Page 30 of Nothing to Do

“Did you hear me?” Thea asked. “I didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know?” Alessia said, folding her arms and leaning back. “Yeah, right. Who doesn’t know Zane Dyce?”

Calming herself, Thea licked her lips. “And you would’ve known it was him? I’ve heard the name in the past, I don’t go around assuming every Bill I meet is Bill Gates. Why should I assume every Zane is Zane Dyce?” Her sister faltered, a tiny bit. “I didn’t know what he looked like… And the guy I was seeing,” or the guy she’d thought she was seeing, “didn’t tell me he owned an island… or that he was Roman’s cousin.”

Her sister dialed her outrage down. “Roman told us.”

“You didn’t know they were family until after you were here either…” Alessia shook her head. “Did you know Zane was here?”

Alessia’s arms dropped to her sides. “No, he didn’t say that.”

Leaving her sheepish sister, Thea went to sit on the bed. “What happened tonight?”

Alessia sighed and came wandering over. “I don’t know. We thought maybe he’d had a drink when we started, but it was fine, you know?”

She wasn’t sure she did and raised her brows. “I thought he was an alcoholic?”

Alessia glared as she dropped down to sit beside her. “It was pain pills and he’s over all that.”

“Didn’t look that way tonight.”

“He didn’t take any pills,” Alessia said. Though she wasn’t entirely sure how her sister could know that for sure. “He had a drink… that’s no big deal. He’s allowed a drink.”

Thea didn’t like to judge. But if having a drink turned him into a guy who’d berate an innocent woman in public, and hold a bunch more hostage, she wasn’t sure he should be drinking either.

“He’s the host. He shouldn’t get into a state like that. And what did the poor server do to deserve what he did to her?”

“He’s stressed,” Alessia said, rubbing her thigh. “Sway got engaged.”

She frowned. “I thought they’d split up.”

Though, honestly? She hadn’t given Roman’s relationship a lot of thought.

“Doesn’t mean he stopped caring about her,” Alessia said. “How would you feel if Thom got engaged.” She gasped. “Oh my God, Thom! Does he know about you and Zane?”

“How would he know?” she asked. “I haven’t talked to anyone from home… except work emails from Anika.”

And, also, why would she start calling around telling people she was seeing someone? Anyone? Even if she’d knownthe truth of Zane’s means, she wouldn’t have done that. Seriously, who did that?

Solemn and wide-eyed, Alessia nodded slowly. “You should tell him. You should tell Thom before he reads it in the press.”

What the—press? Man, that was not what she’d signed on for. It wouldn’t be that big a deal… would it?

Thea tsked and got up to get her nightdress. “In the press?”

“Yeah, in the press,” Alessia asserted, unbuckling her heels to toss them away. “You date Zane Dyce, people will write about you… they’ll take your picture.”

The celebrity pages didn’t interest her. The business pages tended to be less about pictures. She didn’t spend any time perusing the society pages.

“Did you see Zane’s picture before we were here?”

“Oh, God, yeah. Not a whole lot, but some. He was with Arden Delgado forever.”

And her stomach flipped. Thea hadn’t known it. Really hadn’t. He’d talked to her about his ex and she’d just nodded along oblivious.

“But, I mean, obviously they weren’t suited to each other,” Alessia said, maybe reading her doubt. “They broke up, didn’t they?”

Yes, and she had some idea about that. Even being mad at Zane didn’t prompt her to spill his secrets.

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