“Trust me, darling: I’m under no illusions about what we are.”
“Great. Then silence it is.”
I grab a piece of bread and bite into it savagely, tearing it the way I wish I could tear into her. But it melts on my tongue, and I can’t help but give a little sigh of relief. I didn't realize how hungry I was.
I help myself to some pasta from the bowl in the center of the table. Brit already has some on her plate, but she’s barely touched anything.
If things were different, I might have asked her why she isn’t eating. As it stands, I don’t care if she starves to death right in front of me.
A door opens and closes in the kitchen, and I instinctively turn towards it, expecting Leo.
But it’s just a server refreshing our waters.
“I told you he’s not going to be coming for dinner,” Brit tells me with a spark in her eye. “He’s got important things that require his… undivided attention.”
“I don’t give a shit what he does.” I stab my pasta with unnecessary force.
She gives a snort, and I drop the fork before I get the urge to stab her in the eye next.
“I don’t care what Leo does," I repeat.
Brit leans in, her blue eyes brighter in the light from the chandelier above us. “Honey, you may be able to get away with those half-assed lies in the outside world. But not here. Not with me.”
“I think you’re projecting, honey,” I say, trying to muster up the same level of condescension she seems to be able to manufacture so effortlessly.
“I never project. I’ve always been good at feeling my own feelings. And I’m an expert at reading other people’s.”
“If you know how I feel, then you know exactly how I feel about you.”
“I do,” she answers immediately. “And even though I understand, your feelings towards me are misplaced.”
“Misplaced?”
She nods. “This is the Bratva, Willow. If you want Leo, you need to take him. Regardless of who’s in your way.”
There are so many things I want to counter in that one sentence that I don’t know where to begin. “I don’t—that’s… Jesus!”
I run a hand through my hair, trying to get my thoughts in order and my outrage in check.
“I don’t want Leo,” I snap at last. “And if you’re implying that I’m jealous of you because of that then… then… well, then fuck you.”
She raises her eyebrows. “So you’re saying you don’t care about Leo? You have no feelings for him whatsoever?”
“None,” I say, proud of the way the word snaps out of my mouth with conviction.
She pushes her chair back and gets slowly to her feet. “Then I guess you wouldn’t care if I head into his office right now and fuck his brains out?” she asks.
My heart jumps into my throat at once. Why didn’t I just stay silent? There was no danger in silence.
She nods. “Brava to you, then. I’ll be back.” She sashays away, through a door I didn’t notice, and disappears.
I sit there, staring off after her, wondering what the fuck I've done. If I follow her now, it’ll only prove her point. It’ll confirm everything she’s just accused me of.
But if I go back up to my room like I should, I’ll just imagine it happening. I’ll imagine her stripping naked, climbing on top of him…
I get to my feet and stare at the threshold she just walked through.
“Fuck,” I mutter out loud. “Fuck!”
“Something wrong, ma’am?”
My head snaps to the side as one of the waiters enters from the kitchen. He’s looking at me, waiting for some sort of request or order. He’s not the waiter who walked in on me naked. I haven't seen that man since that night. And I’m pretty sure I know why.
“Ma’am?” he asks. “Is something wrong?”
“Yes,” I say with a grimace. “Everything.”
18
LEO
I look up from my files and see Ariel closing the door behind her.
“I’m working, Ariel.”
She walks around my desk and stands in front of me. A seductive smile tugs on her lips. “A handsome man like you shouldn’t need to slave away so often.”
She pushes my legs apart with her knee and climbs onto my lap. She’s playing one of her games; I just don’t have the patience for it tonight.
“Get off me,” I grunt. “I’ve got shit to do.”
She leans in, voice low. “This’ll be worth it. Just hang in there.”