Page 65 of Meet Me in Montreal

“Toronto sounds good. Tenzin’s from there. He says it’s cool and told me I should visit sometime. But maybe on another trip. Aside from your tag-a-longs, I love it here.”

Vanessa felt the words boiling and bubbling in the cauldron of her stomach. She had one great reason for leaving, one that she could no longer keep to herself. Lightly, she cleared her throat.

“Hmm?” Santino murmured.

“I saw Scott tonight. At Virgil’s place.”

22

GOROUND

SANTINO

Instantly, Santino sat up, staring at her. Storm clouds were rolling into his head at the thought of that bastard tracking them down yet again. Trackingherdown.

“That’s what happened when you disappeared? Did he say something to you? What the hell was he even doing there?”

Her sudden change in demeanor at the party now made sense. At the time, he’d thought it was because of Zoe and Bobby’s obvious disapproval of him being there with her, but this was fundamentally worse. Was that motherfucker stalking her?

Like he had?

Santino reasoned to himself that this was different. He was her husband, not some dude off the street she hardly knew.

Taking a deep inhale, then exhale, Vanessa released a fast stream of words along with the air. “I didn’t mention it when I saw him because you threatened to jump him the next time, no matter where you were. I was looking at Tenzin’s paintings and he came out of nowhere. He said he’d worked on Virgil’s hotelyears ago and they’d become friends. He also said he’d seen us at the concert. And of course, let’s not forget he’s staying at the same hotel as Bobby and Zoe. I’m not so sure we should hang out with Virgil again. We should leave. Go to Toronto or anywhere else until it’s time to go back to New York.”

Santino’s jaw twitched. He had to be mindful not to unleash a string of curses. Scott’s behavior wasn’t her fault, and he didn’t want the euphoria of their lovemaking and the tenderness afterward destroyed because of that clown.

“What else did he say to you?”

“He wanted to know if I’d been seeing you the whole time I was getting to know him. I told him I wasn’t, but it didn’t seem to make a difference to him. Then he left, and I got the fuck out of there.”

“That’s why you wanted to leave the party so fast when you came back from wherever you’d disappeared to.” Santino’s voice sounded a bit too harsh. He sighed. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I warned him and he’s not listening.” She must have looked uncertain, because he pulled her into his arms and hugged her reassuringly. “If you see him or hear from him again, tell me right away, okay? I swear I’m not gonna be the one who starts shit. The last thing I want to do is put you or Virgil in a bad spot.”

“Okay.” She still seemed uncertain. “What about the Toronto idea?”

It had been a nice thought. But the idea of getting chased out of town by that dick cast a different light on the idea.

“We’ll check out Toronto the next time we come up here. We’re not leaving because of him. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction.”

Vanessa quirked an eyebrow. “What happened to our no-drama pact?”

“Hopefully we won’t have to interact with him again and the rest of this trip will be cool.” Santino ran his finger along herfurrowed brows until it smoothed out and a grin tugged at her lips.

“Sure, as cool as can be with a certain sister-in-law wildin’ out at pool parties like it’s still the 80s.”

Santino gave a short, sarcastic laugh at that and kissed her temple. This time, he held her as they leaned back against the headboard. “Don’t worry about him or her. I’ve got you.”

“I know. I’m sleepy. Let’s get some rest,” she announced.

All at once, it was morning. The insistent ringing of her cellphone awakened them. Santino could hear Bobby’s voice loud and clear, even though the speaker wasn’t on.

“Rise and shine,” Bobby demanded cheerfully. He must have had a great night to be that enthusiastic that early. “Tell yourhusbandwe’re meeting up for breakfast at your hotel. Then he and I are going racing. Formula-1, baby! Tell him to be dressed and downstairs in an hour and a half precisely.”

Bobby hung up before she could utter a word. Vanessa raised her eyebrows and put the phone on the nightstand. Then she smiled at him with those sleepy baby brown eyes that made him want to roll right on top of her and forget the world.

As though he hadn’t already heard it himself, Vanessa relayed the message. “Bobby says you guys are going to the track today. And I don’t think he’s taking ‘no’ for an answer.”

The first thing out of Bobby’s mouth when he and Santino arrived at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve’s Formula-1 racetrack on ?le Notre-Dame and found out they had to drive the speed limit was, “Fuck. Are you kidding me?”

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