“I can see why you’d think that.”
“Okay, so whyaren’tyou using me like that?”
“Do you want that?”
This question catches me off guard.
“N-no. I … I just …” I trail off, not knowing what to say as my face burns fiercely hot and I look down at the blankets I’m clutching in my hands.
What is wrong with you, Evi. Seriously?
“Trust me, we’d be more than happy to use you like that if we could.”
“So, why can’t you?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Try me.”
“I told you, you need to ask Dante about it.”
“Well, he’s not here, and apparently, he’s seen fit to lock us in here together. So, why can’t you tell me?”
Luci sighs deeply, glancing down at his hands.
“It’s part of our rules.”
“Rules? What rules?”
“We don’t sleep with women we aren’t in love with.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes,” Luci says before pausing to take a small breath in. “At least, that’s part of the rules we live by.”
“Whose rules?”
“Dante’s … all of ours. I know Seven has a hard time abiding by them, but its’ what we’ve all agreed to.”
“I didn’t know the mafia cared so much about rules.”
“Mafias survive because of rules. Some just abide by a different set.”
“So, it’s okay for you to kidnap and kill people as long as you don’t force them to sleep with you?”
I can’t believe I just said that, and apparently, neither can Luci as the silence between us grows painfully uncomfortable.
“I think you should go to sleep,” Luci says, his voice cold as he rises from the bed.
“I—”
“Now.”
I shrink further into the bed as Luci settles in my favorite armchair, his eyes dark and expression brooding as he focuses off into the distance.
Turning my back to him, I pull the blankets up to my chin as curl in on myself.
I wish I hadn’t said what I did … I wish I’d been smart enough to keep my thoughts to myself, if only to learn more about them.