Page 32 of Niccolaio Andretti (The Five Syndicates)
He shrugs and continues to talk in that low and inexpressive voice of his, “When you left John’s, you looked upset.”
His tone alone is enough to make me want to throw my head back and laugh.
How does he do it?
How does he manage to say something like that, something borderline on caring, and still sound like he couldn’t care less about a thing?
Instead of laughing, I let out an unattractive snort. “So, now we’re talking about our personal lives?” I pause, before saying in rapid fire, “How much did you make last year? When was the last time you’ve had sex? Do you like it on top or on the bottom? Have you ever done ana—”
“John’s your personal life?” he says, as if we didn’t just have this talk recently. He’s still adamant that I’m not with John, only this time he’s right.
“Not anymore,” I mutter.
Between us, the attacker groans out in pain. We ignore him, and a few seconds later, he passes out again from the pain. After another minute of silence, we’re almost back to the brownstones. They’re within seeing distance when John’s neighbor speaks again.
There’s a smile in his voice that, per usual, doesn’t quite make it to his face when he says, “I like it on top.”
I roll my eyes, but I can’t help but grin.
But the smile escapes my lips when I see John exit his home, the redhead trailing closely behind him. When she sees me, she narrows her eyes and looks me up and down, a frown tugging on the edges of her lips. She looks even more startled than I was when I noticed how similar we look.
John frowns when he sees me, too. He looks between me and his neighbor, his eyes full of suspicion, before tugging on the redhead’s hip and placing her protectively behind him. Making himself a shield between us and the redhead is an oddly alpha male thing to do for someone who gets mani/pedis twice a week.
I smirk at the thought, but once I catch sight of John’
s neighbor’s intelligent eyes, I stiffen. He studies what he can see of the redhead before stealing another glance at me. He’s obviously smart, and as I see him piecing everything together, I wait.
I wait for the judgment that everyone else gives me to inevitably come.
But it doesn’t.
And darn it, that confuses my heart.
Chapter Thirteen
Sometimes when I’m
angry, I have the right to
be angry, but that doesn’t
give me the right to
be cruel.
Unknown
Holy fucking shit.
I stare at the woman behind John before glancing back at the woman beside me, stunned by their resemblance. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s going on. I narrow my eyes at John, who rolls his.
He’s fucking doppelgangers now?
And judging by his protective stance over the woman behind him, she’s the one he wants. And everything starts to click into place. John fucked Red Junior when he couldn’t have Red Senior, and Red Junior…
Young.
Smart.
