Page 122 of Pretty Poisoned

"Teagan!" I turn and see Luca sitting on a couch in the lobby. "Thank fuck."

He stands and rushes over to me, picking me up, and I wrap my arms around him, burying my head in his neck.

"You scared the shit out of me," he says. "I'm so fucking happy to see you."

Maybe I'm an idiot. Maybe I was wrong in my initial assessment that I'd know love when I saw it—that I'd recognize it when I finally felt it because I feel loved right now.

I felt loved last night.

The elevator doors open behind us, and he sets me down. I wipe under my eyes as I step into the elevator with the three of them.

"What happened?" Luca asks.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Go easy on her," Rhett says. "It was bad."

"I'm always nice to Teagan," he says. "She's my sweet angel, aren't you, Teag?"

I choke back a sob. I miss not crying.

He threads his fingers through my hair and kisses the top of my head. "I love you so much, Teagan."

I step out of the elevator and walk to the room, stopping for him to unlock the door for us.

"I'm still the same person," Luca says.

"I know."

"I wash your hair for you and hold you while you sleep."

I bite my lower lip. "I know."

"Okay," he says. He attempts a smile and, with his other hand on my lower back, pushes the door open.

"Teagan!"

River rushes over to me and pulls me into a hug. She looks like she's been crying, too; she buries a sob into my neck.

"You can't cry," I tell her. "I'm having a really hard time with my own crying, and I fucking hate crying. I hate everything about it. I hate how ugly I look, I hate how it fucks up my face,I hate the tightness in my chest, and that feeling like I can't fucking swallow. So please…stop."

"I'm sorry," she says. "I just don't want to lose any more people."

It's then that I realize we're in a room full of faces I don't recognize.

"Are you finally ready to sit down and deal with this?" a greasy, irritated man in a suit asks. "Maybe his girlfriend could be with him when he makes a statement."

"No," Declan says. "Teagan is not good PR."

"Declan…" Hazel says, shaking her head.

"I'm not talking about the book shit," he says. "She knows what I'm talking about."

"One of the other two, then."

"They're married…to each other. That might not be a good idea, either. And they had a relationship with her, too. Look, Luca speaking on camera is just an all-around terrible idea. You're going to have to trust me on that."

"Well, what do you have on this person that you could use?" the man asks.

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