Page 42 of Better Left Unsaid

I can’t, huh?

“Maybe that’s exactly what I’m looking for.”

Dom raised a brow. “I’m supposed to scratch your itches.”

“Fine, then maybe I’m trying to pick up a boyfriend.” You could say I was enjoying this a little too much. It was just that this whole possessive thing so wasn’t Dom.

When he didn’t say anything, only grew more tense at my side, I chuckled, trying to lighten things up a bit. “Relax, Dom. I’m not really interested in any man in this club. And I know where to go if I have any itches, as you said.”

Dom nodded and a smile slowly spread across his face, like he was insanely happy to hear that. Why, I had no idea, but he could have that one.

“What about you? Interested in any woman here?”

He scoffed. “Please.”

I arched a brow, waiting for a real answer.

“Come on. No, Maria, I’m not.”

I took another sip of my drink before putting it down and crossing one of my legs over the other. “Okay.” It always fascinated me how Dom never seemed to find a woman to date. They were all over—certainly all over him—and yet, nothing. He was perpetually single. It was like he really had no interest in dating. Not in recent years anyway.

Bianca came bouncing over, her hands waving in the air like she just didn’t care—yes, I had to, sorry—and her crop top riding up even higher, such that it was dangerously close to showing off her under-boob. I couldn’t imagine Knox would be comfortable with that if he saw it. “Hellooo, lame-os!” she yelled before giggling and crashing down beside me on the couch.

“Bianca,” Dom acknowledged her. “Where’s Knox?”

She collapsed further onto the couch, waving her hand in front of her face as though she was trying to shoo a gnat away. “Oh, Knox. He’s so sweet, isn’t he? And dreamy”—she turned to me, her eyes widening—“I got really lucky with him, didn’t I?”

Dom coughed. “You should slow down on the drinks, Bianca.”

Tell her something she didn’t know, I thought to myself. I placed a hand on her back and tried to get her to sit up straight. “How many have you had?”

She held up three fingers. “Four,” she said, giggling before letting out a low burp that really only sounded in her throat. “Oops! Excuse me. I’m going to go dance again,” she said, attempting to get up and back on the dance floor.

I got her back down, though. It wasn’t a feat by any means because she was pretty unbalanced. “I think you should wait here. Where’s Knox again?”

“In the bathroom,” Bianca answered, sighing happily as a smile formed on her lips, and her eyes seemed to sparkle with love, like they always did when she talked about him. Drunk or sober, she loved that man, that much was clear.

“All right, well, let’s wait for him to get out.” Because I knew that he’d take care of her. He knew Bianca well enough to know when she needed that.

She patted my hair and frowned. “I feel bad for you, Maria.”

I chuckled. This was classic over-boozed Bianca. She said whatever was on her mind, more than usual. Scared? My sentiments exactly. “Okay, I think it’s time we go home.” Not that I minded. It would definitely put me out of my misery.

“No, stay. I’ll go find Knox,” Dom suggested.

But then what would my excuse be to duck out early?

“Awww,” Bianca gushed, getting all sappy now. “See, that’s what I love about you two”—she pointed to each of us and then the space between—“you’re like the cutest ever. I want what you two have.”

“You have that, sweetie, with Knox, and it’s better because you’re in love.”

“Yeah, but we weren’t friends first. Not like you two.” She frowned. “Shhh, can you keep a secret? I think friends-to-lovers is so much better than being stuck in a love triangle from hell.”

Friends-to-lovers? Who said anything about that? Was Bianca reading romance novels again? Dom and I were friends to nothing. Nada. Not a single damn thing. Besides maybe sex bunnies. But then that was it. The line was drawn there.

She laughed, her head bobbing as she peered down at her nails. “I don’t know what I was thinking with this nail color. When we get back to the city, Maria, I want to get our nails done.”

Her nails were orange. I didn’t see the problem. It might not have been my first choice for her, but it wasn’t putrid or anything. All I could think was that she was going to have one wicked hangover in the morning.

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