Page 47 of Twisted Knight

When I went to my room across the hall, I noticed that the kid was already in the kitchen area eating a bowl of cereal, watching some show about chess—his newfound obsession.

I took a quick shower, shaved, and trimmed my goatee before settling on my dark-gray suit and purple shirt. I’d seen how her eyes lit up when I wore that damn shirt, and I was half tempted to buy twenty more just for her to look at me like that every day.

You got it bad, man. I could hear Luca’s voice in my head. That was karma returning the favor for mocking him for his obsession with Cassie.

I stopped by her bedroom on my way to the kitchen, but she was not in bed anymore and I could hear the faint sound of the shower from the bathroom.

“Is India your girlfriend?” Jude asked as soon as I walked in the main room.

Fuck me!I winced as I walked into the kitchen and started to put out bowls and the different types of cereal, hoping I could pretend I didn't hear him and he’d go back to watching his show.

I let out a breath when he didn’t talk again. I’d dodged a bullet there. What could I even tell him? What was last night? Was it just a slipup? A way to satisfy the attraction? I didn’t know if it worked for her, but that one backfired on me because if I was obsessed before… I was completely consumed now.

I turned on the coffee maker and spun around to see a pair of green eyes and a mop of light-brown hair looking at me critically.

“Holy fuck!” I took a step back.

Jude was kneeling on one of the bar stools, his hands resting on the breakfast bar.

“You shouldn’t swear; it’s not nice,” he chastised me with a little shake of his head.

“That’s true. You just took me by surprise. You were there.” I pointed in the corner by the flat screen TV. “I turn around and you appear right here, like a mini ninja.”

Jude grinned, showing his cute gap between his front teeth. He enjoyed taking me by surprise.

“I asked you a question, but you didn’t hear me. Is India your girlfriend?”

“India?” I cleared my throat. I should have known better. The kid had a one-track mind; he never dropped anything. “I, um, why are you asking?”

“The guys at school say if a boy sleeps in the same room as a girl, they are together.”

“I see.” Fuck, I hated his boarding school right about now.

“And I saw you go into her room last night, so is India your girlfriend?”

“Listen, buddy. Things are not as s—”

“I was so sure Solkiev would win the game last night. I guess Johnson was just lucky,” India interrupted.

The kid turned to her, his mouth opened wide with outrage.

“This is not true! Johnson was way better!” He jumped from the stool. “I’ll show you!” he called, running past her to his bedroom.

I threw her a grateful look that she met with a cheeky smile and a wink.

“I was promised breakfast,” she said, crossing her arms on her chest.

Before Cassie, all the women I’d been surrounded by were always overly made up, perfect clothes, perfect hair, perfect makeup… so perfectly fake. That had been the role of most women in the famiglia. Their primary role was to look good for their husband, father, brother or whichever male family member they were with that day, but then Cassie entered our life and now this stunning woman.

She was dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans, with a long-sleeve red shirt and matching flats, and just like that, with her golden skin devoid of makeup, she was a thousand times more beautiful and enticing than any other woman in the famiglia.

I cleared my throat under the weight of emotions and gestured to the four boxes of cereal and the carton of milk on the counter.

“Oh.” She nodded, walking to the counter and taking a seat. “This is the type of breakfast last night warranted? Fine, I’ll just have to step up my game next time.”

At that moment, the kid rushed back with a pile of magazines. I didn’t even care that he interrupted. I was just grateful there would be a next time for us. I felt like I was floating on a cloud, my heart so full, it felt constricted in my chest.

Is this what falling in love feels like?I asked myself as I leaned on the counter, looking at her eating her cereal as she listened to Jude talk about the chess players from last night.

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