Page 145 of Ache for You (Slow Burn 3)
I let out a little whimper of pain and close my eyes.
“Poppins?”
I whisper, “Matteo. He used my designs in his show.”
Very seriously, Jenner responds, “I know.”
I open my eyes and look at him. “You do? How?”
He glances at a folded newspaper on the small table beside the bed, but before he can answer, I hear the door open and footsteps entering the room. There are some hushed whispers I can’t make out, then from behind the curtain drawn around the bed, Brad appears, hand in hand with a good-looking young man I’ve never seen before. He has dark eyes and deep dimples, and thick black hair so glorious it could star in its own commercial.
“You’re awake!” says Brad, loud enough to make
me wince.
“Don’t remind me. Who’s this?”
Brad slings his arm around the shoulder of the good-looking young man, who smiles shyly at me. “This is Gio.”
I know it’s probably inappropriate, but I start to giggle. I mean, really. This is my life.
“Hello, Gio.”
“Buongiorno,” he murmurs, all sorts of cute and bashful.
I make eyes at Brad, mentally transmitting I can see the appeal.
With a wriggle of his eyebrows, Brad sends back Right? Then he goes all businesslike and weird, dropping the smile and the friendly demeanor. “So, Kimber, let’s talk.”
“Why do you sound like an attorney all of a sudden? Is this about your trust?”
He blinks, caught off guard. “The trust? No, this is about you. I wanna talk about how you’re doing. What’s going through your mind today?”
He has a strange air of expectancy as he waits for me to answer. I look at Jenner, who’s gazing back at me, inscrutable as a cat. Then I look at Gio, who’s still doing his cute shy thing.
Then I’m mad.
“Cut the crap, Wingate. I’m lying here in pieces. What do you think is going through my mind?”
“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking. Last I heard, you and Matteo had separated because he was giving you time to make sure he wasn’t a rebound.”
You could hear a pin drop the room is so quiet. Except for the beeping of the machine I’m hooked up to, of course.
“Maybe we can talk about this later,” I whisper, thinking I should push the red button on that drug-cocktail bag again. My heart needs a stronger dose of numbing chemicals.
Brad and Gio draw closer to the bed. Brad says, “Jenner told us you went to Matteo’s show at the palace. So . . . ?”
He leaves the sentence hanging, an invitation to continue. He knows I find it impossible to resist dangling questions, the bastard.
With a great gust of a sigh, I nod. “I did. And then I fell down the stairs.”
Brad makes a face. “Back up. What happened in between the arriving and the falling down the stairs?”
“Why are you shouting?”
He makes grabby hands at me. “C’mon. Talk. You’ll feel better if you get it off your chest.”
I look at Gio. “You know, he was never this kumbaya, touchy-feely, let’s-sit-in-a-circle-and-share-our-deepest-darkest when he was with me. You’ve been a good influence on him.”
