Page 10 of Valentine Mine

“Jagger!”I shouted.“Luca!”

Both of them came out of a room deeper into the house.

“Dimples?”My husband took one look at my face before his own turned to stone.He jogged to me then cupped my face in his hands.“What is it?”

Luca was right behind him, glancing over my shoulder to look for Violet.“Did you talk to her?Has she said anything about why she’s acting so off?”

Grabbing both of them by an elbow, I found an empty room and shut the door.Once we were alone, I told them everything I knew.

“What the fuck!”Luca snarled.He took two steps toward the door, but I stepped in his path, shaking my head.“Get out of my way.”

“That’s not what she wants, Luca.She’s struggling, and she’s embarrassed.We need to take a moment and think about this.”

“I need to find her and fix this,” he raged, but he couldn’t hide the helplessness swirling around in his eyes.“She’s a goddess.But I made her think…”

The tortured look on his face only matched what I was feeling, and I hugged him.“You didn’t,” I reassured him.“She’s caught in her own head.This isn’t about you and how you make her feel, Luca.She loves you.She wants you.But they got in her head, and now she’s trapped there.”

“How do I get her out?”he whispered, hugging me back, his fingers digging into me, desperate for answers that would help him help her.The one all three of us loved more than life.She was our glue.Our safe place.Just as we were normally hers.Fuck, why hadn’t we done a better job taking care of her?

“I’m supposed to protect her, but obviously, I did a shit job of that.”His voice broke.

Tears choking me, I pressed my face to his chest, offering comfort.Begging for some in return.“I don’t know yet.B-but we have to figure it out.Now.This weekend.If we leave here with her still suffering…”

Jagger made a pained noise before he hugged me from behind.Between them, I felt stronger, braver.But Vi was usually right there with me.Suddenly, I’d never been more terrified in my life.

“We will, dimples,” my husband vowed.“We love her.And now that we know what she’s struggling with, we can fix it.”

CHAPTERNINE

violet

My husbandand our two best friends surprised me when they didn’t charge out of the house and bombard me with questions after Shaw had stormed off.My first thought was maybe she didn’t say anything to Luca or even Jagger.

And maybe pigs could actually learn to fly.

There was zero chance of that happening.Which confused me because no way would Luca not confront me when he found out what was going on in my head.And maybe, just maybe, I’d wanted Shaw to be the one to confess my inner turmoil to my husband so I didn’t have to.

Damn, I was such a pussy.

Luca took such good care of me that I’d gotten too reliant on it.We were so connected, he could fulfill my needs before I even knewwhatI needed.But he wouldn’t have ever thought that this was on my mind.Or to this extent.Communication was everything in a marriage—any relationship, for that matter.But I had definitely not been communicating.

Was he angry with me because I hadn’t been open about how I was feeling?Because I sure as hell was mad at myself for it.Yet I still couldn’t gather the courage to seek him out and unload the baggage that kept piling up inside my head.

Lyric, Maverick, and Gian came out onto the terrace where I’d remained with Mila, River, and Monroe.All three women had carefully changed the topic after the heaviness of our previous conversation.I didn’t think any of them knew what to say to be of any true help to me anyway.

My heart still ached for River and her confession.Now that I knew it was there, I couldn’t miss the tiny flicker of loss in her green eyes.As Maverick crossed to sit with her, they shared a look that spoke of how much they loved each other.But also, their shared loss.

Gian sat beside Monroe, pulling her legs across his lap as she tucked her head under his chin, snuggling close.They both reacted to seeing each other like it had been days instead of less than an hour since they’d last been together.But that was how it had always been anytime I’d been around the couple.For me, a casual acquaintance observing from the outside, they seemed to have a very codependent, obsession-driven relationship.Not necessarily toxic or even remotely unhealthy, but different from anything I’d ever seen before meeting them.

Since then, however, I’d gotten a glimpse of Ryan Vitucci with his wife, Nova.That relationship was on its own plane, separate from any other universe.Anytime I looked at Ryan, I got the sense that madness was just below the surface, and the only thing protecting the world at large from him was Nova.

Not that I would ever judge their relationships.Mine was bizarre, to say the least.Unconventional.I loved three people.My husband.My best friend.And her husband.

Lyric dropped a kiss on Mila’s lips before sitting down on the end of her lounger.Picking up her feet, he placed them on his lap and started massaging her soles.My brother-in-law gave me a smile.“Still cold, I see.Even with this sun frying everyone.”

“There’s a hot tub,” Gian spoke up.“If you’re chilled, it will help.”

“Thanks, but I’m good for now,” I told him.

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