Blowing out a breath, I tried to shake off the deep sadness sneaking in. “Okay. Okay.”
Luca took a step back and gathered my clothes. Once he had them all stacked nicely, he motioned for me to step into my panties. In a move that made my heart clench, he started to dress me. No person had ever dressed me.
With the last zipper zipped, I stood frozen as he quickly slipped on his clothes, smoothing down his shirt despite there being no wrinkles. He swallowed like he was trying to compose himself.
After a little more fussing with his cufflinks, ones I got him for his birthday, he looked at me. “I’m sorry I can’t be who you need me to be, who I want to be.”
I nodded. “Me too. But I understand.” I grabbed his hands in mine. “Please be careful. Don’t do anything too stupid.”
A genuine laugh spilled from his lips, the skin around his eyes creasing as he grinned. “I’ll try. And you stay away from anyone named Moretti or Chronis. Got it?” His smilewasall but gone as he mentioned his enemy.
“You got it.” I squeezed his hands and pulled away. “Well, Igottago. I have a lunch date with Ashley to discuss how best to stay away from you. Man, is she going to be pissed.”
We both smiled,and Luca put his hand on my lower back and showed me out of his office. At the door,I turned. “Goodbye, Luca.” The words gutted me.
“Goodbye, Sasha.” Luca’s skin turned green. Like any second, he would puke up his breakfast.
With a small smile, I turned and walked away from the person I loved most in the world.
TWENTY-TWO
Closure is a weird thing.
It’s supposed to make moving forward easier, make it possible to move into the future without looking back.
There’s supposed to be a sense of peace or some kind of contentment with how things have shaken out.
For me, closure felt like I would be forever settling.
“Okay. It’s been weeks since, well, you know, and I need the old Sasha back.”
Glancing up from the book in my hand,I shook my head. “I see you’re abusing your key privileges.”
Looking back at my book,I tried to find where I left off and ignored Ashley’s huffing. As I got sucked back into the raunchy Austen re-imagination, Ash ripped the book from my hands and tossed it across the room, knocking into Ryan’s cat tree. My poor, furry son raced from the room, yowling.
“Hey! You owe him an apology.”
Ashrolled her eyes but cupped her hands around her mouth all the same. “Sorry,Ryan!” Dropping her hands, she looked back at me. “Now you need to get the hell up and get dressed. We’re going out!”
She grabbed me and, with surprising strength, yanked me up off the couch.
“Damn, Supergirl, watch the goods.” I rubbed my arms,staring at the red handprints there.
“Go, go, go!”
“But I don’t want to. I want to read about Darcy banging Lizzie in the bath.”
Ashley landed a sound slap to my ass,and I yelped. She meant business, so I hurried to my room and slammed the door.
I made quick work of my hair and makeup and threw on a jumpsuit.
Strutting into the living room, I found Ashley was no longer alone. Scott, Malcolm,and Axel all sat chatting. The usual tension between Axel and Malcolm was gone. They were actually smiling at each other—freaky shit.
“Well, isn’t this cozy? I’m glad you all could make it.” Everyone looked up and smiled.
Ashley flipped me off. “Shut it. I needed reinforcements.”
Scott smiled as he got off the couch. “Red, baby, you look phenomenal.” He scooped me up and spun me around.