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Eve’s eyes dropped to the floor, and then she briefly glanced back up at me. Before turning around and leaving.
Without one more word.
Fucking coward.
4
Carlo
“Give her some time,” I said to Eve on the back patio. She and Nick had expressed their concerns regarding Giselle’s—behavior.
“It’s been two weeks. I agree with my wife on this. She needs help.” Nick picked up his glass of whiskey and took a sip.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard her swear in all the years I’ve known her. And now every second word is—eff this, eff you, eff that,” Eve said, clearly traumatized by the change in her best friend. Even so, Eve was still cute as fuck while imitating Giselle.
“She must’ve gone through a lot.” I sighed, and grabbed the bottle of cold beer I’d pulled out of the fridge a few minutes ago. The cool, bitter taste slid down my throat.
“I know she did. I just wish she’d talk about it with me. Or with one of us. Or with someone. She can’t keep that stuff bottled in.” Eve shook her head and blinked back the tears in her glassy eyes.
I looked at my best friend’s wife and said, “I’ve suggested all those things. She doesn’t want to talk. She just wants to disappear.”
Fuck.
If I heard my woman say that one more time—how she wanted to disappear—it might just kill me. “All those months of looking for her. Worrying about her. And now we finally have her back. And she hates my fucking guts.”
Eve nodded and took a deep breath. “She—she knows that we slept together when she was gone.”
My eyebrows rose on my forehead, and I felt like saying, “Oh, shit.” But I didn’t.
Eve bit her bottom lip. “She assumed. And I couldn’t lie. And then she called me a—” the word caught in her throat, “whore.” The tears that had threatened to fall—now fell. Down her beautiful cheeks.
I took another swig of my beer. “If she were thinking clearly, she’d be happy to know you were there for me. She’d thank you for what you did.” My eyes met Eve’s, and she gave me back a sad smile.
“I know. It still hurt, though. And I couldn’t lie to her. I just couldn’t.” Her voice quivered, and every cell in my body wanted to go over there and comfort her.
But I couldn’t.
Not if Giselle was having jealousy issues.
I’d keep my distance from Eve. And that stabbed me right through the heart. I loved Eve.
But until Giselle got over this—hurdle, I wouldn’t add any more fuel to the fire in her mind.
“No lying. You did the right thing, Eve. She’ll realize it someday. Sooner than later, I hope.”
The sound of a door closing caught our attention, and we turned to see Stefan walking our way.
“Jesus.” He shook his head and glared at me. “We can only guess what kind of shit went down at Sergio’s compounds. None of us know what she’s seen. Maybe you should give her a fuckin’ break and stop expecting her to be happy about you two fucking each other’s brain’s out while she was busy blowing Bastratto’s cock.”
Obviously, my brother had heard our conversation.
I stood so quickly my chair fell over backward behind me.
Nick was watching us, though. Like he always did whenever my brother and I were in the same space. He rose to his feet.
“Stop,” Nick said, moving in between us. “Honest to Christ, you two can’t behave for five fuckin’ minutes.” He shook his head and gave us both looks. He took a deep breath and said, “I asked Stefan over here to help think of ways to get through to Giselle.”
He looked at my brother. “And saying that kind of shit is not helpful here, Stefan. So, if you want to help a woman we all love, then stay. But if you want to get in a few more jabs, then leave.”
