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“I’m nice.” She wrinkles her nose. “Don’t listen to him, Angelica. Anything he’s said about me is lies.”
Angelica snorts a laugh. “All he said was that you’re a good kid.”
“Akid?” Carina points her fork at me again. “You’re lucky I’m in a good mood this morning or I’d stab you with this.”
“You could certainly try, little sister.” I sit beside Angelica and drape my arm over the back of her chair.
Carina waves a hand at me, clearly dismissing my presence, and turns to Angelica. “I know all there is to know about him, but it’s you I’m interested in. Tell me all about you.” She cuts a piece of her waffles as my staff comes in and pours coffee, delivers fresh, hot food, and offers more.
“Well, I come from a pretty small family for an Italian family. It’s just my parents, my sister, and me—though we have a million cousins, of course.”
Carina nods. “That’s like Antonio and me.”
“My sister is older than me, and she’s pretty much the most sought-after bachelorette in town, but my father is saving her for some big alliance, I think.”
Carina frowns and stabs a piece of sausage. “You really don’t get any say in who you marry? That’s fucking barbaric.”
“Language, Carina.” Gilly strides in, his eyes on Carina.
She flips him off. “That’s nothing. I learned all sorts of things while I was trapped at boarding school.”
“Trapped? That’s the best boarding school money can buy.” I raise a brow. “You have tons of friends and straight As. Doesn’t sound trapped to me.”
“Well.” She shrugs, her dark brown hair falling into her face. She swipes it away and downs the rest of her orange juice. “I can’t help it if I’m popular.”
Gilly sits one seat away from her as he always has. I can never read him when it comes to Carina. When we were younger, he would tease her and play her little games–chess, backgammon, poker. Now, though, he doesn’t seem to have any time for her. In fact, he goes out of his way to keep from being alone with her.
“I would’ve loved to go to a school like that.” Angel smiles and takes a bite of her pancakes. “My mom wouldn’t have it. We were home-schooled by tutors, for the most part.”
“What was your favorite subject?” I ask.
She sips her coffee. “I really liked English. Reading was fun–though not the books I was supposed to read for school. I was more into fan fiction.”
“What’s that?” Gilly butters a piece of toast.
Angelica and Carina simultaneously sputter.
I take a bite of my eggs and let myself enjoy this time with my family. I didn’t realize how good something so simple could feel, but as Carina and Angelica begin to explain the apparent wonders of fan fiction, I can’t stop my smile.
“--but look, that whole omegaverse thing started asSupernaturalfan fiction, more or less,” Carina says.
“Sure, but did you know some people think it actually started in a Star Trek episode from like the seventies or something? I’ve never seen it, but I read that in one of my forums.”
Carina nods and crunches into a piece of bacon. “I prefer the MM versions, but sometimes a good kidnap reverse harem can really get me going.”
“Oh my God, me too! Wait, have you read the shadow girl series based on Emily Dickinson’s life?”
Carina drops her fork. “Oh my God. Ilovethat series!”
“I binge read the whole thing in like, two days.”
“Two days?” Carina crows.
“I didn’t sleep. Not even a little bit. It was so nuts! The way she had two lovers and then wanted to take on a third, but the first one went insane and tried to break into Emily’s house so she could–”
“Sacrifice her on an altar and drink her blood!” They both say in unison and fall into a fit of giggles.
Gilly and I exchange an amused look.
