Page 41 of The Art of You

I used my bruised forearm to press down on the erection in my jeans. There was something seriously wrong with me to get turned on right now. “What were we talking about again?”

“My sex life.” Bella cut off my oxygen supply with those three words. “Lack thereof, I should say.”

Andthe breath was back in my lungs. Doubtfully for long, given how much trouble I was obviously in with this woman.

“Dating apps? You ever use them? There are a lot of creeps lurking there. Any red flags?” Adelina asked Bella, reminding me of why we were here in the first place, which helped kill the bulge in my jeans a bit.

“No. No swiping left or right. No apps.” Bella pushed away the plated donut and propped her elbow on the counter, setting her chin on her palm. “Honestly, I haven’t encountered anyone new this year I could say would develop an unhealthy obsession with me.”

“Is there such a thing as a healthy obsession?”Where the hell did that come from?

Bella faltered, her arm collapsing at my question. She straightened and peered at me, eyes going up and down mybody as if doing a quick inventory of my appearance. “Sure. Alessandro’s obsession with his wife. Enzo’s for Maria.”

Mine for you?No, that wasn’t healthy. It was forbidden.

“Okay, so no red flags from any new guys.” Adelina was the only one focused on the mission at hand, another reason she was wrong to include me in this conversation. “So, let’s talk about this ex, then. Has he made contact since you two broke up? Was it an amicable split?” Adelina drew Bella’s attention with those questions.

Bella brought her hands to her lap, and when I turned on my stool to get a better read on her, I didn’t like what I saw.

Nerves.

What was it she didn’t want to share?

My hard-on was now dead with concerns her asshole ex may be a problem, and she’d kept me in the dark about it.

“My brothers, not to mention this guy next to me, scared him off. But he only attempted to return to my life because he felt he needed me.” She kept her eyes on her hands.

“What do you mean?” I asked before Adelina could.

“You remember Pablo’s an artist, right? Well, when we broke up, he lost his ability to paint. He decided it was because he’d lost his muse. Me.”

I didn’t like where this was going, but I shut my mouth so she could continue. And so I could find out whether or not he’d be added to my shit list. The fact I didn’t preemptively have that asshole on it meant I’d lost my touch.

“Pablo approached me a few times this year, begging me to take him back. To, at the least, pose for him. He thought he needed me to become inspired again. He was always high when I saw him, and he usually didn’t press hard when I turned him down.” She held up both palms. “To be clear, I always said no. I felt bad for him, but I wouldn’t date someone simply so they could be artistically creative again.”

Pose? High?Usually?Usually meant there’d been a time he didn’t take no for an answer.

Adelina removed her phone from her pocket, presumably to take notes. “Please, continue.”

Bella turned on her seat, setting her hand on my chest while locking eyes with me. And there was no chance she’d miss the thunderous beats. “He’s more of a danger to himself, I promise.”

“Yeah, I’d say so. Because if I find out he set a hand on you, I’ll kill him.” I stood so fast the stool fell back, and Bella came up with me, keeping her hand in place.

Forgetting we weren’t alone, I waited for her to tell me more.

When she didn’t talk, I gritted out, “Does he need to die?” I’d only planned on a very unhinged conversation with the man for asking her to be his muse, but that very well might change depending on her answer.

“Like I said, he’s always been on drugs when he’s approached me.”

“And? Alcohol. Drugs. Neither are excuses.” I swallowed, becoming increasingly tense as I waited for her to share more.

“I know.” She removed her hand from my chest and looked at Adelina as if remembering she was there with us. “He’s not the one who sent the photo, though. He’s still in rehab. Because when he approached me the last time, he was on much heavier drugs than he’d ever used in the past, and he didn’t want to take no for an answer.”

My heart.

Fuck.

There it went. Out into the wild and to a lawless wasteland where rules wouldn’t apply.

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