“We should go back up to the garden where we can be seen so you aren’t tempted to touch me.” I’d thought I’d made the comment so that I could feel like the change in our locale was my choice and not because it was what he wanted. But maybe I really just wanted to provoke him into saying something that proved he actually did still want to touch me.
“Ah, Blue Eyes,” he said with a wicked smile and an equally wicked gleam in his eye. “Lets you and I not pretend that an audience would ever be a deterrent for me touching you.”
Yeah, something like that.
“Fine.” With a sigh, I pushed away from the railing, feigning to concede reluctantly when, in truth, I would have done anything he wanted after a line like that. “At least button up your shirt.”
I crossed with him to the stone bench and let him sit first. Then I sat in a spot that was more than a respectable distance from him.
As if a few feet of space between us was any better a deterrent than an audience.
“Okay. Talk.” I crossed a leg over the other, trying to ignore the fact that he hadn’t done up a single damn one of his buttons.
He gave me a tight look that suggested he didn’t like being given orders. But then he began. “The week I was out here with Missy – the week she died – Michelis and a few of my cousins came out as well. He’d been pressuring me more and more, and I’d, foolishly, thought that we could all come down here, have a good time, and put an end to our disagreements. Instead, that was when he began talking about taking one of Missy’s friends.
“I didn’t tell Missy that,” he clarified. “She was too doped up, and I didn’t want to scare her. But I knew I had to deal with my uncle’s business once and for all. I told you before that you can’t leave the mob.”
“Right. And yet you left.” Did his olive skin shine like that in the sun naturally? Like it was slick with oil. Or sweat.
“I didn’t leave fairly, though.” He seemed simultaneously proud and ashamed of the fact. “A team from Interpol had contacted me before that, asking a bunch of questions about the Vilanakis family and what I knew about them. I’d blown them off. But I’d started collecting proof of illegal dealings. In case I needed it. That week here, I decided I needed it.”
“So you told him to leave or you’d go to Interpol?”
“Basically.”
A few more pieces clicked into place. “And that’s why he says you betrayed him.”
“I would presume so. Yes.”
I couldn’t imagine the amount of proof Reeve must have had to feel confident making such a threat. “Why isn’t he afraid that you’ll still turn him in now?”
“He’s found my weak spot.” When I raised a questioning brow, he explained. “I didn’t have people I cared about then like I do now.”
I took in a shaky breath. He means Amber.
But I wasn’t an idiot. I knew he also meant me.
“Anyway.” I forced myself to focus on something other than the possessive way he was staring at me. “How did Missy get involved?”
He smirked, suggesting he knew how he got to me, then launched back into his tale. “She overheard part of the conversation. She already knew that my family was mixed up in illegal activity, but she didn’t understand the extent. When she realized I’d kicked them out of my life, she thought it was an extreme tactic to cut off her drug supply. She was mad. She couldn’t believe I’d go to Interpol.”
“You fought. Chris heard part of it.”
“I’m sure everyone heard parts of it.” Hence why half the world was convinced he’d killed Missy even though he’d never had charges brought against him. “I was angry that she didn’t support me. Granted, I didn’t give her all the information. I didn’t feel I should have to.”
Apparently lack of disclosure had always been a problem in his relationships. But he was sharing with me now. And I knew in my gut these were not things he’d shared with anyone else. With Amber.
The realization made it hard not to love him a little bit more.
I rebelled against the urge. “And that’s how you ended up on the beach fucking two other girls while she was… up here.” It was snotty and unfair and cruel and the only defense I had against falling completely at his feet.
“Thank you for the recap.” His voice was even, but his eyes showed the sting. “In case I’d forgotten.”
“Right. Exactly. In case you’d forgotten.” I folded my arms across my chest wishing there were a more substantial barrier between us. Wishing there were no barriers between us at all.
He twisted toward me, and I could see him warring with himself. Shaking his head, he seemed to decide it wasn’t worth it. He stood, looking as though he would leave.
Good. I’d pissed him off. That was… good.
Abruptly, he turned back. “As if the way I treated Missy was any worse than the way Amber treated you.”
I was genuinely shocked. “It was a hell of a lot worse. Amber took care of me.”
“You think I didn’t take care of Missy?”
I didn’t think that at all. But I needed to lash out. I needed to be mean and hard. “You weren’t there for her when she needed you most.”
“Amber wasn’t there when you needed her most either.”
I shook my head realizing he still believed Amber had ended our friendship because I’d stolen her boyfriend. “That’s not true. I thought it was, but it wasn’t. She knew it was the only way I’d leave her behind and make a better life for myself.”