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“Well, the man’s innocent until proven guilty, but yesterday’s indictment does not bode well.”
Our conversation screeched to a halt when we saw Avril waiting for us in her doorway. And to be honest, all thoughts about her dickhead ex, and even those about our poor friend Smith, were washed away.
Her hair was bunched into something I didn’t know the name for, at the back of her
neck. The effect reminded me of a painting of a Flamenco dancer I’d seen last time I’d visited the Met.
But what really got me was the dress. It was a pale beige, most likely silk, so close to the color of her skin that from a distance, she looked nude. But close up, it was breathtaking. The dress bared one shoulder, was fitted over her breasts, and cinched at the waist with a wide belt. It hit just above her knee, and her sky-high heels made her legs look a mile long. She wore a deep red lipstick that somehow remained just as red after she kissed both Gio and me.
When she turned to walk us into the apartment, I watched her ass jiggle just the tiniest amount under the fabric hugging her hips.
Apparently, our girl was going commando.
“Hey, guys,” I said to Chase and Ash, who were already camped out on her sofa with drinks in their hands.
Avril had scurried off to the kitchen to check on dinner.
I was thinking of helping her…or something like that.
“This place is the shit, isn’t it, Sumner?” Ash said, admiring the view through the floor-to-ceiling windows revealing half of Manhattan.
Avril returned to the living room, this time wearing a frilly little apron. My heart rate picked up, just thinking of what I wanted to do to her in that thing.
“Do you think you’ll get to keep this place?” Ash asked.
She joined us, sinking into a plushy chair. “That remains to be seen. A lot of things remain to be seen,” she said, staring into her flute of something bubbly.
“What’s this about your selling the gallery?” Chase asked.
So he’d heard too. I guess with a group like ours, word traveled fast. Just as well. We didn’t need to be keeping secrets from each other.
“Let me get everyone to the table first. We’ll talk over dinner.”
Well, she didn’t need to convince me to come to the table, with the incredible smell of meat filling her place. She served us steak au poivre, with some sort of pan sauce, and roasted asparagus. Christ, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. There was at least a full five minutes where no one at the table uttered a word.
That’s what you get when you feed a bunch of guys.
“To get back your question Chase, yes, I’m thinking of selling. As successful as the Kink Lab parties have been, I don’t think keeping the gallery open is sustainable. The space is too large and the rent too high.”
She looked around at each of us. She clearly had more to say.
“But the main reason I invited everyone here tonight was to tell you how…” her voice cracked, “grateful I am you’ve come into my life. It was at the perfect time, and each of you has been perfect for me in your own individual way.”
Shit. What was she getting at? We were getting the heave-ho? I put my fork down. Suddenly, my filet didn’t taste that great anymore.
Chapter 27
AVRIL
I stood at the head of the table and as I spoke, my four guys put down their forks and knives and looked at me.
Chase looked scared. Was he afraid of being left again? Gio looked amused. I guess nothing could faze you when your father was an arms dealer. Ash looked curious but also a bit sad. He’d just lost a good friend, and even though he’d not said much, I saw it weighing on him. And Sumner looked at me with his poker face, like a true politician’s son, giving nothing away.
Of course, my voice cracked. Because it always cracked when I wanted to look like I had my shit together.
“I want you to know I feel I can only be with one of you. I hope to know soon which of you that will be. Of course, whomever I end up with has to feel the same way about me. It’s hard, though. The last thing I want to do is hurt any of you.”
“Now, Avril, no need to make a hasty decision—” Sumner said.
