“We aren’t friends,” Cade muttered, and that was all he said.
“Cool,” Luca said, glancing at me. “See? If you bug him enough, he’ll talk. From what I hear, his father is the same.” To Cade, he added, “No one made you come up here, man. You could’ve stayed downstairs and bored yourself to death with the politics of all this.”
Cade said nothing, but if looks could kill, I think we’d all be goners by now. The way he sat, with his knees were spread open, as if inviting other people to stare at his crotch, was kind of off-putting, but even so, something about him drew my attention.
Cade. I didn't recognize the name. I wondered what his last name was, whose heir he was.
Luca went on, “You know, we should throw our own party. Just us. No Black Hand members and no boring politics allowed.” His grin turned to me. “What do you say? If I threw us a little party, would you come?”
I knew a party without my father and without security—like the dozens of cameras I’d seen tucked away in the ceiling corners in this building—would be more dangerous. My father probably wouldn’t want me to go to any party any one of these people threw, and yet… yet it was because of that fact that I realized I would go.
I would go, because I knew it would upset my father. I’d go just to spite him. I had to start living, right? What better way than to piss off my father at every turn? I might be his daughter, I might be stuck with the Santos name, but I could do whatever the hell I wanted.
“Yeah,” I told him. “I’d go, as long as it’s not here.” I made sure to say it quietly, knowing Zander would flip his shit if he heard me agreeing to this. Of course, he’d want to come himself, just to make sure I was okay. Kind of annoying.
“Oh, it won’t be. I’ll find us a good place.” Luca couldn’t stop grinning, and I had to look away from him. His smile was… too much. Just too much.
My eyes landed on my hands, and for a split second, I thought I saw red on them. Blood. The blood of those fucking Greenback Serpents. But there was nothing; it was just the shadows of the room playing tricks on me. My fingers curled into firsts, and then I relaxed them.
I didn’t know how long we were up there, talking. I mostly listened, as did Cade. Luca carried the conversation, always keeping someone talking. The ones near the pool table played a few more games. Eventually, though, our drinks were finished—not that I had any—and it was time to go downstairs to join the others for dinner.
The twilight world outside had completely bowed to night, the moon rising high in the sky. We had to take a few different elevators down, mostly because we couldn’t all fit in one, which was fine by me. I didn’t want to be pressed body-to-body with these people. Baby steps. So, I returned to the window, staring outside at the world of night as the others began to go down.
Zander stayed, waiting for me, of course, along with some of the Black Hand members.
The one named Shay moved to stand beside me, staring out of the window with me. “You don’t want to be here, do you?” Her voice was quiet, but her words were blunt and to the point. “It’s okay. You don’t have to say it. I can see it.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Shay turned away from the window, facing me. “Take it from me: you won’t win this if your heart’s not in it.”
My eyebrows creased, and I was about to ask her what she meant, because this wasn’t about me winning anything; it was about my father and what he wanted, but right then Dex called out, “Elevator’s ready.”
Shay said nothing else, turning on her heels and sauntering away. I watched her go for a few moments, slow to snap back into my own head and hurry after her, where Zander, Dex and Jett were waiting. The others had already headed down.
“So,” Zander broke the silence of the elevator once its door closed, “are you guys…” He made a weird gesture between Shay, Dex, and Jett. I glared at him, wanting to elbow him and tell him you couldn’t just ask those things—
But then Shay nodded and said, “Together? Yes.”
“Hey,” Jett said, voice dripping sarcasm, “let’s not forget how you’re banging Nix and Slade too. And who could forget our own father? Yeah.” He paused as he put an arm around Shay’s shoulder while she glared at him all the while. “She’s a greedy little bitch, but she’s my greedy little bitch. Well, our greedy little—”
“That’s enough,” Dex said, causing his brother to stop.
“What Dex said,” Shay muttered, poking Jett in his side and causing him to let out a not-so-manly giggle as he tried to get away from her. “And stop calling me a bitch. I might have my moments, but you do too, Jett.”
They went back and forth a while as the elevator took us down. Meanwhile, I was in what I think you’d call shock. Shocked at the truth of Shay’s dating life. My father hadn’t discovered this tidbit of information; it’d certainly be something he’d like to know. Shay Arrowwood was dating basically all of the Hand.
How was that going to work for future generations? Maybe they’d accept new members like they were doing now. Still, that seemed like an awful lot of men to juggle. A lot of dicks. A lot of constant testosterone, so much you could drown in it. I didn’t know how the hell she did it. At this point in my life, I didn’t even see myself with one guy, let alone five.
Five boyfriends. Just… wow.
The doors slid open when we reached the lobby, and we stepped out. Zander and I were last, following Shay and the twins back to the ballroom. He tossed me a look, and I knew exactly what he was thinking: the same thing I was.
We walked into the ballroom, finding everyone had gone to their seats. Zander wouldn’t have a seat, but that didn’t stop him from walking with me to where my father was. He currently stood near our table, shaking the hand of… Luca.
“It’s good to finally meet you after all these years,” my father was busy saying. And then he saw me. The moment he stopped shaking Luca’s hand, he motioned for me to come to him, and I did. I resisted the urge I had to pull myself away from him when I felt his arm wrap around my shoulder and hold me close. To me, he said, “I assume you’ve met Luca Moretti already, Giselle?”
Luca… Luca Moretti? That wasn’t right. It couldn’t be.