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Her eyes narrow, studying me. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Everything.“Nothing.”
“Caroline.”
“Juliet. It was a bogus list Dad brought to stir shit up. He probably falsified the whole thing, thinking he could turn Elia against me.”
She scoffs, raising her eyebrows. “Trust me, no one in this world could turn that man against you.”
I ignore the way her words make my heart fill with blood, how it feels like my veins constrict and swell all at once.
She chews on her lip, adjusting the spaghetti strap on her minidress. “Well, this was still fun, in any case. King’s Trace isboringthis summer. Lonely, even. I needed some entertainment.”
“Fucked your way through town, huh?”
A smirk tugs at the corner of her mouth. “Besides your husband and his family, there’s only one man in town I’ve not been with. I’m just waiting for him to come down out of that ugly castle.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Wait,what? You want to fuck Kieran?”
“God, yes. Haven’t you seen those pictures of him online from before he went into hiding? Sex on legs, Care, I’m telling you.” She tilts her head, a dreamy look in her eyes. “I mean, I know you were supposed to be promised to him, or whatever, but I figured since you’re married now, you wouldn’t mind?”
“I don’t, but I know someone who will.”
“Who, Elia?”
“They’re rivals, you know. He stole me away from him, and from what Luca’s told me, he’s not exactly happy about it.”
“I bet I could make him forget all about you.”
I hesitate, remembering Elia’s warnings. “I don’t think he’s a good man, Jules. I think he could hurt you.”
“Is there a man out there capable of not hurting us?”
Relenting, I push back from the table and stand, figuring that Elia and his father won’t be returning for a while. Walking to the front door, I peek out one of the large windows, pushing aside a curtain; there are no cars outside, indicating Benito took our parents’ home.
Turning on my heel, I smile at Juliet, who downs the remainder of her wine like a woman that isn’t sure when she’ll get her next taste. I pull her up and hook my arm in hers, starting up the stairs to my room. “Let’s remedy the loneliness, shall we?”
We settle under the comforter on my bed, eating chocolate I have stashed in my nightstand and giggling at reruns ofFriends. It’s not until much later, after I’ve heard the front door open and close a few times and Juliet’s head lolls on my shoulder, that I think back to their questions about the state of my uterus, wondering where the hell my period is.
I glare at Jennifer Aniston’s nipples, trying to dispel the thought from my brain. I don’t exactly have time for this.
Slipping lower beneath the comforter, careful not to jostle Juliet, I pull her limp body into mine, hoping I can keep her safe a little while longer, that this night didn’t ruin everything for us.
Elia pokes his head in after I’ve just started to fall asleep; he perches on the edge of the bed, a hand reaching out and running down over my shoulder. I crack one eye open, peering at him in the darkness, and he stills. “I can feel you looking at me.”
“That’s creepy,” I whisper, mindful of my sister’s sleeping form beside me.
“Not as creepy as that list you had.”
I bite my lip. “Are you... what are you going to do?”
He stays quiet for a long time, the only sound between us Juliet’s light snores. Finally, he sighs, cupping my knee through my comforter. “Did those men hurt you?”
No response. I don’t know what to even say.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asks, his voice impossibly soft.
“No,” I whisper.
