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Adriano started to lead the way toward the bakery, but Talia grabbed his arm and gave her head a firm shake before pulling out her phone again.
Adam will MURDER you if you bring Noah store-bought dessert. He’ll make it for you if you want it.
Adriano couldn’t help but laugh at the realization he was stepping into a family of bakers—one with a shop, for now, and one with a truck. He glanced back at a pile of strawberries in boxes, then signed it. “Strawberry,” he clarified. “And whipped cream?”
Talia raised a brow, then flushed, and Adriano realized the food kink possibilities. Not something he’d ever been into off-camera, but with Noah, anything was possible. And everything. Not tonight, though. He didn’t want this to be about sex. He wanted this to be a moment where he showed Noah—with more than words—what he meant when he said he was falling for him.
He grabbed two boxes and a little spray can of cheap whipped cream, then started toward the checkout. He was eyeing a small bin of single-serve applesauce packets when a person came around the corner, and Adriano’s entire body froze.
Eric’s smile was too familiar, the glint in his eyes a painful reminder of what he’d walked away from. Adriano had wondered since he got to Savannah what he’d do if he came face-to-face with Eric again. How could he not? But he felt nothing at first, then simmering resentment over so damn many years wasted.
‘I was hoping I’d run into you,’ Eric signed.
Normally, Adriano would have been able to breathe easier with someone as fluent as Eric, but now he just wanted to break his fingers to silence him after what he’d done to Noah. ‘Why? You could have texted instead of creeping around town and lying.’
Eric’s brow raised. ‘Is that what your little boy toy told you I did?’
Adriano’s entire body was thrumming with furious energy. ‘No. He didn’t tell me anything.’
Eric looked mildly amused until Adriano saw Talia say something out of the corner of his eye. Eric snapped back, and Talia laughed.
‘What did she say?’ Adriano demanded.
Eric gave him a mean look. ‘Not your business.’
He was doing it to be cruel, to leave Adriano out, to remind him that he had the power of hearing. Eric had rarely used that against him, but this wasn’t the first time. It was, however, a reminder of why Eric had never been a good person. He had never been a person worthy of Adriano’s love. Adriano had just spent years ignoring that part of his ex.
‘You need to leave,’ Adriano told him.
Eric scoffed. ‘You don’t have the right to demand that.’
Darting a glance at the checkout, Adriano realized they’d gained an audience. Chances were, he was being loud. He rarely bothered to control whether or not he made noise anymore, especially when he was angry, and right then, he was furious.
Talia tapped him on the shoulder, and the look on her face was one of concern.
“Can you pay for me?” he asked. “I’m going to have a word with Eric outside.”
Talia nodded and took Adriano’s offered card before fixing Eric with a hard look and pushing toward the line. Adriano didn’t bother to wait and see if Eric followed. He just marched out and around the corner, where they could have some semblance of privacy.
‘Look at you,’ Eric signed when Adriano stopped and turned to face him. ‘Voicing for the hearies.’
Adriano took a step closer to him, and the rage on his face finally gave his ex pause. ‘Youare a hearie. You’re worse than them because they don’t withhold communication to make themselves feel powerful.’
Eric blanched, but he made no move to tell Adriano what it was Talia had said, which meant it was an insult. ‘Come home, Adriano. Stop being an asshole and just come home.’
Adriano scoffed. ‘I am home.’
Eric’s look was one of disbelief, and he rolled his eyes. ‘This is some shitty little town in fuckingGeorgia. Our condo…’
‘Mycondo,’ Adriano corrected. ‘My condo in LA, my cottage on Coronado. My name, my homes. I’m selling them, Xander is fired, and I’m through with you both. Enjoy your engagement.’ He glanced down and saw Eric’s bare hand. ‘Or not.’
Eric’s cheeks were flaming, splotchy red. ‘I didn’t want him. I was trying to make you jealous. I was so tired of you not giving a shit about me.’
‘I still don’t give a shit about you,’ Adriano said. It was time to be hurtful with honesty because he didn’t care what happened as long as Noah was with him. ‘I’m in love with someone else.’
‘That chubby guy with freckles? The one you want to film with? Some college drop-out whose business is going under?’
Adriano became profoundly aware of how far Xander had been able to dig into Noah’s background before he cut Xander’s access to his email. ‘He had no right to my personal information once I fired him. I hope he enjoys the lawsuit. I hope you both do since you were also no longer employed by me when you went into Noah’s personal information.’
