CHAPTER SEVEN #3
Should've done that from the start.
I climbed out to find Toya waiting on the sidewalk, sunglasses perched high on her nose and an amused grin tugging at her mouth.
She hadn't had any trouble, but she also drove something half the size of mine.
"Well, well," she drawled. "Mrs. Marcelli, conqueror of all, undone by a curb yet again."
"Shut up," I said with a laugh.
We strolled past a row of boutique windows, sunlight glinting off glass and gold lettering.
Toya slowed, her sunglasses slipping down her nose as she cut me a look.
"Do you think they've thought about it?"
I frowned. "Thought about what?"
"Knox and Ethan."
I already knew what she meant, but I bought myself another second anyway.
"I think they notice beautiful women the same way we notice attractive men."
"That part I'm okay with. It's normal." She shrugged. "Sometimes I admire a nice ass and point it out to Knox. He's wise enough to say mine is the best, though."
I chuckled. "That's because he has some sense in that head of his."
"Damn right," she muttered.
Then her voice dipped lower.
"But do you think they ever want to sleep with them? Taste the forbidden, so to speak?"
I shook my head, the thought catching in my chest like a burr.
"I can't even let myself imagine Ethan wanting to fuck someone else. If he did, it wouldn't have shit to do with anything lacking between us. It would be his choice. His weakness."
She shot me a sidelong glance, this one knowing.
"Because y'all are some big ol' freaks. I won't ever share a hotel wall with you two again. Knox wanted to make it a challenge." She considered that for a second. "On second thought, I did get my insides rearranged quite nicely thanks to y'all, so maybe I'll reconsider."
I laughed, my mind flashing back to earlier that morning, or, as Ethan kept insisting, the night before.
"See?" Toya pointed at me with feigned disgust. "But seriously, what do you think?"
"You know me. I won't say Ethan would never cheat on me, because anyone can. But I will say he chooses not to. Just like I choose not to. I could just as easily cheat on him, but I don't." I exhaled. "And you also know I wouldn't handle it well. At all."
"Me and you both," she agreed.
I studied her profile, catching the hard line of her jaw.
"Is everything okay, T?"
Her lips pressed together before she answered.
"It's... You know Lila, right?"
"Oh, I made sure I knew Lila," I answered, my tone sharpening. "But go on."
"Last week, I went to see Knox at the office. She was there, dropping off files or whatever. And the way he looked at her..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "To her credit, she didn't seem to notice. But he saw me see him do it. He was quick to reassure me without me even having to say a word."
"She is very pretty, smart, and always in close proximity," I began, trying to keep my voice level while making those same damn observations for myself.
"Damn, Juj. Next you're going to tell me her coochie is bejeweled or something."
I laughed. "I was leading up to saying she's all of that, but you are all of that too. And you're so much more to him than some coworker, T. If he risks what you two have and fumbles the incredible woman you are, then he's a fucking fool."
She went quiet for a beat before shaking her head and grinning.
"You're right. My pussy isn't bejeweled, though."
That sent us both laughing again.
Toya used comedy like a coat, wrapping herself in it whenever the world got too sharp, so I knew she meant it when her expression softened.
"Thanks for the pep talk," she teased, nudging my arm.
"It was the truth. And you know you can tell me anything." I paused. "If it were Ethan, if it ever is Ethan, I'm coming straight to you and the girls. I know myself. Once I start suspecting something is off, I'll be like a dog with a damn bone until I have everything laid out in front of me."
Toya nodded solemnly.
"And if my worst nightmare comes true, you'd better be ready to bail me out of jail and make sure my parents get the kids, because he won't be around to do it."
Her lips twitched.
"The hole Carmen digs won't be needed either," I added. "It'd be a waste of space. We live right on the ocean, and I have a boat."
Her grin turned wicked.
"Bail you out? Bitch, I'm going to be in the cell right beside you."
We laughed again before falling into a companionable silence, walking past storefronts and folding our private promises between us.
But beneath the jokes, a thin question had nudged its way into my head and wouldn't take the hint to leave.
I shoved it down.
Tucked it into the same mental drawer where I kept practical things like grocery lists, school calendars, and playdate contacts.
Because I trusted Ethan with my heart.
I trusted him so completely that it felt like an organ I could set on the counter in front of him and walk away, knowing it would still be whole when I came back.
And if he ever broke it?
I tried desperately not to imagine that.
But if he did, he'd learn exactly what people meant when they warned about a woman scorned.