Page 48 of Where the Wicked Reign

“I thought that was only when you were fooling around in there.”

“Nah, always. That’s just usually the only time you actually come over.”

I started. “That’s what you think?”

He pulled on his robe and tied it, covering himself. “It’s what I know.”

“That we only spend time together when it involves fucking?”

“It’s how it is, Milo.”

Huh.“That’s not what I intended. But isn’t that how you want it, anyway?”

“Not with you, no,” he said, looking away, then brushing past me into his apartment.

It was always a lot to take in when I stepped inside his place with the rich jewel tones of emerald, sapphire, and gold accents, and animal print everywhere.

There was a black velvet sectional with gold trim over by the balcony doors, zebra-print cushions arranged on the seats. Beside it was a leopard-print chaise lounge. A tiger-print rug with jagged edges was beneath a black and gold sleek metal coffee table.

Opposite the seating area was a built-in bar with top shelf liquor with crystal decanters and that sat beside a massive top-of-the-line entertainment unit. Above it hung a neon sign written in cursive script—Carver Kingdom.

There were two crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling that gave off multicolored light.

It was really something.

Reallyhim.

I grasped his arm, pulling him up short as he made it into the living room. “Hold up. What does that mean?”

He turned to face me with a sigh. “You’re not just a casual fuck to me. You’re my friend. You and Nico are my best friends. My brothers, really.”

“I didn’t realize about the casual fucking thing.”

“Of course not. Because your whole life revolves around Nico and worrying about all thatla famigliashit. You have major tunnel vision. You move so quickly from one mission and task to the other with no time in between to really notice or take in anything else.”

So him not taking well to my brief bursts of jealously and all that was about more than I thought then? It was because he didn’t think I had a right to be that way when I wasn’t giving him anything beyond fucking?

He was… hurt?

“Well, I didn’t come here for that tonight,” I told him.

“Yeah, because you and Nico had a fight and you needed to get that off your chest instead.”

“Where is this coming from all of a sudden?”

He shoved his wet hair out of his hazel eyes. “Things are changing. Nico’s getting married. The three of you will be living together in his mansion. And I guess it made me realize that I’ll still be here. Alone. You won’t be able to come out much because of your paranoia when it comes to Caterina, so you’ll no doubt be watching her like a hawk. Nico will be basking in having his obsession right up close, finally. You might even get the marriage bug when you see Nico and Caterina together, might want to make one of your girls a more permanent thing.”

“And you think you’ll be left behind, that this will impact our brotherhood?”

“Of course.”

“Julian—”

“You know, sorting the Reincourt Construction deal, I had it in my head that the three of us would actually do it. It became real for me when everything was sorted there and I thought we’d actually take off and move out there together, build a life without the three-family bullshit impacting us and weighing us down.”

Wow.“That’s a lovely thought.”

“A fantasy, though, right? It’s just a backup. An extreme backup. I guess, with Caterina involved now, it brought the brutal nature of it home to me—that we’re trapped from living our lives the way we want to. First with my dad doing that to me, now with me out on my own and free without him, and I find myself bound in another way against my will.”

---