Star-Crossed Secrets

by Kali Brixton

  They both abandon the dirty looks they’re giving each other and stare at me. “You know about that?”

  “It was on the news while I was flipping through the channels,” I offer, vaguely remembering the snippet I saw last night before Luca came over and we… My face radiates with embarrassment and excitement. What a night it was. “You mean, you all were there?”

  Luca shakes his head. “Not for that.”

  “Just the FBI raid, which Landry and I missed because we had to get Aliana out of there before the shit hit the fan,” Lia adds.

  I notice Luca looks lost in the kitchen, so I take stock of what he has already set out—looks like omelet-making materials—and find the ingredients that seem to be MIA. After I set out what’s missing, I hand him the pan. He presses a kiss to my forehead before turning around to get everything rolling while I crack the eggs in the bowl sitting beside the carton on the counter. Lia watches the exchange, a smile creeping up on her face that’s free of makeup. She waggles her brows at me as she takes another bite of the apple she snagged.

  At least she seems happy about us. I wonder what my brother will think… His opinion, for whatever reason, is important to Luca, so I hope he’ll be supportive and not throw a fit about Luca breaking “bro code.”

  “Okay, so let’s address the car-bomb elephant in the room,” Lia teases while I try to figure out how a night of much-needed, long-awaited sex turned into a morning of raids and car bombs.

  If only it could be this way forever…

  Minus the bombs and raids, of course.

  Luca pours the egg mixture into the hot pan. “Everything that’s said in this room cannot leave it—at all. Seriously.”

  I glance at Lia, who seems to be aware of what he’s going to disclose. She clears her throat as Luca uses the wooden spatula to move around the omelet-in-the-making. “Can I tell Landry?”

  He shakes his head, with his well-defined chest and its tapestry of tales turned from us. “Wait until we hear from DA Redmond. I don’t want anyone breathing down our necks about it.”

  Lia nods solemnly as I level a stare at Luca, full of scrutiny. “DA Redmond?”

  Luca smirks as his muscles flex, really working the pan over. What I wouldn’t give to run my tongue over those muscles again? “I guess I’d better start from the beginning on that one…”

  As he makes us breakfast, I listen as he and Lia describe their dealings with the DA, the plan cooked up to use their dad and Gia, Gia’s big getaway, and the car bomb that took the lives of Antonio Cervelli and some of his guards. Good Lord, it sounds like a crazy telenovela or a Lifetime movie. “So, Gia and her…husband got away with their son and Antonio’s now a crispy fried fucker?”

  Lia bursts out laughing as Luca chuckles. “In a manner of speaking.”

  I know it’s bad juju to speak ill of the dead, but considering what that asshole did to so many people, especially his own daughter and grandchild, I may walk over his grave and spit on it while I’m at it.

  Luca finishes plating up three omelets as I grab some forks.

  “So, Ev…” Lia says, mischief in her blue eyes. “Did you make him get down on his knees and beg for forgiveness or just let his tongue do the talking?”

  “Lia!” My face blooms bright red as Luca drops the pan on the stove. What happened to my once-shy friend who never said a curse word? Oh, that’s right. She’s been getting a good dicking on the regular.

  “Okay. Someone’s officially worn out their welcome,” Luca proclaims as he gathers Lia and ushers her to the door.

  “Wait! What about my omelet?” To her credit, if this omelet tastes anywhere as good as it smells, she’s gonna miss out.

  “Omelets are for sisters who mind their own business.”

  “I need details!” she calls over his shoulder. “Well, not a lot of details, but some details… Or maybe just a two-sentence summary without mention of the little Italian Tic-Tac my brother keeps in his britches.”

  Luca motions to the door as Lia drags her feet, staring longingly at the warm, fluffy omelets. “Go pester your husband.”

  “I do not pester my husband. I bring nothing but sunshine into his life.” I laugh as she sticks her tongue out at Luca, her head the only thing visible in the doorway now. “Have fun, love birds. I’ll call you in five minutes,” she grins at me with a wink as she disappears.

