Page 94 of Matteo
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
The door to the library opened and I was about to snap at whoever thought to invade my privacy when I saw my two best friends stroll in.
Calm and reason flew out the window. I was on Nikola before the door could properly snick shut, shoving his body into a wall. The antique lamp rattled and a few books tumbled to the floor, but I couldn’t care less.
“What the fuck are you thinking flirting with…touchingmy woman?” I spat, getting into Nikola’s face. In all the years I’d known him, we’d never fought. That was about to change. “Do you have a death wish, is that it?”
“Let’s cool down.” Gabriel wedged himself between us. “And please, watch my suit.”
“Touch her again and I’ll tear you to pieces, Nikola,” I growled.
“What are you upset about, man?” Nikola deadpanned. “You just announced your engagement to her sister. She’s free for any man now.”
“Don’t fuck with me.” My ears pulsed with rage. “Or I’ll show you exactly how free you’ll be when you’re six feet under.”
Gabriel shook his head disapprovingly, stepping a little closer.
“You can’t expect Arianna to become a nun,” he said, still laughing. “She’s too pretty for that.”
“It was a mistake.” I could strangle both my father and hers for thinking I was into Hannah. For fuck’s sake, when had I ever shown the least bit of interest?
“I didn’t hear anyone shout ‘wrong sister,’ man.” Nikola chuckled, but he had a point. I should have roared and made it clear that Arianna was the one I’d asked for. “That’s what I would have done.”
Gabriel sneered. “Really? Because the way I see it, you’ve been avoiding a certain girl since she arrived.”
He shrugged. “I don’t have any claims on her. Never have. Never will.”
“Good to know.”
“And don’t forget, she’s almost related to me,” he muttered.
“Almostdoesn’t count,” Gabriel drawled. “But if you have no claims, I have a good friend who’d love to—” Nikola grabbed him and hurled his body against the table behind them, its contents crashing against the floor and some of it onto my friend’s clothes.
Gabriel only sighed. “Didn’t I warn you about my suit?”
“She. Isn’t. Available.” Nikola’s pale blue eyes turned dark. “Don’t ever fucking say that again.”
I shook my head at the two idiots, but I was no better. If Gabriel threatened to set my woman up with some suave Colombian, I’d rip his head off too.
“Then stop ignoring her, or she’ll move on.” Gabriel shoved him off, straightening his suit. “Next time you wrinkle my suit, I’ll fucking kill you.”
“You and those stupid suits,” Nikola muttered.
“You should try them sometime,” he retorted dryly. “I know you like to show off your ink, and your girl certainly seems obsessed with them, but?—”
“Really?” he asked in surprise, and I rolled my eyes, despite this agonizing situation I was in. Even a blind man could see Skye always studying his ink. “Probably because she’s my almost-cousin or some shit,” Nikola justified.
I strode to the bar area, done with this conversation. There was only so much stupidity I could take in a day.
Gabriel joined me at the bar, then muttered, “Is he blind?”
I shrugged.
Nikola soon joined. “Can I have vodka, bro?”
“Help yourself.” I tilted my chin in the direction of the clear liquid. “All the staff are at the party.”
“Ahhh, self-serve.” He unscrewed the lid of the top-shelf vodka and poured it until it spilled over. “Generous portion it is, then.”
