17. Cassian
17
Cassian
T he email sat in my in-box unread. Ever since my father casually mentioned his link to Thea’s mother, I’d barely slept. It didn’t matter how often Milo tried to reassure me the likelihood of her being my half-sister was slim to none; I couldn’t get it out of my head.
The thought of what we’d done made me feel sick. Yes, it wasn’t our fault, but knowing that didn’t help. And to make matters worse, she had no idea.
She knew I was hiding something. Ever since she and Dario returned, I’d avoided her. When she walked into a room, I walked out. If it made me a coward, I could deal. What I couldn’t handle was the hurt in her eyes.
She probably assumed I’d lost interest in her and was too chicken to admit it. It was a fair assumption, considering my history with women. Camilla was the only long-term relationship I’d had, and that had been fake.
“Are you going to open that?” Kyril asked as he peered over my shoulder. I slammed my phone down and scowled at him.
“I will when I’m ready.”
Landon threw a peanut at my head and then grinned when I scowled at him, too. He was much happier now Thea was back. They all were apart from me.
“Have the results come in already? That was fast.” I’d sent the hair samples off two days ago and paid a fortune for an expedited service. Too fucking right the results were back. Another day and I’d have been on the phone to the clinic’s director to personally tear strips off him.
I ignored Landon. The stupid fucker was getting on my last nerve with his singing. I got he was in love, but seriously? The world did not need to hear him butchering Taylor Swift songs. If I had to listen to him wailing ‘Love Story’ one more time, I’d fucking nail him to the wall.
“Look, man, just fucking rip the band-aid off and read the fucking email.” When I ignored him, Dario snatched my phone from my hand and before I could punch him, clicked open the email.
“Give it to me!” I yelled, losing my shit. He swung the phone out of reach while Kyril pinned me down.
“We need to know, mudak . You giving her the cold shoulder is hurting her. She doesn’t need stress while she’s carrying my baby!”
“It’s my baby,” Landon scoffed before turning to me and nodding. “Face your fear. It’s the only way. If it turns out you and her have been keeping it in the family, we can go for counseling. I read that genetic sexual attraction affects, like, 50% of siblings who only meet as adults.”
“Shut the fuck up, Lan,” I snarled.
“It’s linked to the reward center in your brain,” he continued, oblivious to my death stares.
“He’s right,” Milo agreed. “I downloaded a scientific paper on the topic if you want to read it.”
“Ooh, interesting! Can you forward it to me?” Jesus. Since when had my potentially incestuous relationship with Thea become a topic of scientific interest to my friends?
“What’s going on?” We looked up to see Thea in the doorway, her skin damp with sweat from a workout. Everyone stopped talking and looked at her, except Dario, who was too busy staring at my phone.
“She’s not,” he said before throwing the phone at me.
The relief I felt was instantaneous. Like a thousand tons of rocks had been lifted from my shoulders, leaving me floating on a cushion of warm air.
“Not what?” Thea asked, her curious gaze flicking between me and Dario.
“Not your brother.” The water bottle she held hit the floor and bounced as the pink flush in her cheeks faded into a sickly shade of green.
“What the fuck are you talking about? Why would you be my brother? That makes no fucking sense!” Her brow furrowed in confusion before her expression morphed into horror.
Seeing she was about to have a meltdown, I tried to go to her, but she recoiled away. Her rejection burned, but I understood. She had no reason to trust me after I’d avoided her for days.
Ignoring the impulse to go to her, pull her close, and do what I should have done the moment she walked back into this apartment after a week away, I focused on her.
“I met with my father just before you returned from your little trip overseas.” She cocked her head to one side, arms folded, as she waited for me to continue. The other guys stayed silent, happy to let me dig my own grave. “Among other things, he told me he knew your mother. He said they met at Cambridge back in the day.” From my grimace, she understood exactly what I was hinting at. “Dad suggested this was why your father despised him. He seemed to find it amusing that he’d had a relationship with your mom before she married your father.”
Whatever had gone on between them was not a relationship in the normal sense of the word. My father had no emotions. He used women. Fucked them and discarded them. If he had slept with Thea’s mother, it would have been about sex and control. They were the only two things that motivated him. Aside from money, of course.
“So you thought that he, what, got my mother pregnant before she married my father?” It was clear Thea believed I was an idiot for even thinking such a thing.
“From what I understand, your mother left Cambridge not long after Dad married Mom, and you were born nine months later.”
“And are we? Siblings, I mean?”
I shook my head. “No, the DNA test says we’re not related.”
She stared at me for a moment. “Is this why you’ve been treating me like a leper since I got back?”
“I didn’t know how to tell you, Thea,” I tried to say, knowing it was a pathetic excuse, but she exploded before I could say anything else.
