Page 89 of Bene

He was joking.

Mostly.

“Didn’t even see you come in until you were already inside,” Bene said, clapping his brother on the shoulder. Then, he leaned in to give a smiling August a kiss on her cheek, too. “And good to see you—you’re looking good. Keeping him in fucking line, right?”

A softness lit up August’s gaze, as though she could just tell that Bene was doing better, and while she wouldn’t say it out loud, she still recognized it for what it was. He appreciated that, and her. She was great for his brother, no doubt about it.

“Someone has to,” she replied, “because God knows if we left it up to the two of you, well … nothing good comes from that, huh?”

Beni laughed. “Come on, now, we’re not that—”

“You’re terrible. Both of you.”

“Worse together,” Bene added.

“Don’t take her side, man.”

Bene shrugged.

Because where was the lie, though?

Beni sighed, giving his brother a cocked eyebrow before his gaze drifted across the room. “And hey, maybe you didn’t notice us come in because you were distracted by staring at someone else, yeah?”

He didn’t even need to look the same way Beni did to know who he was staring at. Vanna with their other brothers at the party.

“That her?”

“How do you know?” Bene asked. “She could just be some chick—”

“Dad said you were bringing her. You described her well enough.”

“And you did stare at her in a room full of a whole bunch of other people, Bene,” August added.

“You told her?”

Beni smirked. “I tell my wife everything.”

Of course, he did.

August winked.

“Okay, so yeah … that’s her,” he murmured.

“Well done—she’s hot.”

He gave August a look.

She shrugged, saying, “Beni can’t say it without losing his chance to get ass tonight, and all, so I figured I would do it for him.”

Bene barked out a laugh.

Yep.

Perfect for his brother.

“That’s enough of—”

Before his twin could finish his statement, applause lit up the room. Bene spun on his heels to watch his father, with help from the men from their famiglia who kept an eye on the house during parties like these, push a large something to the middle of the grand entry. Right under the tall chandelier hanging between the two staircases.