Page 134 of High Roller

“You’re welcome,” I assure her. “They all know how Grace and I feel about you. You’re part of us now for as long as you choose to stay.”

We fall quiet, and the three of us end up sitting in comfortable silence for the next half hour until I stand to get ready for company to arrive.

When everyone is there, we all head out onto my deck so Luke can get the grill going. Lili immediately strikes up a conversation with Zara, and Grace catches up with Bellamy who hasn’t been as present lately after everything she went through prior to marrying Owen and Tobias.

I hang back on the edge of the deck while Luke, Matteo, and Owen handle the grill.

Tobias excuses himself to take a phone call inside, and I lean back and watch my family of choice enjoying each other’s company.

Skylar approaches me with a beer in her hand, which she hands to me.

“You look deep in thought tonight, Victor. Anything you want to share?”

I smile at the pretty blond popstar who has stolen Matteo’s heart.

“No, but I appreciate the company.”

She bumps her hip into mine. “We should have lunch at the casino sometime. God knows I’m there enough.”

“You got it, Kitten. What kind of big news do you and Matteo have for us tonight? Did he knock you up or something.”

Skylar’s face pales, and she shakes her head. “Fuck that. And I can’t tell you the news or Matteo will be pissed. He’s very excited to share it himself.”

I laugh and drape an arm around her shoulders. “As long as it’s good news.”

Her eyes twinkle. “Very good news.”

“You seem to be doing better than you were earlier today. I’m glad.”

Her expression grows sad again as she remembers her brother. I’m such a dick for stirring that memory. But she recovers quickly. “Thank you for the hug. I promise we won’t keep you all waiting on the news for too much longer.”

I’m curious what it could be, but I don’t have time to dwell on it because Tobias comes outside with a solemn expression and jerks his head at me. “Looks like I’m needed inside.” I kiss Skylar’s cheek and follow him back into the house.

“What’s wrong?” I ask as soon as we are out of earshot of the others.

“That was Nadine from Hunter Novak’s office. It seems he’s changed his mind and no longer wants to give us two weeks. We are to meet him in his office tomorrow afternoon to discuss his plan.”

I do my best not to punch a hole in my own drywall. If everything he’s saying is true, we’re going to have to move up the timeline on all of our plans, and that means our time to prepare for Lili to file for divorce is a lot shorter than we need it to be.

“Can we wait to share the news with the others until later tonight or first thing in the morning? I don’t want to rain on whatever good news Matteo and Skylar have.”

Tobias nods. “Fine by me. You don’t think he knocked her up do you?”

I laugh. “Judging by her face when I asked if that’s what it was, getting knocked up wouldn’t be a good thing, so I’m gonna go with no.”

“Then let’s go find out what it is. Telling the others tonight or tomorrow isn’t really going to change anything. It sounds like Hunter has a plan and we’re expected to fall in line.”

We head back outside, and Grace immediately comes to my side while Bellamy is drawn to Tobias.

“Hey, butterfly,” I murmur, pulling her close. “How was your visit with Bellamy?”

She smiles at me, and my heart constricts. I don’t want to do anything to hurt this girl. That could be why I’ve pushed her away all these years.

“It was wonderful. I need to make time for my friends more often. I’m glad you set this up.”

“Me too. But you can mostly thank Matteo and whatever his good news is.”

I take her hand and pull her to one of the sofas on the deck and sit, pulling her onto my lap. “How are you doing with all of this, Grace? We’ve made a lot of changes in a very short time. You’re going back to school, we’re starting a relationship. Something is happening between us and Liliana. It’s a lot. And that’s without your stalker situation or what we’re facing as a group.”

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