Page 76 of Privilege

“Why didn’t I argue?”

“Why did he take it in the first place?”

Lucia cleared her throat, and set the burger down on the wrapper. Wiping her hands down on the skirt of her dress, she didn’t even seem a bit bothered that those tiny greasy fingerprints were probably going to ruin the silk. “He wants to make a point, I think. To me.”

“But why.”

This time, it wasn’t even a question. Renzo meant for it to come out like it did because he wasn’t stupid—she was avoiding the question. He wondered if …

“Because he doesn’t want me around you,” she murmured quickly.

Yeah, there it was.

Exactly what he thought.

Renzo popped a couple of fries into his mouth, leaned against the counter, and stared at her for a while. Neither of them said anything, but he was fine with that. He needed a second to think, and there was something about Lucia that always put him in a different headspace when she was talking. He was much more interested in listening to her speak than caring about what was running through his head.

“They’re pretty determined to keep you away from me, huh?” he asked.

Lucia arched a brow, and those pretty pink lips of hers curved sinfully. “Yet, here I am.”

Yes, here she was.

With him.

“For now,” he returned.

Because he did wonder how long this was going to last. He didn’t think her family was the type to put up with nonsense very long before they just said fuck it, and did what needed to be done. Renzo wouldn’t say that scared him, really. As long as Lucia wanted to be here with him doing this … whatever this was between them … then that’s exactly what she was going to do.

He didn’t give a shit about them.

“Your brother came to see me yesterday, too,” Renzo said. “Cornered me in an alley and warned me … not that it did any fucking good, but yeah.”

Lucia stiffened on the counter, and her hazel gaze narrowed. “John?”

“How many brothers do you have?”

Because Renzo wasn’t really sure.

“Two sisters, Cella and Liliana. One brother … just John.”

Renzo nodded. “Yeah, well, him.”

“Huh.”

Something dark colored her tone, but Renzo didn’t have the chance to think on it for very long. It was the ringing of his phone inside the messenger bag on the counter that took him away from her just long enough to pick up the call. He didn’t even bother to check the ID before answering with, “Yeah, Renzo here.”

“Ren, man … I need you to come get this cash out of my hands,” Noah said.

Renzo’s brow furrowed. “I just did the exchange with you for the week yesterday.”

“I know, but I hit a party last night. You know I don’t like having this much cash on hand or at my place. Didn’t you have to grab something from Perry, anyway?”

Sighing, he scrubbed a hand down his face. “It can’t wait until tomorrow?”

He would much rather spend his time here with Lucia instead of heading out on the streets again. He already knew Noah’s answer before the guy even spoke. He really didn’t like to carry around a lot of cash—he got paranoid about it. Renzo blamed that on the fact the man smoked the wrong strain of weed, and wouldn’t listen when he was told to cut the fuck back.

But that was none of his business.