As she reached to steal a juicy nugget, it didn’t take her a second to answer, “I can’t because it exists.”
Seven
Channing Fucking Tatum
Walking through her front door, she huffed, beginning to mumble underneath her breath, “Stupid jerk. Asshat. Dick—”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“N-nothing,” she quickly replied, taken off guard. She hadn’t seen Vincent sitting on the couch when she had come in.
He suspiciously looked at her for a moment. “You sure about that?”
Remembering how Angel had ignored her completely on the way home, she was about to open her mouth and tell him how much she hated men at the moment, when “Yes” came out instead. Just as well. She would save it until she got really pissed off. “Why are you here?”
“Last time I checked, this was still my home.”
Throwing herself down on the couch, she sunk into it. “Oh yeah, I forgot you have, like, five homes.”
“I have three.” Lifting three fingers, he began to list them. “My dad’s, my penthouse, and here.”
“Aren’t you always over at the Caruso house? That’s like four.”
“We don’t really hang out over there much anymore since we got the penthouses. Plus …” Vincent paused for a second. “Lucca may or may not have banned me from the house for the time being.”
Busting out in laughter, she could barely get her words out. “He banned you? What did you do now?”
“He didn’t like the way I smiled at Chloe; said I was flirting with her.”
“Were you?” She laughed even harder.
“No! That’s just my fucking face!” he yelled over her cackling, getting frustrated.
It was true; it was just his face. Her stepbrother was a pretty boy, born with a gorgeous face. His striking baby blue eyes didn’t help either. Flirting came easy to him with the countless girls and women who had thrown themselves at him, and now he didn’t even have to try to flirt. It was just … his face. It was like if Jonah Hill smiled at you; it would just be a nice gesture. But if Channing Tatum smiled at you, then … I don’t know about you, but I’m goin’ to my grave claiming Channing fucking Tatum flirted with me.
She was also missing the obvious—him being grossly happy with her best friend. Sometimes she really missed her brother’s old, slutty ways when she wanted McDonalds at one in the morning.
“I’m sorry.” She tried to contain her laughter. “It must be so hard being beautiful.”
Vincent nodded in agreement, clearly not getting her sarcasm. “It’s a curse.”
“Oh God.” Adalyn got up, going to the kitchen. She’d had enough of pretty people shit after Maria earlier today. “At least Maria has a brain,” she whispered to herself.
“Did you say something?” Vincent asked, following behind her.
“Nope.” Grabbing an apple from the counter, she bit into it while looking at her brother, who looked like he had something to say. “Are you gonna tell me why you’re here or not?”
Picking up his own apple, he took a huge bite of what looked like half the apple. “I came to hang out with my favorite sister, is all.”
“Only sister,” she corrected.
“And,” Vincent continued, clearly getting to the point, “to see how your day went.”
“How my day went?” Staring at him, she quickly realized why he was here. “Does Angel have anything to do with it?”
“Maybe.”
“My day was fine. You can leave now. Bye.”
“Don’t be like that, Adalyn. Lucca’s the one who made me ask you. He wanted to make sure you felt comfortable with Angel.”
Lucca? “Why wouldn’t he just ask me himself?”
Vincent took another bite of the apple, obviously not wanting to answer until she shoved him hard enough. “Probably because he knows you’re in love with him.”
“I am not!” she lied, of course.
Rolling his eyes, he saw right through her. “Like hell, you’re not. I wouldn’t be surprised if him saying darlin’ is your ringtone and his face is your screensaver.”
Excuse me?
Actually, that’s not a bad idea …
“Don’t you have orders you need to go follow or something?”
“Fine.” While he threw the core of his apple away, his tone got serious. “For the time being, Angel will be your bodyguard, and even though I don’t like it, Lucca insisted. You’ll tell me if he does or says anything the family should know, right?”
Gulping down the lump in her throat, she hoped she had somehow become a better liar in the last thirty seconds. “Of course.”
His baby blues stared at her a moment longer before he nodded and started to leave, making her sigh in relief. She had seen it in his eyes that he didn’t trust Angel for one second.
“Vincent?” she quietly called, making him stop.
Turning around, she now saw hope in his eyes that there was something she knew about Angel that he didn’t. “Yes?”
“Do you happen to have a picture of Lucca?”
Angel sat on his bed, rolling the horseshoe ring between his fingers before placing it on his nightstand.