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I was so shocked that I nearly missed the words. “What?” I asked, sure that I’d imagined the one syllable.
“Fine.” He threw up his hands. “You want to have secrets, fine.”
“Seriously?” I probably should not have pressed, but I couldn’t help it. This all felt like too much. Since I arrived in New York, Eli had made it clear he wanted me gone. Now, after seeing me at my lowest, he was just…letting it go…
He shrugged. “You were drunk.”
Though I didn’t trust him, I wasn’t going to press. Eli was giving me a win. I wasn’t stupid enough to not take it.
“Are you going to tell your parents?” If Eli did, I was screwed. At best, my father would leave me here and the Blanchis would lock me down. Having Eli tail me was bad enough, but I knew it could be worse. At worse, he’d send me off to Mexico to live with my Abuela, and all hope of trying to find the men who broke into our home would be done.
“I probably should,” he said with a sigh. He ran a hand through his hair, messing up the dark curls in a way that made him look deliciously sexy. Despite myself, I couldn’t stop the fluttering in my stomach.
“But?”
He lowered his hand so I could see his face fully. “But I’m not going to. It’s clear that no one is going to send you home, and if they knew, I’m literally going to have to follow you everywhere.”
I snorted and rolled my eyes. “So, this is a quid pro quo situation?”
Eli nodded. “Kind of,” he said. “But no more drinking.”
The thought of consuming any more drinks, ever, made my stomach twist. “Deal.”
Opening the door, I started for my room, eager to get out of Eli’s line of sight before he decided that the terms of our agreement were not good enough.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
“What the fuck do you mean you aren’t going to tell Dad what happened?” Matteo asked.
The morning after the party, we went out for breakfast, joining Luca as we debriefed about the party. It had been almost impossible to keep my brother at bay. He wanted to know what happened after Carla passed out in my arms.
I hadn’t allowed him to be in my room with her, worried about what her mental state would be like when she woke up. It had taken hours, and as I watched her, I considered that maybe I should get my parents involved.
“If Mom and Dad know what happened, they are going to be pissed.”
Matteo’s eyes were nearly bugging out of his head. Luca was sitting in the diner booth sipping his coffee. He didn’t look nearly as concerned as my brother.
“And maybe, they’ll send her back home.”
I shook my head. “No,” I said. “They are going to be pissed at you for taking her to a party and letting her get wasted, and then, they are going to be pissed off at me.”
As I watched Carla sleep, I’d thought about what to do next. Carla was a liability, and her presence in New York was keeping me from my freedom. But I knew my father was not going to send her home.
The way my father spoke about her made that clear. He wanted to help Carla.
Matteo growled under his breath. “As much as it pains me to admit this, you were right about her.”
“Oh?”
Luca chuckled. “Should I record this?”
Matteo said nothing, which concerned me. “Are you upset about the letter opener?” I looked between him and Luca. “I’m pretty sure that between the two of you, you could have taken her down before she hurt anyone.”
“She didn’t start with that until after you tried to grab her,” Luca told Matteo. “And you weren’t exactly gentle with it.”
Matteo grumbled a string of curses under his breath and pulled something out of his bookbag. “Here.” He threw a folder on the table.
“What’s that?”
