Page 58 of Filthy Little Lies
“I can pay for it.” Cassie digs into her purse, but I stop her.
“Let him pay; it’s the least he can do for running Tony off.”
“To be fair, Tony was only going to get angrier when he realized we weren’t going to help him.” Cassie hugs me. “I’ll talk to you later. And do not give in to him, got me?”
“I heard you.”
“Do you need a ride? We can drive you.”
“No. I’m hitting the store on the way home. I’ll talk later.” She swings her purse around her chest and heads out of the diner.
Damien finishes paying the bill for our table and his, then checks his phone.
“Look, I think we can both agree it’s better if Gabriel does not hear about all this.” I wave my hand in the general direction of the booth. “He’ll get all Neanderthal about Tony, and really, it’s not a problem.”
“You want me to lie to my boss? To Gabriel Valenti?” He cocks a brow as we approach the door.
“No, of course not. I know he has a thing about being lied to. What I mean is, there’s no reason to answer questions that weren’t asked.”
Damien pulls the door open and lets me step outside first.
“You assume he hasn’t already asked the question, though.” He smirks as we walk toward the SUV.
“What does that mean? This isn’t our car, Damien.” I gesture to the SUV he’s brought me to. We parked in front of the secondhand store two storefronts down.
The back door of the SUV opens, and Gabriel steps out onto the pavement.
“Where is he?” Gabriel addresses Damien.
“I let him go.”
Gabriel’s expression darkens, and I realize they’re talking about Tony.
“No. You are not going to do anything to Tony. It was nothing.” I press my hands into Gabriel’s chest. “Leave him alone. He didn’t hurt me. He wouldn’t. You can’t go around beating up everyone who you think hurt me.”
He wraps his hands around my wrists, just holding me.
“You keep telling me I can’t do things. But I can. And I will.” There’s a vow in there, but I shake it off. He can’t mean it, not like that. He’s just being the overprotective ass he is sometimes.
“Gabriel,” I breathe. “Please, don’t go after him.”
He cocks his head to the side. “Get in the car, Savvy. We can talk about it at home.”
“Promise me.”
He leans into me, dusting a kiss across my cheek then pressing his mouth to my ear.
“I promise if you don’t get in the car, you will regret it. I’ve only been home an hour, and already I’m hearing about a man putting his hands on you.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
He kisses my cheek again, then slaps my ass. “Get in the car.”
I climb inside, and the door immediately shuts behind me. Before I even have my seatbelt in place, we’re pulling away from the curb.
Gabriel’s not with me.
He’s talking to Damien.
