“True, but they’re off limits.” He winks and Amber giggles louder. Seriously? Do I sound like that around Gio?
“Nico, Amber; Amber, Nico, Gio’s brother,” I say before I dive into the water and swim toward the deep end. When I come up for air, Nico and Amber are chatting. She’s laughing at whatever he’s saying—her hands hitting him against the chest—and he’s eating that shit up.
Natalie and Sienna come walking out, suits on, and I wave to them. “Hey!” I had invited them when I made plans with Amber. They’re both super sweet.
“Hey, Aria!” They both wave, throw their towels down, and join me in the pool. “This water feels so good! We don’t use the accommodations offered here enough,” Sienna admits.
“Seriously!” Natalie agrees.
We spend the next few hours in the pool hanging out. Nico gets his suit and joins us. He’s a huge flirt with all of us, but he seems to focus most of his attention on Amber.
When my stomach starts to rumble, I swim to the stairs and get out. “I’m starving. Want to go grab something to eat?”
“How the hell do you eat so much and look like that?” Natalie appraises my body as she wraps her towel around her.
“I’ve been saying the same thing since we first met our freshman year in college,” Amber adds.
“Oh, whatever. I lost a lot of weight this past year. I’m not usually this skinny.” I laugh, but it comes out rough as I remember why I’m the skinniest I’ve ever been. We all make our way into the kitchen and I start going through the pantry to see what I can find to eat.
“I’m going to leave you ladies to it. I came here to find my brother and some women in sexy bikinis got me distracted.” He winks at Amber and walks out of the kitchen with his towel strung over his neck. As he leaves, Maggie comes in and offers to make us sandwiches.
“So, if it’s none of our business you can say as much, but what the heck happened this last year? Why are you living here?” Sienna questions.
I retell the same story I told Amber, leaving out most of the gory and horrific details, but telling them enough so they understand.” I know Gio said I need to lay low and I am, but it feels good to talk to people other than him. It’s not like these women are going to go running to the news channels.
“Are you planning to go back to school?” Natalie asks as she takes a bite of her sandwich and moans in approval. Everything Maggie makes is delicious. She’s offered to give me some cooking lessons and I’ve taken her up on them. I can now successfully make lasagna, chicken parmigiana, and chicken fettucine alfredo.
“Yes… are you?” Cecilia walks into the kitchen, her nose stuck in the air as usual, butting into our conversation.
“I’m planning on it.”
“And with whose money? Giovanni’s?” Her question is meant to be rude, but I don’t let it get to me. I’m here at Giovanni’s insistence. He sought me out, not the other way around. I’m extremely appreciative of him getting me out of that basement, but I would never take advantage of him, and I sure as hell don’t want to owe anybody anything.
“I haven’t figured it out yet, but no, he has given me enough. I don’t want to take advantage of him. I obviously need to make my own money but I’m stuck under this roof, which is making it difficult.” I know if I asked Gio for the money to go to school, he’d give it to me in a heartbeat, but I don’t want him to. I want to be independent. Show the world that what happened to me didn’t break me. He’s made it clear, he doesn’t want anything to happen between us, so keeping our relationship on a friendship level means not taking anything more from him than necessary.
“If you don’t want to rely on him, why don’t you work here? You can do that right from under this roof.”
“Cici!” Sienna yells.
“What? Mariah left and I’m hiring. If you’re serious about needing a job, you can work here.” She flips her hair behind her back as her head tilts slightly. Ugh! She’s such a damn bitch.
“As an escort?” I clarify.
“I mean, unless it’s beneath you.” Her eyebrows raise in a challenge.
“No, it’s not that. It’s just…” I look around then sigh. “I haven’t had sex since I was raped.” I bite the side of my cheek hard, the metallic taste of the blood hitting my tongue.
“You wouldn’t have to have sex,” Natalie says.
“What do you mean?”
“We all have a profile. It lets the members know what we allow. Whether we allow sex and if we do, what our hard limits are. You could just put you don’t allow sex.”