  “She’ll call you,” Luca throws out as the door slams, Lia’s loud cackle heard retreating down the hallway. He shakes his head, then stops as his eyes focus on me. Both times I’ve worn an article of clothing of his ushered in bad luck. Hopefully, the third time’s the charm.

  His steps are purposeful as he closes in on me, spinning me around on the stool to face him. “Hi there.” Sex hair, handsome face, full dimples. This man’s a work of art.

  “Hi.” As close as he is to me, I hope I got all the drool marks off of my face before I came in here. That would be embarrassing.

  He presses a kiss on the tip of my nose, tingles immediately cascading through my body. “I forgot to tell you last night. Papi Dean said not to forgive me too quickly.”

  I narrow my eyes playfully. “Now you tell me.”

  He rests his palms on my thighs, his eyes full of sincerity. “That was you allowing me to show you my love. I need to earn your trust back and your forgiveness because you deserve that. I don’t care how hard it is or how long it takes me, I’m ready for the challenge.”

  Oh. This is...wow.

  “I’m all in, Evergreen.” His lips press to mine briefly before he grabs two of the plates and sits them in front of me, spinning me back around toward them. “Eat up.”

  The goosebumps on my bare legs and arms give away what his presence does to me, but my heart melting is another story. I take a few bites before I notice he’s not eating. Instead, strong arms wrap themselves around my waist as he pulls my mess of hair to the side, his warm mouth finding my neck. “What are you doing?”

  “Starting on my second breakfast.”

  His mouth and hands make it hard to concentrate. “Don’t you, um...want to eat this lovely meal...you slaved over first?” I gulp as my pulse races.

  “Not gonna lie, Ev. I’m hungry for something else right now.” His fingers brush across my stomach. As one hand kneads my breast, the other makes its way past the bottom hem of his shirt where I’m covered only by a set of red lace panties. The pads of his fingers gently trail over my lips through the dampening fabric while the other teases my nipples to hardened peaks. His tongue traces the bottom edge of my earlobe. “You look fucking incredible in my shirt.”

  I reach behind me and wrap my hand around the hard piece of steel poking into my back. “I’m a pretty big fan of this Italian Tic-Tac myself.”

  His teeth scrape against my earlobe as he plunges his hand into my underwear, earning a squeal from me. “I’ll show you a Tic-Tac…”

  The fork clatters to the countertop and I’m scooped up into his arms, his feet moving swiftly in the direction of my bedroom. With a bounce, I’m back on the bed as Luca strips his boxer briefs down his muscular legs.

  The fabric barely gets down past his thighs before a knock on the door causes a deep grumble of frustration to leave him. As he yanks them back up, my phone vibrates on the nightstand.

  Only Lia. “I think someone’s in prank mode this morning,” I muse, showing him my phone screen, her name flashing across it.

  “I’m going to tell her you’re busy...and will be for the next month. Or a hundred,” he grouses. “You can tell her to cut it out, then put her on silent.”

  He pads through my apartment while I hit the green button, laughing. “You couldn’t wait the whole—”

  “Don’t open the door!” she whisper-yells.

  My brow furrows. “What?” I hear the front door swing open.

  “Don’t o—”

  A loud voice bellows, “What the fuck?!” before the sound of flesh meeting flesh filters through my door.

  The phone
drops onto the bed as I run into the living area and see chaos breaking loose. Oh shit. Kieran’s fist collides with Luca’s nose, causing him to stumble back against a chair. Lia rushes into the apartment, panic etched into her face as she watches my brother put Luca in a headlock.

  I run across the open space and tug at his arm as she grabs the other side. Jesus, my brother’s been working out. “Kieran, get off him!” I yell as Luca’s face turns from a light shade of red to a darker one. We yank until we realize that red is now becoming violet, and I see a window of opportunity. “Don’t make me do it.”

  Luca’s nose continues to pour blood as he taps his best friend’s tightly banded arm around his neck, but Kieran never lets up.

  Fine, dumbass. You asked for it. My knife-hand connects with his carotid artery, making him flop backward and loosen his grip on Luca.

