Page 45 of You Don’t Kiss Your Brother's Best Friends

But the plate was gone.

“Can I have another one?” I asked quickly. “Please?”

Bruschetta Joe was already back to working on his glasses. Lining them up, he slowly shook his Italian head.

“Can’t. The rest are for the guests.”

“Joe,” I growled, as if I’d known him all my life. “Don’t do this to me.”

He paused to look down at me with those coffee-colored eyes. Beneath that strong Roman nose, he was secretly smiling.

“Do what?” he asked innocently.

“Told ya,” Andre sighed, adding a shrug.

“But… how’d he do that?” I demanded of Andre frantically. I whirled to face Joe again. “How’d you do that?”

“Family recipe.”

“But what’sinit?” I swore, still lost in awe. “What the hell did you—”

“C’mon,” Andre said, pulling me away. “We still need to get your uniform. And you need to get dressed.”

I was all but dragged from the room, my stomach growling, the lingering taste of heaven still in my mouth. Itwasn’t until Andre led me through the kitchen that I realized where I was.

Just outside in the atrium, beyond the floor-to-ceiling glass doors, two people were splashing around in the pool. I could hear playful voices and laughter, even through the thick pane.

“Emily…”

There was a stern foreboding in Andre’s voice. I ignored the growing sense of dread in my stomach and wandered over anyway, already knowing what I’d see:

Kayden and Evelyn.

~ 27 ~

JOCELYN

You’re an idiot, Jocelyn.

The nagging voice in the back of my mind didn’t cheer me up, or straighten me out, or provide any kind of new revelation as I stomped my way back to my room. And that’s because I knew the voice was right.

You’re an idiot who’s in way over her head.

It’d been so foolish of me to come back. Even before I found out what the boys were actually up to, it had been childish and selfish to return to the manor, unannounced. I should’ve taken the hint, in how fast they got me out of there the day of the storm. I should’ve slept on the floor of the airport, rather than overstay my welcome.

Instead, I’d inserted myself first accidentally and then willingly into a very dangerous situation. Everything was different. I wasn’t even Jocelyn anymore, for fuck’s sake. I was ‘Emily’ the server, forced to grin and bear it as that whore in the pool threw herself at Kayden, laughing like a hyena the whole time.

At one point Evelyn turned her head and caught a glimpse of me, standing there at the glass. I know she saw me too, because she flung herself into Kayden’s arms almost immediately. My stomach turned as she wrapped her arms and legs around him, the same way I had only days ago. I’d beenforced to watch as she put her lips against his ear and whispered something as they floated together, while her eyes remained locked on me.

That. Fucking. Bitch.

I’d only barely listened to Andre’s last-minute instructions, which he’d already given to the other servers. I was still numb as he handed me my uniform, pressed a keycard into my hand, and told me to return in about an hour.

My room felt cold and empty as I flopped on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. What did I expect, really? That Kayden was somehow mine? That because we’d spent the past week in bed together, that I’d somehow laid claim to him?

Stupid.

My jealousy made zero sense when you actually thought about it. Especially when you considered Kayden showed almost no jealousy at all, other than competitive spirit, when I was fucking his friends right in front of him. If anything, he’d gotten a serious thrill out of what we’d done. We all had. And maybe that’s why it felt so greedy, to still want to possess him. Somehow I felt entitled to him exclusively, all to myself, and this strange new woman could fuck right off.

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