Page 19 of Of Grief And Gratitude

I rattled it off, and she repeated it to whoever was on the other end of the line before hanging up.

“I could have taken you home,” I said, uselessly.

“Sloane was about to send her brothers out to find me,” Riona explained, covering herself with her hands and slipping past me to the spare bedroom. She raised her voice. “She’s going to be here in like ten minutes. I need to freshen up. Can you let her up?”

“Yeah, no problem.” I ran a hand through my short hair, staring up at the ceiling and wondering how the fuck the evening had gone sideways. “The bathroom is the next door down.”

She didn’t bother to look back as she disappeared to take care of her needs, leaving me waiting for the Irish hellion. Hopefully, she wasn’t the kind of friend who would rat Riona out for fraternization. I found my discarded shirt and put myself back together.

While I was finishing the dishes, my intercom buzzed, and I let Sloane up when I saw her face on the video feed. She’d come alone. My sisters had never been allowed out of the house without at least two of my father’s men as guards. From what I’d heard, the O’Connor daughter was just as dangerous as her father and brothers.

When Sloane rapped her knuckles on my door, I answered and let her into my place.

“Neretti,” she sneered.

“O’Connor,” I returned.

“What did you do to her?” she hissed in a whisper. “I swear if you’ve hurt her—and I don’t just mean physically—I will gut you with your own knife.”

I shrugged. “Knives are more the twins’ thing. You should do your research.”

“Listen here, you fuck—”

“Hey!” Riona slurred slightly as she rushed past, grabbing her coat. So she was still intoxicated. She hastily shoved her feet into her shoes, swaying enough that I grabbed her arm to steady her. “Sorry to keep you waiting. I’m ready to go. Thanks for dinner, Romeo.”

I raised my brows and smirked. “You’re welcome. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

I didn’t bother to curb my insinuations. Riona blushed before pushing past Sloane, and the latter dragged her thumb across her neck before she slammed the door behind her.

Fuck.

As I returned to the room to switch the video camera off, I realized I hadn’t given Sloane a second look, even though she was the kind of girl I’d usually go for. I hadn’t even checked out her boobs because I was too invested in how Riona’s red hair swayed as she moved and her breathless voice as she said my name.

Double fuck.

Chapter Six

I slammed the empty box that used to house coffee pods on the countertop, swearing to myself. Just my fucking luck. I groaned, and Sloane laughed at my lament.

“It’s not the end of the world,” she quipped. “We’ll just run down to the coffee shop and grab something.”

“I can’t go out there. You’ve seen the news.”

The media outlets had run like olympians with the story of my supposed relationship with Romeo. It hadn’t taken them long to figure out what neighborhood I lived in, which was disconcerting, given Sloane’s position. We were supposed to be keeping the heat off the O’Connor family, but instead, I’d practically led the media to their doorstep.

“So we’ll disguise you and slip past them,” Sloane proposed, looking at the t-shirt and black sweats I wore. “If I can get past my father’s men, I can evade a few paparazzi. They probably aren’t even camped out anymore.”

The headache threatening at my temples and my desire for coffee won out over my need to avoid more publicity. “Fine. But let’s make it quick.”

I pulled a black hoodie on and grabbed a pair of socks because the spring morning was still cool. After I’d tied my sneakers, Sloane emerged from her room wearing black jeans and her signature black leather jacket and tossed a black ball cap at me.

“This should help. Just stick your hair under it and pull your hood up. That should keep you from drawing them to us like a fiery beacon.”

“Thanks.” I did as she suggested and grabbed my wallet and phone, stuffing them into the pocket on the front of my sweatshirt. “Do you think I need sunglasses?”

“You don’t want to look like you’re trying to disguise yourself, so no.” Sloane pulled her own cap on and we headed out the door.

It didn’t take long to make it two blocks to the coffee shop. I’d slept late, shutting my alarm off and trying to forget the pervasive memories of the previous night. It was like Romeo’s fingers had imprinted on my pussy, the ghost of his touch lingering.

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