Page 96 of Nothing to Do

“You said it didn’t end with the island.”

“It doesn’t—”

“So your family shit is going to be my family shit. You deal with Alessia and my obsessive preoccupation with her safety. If you meet my mom, you’ll learn she worries about everything. If I asked you to meet my mom, would you meet her?”

“Yes.”

And she smiled. “Thank you, that’s my point. If we want to make a go of this, we’re not making a go of getting what we want all the time. Unlimited possibilities, remember? Yes, maybe it’sexhausting, but look what the chaos has brought us already.” Catching his other hand, she brought both to her face. “Us.”

“I can give you everything,” he said. “I want you to be happy.”

“Your acceptance makes me happy. You understanding that I’m more than just a good-time gal makes me happy. If we’re together, we accept each other. We welcome each other into the family dramas and dramatic events. We trust each other to stick, even when we’re exhausted. Do you want me like that? In every part of your life? Do you trust me to be with you, to help you, through it all?”

Taking over the caress of her face, his fingertips roused her flesh. “You don’t give up easy, do you, Wanderer?”

“I don’t want you to hide anything from me. I don’t want us to hide anything from each other. Roxie says Zairn accepts her one hundred percent, and that there’s nothing that could come between them. They’re a team.”

“Never thought there would come a day I’d be modeling my relationship on Zairn’s.”

“It’s healthy, from all I’ve seen… They play with each other, sure, but they are solid. Roxie brings him all kinds of support, and that has nothing to do with money. She told me she almost wrecked it once.”

“Nothing almost about it, Zairn made everyone erase and block her cellphone number.”

That was hilarious. “What difference did that make? She never charges the thing.”

“Whatever difference it made, it worked. I’ve known him a long time. Alongtime… I’ve never seen him happier, healthier, more secure. And this is a guy who has always been extremely secure.”

“And they don’t have to show each other happy faces all the time. They don’t put up fronts or lie to each other. They don’t shield each other when things get ugly.”

“They protect each other,” he said. “But you’re right, they always share the truth. He’d tell her anything and has always told us to open ourselves to her completely.”

“No bros before hoes?”

As his hands relaxed around the back of her neck, his eyes grew heavy. “If I called Roxie a ho right now, you’d probably kick my ass.”

“Yeah, and I have a weapon.” She bumped the boot against his leg. “Can we go back to the hotel? Support your family with—”

“Our family. You’re as much a part of this as I am.”

He helped her up, hooking an arm around her to keep her steady. The stoop couldn’t be comfortable for him, but he did it anyway. Support came in many forms, and it wasn’t always so literal. Whatever she’d let herself in for in joining his life, this was going full throttle.

THIRTY

“YOU NEVER LOVED me! You’re a callous fucking bitch—”

“Is that helping?” Roxie interjected, and not for the first time. “This is supposed to be a chance for everyone to make peace. What is it you expect to happen? That by screaming abuse at Sway, she’ll fall to her knees and beg you to take her back? Trust me, buddy, no woman is that desperate.”

Magnus, perhaps foreseeing how this might progress, glided into the space between the groups. “Let’s everyone take a breath, five minutes to cool off.”

Little chance of that when Roman struggled to keep his mouth closed for five seconds.

In a hotel suite, sitting in the middle of a couch against Zane, neither of them had said much at all. Honestly? Pathetic though it was, Roman needed minders. He needed a damn lion tamer, bring out the chair and the whip, then maybe they’d stand a chance. In his arrogance, Roman may think he was performing for an audience. If they were dealing with a petulant child, they’d simply leave him to his sulk and ignore him until he came around. Thus removing the excuse of playing to the crowd.

But he wasn’t a petulant child. Hard as it was to believe, he was a grown man. One with too much latitude to do harm if left to his own devices. The audience weren’t captivated, they were stuck in captivity, forced to witness his hissy fit like they were locked in some kind of medieval torture.

“You’re pissed, brother, we get it,” Logan said. Was a rockstar a good choice for mediator? Sad state of affairs that he was more responsible and reasonable than his non-rockstarbrother. Weren’t rockstars supposed to be wild? “But if she’s not with Deac, she’ll be with someone else. You both said this was done. So what’s the problem?”

“The problem is she picks a guy to wave in my face all the time!”

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