Page 69 of Quake

Shame fills me, but before I can dwell on it, the door bursts open. Dante’s booming voice fills the foyer. “Hey, Mom,” he calls.

“I’ll grab the food.” I rush out.

***

“You’re here awfully early today,” Dante notes, his brow quirked at me.

“Just wanted to see if Mom needed help setting up.”

He hums before replying, “Right, and it wouldn’t have anything at all to do with the pretty redhead coming over tonight?”

“Nope, I like Arielle and all, but I’m not showing up early for her.” I know damn well he wasn’t talking about his wife.

He laughs. The sound is a deep boom that fills the living room. “Look at you being a smartass,” he says, smirking.

I ignore him, but a moment later, there’s a knock at the door. “I’ll get it,” I say, heading to the door as quickly as I can. I hear Dante attempting to muffle his laughter behind me, but he’s literally a therapist. There’s not much I can hide from him.

Gripping the door handle and wrenching it open, I’m fucking elated when I see the group of women on the doorstep. One of which being Lark.

“Hey, come on in.” I wave them through the entryway but grab Lark’s forearm before she can walk through, pulling her out onto the porch and closing the door behind me.

“Hi.” She beams up at me. The setting sun makes the orange in her eyes appear even brighter.

“I missed you today,” I tell her, then second-guess myself. “I mean like I missed the class. I had a game today, not that you don’t already know that,” I add nervously, gripping the back of my neck.

She rolls her eyes at me and steps into my embrace, sliding her hands up my chest. “You can say you missed me and just leave it at that,” she tells me, her voice sounding breathless.

Nuzzling my face into her hair, I whisper, “I missed you,ma petite rouge.”

I can feel her hot breath dance across my neck, sending goosebumps erupting all over. “I missed you too,mon ciel étoilé.”

My brows pinch together in confusion. “My starry sky?”And she speaks French?

She gazes up at me, but just as she opens her mouth to answer, a car pulls up.

Chapter thirty-nine

Lark

Before I can answer him, Luca comes sauntering up the driveway toward us.

I called himmon ciel étoilé.He’s right that it means “my starry sky,” butsomeday,I’ll have to tell him why.

“Well, hello there.” He greets us with a cocky grin.

I pull away from Gianni and move to head inside. “Hi, Luca,” I tell him as I pass Gi, entering the doorway.

My friends are sitting in the living room, each of them wearing a look that tells me exactly what they’re thinking.

I roll my eyes at them and take a seat next to Jade because she’s the least likely to poke fun at me. Gloria wheels out into the living room with a huge box in her lap.

“Okay, ladies! I’ve got some new merch I’ve been cookin’ up.”

“Ooh, gimme gimme!” Kira tells her excitedly, grabbing the box from her lap and digging through it. “Oh my god! Gloria!” she shouts, delighted.

Kira pulls a tiny pen out of the box, holding it up for everyone to see. On the top is a tiny, squishy penis with a little smile painted on it. It’s the cutest pen I’ve ever seen.

“Jesus Christ, Mother!” Charlie shrieks as she rushes into the living room, snatching the pen from Kira’s hand. Her eyes widen, but a slow smile spreads across her face. “Alright, fuck it. I’m all in. This is actually really cute. I think I’ll get over the embarrassment once we’ve made our millions from your merch line.”

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