Chapter 7
"Do you prefer sweet?" a gravelly voice rolled down my spine.
My mouth was mortifyingly full of cupcake, and I turned and pointed to my full cheeks before I chewed as fast as I could. Jonah's lips turned up, softening his severe mask.
"You offering?" I said, finally.
Jonah reached out and dragged his thumb over the corner of my mouth.
"Crumb," he explained, before putting the digit in his mouth and sucking.
Sweet baby cheeses. The only deity I recognized was dairy and delicious.
"I'm sorry about what happened with our meditation date."
Did he really think it was? I wanted to ask, but the question would open a whole other door I wasn't ready to walk through yet. I finished the rest of my margarita, tipping the last drops into my mouth. That was my third—or fourth? I couldn't remember, but they were disappearing fast.
"Bernice isn't my biggest fan."
"She doesn't like you. No one is good enough for me in her eyes."
"What if I took some cooking lessons?" I popped a raspberry in my mouth.
"You don't have to change a thing about yourself, Lara. I enjoy your company."
My stomach fell, and I caught it with a tremulous smile.
"But she'll never give me her blessing if I don't make sure you have a hearty meal waiting for you after a hard day's work," I joked.
Jonah's eyes crinkled. "She's old-fashioned, that's true, but it's only because she cares. I haven't got many people in my life who give a shit about me. Bernice never married, doesn't have kids of her own. I'm like the only family she has… and she's mine."
Jonah was my favorite onion, and here he was, pulling back his layers without me even having to dig. I wanted to give him back something, but I couldn't. I had wrapped all my secrets up tight and jammed them under more lies. My chest ached.
"You know what my go to meal is when I'm forced to cook? It's pasta and ketchup. Bernice would weep."
"Never tell Adelaide, or she will disown you," Jonah said, deadpan.
I let out a soft laugh as my phone buzzed.
Ray: Thank you for having my back at lunch volpe mia.
Ray: Feel like coming with me again sometime?
Ray: I promise I'll flirt your pants off and feed you for real this time.
A giddy smile overtook my lips, and Jonah peered at the screen.
"Who's making you smile like that?" There was a thread of something in his voice.
I tucked my phone in my pocket without replying. It would do Ray good to wait. And I needed to give my heart rate a second to compose itself. What are you doing, girl?
"It's just Ray." I shrugged.
"Raimondo." Jonah paused with a macaron halfway to his mouth. "Donato?"
"Who else?"
Jonah put the sweet treat down and cleared his throat, as if he wanted to say something, but instead he snapped his lips shut.
"He's pretty funny when you get to know him." I felt compelled to fill the awkward silence as I poured two glasses of wine, one for me and the other for Adelaide. Maybe if I switched types of alcohol, I would get less drunk.
Jonah grunted, and he folded his arms over his chest.
"I just can't believe the nerve of them?" Adelaide ranted as she stormed from her room and wrapped her damp hair in a towel.
Jonah slipped away like a shadow, and I didn't have time to wonder about his sudden change.
The apartment smelled like sugar, and I snatched up a sweet scented moisturizer and rubbed it on my arm.
Luckily, there was a spread of desserts on the kitchen counter, or I might resort to eating myself.
I side-eyed Jonah from his post on the wall, looking like an absolute snack himself.
Dark chocolate lava cake, if I was being specific. The way I wanted to break through that man's delicious walls and gorge myself on the sweet inside, I knew he was hiding. Criminal and impossible.
It made me realize two things. I should have eaten lunch, annnnndddd I was drunk. I teetered on the edge of tipsy and veered straight into plastered territory.
"Fuck those guys." I held up my almost empty wineglass, and Adelaide clinked hers against mine with a sharp grin. "It's your birthday, so no more thinking about them, alright? Tonight is girls-only sugar overload, in celebration of you."
Jonah shot us an amused look.
"You don't count as a guy, Jonah. You can stay," I teased.
His face fell, and a furrow appeared between his brow. Jonah loaded a plate with food and walked out of earshot. Adelaide let out a low whistle and stumbled slightly as she topped up my drink. "I think you hurt his feelings."
I bit my lip, refusing to follow Jonah's exit. Jonah was too much man for me, and after our near kiss, he'd pulled back even further. It was for the best. After the bonkers lunch at Ray's mama's house, I needed some time to sort my head and other parts of my body out.
