“I miss you too.” Guilt glittered in her eyes and I realized what a bitch I was being.
Ari deserved this. She deserved the fairytale love story and the happily ever after. She deserved nothing but good things.
“I’m so happy for you.” I hugged her tight, pulling her out of Nicco’s iron clad hold.
“Luis is here,” he said.
“There you are.” Lucii’s voice pierced the air. If I was drunk, she was toasted. But we’d had fun. Luca, Nate, and Isaac had stuck around, and we’d all spent the night dancing and drinking and dancing some more. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had so much fun. Luca kept his distance, but I was enjoying myself too much to worry.
“We’re getting pizza and heading back to my dorm… unless—”
“Afterparty at Luc’s,” Nate suggested.
“I… I mean I guess we can all go back to mine.” His eyes landed on mine, but everything was a little blurry.
“Sounds like fun, but I’ll have to bail,” Isaac said. “Maybe next time.” His eyes lingered on me for a second.
“Your loss, Isaac boy.” Nate clapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s roll. Nora, you might as well ride with us.”
I glanced between Lucii and Ari. My best friend looked concerned, but she had nothing to worry about. I was fine. Better than fine. I was riding a wave of cocktail-induced bliss.
“I’ll get a ride with these guys. You two go.” I waved them off.
Matteo had left some time ago, something about his sister needing him at home. Ari had insisted on staying, so, of course, Nicco had stayed too.
Luis came around to open the door.
“Go,” I said, when Ari hesitated.
“Bambolina, we should—”
“Yes, okay. Be safe,” she said, leaning in to press a soft kiss to my cheek. “I’ll call you tomorrow. And Nora,” she grabbed my hand as I went to move away, “don’t do anything you might regret.”
Her words rattled inside my skull as I watched Nicco usher her into the car and climb in after her.
“Nora,” Lucii’s voice startled me and I spun around to greet my new friends. “Are we doing this or what?”
My eyes flicked to Luca and he gave me a timid smile. “We could always go to mine,” I said.
“No.” His gaze darkened. “I owe you.”
Chapter 11
Enzo
I stared at Matteo’s name flashing on the screen. I’d silenced my cell phone a long time ago, sick of his incessant updates. He was at some bar with Nicco and Ari… and Nora. I knew he was trying to get a rise out of me.
“Here you go, gentlemen.” A server slid a tray of drinks onto the table. “If you need anything else, just let me know.” Her smoky eyes lingered on me, but I stared right through her. The persistent vibration of my cell was like an annoying itch I couldn’t scratch.
Or an itch I knew I shouldn’t scratch.
“You gonna get that?” Gino asked, motioning to my hand covering my cell.
I didn’t want to. I needed to keep my distance. It was better… for everyone. Especially her.
It started ringing again and Gino chuckled. “If you don’t get that, I will. And nobody will like how that ends.”
“Yeah, yeah, keep your hair on, old man.” I clambered from the booth and headed toward the emergency exit, hitting answer as I shouldered the door. “What?” I barked.
“Nice to hear your voice too,” Matteo teased.
“What the fuck do you want?”
“Just to shoot the shit and see how my favorite cousin is doing. Since you’ve clearly forgotten how to use your cell.”
“I texted.”
“And I felt your reluctance in every word.”
“Matt…”
“Yeah, yeah. I won’t keep you. I just thought you’d like to know I left Nora at the bar… with Luca.”
“Luca? Who the fuck is Luca?” My spine straightened.
“Luca is the guy who’s going to swoop in and make Nora his unless you pull your head out your ass and do something about it.”
“Matt, I’ve told you already—”
“You don’t want her. Yeah, yeah, I got the memo when you fucked off to Providence. But you’re making a mistake, cous. She cares about you, she cares… you just have to let her—”
“I’m not doing this with you. She’s better off forgetting all about me.” The words got stuck in my throat. “This Luca? He a good guy?” Because he already sounded like a fucking moron.
“Seems genuine. His rental application didn’t flag anything.”
“He lives in La Stella?”
“Yep, right across her hall.”
Fuck.
“You saw his file?” I tried to keep my voice even.