Page 23 of Weaponized

“Hear, hear.” Tammy (Tonya?) smiles and raises her red Solo cup. “Good for you, girlfriend.” The redhead smiles at me brightly. Winks.

“She’s an adult, man.” Cole shrugs, looking at my brother. “Doesn’t look like she’s being forced into anything.” Yes, thank you! Common sense!

My brother fixes Luca with another glare before pinching the bridge of his nose. “I know. I know. Hard to watch all this though.” He motions to Luca and me.“She was following me around in braces and pigtails like two days ago.”

Everyone bursts out laughing at that, and I swear I can hear Luca smile. I touch my necklace again, remembering the time in our youth that Rowan is referring to.

Elizabeth looks delighted, which gives a little squeeze in my heart. I was worried about her earlier tonight. I talked her into wearing one of my more conservative bikini tops with high-waisted bottoms. Her large boobs look ah-mazing. My brother is sitting kind of close to her, so he must notice how great she looks as well. I’m glad it’s working out because I don’t want to push her further than she’s willing to go. I’m not sure why I care, but I do. It’s impossible not to like Elizabeth.

“What are you up to tomorrow?” Luca’s breath is hot on my ear. Mmmmm. I love this. His thumb keeps strumming back and forth in a lazy motion on my thigh.

“I don’t know,” I say, so only he can hear me. “I have to study and do some laundry. I may see if Elizabeth wants to grab brunch at that diner.”

“Maybe I’ll see you there. I go every Sunday with the guys,” he murmurs, still speaking low in my ear. I’m wondering if there is more to come when he continues. “I hoped you might want to get together afterward.”

I squeeze the forearm that’s holding me. “I’d love to. What did you have in mind?” I’m surprised by just how delighted I am with this development.

“Oh. Well, I, uh…” He clears his throat and I realize he has no clue. The fact that he wants to spend time with me fills me with warmth.

“Why don’t you come to my place? We can make dinner together and study, or watch a movie, or just hang out.” I try to save him with some options, and I can feel his body relax.I’m almost giddy that he just asked me out. Sort of.

“That would be great,” he says and kisses my neck.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” my brother barks. “I am trying here, Gráinne. But really? Luca, man, can you please keep it PG in front of me?”

Luca smiles at him. “I make no promises.” His voice is friendly.

I laugh and sit up a little, to pull away from the nuzzling. Now that we have a date set, I feel more secure.

For the next hour or so, we chat around the fire, and I’m really happy. I don’t remember feeling this way before. Like I’m not manipulating anyone. Like I could experience genuine laughs and smiles. Like I have something to look forward to. I’ve never allowed myself to hope for something real. I should be terrified of how easily I let my guard down tonight, but I’m too busy smiling.

Luca

I’m at Rena’s Diner getting interrogated by Anthony while my brother looks on in what appears to be genuine amusement. Gianni looks annoyed.

“So, nothing? You’re going to tell me nothing? You lookedmightycozy over by the fire. And she lookedverycomfortable in your shirt.” Ant smirks.

I shrug at him. I’m not surprised he noticed all of this, but I don’t have anything to say. I mean, I don’t use a lot of words normally, but I have no desire to talk to these guys about what’s going on with Gráinne. I still have to figure it out myself. Besides, telling him that I had the most phenomenal sexual experience of my life and didn’t even have sex? I can only imagine how that would go over.

“You’re killing me,” Anthony sighs.

Gianni is wisely staying quiet. Since our “little episode” (as Anthony has been calling it) a few nights ago, he’s kept his distance. This is the first day we’ve been this close since, and I wondered if he’d even show up today.

Matteo changes the subject. “Congratulations on the charges getting dropped,” he says to Gianni. Our dad shared the news late Friday. Between the lack of evidence and the pull we have with the district attorney, nothing was going to come of Emily Shepherd’s story about being attacked by Gianni.

Gianni glowers. “Stupid bitch. Like I have to jump someone to get my dick wet.”

“Eh, I don’t know,” Anthony teases him. “I haven’t seen any beautiful blondes onyourlap lately. Maybe you’re losing your touch.”

I shake my head at the reference to Gráinne, while Gianni manages to look even more pissed off. “Fuck off,” is his witty retort.

I’m lost in thought about the fact that I’m going to be at her place later today. Should I bring flowers? That’s dumb, right? Maybe a bottle of wine since she mentioned dinner? I don’t drink wine, and I have no idea if she does either. Is there a protocol for this?

“You look constipated over there, Luke,” Anthony goads me. “Whatcha thinkin’ about?”

I give him a look that undoubtedly says “fuck off” when he laughs. “Is it the leggy blonde who just walked in?”

My head whips toward the door as I see Gráinne, her brother, Lizzie, and Taryn, one of the girls from last night, walk into the diner. I push my chair back without thinking and then stop, because I have no idea what I’m supposed to do. Do I go over to her? To do what? Say what? I am so fucking bad at this that it would be funny if it wasn’t so painful. The choice is taken away when she spots me.

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