Page 12 of Covetous

“I can depend on Ian. He’s loving and protective.”

“All good things.” Yasmine’s face lights up with a warm smile. “He is really great. Hunter even likes him. I’m glad you guys found each other.”

“Me too.” I force a smile in return, but my mind is preoccupied with my recent conversation with Ian.

Suddenly, the baby monitor crackles to life with the sound of Liam crying. Yasmine lets out a soft laugh before tilting her head back with a groan. “Fuck me.”

Chapter Five

“Get dressed. We’re going out,” Liv demands as she bounds down the stairs, startling me out of the book I’m reading. Damn. I was just getting to the good stuff.

“What about Esme?”

My roommates and I spent the entire day cleaning our house for tomorrow’s graduation party. And while I’ve been relaxing on the couch in my pajamas, engrossed in a romance book on my e-reader, Esme went out to get her nails done.

“She’s on her way home.”

“Where are we going?” I’d rather stay home and work through this book, but I keep my thoughts to myself. Liv has been on my neck for missing the party tomorrow. Esme is more understanding, though. Had Victor surprised her with a weekend at the Brathwaite, she would’ve ditched our asses in a heartbeat.

Liv perches gracefully atop the arm of our dove-gray sofa, gliding her hand through the silky strands of her new weave, styled in a half-up, half-down do that cascades like a chocolate waterfall down her shoulders. Her warm-brown skin glows in her signature color—white. “To Harry’s for some wings and cheap booze.”

“Oh, I’m definitely in,” I reply eagerly, already imagining sinking my teeth into their famous wings. “But first, I need to change.”

“Cool. This will give us a chance to talk to Esme,” she says, an air of determination in her tone.

That catches my attention. I sit up, staring at her intently, my senses heightened. “About what? What’s wrong with Esme?”

Liv directs her gaze upward, irritation flashing across her features. A wave of relief washes over me as it becomes clear that nothing catastrophic has happened. “It’s Victor,” she explains tersely. “I don’t trust him.”

My guard immediately goes up again. It’s been six days since I encountered Victor and Isabella on the street, and I haven’t seen him since. “Did something happen?”

“I think he’s playing her,” she replies with conviction.

“You think he’s cheating?” A wave of disappointment and anger crashes into me. How could he do that to her? “Do you have proof?”

“No. And I’m not talking about cheating—but who the hell knows? I think he’s playing games, for sure.”

“But how?”

“I think she’s more into him than he is into her.”

“Okay, that sucks. But it doesn’t mean he’s playing games, as long as they’re honest about their feelings for one another. I think they’re really into each other. I know you hear them at night too.”

“Great sex doesn’t mean a great relationship, Sky. We can’t all be so lucky, Mrs. Soon-to-be-Davenport.”

Not that soon, but I get her point.

A coy smile grows on my lips. “I don’t kiss and tell. You know that.”

“Which is so unfair. You know I haven’t had sex in, like, a billion years.” Liv went on a sex cleanse eighteen months ago after her cheating ex-boyfriend dumped her for his pregnant side piece.

“Do you miss it?” I know better than to ask her if she misses her ex. I already know the answer to that. He’s dead to her, as he rightly should be.

“What? Sex?”

“Yeah.” I can’t imagine going eighteen months without it now that I’ve had it.

“Hell yes. But I’m holding out for someone special. Ian has set the bar, girl. You guys are relationship goals. With your light-skinned Ken and Barbie-looking asses.”

---