Chapter 16 #2
They all giggle as they continue to dance, moving in around me and making me the center of their show.
“They told you about what I got them into, huh?” Rina asks with a coy smile on her flushed, tacky face.
Before I can answer, my brothers join us, evidently tired of watching and not being active participants. Only Raven is left standing because Luca had to run outside to take a phone call on one of his patients.
“Come here,” I command, dragging her small body into my chest and wrapping my arms around her as the song morphs into a slower ballad. “Dance with me, babe. We’ll drive your guy wild when he sees us.”
Raven’s arms circle around my neck. “He’s such a baby when it comes to that. You know he flipped out about Antonio again last night?”
Antonio is her conductor at the Boston Symphony Pops Orchestra where Raven is a first-chair cellist. It’s also been no secret that at one point, Antonio tried to get in her panties. “I can’t totally blame Luca on Antonio.”
I grin down at my tiny friend. Four years ago, when Luca broke Raven’s heart for her own good, I stepped in and watched over her.
They were both a mess—for real, yet another tally on the board for why I don’t love love for myself after what I saw those two go through—and I wanted to make sure she was not only okay and safe, but I always intended to help them reunite when the timing was right.
But also in those four years, Raven and I have become very close friends despite our thirteen-year age gap.
“Whatever. You’re all a bunch of cavemen for us.” A glimmer I want no part of hits her eyes. “Speaking of…”
I shake my head, stopping her. “Don’t start. I know my big-mouthed brother told you everything.”
Her oceanic eyes sparkle up at me as her lips curve into a sly smirk. “He said she’s very pretty and has a mouth on her that rivals mine.”
“He wasn’t lying,” I admit because sometimes it’s easier to talk to Raven than it is my brothers. I sway us around, holding her close. I also know Raven won’t repeat to anyone anything we speak about. “She’s… different.”
“What does different mean?”
“It means lately she’s all I fucking think about. That’s what different means.”
“Wow.” Her expression grows startled. “That’s not something I ever thought I’d hear you say about someone.
I’m going to tamp down my joy for a moment because I can see you’re struggling.
If you’re thinking about her this much, why not see if she is actually different?
Better than Millie, that’s for damn sure. ”
So everyone keeps saying tonight.
“I… I don’t know. There’s just all this pressure on me, Raven.
I have to settle down. I have to get married.
It has to be with the right sort of woman.
Everyone is after me. Everyone wants something from me.
” I sigh. “I like having a quiet life. I like being alone. I don’t like people telling me the things I have to do that in no way speak to the things I want.
” But worse, what if I do try with Bianca and it all goes to hell the way it always seems to?
Raven cups my jaw in her hand, smiling softly up at me. “You have this preconceived notion in your head, Kaplan. Sometimes it just takes the right person to change all that up for you.”
Before I can formulate any sort of response, Luca joins us. “Sorry about that. Can I cut in and steal my girl back from you?”
I make a show of kissing Raven’s cheek, just to get a small rise out of Luca and then I hand her over with a wink.
“Bastard,” he grumbles, making both Raven and me laugh. I turn around, ready to head back to my table and hopefully eat some damn food, when I’m immediately stopped by a tall, skinny brunette wearing a nothing of a dress and a determined look.
“Hey sexy,” she coos, her voice a silky purr as she draws in close to me. Her hand hits my chest. “I’ve been watching you all night. Want to dance with me?”
I step back, removing her hand from me. “No thanks. I’m just here to be with my family.”
“But it looks like they’re all taken. How about I let you buy me a drink?” she offers, pushing into me and pressing her small tits to my chest. The cloying scent of her alcohol-tinted breath and heavy floral perfume hits my nose and I jerk away.
“Not interested.”
“But I bet I can make you interested.” This time she cups my junk over my slacks, rubbing me. My dick has never been less interested in my life.
Jesus. “I said no, and I meant it. That means you don’t touch.” I remove her hand from my body for a second time, trying to worm my way around her when she steps in front of me, blocking me once more on the full dance floor.
A pout with large eyes and batting lashes. “Don’t be like that. There’s a back room I bet we can have a lot of fun in together.”
“Not. Fucking. Interested.”
Now all that sex in her eyes turns to venom in a flash and she shoves against my chest. Hard.
I take a step back, her over-the-top reaction rendering me stunned for a moment until she shrieks, cutting through the music.
“You’re going to fucking regret that!” She storms off and I swivel around, finding my siblings and their women just as perplexed by that as I am.
They clearly saw the whole thing and I can only wonder how many other people in here did as well.
I shrug, shaking my head and they all shake their heads in return, confused.
“No still means no, right? It’s not an invitation for sexual assault?”
“No still means no,” Rina says adamantly, and hell, Rina was kidnapped years ago by a crazy ex who did unspeakable things to her.
“I love you all, but I’m officially done here.
No food and crazy women are my limit. Have a good night and I’ll see you all at dinner tomorrow at the compound.
” I throw a wave before they can try and talk me into staying and head straight for the exit, stepping out onto the cold sidewalk, still laced with a sheet of ice and salt from yesterday’s storm.
I check my watch. It’s only eight thirty on a Saturday. I’m hungry. A bit wired after that weird encounter. And my thoughts continue to circle back in one direction after all the talk tonight.
Bianca.
I tell myself I’m just pulling out my phone and hitting her number so I can check on her.
Make sure she’s okay after what happened yesterday.
We never made it upstairs to the new office space I had made for her.
Instead, I took her out for lunch and let her go home early.
But as the phone rings, with the thrill that she’ll pick up and I’ll get to hear her sweet voice racing through me, even I can’t convince myself that’s why I’m calling her.