“Coffin-shaped, ‘Scarlet Lady’ red.”
“Scarlet Lady?”
“That’s the name of the nail polish. She specifically told me.” She prods me in the arm. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
“No.”
“For fuck’s sake, Cade!” Róisín yells from the living room. “Isn’t it obvious? She’s going out and trying to get laid!”
“Raisin, what are you doing eavesdropping on my conversation?” I holler back.
“She and Neev are both out there waiting for you to come to your senses. We like Belle,” she admits. “And I like you around her too.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re a bit of an asshole with women, Cade. It’s because you’re so pretty. You don’t have to treat them mean to keep them keen. They just float around you like flies around a turd.”
“Gee, thanks—”
“You know it’s true. But with her, you were kinder, gentler. It was a good side of you to see. You were attentive and reactive instead of just, I don’t know, passive?”
“Passive? What the hell does that mean?”
“You know what it means. I don’t think there’s much about your life that you care about, Cade. You’ve been that way since Vinny—”
“Don’t bring him up.”
“No? I think you and Belle have a lot more in common than you realize. Something broke both of you when you were young. Something made you realize that life isn’t perfect and the people you can rely on aren’t always there for you.” She shoots me a look from under her lashes. “I-I know you got a lot of the blame for what happened with Vin.”
Rolling my forearm over my eyes, I mutter, “Lucas wouldn’t speak to me for months.”
“I remember. You were a kid, Cade. He shouldn’t have done that. Maybe your broken pieces and Belle’s rub up nicely together and that’s why you were so insistent about fucking her into oblivion.”
Though I’ve got a frog in my throat, I have to chuckle. “You’re such a jerk.”
“I learned from the best. I’m just the one who pulls your head out of your ass. Are you going to go and get her?” she asks, tone hopeful.
“No—”
“Is he going to go see her?” Róisín calls from the other room.
“Tell him we’ll make his life hell if she’s already banging a biker by the time he gets his ass over there!”
“Neev!” I snap. Before Kitty gives me any more shit, I get out of bed, dragging the sheet with me.
Kitty scowls at my bare ass. “You’re naked?”
“Of course. I was in bed,” I argue.
“I sat on the bed.”
“I can guarantee that my dick has touched most of the bedding—”
She gags and rushes out of the bedroom. “I saw Cade’s dick. I’m going to puke.”
Neev snorts. “I saw it when he was banging Mary Elizabeth that time against the locker in my junior year. I still can’t believe you got away with that.”
“She said she was pregnant?” Róisín inquires.