Page 49 of Cruelest Contract
“And to think my breasts might have cured you,” I say.
Tye pouts. “Is that a no?”
“That’s a very definitive no,” I say to Tye and bring a spoonful of gelato up to my mouth.
Enzo is a food genius. The smooth texture is perfect and the flavor is impeccable.
Tye lowers the spoon from his face. He laughs and smacks his knee.
Getty has been quieter than usual, only piping up a couple of times with smartass comments. At the moment he’s steadily shoveling gelato into his mouth. The second he’s finished, he pushes his bowl away.
“I think we can let some rules slide while Dad is gone,” he says.
“Whatruleswould you like to break, Gaetano?” Julian asks.
Getty leans back in his chair and folds his arms over his chest as he thoughtfully considers the ceiling. “I’d be in a better mood if I had some entertainment.”
Julian sighs. “Is it really impossible for you to get through dinner without checking your phone?”
“It’s not my phone I’m dying to get back to. It’s my book.”
“Yourwhat?”
“My book.”
“Since when do you read for fun?”
Getty looks at me. “Our houseguest has inspired me to try out some new hobbies.”
Julian eyes his brother with suspicion and stirs his melting gelato.
“Check this out.” Tye elbows me again. He tosses a blackberry high in the air and catches it in his mouth.
Getty starts to clap, loud and slow. “Perfect. That is exactly what I would expect an oversexed circus bear to do.”
OH. SHIT.
“What the fuck?” Tye wipes berry juice from the corner of his mouth.
“Shouldn’t you be laughing?” Getty says. “You’re always laughing at things that aren’t funny.”
My face burns as I hear my own words being repeated. By now I’m unsurprised when Getty reaches under his chair and pulls out a thick spiral bound book with a pink and white striped cover.
My journal. The one I left sitting on a desk in a room that I can’t lock when I leave.
“Now what the hell is that?” Fort asks as Getty opens the book containing my very private thoughts.
Getty licks the tip of his finger and turns a page. “At first I thought it was just a really boring story about a girl who collects fountain pens and inventories her pantry shelves on Saturday nights but then I got to the interesting parts.”
Julian catches on that his brother is up to no good. “Let’s go in the hallway for a chat. Now.”
“Don’t blame me.” Getty flips through the pages of my journal. “I can’t help the fact that I’m just chaos in a human form. Totally deranged.”
“I’m not oversexed,” Tye announces. “And when I laugh, it’s because shit is fucking funny.”
Getty pauses his inspection of my journal long enough to look up. He’s thrilled to find me staring at him and likely resembling a rabbit trapped in the headlights of an oncoming garbage truck.
What does he think I’m going to do? Cry? Run away? Break his nose with my crystal gelato bowl?
