Page 79 of Titan

Edric’s eyebrows shot up.

“Well, I stand corrected. Does he know she’s your girlfriend?”

I hadn’t exactly asked Theia to be my girlfriend, only that I wanted a chance to explore us. I wasn’t going to call her my girlfriend until I made sure it was what she wanted.

“She’s not…” I let out a sigh. “No, he doesn’t know. I mean, I’m sure he knows I’ve been visiting her, you know what he’s like about security, but he doesn’t know about whatever me and her are.”

The sound of footsteps made me turn my head. Theia was stretching as she walked into the living area. My eyes scanned over her body. She’d put a pair of shorts on underneath the t-shirt she’d worn to bed. She smiled at me when she noticed I was looking, then her eyes darted to the back of Edric’s head. They widened slightly. I gave her a shrug. It wasn’t as if I’d invited him over. Edric and I did need to talk about last night and what we were going to do now we had a name, but it could have waited until later.

Theia came over to me, looking a little nervous about the fact my best friend was here. I wrapped my arm around her waist the moment she got close and tugged her into my side.

“Good morning,” I murmured, nuzzling her neck.

She shivered and let out a little squeak. Edric looked over at us with a grin.

“Well, hello again.”

“Hi,” Theia said in a quiet voice.

“Edric brought breakfast.”

She looked over at the food, her blue-grey eyes lighting up at the sight of it.

“I didn’t know how you liked your coffee,” Edric piped up. “Gil has sugar and milk if you want to add to it.”

Theia stepped away from me and went over to the fridge, pulling out the milk before she opened up the takeaway cup and poured some in. She replaced the milk and came to sit next to me on the other stool.

“Do you normally have breakfast meetings with him?” she whispered to me.

“No. He was too interested in you to stay away.”

She hid her face behind her mug as her cheeks went pink. I turned my attention back to Edric. I wanted him out of my flat as fast as possible. Then I could talk to Theia about the protection detail and other things.

“The name Alvin gave us… we’re going to have to be careful about how we approach him.”

Edric raised his eyebrows and nodded at Theia. I gave him a sharp nod back. I didn’t care if she heard us talking business. She wouldn’t snitch. Besides, she’d seen me kill last night. If she wanted to run, she could have, but she’d stayed. I trusted her.

“You mean Devlin? Yeah, I know.”

We’d never had any problems with Devlin Clarke before. He stayed in his North London territory, and never interfered with the mafia. The fact he was involved in my cousin’s missing shipments made me incredibly suspicious. It was unusual for him to be interested in weapons, considering he was a drug king. Who the fuck knew if we could actually trust Alvin’s word? He was dead, so if this didn’t pan out, we’d be back to square fucking one. I couldn’t have kept him alive. It would have been too much of a risk.

“We have Matteo’s funeral in a few days, but we need to deal with this situation as soon as possible.”

“Oh great, celebrating that old fuck’s life. Thanks for reminding me.”

I wasn’t looking forward to it either, but as the mafia boss, I had to attend. And Edric wasn’t getting out of it either. A mafia funeral was a big affair. I’d visited Matteo’s wife not long after I’d executed him. She was none the wiser about the real circumstances under which he’d died. Mafia wives didn’t get involved in their husband’s business. Probably why Edric had been wary of talking in front of Theia. I wasn’t like those traditionalists. Theia needed to know what she was getting herself into with me so she could make an informed decision about our relationship. I wouldn’t hide anything from her. Not now I wanted her as my partner.

Finally admitting you want her in your life for good, are you? Maybe you need to tell her that too.

I told my brain to go fuck itself. It was way too soon to be thinking that, let alone telling Theia. I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact I wanted a serious relationship with another person. I wouldn’t have taken her to bed last night if I had any doubts about my feelings. They might scare the crap out of me, but it didn’t change facts. I wanted her by my side.

“You going to bring Theia?” Edric asked a moment later.

She looked over at him with a mouth full of the bagel she was tucking into. It wasn’t something I’d thought about. To be honest, I hadn’t planned on involving Theia in my mafia life, but it was unavoidable. She was a part of it, whether we liked it or not.

“I’ll discuss it with her later.”

“Might do your image some good if you arrived with a woman on your arm.”

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