Page 358 of Dark Love

I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know. “What did you do?”

Vex tucks my hand in the crook of his arm as he starts walking towards the pastry shop. “What didn’t I do is a better question. Before you can ask, the only answer is drugs. I did and tried everything possible except drugs.”

Should it surprise me more that he didn’t try drugs or that he’s so honest about it? “You don’t smell like cigarettes.”

“That vicedidn’t stick.”

And what others did? More than the fact that I don’t have the nerve to know is the fact, I’m not sure I want to. Vex isn’t the man I’ve seen these last few days, and I need to remember that.

Wait… “Why didn’t you ask me about my vices?”

“There’s no need. You don’t have any.”

“Excuse me, I have vices. No one is perfect.”

“Chocolate and purses don’t count as vices.”

How did he — “Those aren’t my only vices.”

“But they’re the worst of the bunch.” He opens the door to the pastry shop, letting me step in first.

“They certainly aren’t.” The sweet scent of baked dough and spices beckons me in.

“Name one.”

That’s easy. “I read the last page of every book before I buy it.”

“The horror.”

“It really is.”

“I believe you.”

“Did you really do all those things?” Why did I say that? I shouldn’t have asked a crime lord if he did bad things.

“Yes, Dahlia, I did.”

“Why?” Nothing about this man makes any sense.

He shrugs. “Because I could.”

“Your mother should have grounded you. It worked wonders for my brother… sort of.”

Vex smirks. “Sort of?”

“He married the wrong woman. Who took him for everything. Then he discovered drinking and gambling for a while. We think he’s just starting to come out of his funk now. But you can’t ground grown men, now can you?”

“Was he mean to you?”

“My brother hated himself. It was hard for him to be nice to anyone.” A place that smells this good isn’t suited for heavy topics. “What are you going to get?”

“I just ate cookies.” Vex doesn’t look away from me to glance up at the menu.

“So?”

“With logic like that, how can I disagree?” He glances up for the briefest second. “I’m going to have an egg white omelet on a croissant. What about you?”

Hmm. That’s a good question. There are so many scrumptious-looking items in the display case, and the drink menu is huge.

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