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Her. Aurora had become a her. It hurt too much to say her name aloud.
“There’s a chance I said her name.”
“Oh.” I reached for his hand. “I’m sorry. I’m assuming this new girl didn’t like it and told you to take a hike.”
“No, I told her to leave when she asked me who Aurora was.” He winced. “I left.”
“Well, that was an honest try. You should be proud of yourself. I still think going out will be good for you. And you would be doing me a solid. I don’t want to go alone.” I showed him the picture with the address on it before I typed it into Google maps. “It’s not that far from here.”
“Fine.” He sat back to make room for the server to set the huge pizza pie between us. “Let’s eat first.”
“Yeah, let’s eat.” I took a slice and bit into it. “Omigod, this is incredible.” I pulled on the string of cheese and then dropped it in my mouth. “Eat.” I pointed at him when he didn’t move.
“You’re insane.” He smiled and grabbed a piece. “This place could be a hundred different things that have nothing to do with your Luca seeing other women.”
“Yeah. I know.”
The thing was that every time I closed my eyes, I saw Luca in a dark room with other women. And that was driving me nuts. This was all his fault. I had already let him go. For two whole years, I didn’t look him up. I didn’t even think of him. Okay, I did think of him. But not in a stalker-ish way. I just wanted to know if he was doing well.
And then, he showed up at my school. I would’ve stayed away from him like I promised Enzo I would. But he provoked me. He failed me first. Then gave me a bunch of assignments to do. I craved him now more than ever.
When we finished, I rose to my feet. “Okay, I’m going to wash all this grease off my hands. Can you pay and then we can go?”
“Yeah. Go ahead. I’ll text the driver.”
I rushed to the bathroom and ran the cold water. In the dingy mirror, I could see my red cheeks and the wild look in my eyes. There was a chance this was a huge mistake, but no way was I backing down. I pressed a cool palm on my cheek and forehead, then walked out just as Enzo was also leaving the men’s bathroom.
“Let’s do this.” I took his arm and ushered him out of the restaurant.
His SUV pulled up a minute later, and we both climbed into the back seat. I gave the driver the address and sat back.
“We should probably pretend we’re together.” I turned to look at him. “You can be Bob. I’ll be Esther. Should we do accents?”
“Relax.” He reached for my hand. “It’s a clandestine club. All they want is our money. They don’t give a shit about our names.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I took several deep breaths to calm my nerves. “What am I going to do if he’s there?”
“You’re going to do nothing.”
Twenty minutes later, the driver pulled up to the curb. “This is the address.”
“It’s a house.” I peeked out the window at the brownstone. “It looks like no one’s home.”
“I’ll go check it out.” Enzo made eye contact with his driver, which prompted him to climb out of the vehicle to let Enzo out.
I sat there with a bunch of butterflies in my belly as Enzo pushed open the front door and disappeared. If this was an exclusive club, Enzo had no way of getting in. We had an address, but we didn’t have the actual card or a password. Maybe Don Gallo gave Luca the instructions for getting in when they walked out.
A few minutes later, the driver opened his door again and let Enzo in.
“What happened?”
“There was no one there.”
“But you went in.” I pointed at the brownstone.
“The place looks like it’s under construction. I’m telling you, there’s no way they’re having a party tonight.” Enzo shrugged.
“Fuck.” I hit the back of the passenger seat. “Let’s go. But I’m not giving up. This is the place.”
