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Hudson merely shook his head and said, “Gusano is the owner’s last name, you assholes. And I think he’s Italian.”
“Ah,” Oaklynn murmured with a knowing nod. “So thedeis D-I, not D-E?”
“No. It’s D-E,” Hudson corrected.
Which only made Oaklynn frown and tip her head. “But articles in Italian are D-I, not D-E.”
“Yeah, well…” Hudson huffed out a long-suffering sigh. “The owner’s an ignorant asshole who probably just thought it sounded cool. I don’t know. I don’t really care. I just know they make a damn fine eggplant rollatini, and working there is going to put me on the map.”
“Eggplant. Bleh…” Alec made a face of horror.
“It’s the most respected, accredited, prominent restaurant in town,” Hudson kept talking over him. “Sothat’swhere I need to be right now. If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere.”
“But only if you give the owner’s daughter a special taste of yourownworm.” Keene snickered, making both him and Alec start laughing all over again before they high-fived each other.
Only for Keene to nudge Alec silent and squint questioningly at Hudson. “Wait, wait, wait. So your new girlfriend’s name is GenesisGusano?”
“G-g-golly…” Alec jumped in. “That’s a lot of G's.”
“Please tell me her middle name is Grace.”
“Or Gianna.”
I shook my head and sighed at them, while Oaklynn cried, “I can’t believe you two. How can you joke at a time like this? One of your best friends is basically beingblackmailedinto dating someone.”
But hearing that spoken aloud only made the two morons crack up more. “Blackmailed by the g-g-glamorous worm queen.”
Oaklynn sniffed irritably. “Ain’t you even remotely worried about him? I mean, what if he meets the woman of his dreams and falls in love with her but can’t do anything about it because he’s stuck with Cruella deGenesis?”
“Oh, honey,” Hudson drawled, flashing her a flirty smile. “That’s definitely not gonna happen. You’re already taken.”
“¡Madre mía!” she muttered under her breath, before growling, “None of you even care, do you? Damien!”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, kissing her hair in reassurance. “Don’t worry; I got this. Whenever Ivey’s ready to pull his head out of his ass and escape this girl, I’ll help him.”
“Thank you,” she said, gripping my arms more snugly around her and then tipping her head to the side for a kiss on the cheek, which I readily gave her. “You’re the best.”
All the while, Keene was snorting. “Yeah, because Archer’s a freakingexperton scaring women away.” Glancing at Alec in question, he asked, “What are some of the reasons they leave him again?”
“Oh, oh…” Lifting a hand, Alec raised his voice an octave as if to imitate a woman’s as he said, “He’s just so closed off and doesn’t know how to open up to me.”
“He wouldn’t even share a single drawer with me or let me leave a toothbrush at his place,” Keene joined in, quickly followed by Hudson.
“If only hetalkedmore.”
“I mean, I really wanted to make it work with him,” Alec carried on, setting a hand on his hip and thrusting his chin up and chest forward. “But I just never knew what he wasfeeling.”
“He’ssuchan asshole,” Keene added.
Swallowing, I started to sweat, hoping none of these dipshits were feeding Oaklynn any reason to look at me differently.
But all she did was scoff. “I don’t know whyanyof you think you’re bright enough to make fun of Damien. He’s the only man in this room right now who’s actually using his brain.”
“Oh, honey, that’s not his brain he’s thinking with,” Keene assured her. “He just wants to get back into your panties tonight.”
“Well, guess what?” she sassed back as she surged to her feet to scowl down at him. “It worked.”
Then she turned her back to him so she could face me directly. “Come on, baby. Let’s go to your room.” And she held a hand down to me. “I’ve had enough of these clowns for one evening.”
