Page 84 of Meet Me in Montreal

“Where is your precious little wife? Up for a morning run or doing one of her little Pilates workouts in a garden somewhere, fresh as a fucking daisy after a good night’s sleep? Or did you guys stay up all night having a good laugh about how you set me up to humiliate me?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Santino protested, holding his palms up. “Nobody set you up for shit. You set yourself up, coming up here with your little agreement. The both of youse should’ve stayed your asses back in New York.”

“No,you’rethe one who shouldn’t have come up here.” Zoe was much smaller than him, but the way her teeth were clenched, the way her fingers were hooked, made him back up. Those pointy manicured nails looked like they could do damage and in the state she was in, she might end up using them. “I came up here to try to save my marriage, and you fucked everything up, you and your stupid —”

“Yo. Before you say something that’s really gonna piss me off, you need to get out, Zoe. Now.”

Pulse flaring, he pointed at the door that had swung closed on its quiet hinges. Defiantly, she stood there glaring at him, raking her eyes up and down his bare chest and his shorts. A cruel smile stole onto her face, bringing back memories he’d rather forget.

“What is it about Vanessa, huh? What is it that makes men turn to idiots and come chasing after her, no matter how badly she treats them? Look what she did to you, then to Scott. What? Does she give good head? Does she take it up the ass? What’s her secret?” Zoe asked with that filthy smile.

His temper flared dangerously high, but he restrained himself. Everything he and Vanessa did was sacred to him, not something to be mocked or cheapened. Something was off with Zoe for even wondering about it, let alone asking.

“I don’t want to have to put hands on you to get you out of here, but I swear to God, if you don’t leave right fucking now, I’m not gonna have much of a choice,” he uttered.

“Tell the truth. You don’t want Vanessa. You only got together with her because she was the good girl, the prize. And the bad boys always have to win the prize.” The cloying tone in Zoe’s voice was laced with scorn. “I bet you told Vanessa about us in that bathroom at the wedding. That must be why she’s hated me all this time.”

“Yeah, the bathroom, where I was taking a leak and you walked in on me. You got on your knees in your wedding dressand offered to suck my dick. At your own wedding. And I didn’t say anything to anybody because I knew they would’ve blamed me for it. I’m sorry I didn’t. Maybe I could’ve saved them years of dealing with you.”

The confusion, the stomach-turning decision he had to make in that moment came roaring back. With that one drunken, stupid move, Zoe could have destroyed what he and Vanessa had before it even got started.

His chest pounding, he glared at her, but she gazed back with that fucking smirk, like this was all a game. “Just fucking face it. I didn’t want you then and I sure as fuck don’t want you now. Now get. The fuck.Out.” She just stood there. He thought about calling security, but she was standing right next to the desk with the hotel phone, and he had no intention of getting that close. “Have it your way. I’m gonna go get security. Do yourself a fuckin’ favor and leave before we get back.”

Before he could take a step toward the door, Zoe suddenly pulled up the hem of her tank top and off it went, seeming to hover in slow motion before hitting the carpet. Then she matter-of-factly pushed down her bottom layers. Shocked, he spun around to face away from her before he could see anything more. His feet couldn’t fucking move fast enough as he headed for the door with panic and disbelief snapping at his heels like a pair of wolves.

But just as he was merely a foot away from the door, he realized it was already half open. And then it swung open all the way.

Of course, Vanessa was standing there with her keycard in her hand, taking in his half-naked body, wearing only his shorts and Zoe behind him wearing nothing at all.

Of course, Bobby was right behind her.

Of course.

29

HEARTBREAKS, SETBACKS

SANTINO

In the loud silence in the room, the four of them stood suspended, flies trapped in amber. Santino’s gaze was trained on Vanessa, who slowly walked in and stopped directly in front of Zoe. Looked her up and down from her bare tits to her toes. Then with a sigh, she bent and picked up Zoe’s tank top and bottoms and handed them to her calmly, in a crumpled ball.

“Tesoro…”

“Zoe, could you go put these on?” Vanessa interrupted him, her eyes still on her sister-in-law’s face.

Wordless for once, Zoe complied, hastily pulling on each garment while Bobby stared at Santino with his forehead wrinkled. He looked like he’d aged ten years since last night. Santino waited for a fist to strike, for Bobby to scream at him. But neither came. There was just that horrible, confused look that slowly gave way to an even more awful understanding.

“We heard arguing from the hallway. Add soundproofing to the list of things Virgil needs to fix about this hotel,” Vanessasaid. That voice. Too calm. Santino almost wished she would yell, so he’d at least know this was still his Vanessa. “We opened the door right about the time you talked about what really happened at their wedding.”

“What did you hear?” Zoe sneered. “That he wanted me, and I was the one who said no? I only came here looking for Bobby, but your husband took my clothes off. He said he wanted to fuck me in the shower. Why else would he be half naked like that?”

Vanessa only sighed, nodding her head slowly. “Yeah, I can see why he didn’t tell me or Bobby about what you did back then. He knew you’d turn it around and put it on him. And most likely, I wouldn’t have believed him. Now that I know exactly who I’ve been dealing with all this time, I don’t need any more explanations. In fact, if you and my brother somehow stay together, I don’t ever want to see you again. Get out.”

Oh, thank God. She’d heard all of it, or at least enough to know this wasn’t his doing. Santino had never been more fucking relieved in his life.

“Bobby?” Zoe turned to her husband with pleading eyes. “You see it was Santino’s fault, don’t you? He said you wouldn’t care because of the arrangement, and he decided to t-try —”

Vanessa was apparently all talked out. She grasped Zoe by the arm and dragged her to the door.

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