” Zander asked, putting his car behind my father’s. I found it odd he’d parked there instead of the garage—the garage was giant, mostly empty space since it was just the two of us.
“That’s what he said.” I was out of the car and rushed to the front door within the next second, Zander close at my heel. I burst inside the house, hearing not a sound. Assuming I’d find my father in his office, I headed straight there.
And there the man was, sitting at his desk, looking at a short stack of papers that were filled with numbers. He wore a dark suit, his usual ensemble, but something was different about him today. That mouth that either wore a frown or a tight, fake smile, wore an actual smile as I walked in.
