He smirks for a fraction of a second before his face goes serious again.
"I want to prove myself to you. That I pick you, not Nate or your parents. Also, I need you to forgive me for being an idiot in Napa, and I don't ever want to take advantage of you. So, until you forgive me, and you know without a shadow of a doubt that I'm in this, on your side, then I don't cum. Not by your hand or mine."
"West..." We are interrupted by a knock on the door.
He leans in, gives me a quick kiss, and reaches down to adjust himself before answering the door.
Nate and Mandy walk in, and of course, they’re early.
Mandy comes right to me and gives me a huge hug.
"Look at you!” I say. “You’re glowing. Italy agrees with you."
"That's what Nate said. He kept trying to buy a villa while we were there to convince me to go back more."
I lower my voice, "Depending on how today goes, I might insist on your taking him up on it and moving him over there permanently."
Hugging Mandy again, I then walk over to West's side, where he and my brother seem to be having some kind of stare-off. The moment I’m at West's side, he pushes me to stand behind him. While I love his protective side, I think he’s the one who needs protecting.
"Let's just tell them and get this over with," I sigh.
"Tell me what?" Nate grits out.
Mandy walks to his side and grips his arm, and Nate pushes her behind him in the same move West did to me. I peek out from behind West's back to find Mandy peeking out from behind Nate.
"West and I moved in together," I say, ripping off the Band-Aid.
"Moving a little fast, aren't you?" my brother asks.
"Really, Nate? Do we not remember Diamond?"
"Yeah, and look how that turned out."
"Who's Diamond?" Mandy asks.
"No one," Nate says, and Mandy glares at me. The mention of a name she doesn’t know means she wants the details, and she isn’t going to drop this.
I mouth 'later' to her, and she nods.
"Rory is no Diamond, and you know it. Saying she is going to pull that stunt is an insult to her." West’s voice is low and calm but pretty freakin’ scary.
"What stunt?" Mandy asks, throwing her arms in the air.
Nate looks like he is going to murder West, so I decide to take some of that anger and let him focus on me. Why? I have no idea.
"Diamond is a stripper Nate met at a strip club. She gave him this sob story, and he moved her in with him two weeks after meeting her. A month later, he came home from work, and she had cleared his apartment out, quit her job, and fled, after also draining him of a few thousand dollars.”
Nate's eyes never move from West.
"Outside." Nate grits out, and West nods.
"So, help me, Nate, if you hurt him, don't bother coming back in here!" I yell after them before Nate slams the door behind him.
Mandy and I look at each other then race to the front window, kneeling on the couch and not even bothering to hide. We are avidly watching what they’re going to do.
They stand in the front yard staring at each other.
"Dammit, I can't hear. How do you open these windows?" Mandy asks.