Page 73 of Little Dove

It’s my turn to blush, and I try not to shuffle my feet. What happened with Lazaro was amazing, and I want to repeat it, but I haven’t told them what happened to me or how monumental tonight was. I also don’t really want to share it with them yet. Or at least not everything. I mean, I know they’re nice, and they’re doing all this for me, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to trust them completely.

Gia, thank God, must sense how uncomfortable I am because she jumps in to say, “I’ll hold up the blanket for you so you can change, and don’t worry, you don’t have to share anything you’re not comfortable with.” She holds out her hand to me with a smile.

“If you’re holding back because of me, don’t worry, darling,” Sofia adds with a smirk. “I’m well aware that my brothers are not choir boys, and I’ve been around for some of their wilder adventures. There’s nothing you can say that’s going to surprise me.”

I hadn’t thought of that before, but now that she’s put the idea in my head, horror consumes me. Before I can stop it, I blurt out, “I am so sorry about the sheets. I tried to tell him, I really did, but he was being a man and laughing and not helping at all. I’ll replace them, I promise. Or I can wash them myself, or?—”

“Amara, stop,” Sofia says firmly, hands coming to rest on my shoulders as she looks down at me, her lips twitching like she’s trying to hold back laughter. “It’s fine. I don’t give a shit about the sheets. I don’t wash them; we have people for that. Besides, technically they’re Nico and Gia’s sheets, and trust me, with what I’ve seen and heard coming from them, they don’t care either. As long as you are okay, and nothing happened that you didn’t want to happen, then there’s nothing to worry about.”

Oh God, I said all of that out loud. Oh God, kill me now. I gape, my mouth opening and closing as I try to find the words.

“Don’t worry, we’ve been there,” Sienna assures me gently as she moves closer to Sofia. “Let’s just get you in that shirt, and then we can find something to do to keep ourselves occupied. Other than help Rori and Sofia plot the demise of their men.”

“He is not my fucking man,” Rori snaps.

“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.” Sienna scoffs as she takes one end of the blanket and Gia takes the other. They avert their eyes as I quickly pull on the shirt and button it. It’s so large that it hangs past my knees. I don’t need to worry about showing anything.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rori demands, hands on her hips as she glares angrily at Sienna. “You saw the way he was acting when he brought me in here! And daring to give Hades commands? No fucking way. That man hates me, and I hate him. The next time I get him alone, he’s going to learn that treating me like this is a big fucking mistake.”

“What was it you were telling me when I was wondering about Alessio and I a few weeks ago?” Sienna asks mockingly. “Get the hell out of your head, or else you’re going to make the both of you miserable. Or, in your case, pissed off at each other all the time. And then you said to ‘leave behind whatever notions you’ve been cooking up in that head of yours and pay attention to only the ones that matter’. It’s a bit different for you and Alonzo, but you wouldn’t spend so much time bothering him if you didn’t want him. I know you better than you know yourself, bitch.”

“And you’re looking at things through rose-colored glasses because you’re in love,” Rori snaps at her. “We don’t all want to live happily ever after, Sienna. Some of us are happy with how things are, and I certainly don’t want to be with a man that treats me like I’m an annoyance, someone who disrespects me and the boundaries I’ve made very clear from the start. Do you even understand what him commanding Hades has done? How much it’s confused him? Do you have any idea how much work I have to do now to re-train my dog, so he stops taking orders from other people, and get himself hurt or fucking dead? So no, I don’t want that annoying asshole. I’m happy for you that you found the man you love and want to be with, but that isn’t what is happening with Alonzo and me. He has a vendetta to settle from our first meeting, nothing more.”

“I suggest you open your fucking eyes, because that man wants you. If you don’t want the same, then you make that very clear and steer clear of him,” Sienna replies bluntly, refusing to back away.

I glance over at Gia and see her watching Rori and Sienna worriedly. Sofia looks intrigued, but I can’t quite gauge her thoughts. This is her brother we’re discussing, after all.

Rori’s expression doesn’t change at Sienna’s assertion. Instead, all she says is, “I’m not talking about this right nowbecause I’m too pissed, and I’ll probably end up punching you or something.” Sienna scoffs again, but Rori ignores her. She looks at me as I step over the blankets that Sienna and Gia drop to the floor. Rori chuckles. “You’re swimming in it, but at least you’re covered. Feel better?”

I nod. I’m still worried that she might be upset with me for wearing the shirt, but I let it drop. Instead, I ask, “Now what?”

We all look at each other. “Do we know what’s going on out there?” Sienna asks. “I tried to message Alessio, but the guards took me out of the room too fast for me to get an answer, and I dropped my phone on the bed so it’s not like I can ask him now.”

“I didn’t even think to grab my phone,” Gia admits with a wince. “I’m still getting used to having it.”

“Well, I have mine, but we all know that none of them are going to answer me if I call,” Rori huffs. “Looks like we’re stuck in here until they come to get us. Unless there’s another way out.” She glances around the room along with the rest of us, but it’s just the four walls, the new salon furniture and equipment, and the trench in the floor where the new water lines are going to be run. “... and we’re out of luck there.”

“I guess we don’t have a choice but to wait.” Gia sighs.

“I’d suggest we get Amara to do our hair, but the last thing we need is to get caught in the middle of all that and deal with whatever is happening out there,” Sienna agrees. “I guess we sit around and chat, or just wait.”

“I hate waiting,” Sofia grumbles, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the wall.

“I prefer this to running away from the guys like last time. This is a much better option,” Gia points out, pressing her back against the wall next to me and sliding down to sit on the blanket.

“What happened last time?” I ask curiously.

They all glance at each other, then Sienna looks at me and warns, “This isn’t going to be an easy story, but clearly no one else told you about it, which I think is a mistake.”

“They didn’t want to send her screaming,” Rori reasons as she comes to sit on the blanket, too. Hades moves to lay beside her, his head on her lap, almost like he knows she’s upset and wants to comfort her. I sit down between her and Gia, and Sienna comes to join us. Sofia sighs and slides down to sit with us, too, though I see her glancing at the door constantly, like she’s waiting for Dante or anyone else to come through.

“Like Lazaro would let that happen.” Sienna snorts.

“You say that like Alessio didn’t do the same thing to you,” Rori reminds her drily. “He chased you across the freaking ocean after telling you that you were going to marry him because you needed to take Gia’s place in the marriage contract. He didn’t tell you it was all a hoax, and that sent you running. Lazaro probably didn’t want to chance that happening this time.”

“He did what?” I gape, shocked.

Sofia groans in exasperation. “That answers the question of how much Lazaro has told you. Stupid man.”

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