Page 150 of Corrado

“Oh, I’m going to do that soon, too.”

Yeah, he figured.

“The point is,” Cree added quickly, “sex is like every other physical thing for Alessio. Eating, sleeping, fighting, or working … it’s something he does because he either has to, he likes it, or it fills a need he has. He only gets emotional with sex when there are emotions attached to it—like with you. For her, he feels nothing. And he feels nothing about the fact you may or may not be having sex with her—that isn’t his problem, is it?”

Cree wasn’t wrong.

“No, I don’t think that’s his problem. More … that I kept her presence and my interest from him. He asks for loyalty, that’s all.”

“Because loyalty is what is most important to Alessio, and to him, faithfulness doesn’t fall into that category when that’s not what he asked for, right? When sex is just sex to him … then, you having sex with a woman is just that to him as well. He’s complicated, Corrado, in ways you are not, although that may not be a bad thing.”

“You know, it’s almost disturbing how you understand people the way you do,” Corrado muttered. “And with very little information to go on, too.”

“Is it, though? I always thought it was like a gift.”

“No, it’s disturbing. Definitely fucking disturbing.”

“To be fair, I have known Alessio since he was ten, and I have a lot to go on in order to make sense of his mess.” Cree made a dismissive sniff. “And it being disturbing to you doesn’t change the fact that I’m right here, and you know it.”

“Well …”

“Hmm?”

“She’s complicated to me, too,” Corrado murmured. “Like him, but in different ways.”

“I bet. That sounds like something you should figure out. If Alessio doesn’t call me before he comes back to you, then you’re to let me know he’s safe. If he’s gone for more than a couple of weeks beyond this, I want to know so I can make the choice to bring up the tracker data on his chip implant and let Dare decide what he wants to do.”

“All right.”

“Also.”

“Yeah?”

“Stop fucking this up, Corrado. Despite how it used to be amusing to watch you stumble over your feelings and bury your issues so deep that even you can’t find them, it’s no longer funny. It’s time you figured your bullshit out, and fix it. All of it.”

He blinked.

And Cree hung up the phone.

Fuck.

His frustration at everything—this week, Alessio, feeling like he was walking on eggshells, the conversation with Cree—spilled over as he stared at the blank screen of the phone in his hand. Before he could think better of it, he whipped the phone to the side. It smacked the arm of the chaise in front of the large window, causing the back and battery to pop out of place, and fall onto the floor in three pieces.

Good.

Better that than him breaking it entirely.

Because that’s what he wanted to do.

A quiet noise at the opposite side of the office had him spinning on the spot. There, he found Ginevra standing with a book in her hands, watching him. A million and one emotions raged through him at the sight of her there.

Annoyance.

Concern.

Amusement.

Indifference.