I'd seen a side to Ray I never expected, and the key to understanding him fell into my lap.
His family was cold and cruel. I could understand going wild when all you had was sterility for your entire childhood.
For a moment, I thought Ray was going to kiss me.
Would I have let him if his mama's creepy butler hadn't interrupted us?
It was foolish. I couldn't offer Jonah or Ray anything, not with my mission still active. I needed to focus on Ellington and the threat he was to this entire city. Not being put in a Ray and Jonah sandwich. God. My mouth watered. How I wanted to be put in a Ray and Jonah sandwich.
"Adelaide. Do you want me to vomit all over this couch?"
"Shush, it's my birthday, and I want us too drunk to feel our toes. Also, you know you can call in sick, right? You kind of know the boss." Adelaide winked at me.
I took a sip. "I don't want people accusing me of special treatment."
"Too late. May as well reap the benefits." Adelaide rolled off the couch and stumbled toward the desserts.
I followed her, but the drinks in my stomach sloshed heavily with guilt.
I'd never had many long-lasting friendships.
When I was younger, I was always worrying over my mom, and there was no time for anything or anyone else.
When I got older and realized what a lost cause she was, my friends were still surface level.
I wasn't lonely. But Adelaide filled a part of me that no one else ever could.
I loved her like a sister. Fierce and protective.
Adelaide swiped her finger through some pastel frosting. "Who needs a man when you have sugar?"
"And a rabbit." I tossed some candy in my mouth with a wink.
Adelaide let out a laugh and filled her plate until it wobbled. I mean, she went from fucking like rabbits to fucking with her rabbit.
"Girl." Adelaide blew out a breath. "Don't remind me on my birthday. Three tongues, three."
"I don't want to know," Jonah called out, and my cheeks heated at the loud rumble of his voice.
What would his and Ray's tongues feel like together? Nope. Not going there. What would Beck's tongue feel like?
Oh my fucking god.
I followed Adelaide, stuffing a macaroon in my mouth.
We passed the night watching trashy reality TV, obscene amounts of alcohol, and skin care.
Until we both smelled like someone dumped a fruit bowl and a flower garden over us both.
I pushed over a cupcake with a candle in it, and Adelaide narrowed her eyes.
"I said no overt birthdayness. No presents. No cards. N-no—" Her voice wobbled. So much strength in her body, but it was harder to hold it together today. The wine didn't help.
"I'm not singing." I zipped my lips, swallowing past a lump in my throat. "But I can't let you go to bed without telling you how much I love you. You're who I want to be when I grow up. If I could have one ounce of your intelligence and drive—" I exhaled. "You're one of a kind, Adelaide Orazio."
Adelaide blew out the candle with misty eyes. She waved her hands in the air before pulling out her phone and setting a timer for five minutes.
"I-I can't believe you w-would do this to me," she sniffled. "I did not want to cry, goddammit."
She allowed my embrace, covering her face with her hands.
Adelaide Orazio cried the same way she did everything, with ruthless efficiency.
I held Adelaide as her chest heaved in silent, gritted sobs.
My chest ached as she gave herself permission to break.
Adelaide was the conqueror, not the conquered, and grief didn't stand a chance against her.
Seeing her so open made me bleed on the inside.
I was hiding so much from her, enough to drown me, and it was like holding an ember in the palm of my hand.
Before long, it would burn you all the way through.
And I was ash from nursing this secret life.
Adelaide's timer went off, and she wiped her hands across her face with a grimace.
"You want to know a secret? You're my rock. I don't know if I would cope if you weren't holding me up."
The pain inside my chest intensified, and I gasped. Tears smarted at the back of my eyes.
"That's not true."
"It is." Her words were slurred, and so sincere I wanted to crumple into a ball. "I adore everything about you, and I think we should make a pact. Let's celebrate every birthday like this. It's perfect."
"You're drunk if you're choosing this over three tongues."
Adelaide pulled back, her eyes bright with mischief. "You know what, let's focus on getting you a guy gang of your own. Anyone you're interested in currently?"
My cheeks flushed, and I shook my head. Too quickly because Adelaide pounced, tickling me. "Don't lie. I've seen you looking at Jonah and Ray. You trying to steal my fake boyfriend?"
Oh god. I did not want to get into this with Adelaide.
"My mom would turn over in her grave," I protested before backtracking. "Actually. She'd be pretty supportive. She was always encouraging me to be wild."