Chapter Fourteen
chapter fourteen
RAFAEL
As I look up from my spot behind the bar, I see a kid standing at the front of Olive we all know you’re happier since I got here.”
Heath and Caio frown looking over at him. “Yeah, actually he started getting grumpy just as you showed up,” Heath says.
“Oh shut up,” Leo says. “You’re forgetting that I showed up days after a certain blonde that’s now living in his pockets.” He pours me a glass of whiskey as I sit down next to him, sinking into the plush cushions of Caio’s expensive couch.
Boys’ night is exclusively held at Caio’s apartment at Hotel Dolce. We used to alternate, but at some point, we ended up coming here every time. There’s something about looking out over Ruby Cove at the end of the week that creates the ideal atmosphere for the perfect balance of a little shit talking, and a little vulnerability.
“How’s that all going?” Caio asks cautiously. I just sigh. “That well? ”
I swallow down my whiskey and motion for Leo to pass me the bottle.
“It’s fine,” I grumble. “I’ve only lived with one other female, Marisol. She was never so…nosy.”
“Yeah well, she had nothing to be nosy about, she’s your sister.”
“You missing her right about now?” Leo asks, a hand on my shoulder.
“We all know you are,” Caio chuckles, raising his eyebrows at our friend.
“I missed Marisol before I even met her,” Leo says wistfully.
I bump him in the shoulder. “Lucky she’d never go for you, huh?”
“One day. I’m waiting for the day she breaks up with that twat from the city, and then it’ll be my time to shine.”
Heath looks between us all. “What am I missing here?”
Sometimes I forget Heath hasn’t always been around. There’s so much that I forget he doesn’t know about us, but from the day he moved here he so seamlessly slotted in with us that I forget he ever wasn’t around.
“Leo has been in love with Raf’s sister since the day he met her,” Caio says. “But she’s currently tangled up with her agent in the city.”
I can’t help the way my face breaks into a frown at the mention of my sister's horrible boyfriend Jack. The guy’s a sleaze, anyone could tell you that Marisol could do so much better than that guy.
Leo nods. “She’s got bad judgment right now, but she’s an angel.”
“And you’re Lucifer,” I add.
He shrugs. “Perfect match.”
I roll my eyes. “Okay enough of that.”
Leo truly has always worshiped the ground my sister walks on. It’s awful. The fact that she would never fall for his ridiculous charm is the only thing that keeps me from ripping his head off when he talks about it .
“Is May okay?” All the attention in the room falls to Heath. “After the fire…”
I swallow down another gulp of the amber liquid. “She hasn’t really talked about it.”
“Well, did you ask her?”
My eyes flick around the room to see Leo and Caio looking at me expectantly, like it’s obvious that I should’ve asked her. “No…”
Caio just shakes his head, leaning back in his seat. “You’re an idiot.”
I scoff. “It’s not like we are friends. We barely interact. In fact, I barely see her. She’s got this whole ‘stay out of each other's way’ rule going on so that’s what I’m going with.”
After our interaction in the hallway earlier this week, she’s been hidden away in her room like a hibernating animal. Only coming out for food when absolutely necessary, and even then, I only ever see glimpses of her.
“Wow,” Leo says. “You’re even worse than me.”
“That fire really spooked her, Rafael,” Heath says.
“Yeah, Heath, I know. I was the one that pulled her out of it, so trust me when I say I know how scared she was,” I snap.
Again, all of them are looking between themselves. I lock my eyes on Caio’s. “Out with it.”
He sighs. “It’s just that…you don’t have to keep the whole ‘I hate her’ act up, you know?” I stare at him blankly. “You did go headfirst into a burning building to save her. One would think you don’t really hate her.”
“Jesus. Did you think I’d let her sizzle in there just because I don’t like her?”
“Then there’s the whole ‘she’s staying with me’ saga,” Heath adds.
“I did come here to relax, did I not? This isn’t that relaxing.”
Leo throws an arm around my shoulder. “It’s okay if you like her, we all do.”
I shrug him off. “I don’t like her. I tolerate her at best.” Even if the way her cheeks flushed at my proximity sent a jolt of heat through my body.
“You won’t mind if I come around and maybe take her out for dinner then?” Leo says. My gaze cuts to him, a deadly feeling stirring in my belly.
He just smirks. “There it is.”
I roll my eyes. “There what is?”
“That look. The whole alpha-wolf bullshit look.”
I look over to Caio and he’s just smiling into his glass. I remember the night I said that about Caio. When all of a sudden he was protective of Isla before they were serious. But I don’t feel anywhere near that. At all.
May and I are reluctant roommates. That’s all. She would be disgusted to even imagine it any other way. Even if sometimes my mind drifts to how she looked in that little black dress the night I caught her in my restaurant. Even if I find myself wondering if she’s home when I am. All of those are bad thoughts. Thoughts that I try to force down the drain with every shower I spend resisting the urge to touch myself when I think of her. What she’d look like in the shower. Her face glistening from the steam, whether her damp hair would curl, how her little body would look with the water running over it, how easily my hands would glide over her curves with a bit of soap between my fingers.
The clink of a glass pulls me back into the present moment where my friends are all sitting there looking at me like my mind played everything I just imagined on a projector for them all to see.
“Seriously though, Raf,” Caio starts.
I hold my hand up to stop him. “I’ve been here less than three minutes; can we pause on this interrogation and pick it up at another time? Maybe, like, never.”
Caio’s eyes soften, disappointment carried on his eyelids with every slow blink.
But truly, the last thing I need right now is this group of idiots telling me it’s okay if I have a crush on May Whitley. I spend far too much time trying to convince myself that I don’t notice the intensity with which I suddenly enjoy having her under my roof, even if she’s doing her best to keep her distance. I’m doing my best to ignore the fact that I think I might not hate May as much as I let on, especially when she fights with me. So I don’t need these guys reversing my efforts.
The conversation diverts to Heath talking about a run in he had with Meryll last week, and my attention slips. Why did they have to bring May into conversation? Because now her fierce green eyes are the only thing I can think of.