  Lia gasps, “Oh my God, Ev!” as Luca sinks to the floor, choking from the lack of oxygen and the blood that’s most likely trickling down his throat. “Is he okay?” she asks loudly while looking at my brother, who’s currently unconscious on the floor.

  That’s what you get for not listening, idiot. I grab a kitchen towel and help Luca get situated. “He’ll be fine. Can you help me take him to the bathroom and get him cleaned up?”

  She nods as we guide Luca, who’s probably seeing stars still, to my ensuite. As Lia tries to stem the blood flow from Luca’s bleeding—and hopefully not broken—nose, I return to the living room and stand over Kieran, waiting for him to come back around. Jackass. I never use a pressure point attack unless absolutely necessary. Considering Luca was turning purple, I believe that more than justified it.

  After a few moments, he finally comes to, a dazed look on his stupid face that I’d like to punch a few times. “What the hell is wrong with you?” I extend my hand, only to have it swatted away.

  “Why the fuck is my best friend standing in your kitchen in his boxers?”

  Don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to, brother. “The keyword there is my kitchen. And what the hell are you doing here? I thought you were still on assignment.”

  He eases up onto his feet, a pissed-off expression firmly in place. “We just wrapped things up. That fuckface in there told me he had canceled the wedding, so I came to talk to you about Dad.” He scoffs, “And what do I walk in to see? You, pretty much naked, with a man who’s supposed to be somewhere else right now, with someone else.” His dark head of hair shakes back and forth. “I thought you were better than this, Ev.”

  My eyes narrow at his words and tone. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means you’re fucking around with a taken man.”

  “He’s not a taken man.” Not anymore.

  He sneers, “Well, I’m glad your reputation is worth a meaningless hop in the sack with that dickhead.”

  I can feel my blood pressure going through the roof. “You don’t know anything. I’ve loved him for a long time, asshole. Even before we ever slept together.”

  His fingers pinch between his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but we were seeing each other for a while before he left for Italy.”

  He’s quiet for a second. Then, two. Then, another. “So, you’re okay with screwing a guy when he just broke off his engagement and is trying to fix things with his old college flame? The same person he was fucking while he was banging you, his former best friend’s little sister?”

  A bowling ball of worry sits in the pit of my stomach as uncertainty creeps in. “Luca wouldn’t have slept with Gia back then.” My God, she was only, what, fourteen?

  He takes his phone from his back pocket and starts hitting buttons. “I’m not talking about Gia.” His last few texts to Luca are on display, with a nickname I’ve never heard before popping out at me.

  Ignoring the rush of pain in my heart that Luca appears to have lied to me last night, I flick my gaze back up to Kieran. “Who’s Mystery Girl?”

  “Beats the fuck out of me. I thought he might spill the beans this time.” Angrily, he jams the phone back in his pocket and runs his hands over his head, dropping them dramatically. “You know, I don’t get you… You give me absolute shit for years about how I live my life when every person I’ve ever been with knows where they stand. At least I’m honest. I’m not going around stealing what isn’t mine, unlike some other people.” The pointed look he gives and his accusation doesn’t anger me—it hurts. “So, which of my other friends have you also fucked around with, Ev?”

  The unapologetic manwhore is judging me? Un-fucking-believable. “I’ve slept with one man, Kieran.” I hold up a finger. “One! In my entire life. Who, by the way, I thought was single. And you have the fucking audacity to judge me?”

  His eyes hold no sympathy in them as he walks closer, coming to a stop just a couple of steps away. “I’m not the one whoring my self-righteous ass out to someone who just sees me as a fuckbuddy.”

  Pain explodes in my fist as it connects with his eye socket. He curses as he grips his eye, a pathetic whine escaping his mouth. My hand shakes, the pain raging in it nothing like the kind piercing my heart. “So, let me get this straight… You think so little of me, you believe I would sleep with a man who’s already taken?”

  He laughs sardonically, wincing at the pain. “I guess Perfect Everleigh isn’t so perfect after all.” His scrutinizing stare dismisses me as he says, “Like father, like daughter.”

