Vick
“I’m not dating eitherof them,” Katie yelled across the table over the music. The crowd was loud, but not that loud.
“You don’t have to scream at us about it.” Brey eyed Katie as if signaling her to take it down a notch. The two were probably having some private, telepathic conversation. They had been best friends since high school and inseparable ever since.
I understood their bond in the sense that Katie was a sort of fierce protector of Brey’s when they were growing up. They both came from rough backgrounds, but Katie wore her warrior loud and proud. Her hair was chopped at her shoulders with electric-blue streaks through the black. She wore a cut up shirt and even though she was small, her tattoos made her look badass.
Even without all that, her gray eyes could stare down the biggest man in the room and make him wither.
Brey was the complete opposite. She had dark, natural hair, dressed conservatively most of the time and always tried to make everyone comfortable by being polite. People would call her well-bred but her new husband made sure to shake her out of that breeding every chance he got. He loved to see her let loose, and I envied their connection every time I saw them together.
“I’m not screaming about anything.” Katie looked at me for support. “Vick, you know what screaming is. Tell her I’m not screaming.”
“She’s not screaming, Brey.” I sighed and put my chin in my hand.
Brey stared at me longer than I wanted her to. “What’s wrong, Vick? I wouldn’t ask except that … well, something is bothering you, isn’t it?”
“I shouldn’t have e-mailed your business account,” I admitted. I still felt bad about our conversation. She had run to the bathroom immediately after leaving Jett’s office to warn me that he’d hacked her email.
“Water under the bridge.” Brey waved me off. “Jax said Jett won’t hold that e-mail against me.”
Katie blew a raspberry. “Jax is lying.”
Brey sighed. “I know he is. But I decided I don’t really care. Jett shouldn’t have done that.”
I smiled. Brey held everyone to her own standards, and I was happy to see her stand up for herself when they didn’t meet those standards. “Your boss is something else.”
“Is he now?” Katie asked and raised an eyebrow.
“Why are you asking me like that?”
“You still haven’t disclosed what you two were doing half the time in Kauai.”
“And you still haven’t disclosed what you are doing with the two Armanelli brothers,” I quipped.
Katie narrowed her eyes. “I said I’m not dating either of them.”
“That doesn’t give us any information. You never admit to dating anyone. Ever.”
“Brey knows I’m not dating either of them.” Katie nudged Brey.
She sipped her drink before she agreed. “She isn’t, but I think Bastian wouldn’t mind …”
“Bastian wouldn’t mind with anyone.”
I whispered what was bothering me. “Aren’t they in the mob?”
Brey rolled her lips between her teeth, and I knew the answer immediately.
“You can’t date someone in the mob, Katie.” I grabbed her drink as she reached for it to buy time. “No. You date questionable guys all the time, but I think we need to put our foot down with the freaking mob, you guys.”
Katie leaned in and widened her gray eyes at me. “Keep your voice down. Jesus. It isn’t the mob, per se.”
“‘Per se’?” I threw my hands up. “What does that even mean? Brey, you tell her.”
Brey winced. “I can’t tell her anything. I love those boys.”
“You love them? You can’t love people in the mafia. They … wait. Do they do business with the Stonewoods?”