Page 119 of Manny

“Hey, what’s wrong with me?” Manny looks positively put out. It would be funny save for the dilemma unfolding in front of us.

“I meant as well as my sister, asshole,” Riot barks. He turns to Lace. “We’ll talk about this later, but this is not happenin’.”

“No, we won’t.” Lace stands her ground. “I love you, Myles. I’ll always love you, but I’m a grown woman now, and I can make my own decisions. I love them, both of them. What we have is special, and I don’t care what you or anyone else thinks.”

I stare at her, dumbfounded by her words.She loves us?

“What the fuck?” Riot pinches the bridge of his nose. I can’t tell if he’s gonna pull the gun out and shoot us, so when Tag pushes between us, I let him. “Lace, what the hell has gotten into you?”

“So not ready for this conversation,” Tag grunts. “And we’ve got bigger fish to fuckin’ fry than workin’ out what sexcapades the three of you have been up to.”

Harlem cocks a brow. “Sexcapades? Have you been watchin’ Jersey Shore repeats again, brother?”

Tag flips him the bird.

“Need to get movin’,” Cash calls out. “Sort out the family drama later. Club business takes precedence over whatever the fuck is goin’ on over there. Mateo has agreed to come to the clubhouse so we can talk there.”

Riot gives Manny and me filthy looks, and I know this is far from over. He stomps past us toward Cash. Tag and Harlem follow behind. I don’t miss the confused look Harlem gives me.

I touch Lace on the arm and whisper. “You love both of us?” The words somehow feel like they’re lodged in the back of my throat.

She looks down at her feet. “You caught that, huh?”

I push her chin up with my two fingers so her eyes meet mine. “I think I heard it right.”

“What if I did?”

Manny looks between us. “Then I’d be the happiest man alive.” Trust Manny to beam like the sun shines from his asshole.

She bites her bottom lip. “So you’re not mad at me?”

“Didn’t say that,” I say. “We gotta discuss some boundaries later, but for now, we need to get to the clubhouse.”

“Yeah, I think Riot is gonna blow a gasket if we have any more declarations right now,” Manny agrees.

A smile forms on her delicate face, then she sobers. “He’s going to kill us.”

Strangely, I’m not even worried about the words that came out of my mouth. I didn’t expect that I’d be telling Riot, Harlem, and anyone else who heard that I’m bisexual today, but I guess the cat’s gotta be let out of the bag at some stage.

“We’ll deal with that later.” My voice is low so the others can’t hear. “He won’t kill you, us maybe, but not you.”

“This isn’t funny,” she whisper-shouts.

“Wait, you’re mad at us yet you didn’t tell us you worked for the mob?” Manny looks incredulous.

Warmth spreads through me and I know that whatever happens from here on in, we’ll be able to get through it, but only if Lace decides to be perfectly honest with the both of us.

25

JONAH

Lace’s eyesdart over Mateo. “I didn’t know they were the mob when I first started working there! And I left when things started to get weird.”

“Weird how?” I press, our voices lowered.

“They wanted me to engage in illegal activity. I refused and then I ran… I got scared.” Lace bites her lip and it makes me all the more protective. “I knew they weren’t good guys, but I also didn’t know that the Judices were taking over operations at the casino. Mateo told me before that he killed his brother, the Underboss.”

“This just gets better,” I mutter. Lace looks up at me and it’s hard to stay mad at her. “From now on, no more secrets. You’re makin’ it hard to protect you when you’re not tellin’ us the whole truth.”

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