“What the FUCK is wrong with you idiots?” I cringed. “One simple fucking conversation could have cleared this up!” She huffed with annoyance. “Do you honestly think my father would have raised another man’s child? He’d have done a paternity test the moment I arrived, and if I wasn’t his, he’d have fucking drowned me in the nearest bucket.”
Dario nodded. “She’s right. No way would Francesco have raised Lucian’s child as his own.”
I turned on him. “I don’t recall you making that point when I first discussed this matter!”
He shrugged. “You didn’t ask my opinion.” Fucking asshole. I knew there was a reason he irritated the fuck out of me.
“Look, let’s all calm down,” Landon said in a soothing voice.
“Enough!” Thea yelled. “I need some time out.” She stormed back out of the apartment, the door banging shut behind her. Before I could gather my thoughts, Kyril punched me in the stomach and I fell to the floor wheezing like an asthmatic pit pony.
“That’s for upsetting my kitten.”
Once I’d sufficiently recovered enough to talk, I rallied my thoughts. Thea was pissed. Quite rightly so. I needed to do better. Be better. If we wanted this to work, we all had to get our heads in the game.
“We need to pamper our girl. Take her on a date,” Landon mused, putting my thoughts into words.
“Like you know anything about dating,” Kyril scoffed. “Your idea of a date is Netflix and blowjobs.”
“At least I treat my ladies with respect! When was the last time you took a girl on a date? Oh wait. That blond ho you were hanging with last year got banged at fight club after you grudgingly brought her a drink. I bet she was thrilled.” He smirked. “Did the poor girl even come?”
Dario sniggered while Milo stared at his phone, seemingly uninterested in our bickering.
“Do you stronzos even know what Thea likes to do for fun?” Dario asked. From his smug look, I guessed he probably did know. Which made sense. He’d known her the longest, after all.
“She likes to read smutty romances,” Milo said, without looking up from his phone. “She’s been watching the Vampire Diaries recently, too. Eden got her into it. Apparently she thinks Damon Salvatore is hot.”
“Vampire what now?” Landon looked as confused as I felt.
“She also likes classic Bruce Lee movies,” Dario said with a scowl, annoyed because Milo had stolen his thunder.
“And cakes. My kitten adores cakes.”
“There’s a Bruce Lee movie marathon showing at the Picture House tomorrow evening. I’ve booked tickets. We can go for afternoon tea at the Montrose Hotel first. They serve an award-winning selection of cakes, sandwiches, and pastries with champagne or tea.”
“That doesn’t sound very filling,” Kyril complained. “I need more than cake and sandwiches.”
Landon rolled his eyes. “This isn’t about you, dickhead!” Kyril grunted in response but didn’t retaliate. Landon was right, though. We needed to put Thea’s needs first.
“So, this is a group date?” Dario didn’t look thrilled about it. “FYI, I’m not into group sex, in case you have plans to get it on afterward.”
“Scared you won’t measure up?” Lan taunted with a smirk. I smothered a laugh as Dario flushed with rage.
“ Vaffanculo !” he spat.
“That’s Italian for fuck you,” Milo translated.
“Hey, nobody has to do anything they’re not comfortable with,” I said, not wanting our plans to get derailed.
“FYI, I’m very comfortable with my sexuality,” Lan piped up, still smirking. He reached out and squeezed Dario’s thigh before winking at him. “And if you want to experiment, I’m on board with that. Any hole’s a goal, right?”
“What the actual fuck? Get your fucking hands off me!” Dario shoved Lan’s hand away and dived off the sofa. “If your dick ever comes near me, I will rip it off with my bare hands!”
“Oooh, kinky! I like it!” Kyril laughed while I rolled my eyes. Fucking Landon. If he carried on winding up Dario, this evening would end up being a disaster.
“Enough!” They all turned to look at me. “We need to get this right, so let’s put aside any differences we might have and focus on what’s important, which in case you’ve forgotten…” I threw an exasperated look at both Landon and Dario. “Is Thea.”
“And if Thea does want sex at the end of our date, I’m all in,” Landon announced before casting a sly glance in Dario’s direction. “But if that offends your vanilla sensibilities, I’m sure she won’t mind if you sleep in your own room.”
I silently counted to ten, beginning to wonder if we could make this work. It was like herding cats. We’d been able to share just fine without Dario, but his presence added an extra layer of conflict. It was pretty fucking obvious the guy did not like to share.
Oh well. Landon was right. If he didn’t want to get on board the sharing train, he could fuck off. Yes, he was an asset because he understood the threats we faced, but I was willing to kick him out of the group if he caused too much trouble.
The fact he’d treated Thea like shit and been responsible for the sex tape leak still rankled. While I was polite toward him, I hadn’t forgiven him. If he put one foot out of line, he was a dead man.