  The fire in my veins gives way to the ice just below the surface. He doesn’t deserve my fury—he deserves the cold. I walk to the front door and hold it open. “Leave.”

  He stands and gawks at me for a moment, then walks past me without a word, never stopping to even glance back.

  I slam the door shut and bolt it in place, leaning the back of my head against the door. Fuck him. Kieran and I have given each other a ton of shit before, but he’s never spoken like that to me before. And this Mystery Girl that Luca was screwing behind my back in college? Who he, according to those texts, reconnected with last night before he came here?

  Isn’t that just the icing on this clusterfuck of a cake?

  “Do you have any ice?” Lia asks as she comes into the living room, her look sympathetic and her hands covered in blood. “I didn’t want to disturb y’all.” She bites her lip. “I tried to stall him at the elevator.”

  “Left side of the freezer,” I give her as I stride into the bathroom. Luca sits on the toilet lid, his head held back and the kitchen towel now soaked in crimson.

  “Lia doesn’t think it’s broken,” he comments in a nasal voice.

  I stare at him for a minute, deciding if I should rip off the bandage. “I guess you heard?”

  “I couldn’t with Lia lecturing on what idiots he and I both are,” he chuckles as he leans his head back. “I suppose he hates me now.”

  Not as much as I do. “Who’s Mystery Girl?”

  He stills at my question. “How do you know about that?”

  “My asshole of a brother.” I lean against the sink, facing him. “So, who’s the girl you were fucking behind my back?”

  He brings the towel down and looks at me, red smears across his face. “What are you talking about?”

  I beat my fist on my sink’s countertop, causing my toothbrush holder to tip over and spew my toothbrush and the kid-sized one I keep for Rory into the trash. “Stop answering my questions with more questions!”

  Lia comes into the bathroom with a bag full of ice, halting when she enters the thick tension filling the space. “What’s going on?”

  “Tell her, Luca.” Anger radiates out as I grit my teeth. “Tell her all the pretty little lies you told me.”

  Lia smacks him on the shoulder. “Haven’t you gotten your ass beaten enough today?”

  He blows out an exasperated breath. “I didn’t lie...I just didn’t explain.”

  “Well, the fact that you still haven’t answered any of those questions tells me it’s somet
hing I don’t want nor need to hear, so you can get your shit and leave.” I push off the counter to storm out until a warm hand grips my wrist.

  “Wait. Can you grab my phone, please? There’s something I need to show you.”

  I leave Lia, who’s still giving her brother the death stare, and him to go search for his phone, returning a few moments later with it in hand.

  “Type in 1-0-3-0.”

  His passcode is my birthday? Shaking off that misleading pile of sentimental bullshit, I do as he says.

  “Now, go to my texts and look for Mystery Girl.”

  I should tell him to go to Hell and take her with him, but I go to Contacts instead and search up whoever this chick is. Finding her name, I turn it around so he can see I’m there.

  “Read ‘em.”

  Exhaling deeply, I scroll my thumb down through the texts, catching bits and pieces of familiar conversations. Extremely familiar conversations. What the…? “Why are our texts under that title?” I keep flipping through message after message, trying to confirm his version of the story.

  Finally, a loud sigh fills the air. “Call her.”

  “I’m not calling her,” I say with an air of defiance.

  Lia stares at her brother for a long moment. “Call her, Ev.”

  Thanks for taking his side, traitor. I hit the phone icon, only to hear “Unchained Melody” playing in my bedroom. My favorite Righteous Brothers song and the ringtone I used for him when we were together. Walking to my nightstand, I pick up my phone and see Luca’s name flashing on the screen. I carry them back into the bathroom with me and hold them both up.

  Lia looks at her brother with an almost proud look on her face as he grins around his hand still holding his nose. “You are Mystery Girl, Ev.”

  My breath catches. “But why would you…?”

  “Kieran caught onto the fact that I was seeing someone, so until I could sort things out with Dad, I changed your name to that to keep him from getting too nosy and fucking up things.”

  So, he wasn’t sleeping around on me? A wave of relief douses the feelings of betrayal that Kieran ushered in—at least from the man standing before me.