Chapter Nineteen #2
Again, I don’t goddamn know. I grit my teeth. “Come on, Lo. You know how Gio is. He just wants to fuck her. All he sees are her tits.”
“You don’t know shit about what I want from her,” Gio defends. “And you sure as hell don’t know what she wants from me.”
This fucking fool.
“Oh, you think you ‘know’ her now, is that it?” I turn toward him, jaw tight. “You believe whatever bullshit she tells you, huh?”
“I know her better than you do,” he fires back. “All you do is threaten her and make her feel unwanted and uncomfortable.”
“Oh yeah?” I lean in, cold and coiled. “Tell me, do you know her tells for when she’s lying?
Can you tell when she’s hiding something, or when she’s charming you into a trap so she can manipulate you?
Have you seen all her faces? Do you know the rhythm of her breathing, the micro-shifts in her expressions?
Have you looked into those ‘pretty eyes’ long enough to memorize every fleck and fracture? ”
Gio stares at me. Silent.
“Because if you had, you’d know they’re not pretty.
They’re dangerous. They’re cunning.” I prop my elbow on the back of the couch.
“How many accents does she have, Gio? Because they change with every person she speaks to. She’ll shift right in front of your eyes.
So seamlessly, so fluidly, you won’t even realize she’s doing it. ”
He offers nothing. I keep going. “Ever noticed how her tits are always on display around you? That’s not by accident.
That’s strategy. She’s figured you out. She knows what you like.
And if she can keep your attention locked there”—I tap my temple—“you’ll never actually see her.
And that’s the point, because Raya doesn’t want to be seen.
She distracts. She deflects. She circumvents. She hides. You don’t know her, Gio.”
Gio stares at me for a long beat, jaw ticking.
Then he slips into his blasé armor, tossing a look at Lorenzo.
“What’s up with fucking Shakespeare over here?
” he scoffs. “From the man who doesn’t so much as glance at a woman unless she’s got power, leverage, or an empire tucked between her thighs.
The man who claims to only use his dick as currency.
All those poetry books finally getting to your head, huh? ”
“Classic,” I mutter, bored. “Attack me as a person because you know I’m right.”
“I’m sorry, who’s the one who just physically attacked who again?”
Lorenzo exhales hard, looking all kinds of done. “Stefano. Your argument is that Raya isn’t who Gio thinks she is, that she’s using his weaknesses to manipulate him. Okay, fine. If that’s the case, what does it matter if all he wants is to fuck her?”
Gio claps his hands. “Thank you.”
Still, I’ve got no answer for this. Nor the irrational fury gnawing through my chest. So I blurt, “She’s not even his type.
Plus she’s your assistant, Lo. You really okay with him dicking around with her, getting in her head, and then moving on to the next nice pair of tits that comes along?
You’re not worried about how that will screw with her focus, her work? ”
“Hm. Never thought of that.” Lorenzo scratches his jaw, weighing it over. “Right. Gio, no messing around with my assistant until we’ve got all this shit sorted out. I don’t want her distracted.”
Gio scoffs, incredulous. “If you think Raya’s the kind of girl who’ll be distracted by some dick, then you really don’t know her.”
Tossing him a victorious grin, I ask, “Is that a confession that your dick game is weak? Not memorable? Forgotten by morning?”
“Motherfucker,” he growls and launches himself at me. “I’ve about had enough of your shit.”
But I’m already off the couch, and he face-plants into the cushions instead.
I’m laughing at his dumb ass when he lurches back up and takes a wild swing at me. I duck easily, still laughing. He charges again, and I backpedal, bouncing on my toes, getting into stance.
He mirrors me, fists up, eyes locked, both of us circling like we’re fifteen again, waiting for an opening to land the first clean hit.
“For shit’s sake,” Lorenzo mutters.
I fake a right hook and Gio dodges left, like I knew he would. But he recovers fast, reading the setup, and weave back to the right just in time so my left hook barely clips his cheek.
He snarls, curses, then fires back. I bob, dodging the first swing, but I’m too slow to clock the tight side hook. Pain explodes across my ribs.
Now I’m pissed.
I charge, ready to tackle him and pummel that smug face in. But suddenly, I’m drenched in ice-cold water.
Goddammit!
Shock tightens every muscle as chill seeps into my skin, instantly cooling my rage. I blink through the water, slicking my hair back from my face.
Cora stands between us, an empty bucket in her hands, glaring with furious disapproval.
“Enough of this nonsense!” she snaps. “If the people out there saw you two now, scrapping like spoiled boys, no one would follow you.”
“Cora—”
“I’ve heard enough out of you two,” she clips, then looks pointedly at Gio.
“You. Raya cares about you. Genuinely. Do not abuse that.” She then swings her fire to me.
“And you. You wouldn’t recognize real chemistry if it smacked you in the face, because you’re too busy using women like pawn pieces.
Stop fixating on whatever threat you think she is, and start paying attention to what she actually brings to the table.
Start paying attention to how much she pays attention to you. ”
Next, she spins on Lorenzo. “And you—”
Lorenzo’s brows snap up, startled. “Me? What did I do?”
“Raya is a human being,” Cora fires back.
“Stop treating her like a robot with all the answers. She might be wise beyond her years, but she’s still only twenty-three.
You all think she’s hiding something? Of course she is.
She’s hiding her loneliness.” She cuts a sharp glance between all three of us.
“How about, instead of using her like a vending machine for information, you actually make her feel like part of the team?”
Silence.
Cora sweeps one last judgmental look around the room. “Now pull yourselves together and act like men, for crying out loud.”
Grumbling under her breath, she stomps out of the kitchen.
“You idiots just wouldn’t stop until you made Cora mad, huh?” Lorenzo mutters.
“Yeah, that was…jarring,” Gio says, blinking, water still dripping from his lashes. “When’s the last time we even saw her get angry?”
“About three years ago,” I reply, wringing water from my tie. “Vale said something she didn’t like and she ripped into him.”
“Oh, yeah, I remember that.” Gio chuckles. “Didn’t she throw salt water at him and call him the devil?”
“Yep.” I laugh at the memory. “To this day, I still don’t know what he said to piss her off like that.”
“Hey.” Lorenzo snaps his fingers at us. “Glad to see you two aren’t trying to murder each other anymore, but just to be clear, Raya is off-limits until we get this coup situation locked down. Capiche?”
Gio groans unhappily. “Why do you get to be the one to decide that?”
Lorenzo stands from the armchair, done with our shit. “Because I’m the only one here who doesn’t want to fuck her.”