Page 71 of Careless

I know my brother is cool. Even though my brother can be a dick, everyone loves him, and yet if Rian is an ass, which is most of the time, all anyone knows him as is an ass. I don’t know what the huge difference is in everyone’s mind.

We get to my car and I get an idea. “Hey. My… well, don’t really know what to call him. Boyfriend doesn’t seem right. My man and I are going to Santiago’s with Kia Brown. You should come with us.”

Granted, Kia doesn’t know Rian is coming, and I’m not even really sure if he is, but Rian likes to pop up at random and join us for things, like eating dinner.

“Really? You don’t mind?” Her eyes widen.

“Not at all. It’ll be fun.” I smile, completely convinced everything will be fine.

* * *

“What the hellis Sonia De La Rosa doing here with you?” Kia nearly hisses as Sonia treks off to the bathroom while we wait for a table. Luckily, Kia didn’t say anything in Sonia’s presence, but now, with her gone, Kia feels perfectly fine opening her mouth.

“What’s the problem? She’s on the team and I feel bad that everyone pretty much ignores her.” I shrug it off.

“That’s for good reason. Her dad was a sex trafficker, for fuck's sake!”

“And my dad is a serial killer. What’s your point?”

I can see the wheels turning over that fact for a minute before she groans. “You made your point. Fine, but if she says something weird, I’m out of here.”

Well, that resolved itself quickly.

Once Sonia comes back from the bathroom, we sit at a table and order some appetizers. The conversation is casual, but I can tell Kia is trying to be nice for my benefit. I don’t understand why she has such a big issue with Sonia. It’s not like Sonia chose her dad. Besides, her dad is in prison. I didn’t know what my dad was doing until Finn took over and he told me they were killing bad people which, knowing this, has helped me sleep at night. “I’ve never actually been here before,” Sonia says before sipping her lemonade.

“We make sure to come once a week for Sorcha’s cheat day,” Kia says as the door behind me chimes. Her eyes lift at the noise. “And here comes Sorcha’s loverboy. Why am I not surprised?” She waggles her eyebrows at me and I squint mine at her. The chair next to me slides out and Rian sits. “Why do you have to be such a stalker, Rian?”

Kia is constantly teasing me that she thinks Rian is stalking me, but that’s ridiculous. Rian may be a bit crazy, but he’s not a stalker.

Right?

“It’s what I do best,” he mutters as he throws his arm along the back of my chair.

“Rian! What’s up, man?” Sonia and Rian fist bump like they’re old friends, and Kia sends me a look. It’s not suspicious, but more comical.

So serial killers and sex traffickers know each other?

I snicker from the look she gives me.

“What’s up is apparently, I’m stalking my woman.”

My woman.It sends euphoria shooting throughout my whole body every time he calls me his, and I can’t help the way it makes me smile and blush without fail.

“So, you two are… together?” Sonia asks, looking genuinely surprised, and I’m not offended by that. We don’t look like we’d fit together. Him with his nearly constant grumpy disposition, tattoos, and piercings. Me with mychurch on Sundaysclothes as Colin so eloquently puts it. I don’t have tattoos, but not because I don’t want them. My dad doesn’t want me to get any. He thinks I might regret them later.

Doesn’t mean I can’t get any he won’t see. There’s an idea.

“Talk about taboo, right? Her brother's best friend,” Kia teases.

I roll my eyes. “That’s taking it a bit far, don’t you think?”

“Fine,” Kia groans. “It’s forbidden for a reason.”

I glare at her. Why are we discussing my relationship with Rian, anyway?

Rian reaches in front of me and steals one of my empanadas so I turn my glare on him. “Hey! That’s mine.”

“Mine now.” He chuckles before taking a big bite out of it.

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