Page 51 of Heart of Stone

“Krystina questions everything. And I meaneverything. That alone will make her a terrible Sub. She won’t be easy to train, that’s for sure,” I paused and eyed up the second bourbon that Matteo had poured for me. Changing my mind, I reached for it and sipped it slowly for a minute before continuing. “The subject of my parents came up tonight. It was by pure happenstance, but I practically bit her head off to stop her questions. I’m sure that I only succeeded in creating more.”

“If you are going to see this woman regularly, your background is going to come up. You won’t be able to keep it buried.”

“It’s not a regular thing. You know me. We’re just talking,” I tried to deny.

Matteo raised his eyebrows, showing his disbelief.

“If you say so,” he said with a smirk.

“It doesn’t matter how you want to classify us. Just knowing what I know about Krystina, she won’t drop it. My parents will come into question again, of that I’m sure. It complicates things because of Justine. I literally just diffused one situation. The last thing I need is another. It’s my job to protect her.”

“You can’t always be there to shield Justine from her monsters,” Matteo advised sympathetically. He knew my sister. He was one of the very few that knew our past. But despite his knowledge, he would never fully get it because he hadn’t lived it. I shook my head in frustration.

“They areourmonsters, Matt. You know that almost as well as I do. I’m just better at facing them than Justine is.”

Matteo nodded his understanding.

“It looks like you have some decisions to make, so let me offer you another piece of advice. I think Krystina may be more innocent than you want to admit, but she doesn’t seem gullible. Secrets never stay hidden for forever. If you want to make a go with her, you shouldn’t tempt the Fates.”

I smiled wryly at my friend, the irony of his words like a bitter pill that I had been forced to swallow.

The Fates.

Those fickle bitches had never looked favorably on me. I had learned early on to take control of my own destiny, to use my gut to point me in the right direction. It had yet to fail me, which was why I was facing the current predicament.

My instinct told me that I shouldn’t want someone like Krystina Cole. I was not the right man for her. Yet, what I shouldn’t want and what I wanted had become two very different things.

CHAPTER 14

When I arrived back at my apartment after dinner with Alexander, I found Allyson alone on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and a glass of wine. The television was off and the only light came from the kitchen. This was not a good sign. I kicked my shoes off into the corner of the front entryway and moved into the living room.

“Hey, where’s Jeremy?” I asked nonchalantly, trying to assess how bad the situation was.

“He left a little while ago.”

“Oh. I thought you two were going to see a movie.”

“We were. Until Jeremy turned into a chauvinistic pig,” she spat out loathsomely.

“You guys seemed to be having a good time when I left. What did he do?”

“It’s not what he did, it’s what he said. We got talking about you being out with Stone tonight. Jeremy thinks it’s a good thing that you found a financially stable man. A man like him would be able to take good care of you properly. Apparently, he thinks women should stay home and take care of the house,” she finished with a scowl.

Yikes.

Rule number one – don’t ever insult women’s rights in front of Allyson. Sometimes I would swear that she was a direct decedent of Susan B. Anthony. Not that I agreed with what Jeremy had said, but I sort of felt bad for the guy. Allyson was easily riled when it came to this sort of thing. I could only imagine what she had said once her temper was unleashed.

“Did you let him have it?” I said with a cringe.

“I yelled something along the lines of not being the barefoot and pregnant type and asked him to leave. So he did,” she finished.

“And that’s it?”

“I may have had a few other choice words for him.”

“Oh, Ally. Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine. Better that his opinions came out sooner, rather than later. For now, distract me. I want to hear about your date with Stone.”

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