Giorgio (Vigilance #1) - Silvia Violet Page 0,60
a lot of art supplies.”
Devil smirked as he turned to leave again. Why the fuck was I defending Lane’s ridiculous number of bags—many of which were filled with clothes—when I’d teased him about it.
Because you can laugh at him, but no one else can.
When Devil returned with a second load, I grabbed the easel from him and motioned for him to follow me to Lane’s studio.
I returned the easel to its proper place, and Devil set down the boxes of supplies Lane had packed. “You failed to mention your client is hot as fuck.”
Was he trying to start a fucking fight? “Has your husband told you what he learned today?”
“Wow. You’re really bitchy tonight, aren’t you?”
I scowled at him. “Have you forgotten how easily I could kill you?”
“Have you forgotten my family would make sure you suffered for weeks before they ended you?”
“I’d like to see them try.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Would you now?”
“Damn it! Can’t we just talk through this?”
Devil’s expression softened. “Do you need me to stay tonight?”
If he did, I’d curl up around Lane and hold him, but I knew Joe’d had a long day. I could handle it. “No. Go home to Joe. I’ll stay up.”
He shook his head. “You’re tired as fuck.”
“I’ve stayed awake for days when I was worse off than this.”
“But you don’t have to. I’ve got your back. It’s okay to ask someone else for help.”
“Look, I know you’re used to relying on your family, but—”
“Giorgio, you’re like family now too.”
I stared at him, unable to think of what to say since I knew how much his family meant to him.
“You helped save Joe. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a debt I’ll never fully repay. If you need me to help you save the man you…”
He paused like he expected me to fill in the blank. “Lane is my client, and I…care about him, but—”
“I’m not fucking blind. I saw the way you looked at him. I’m going to stay tonight, and if you need us, the rest of my family will help too.”
“I wasn’t looking—”
“You were, and he looks at you the same way. Don’t bullshit me.”
“Fuck. You were trying to push me into saying something by flirting with him, weren’t you?”
Devil grinned. “Maybe.”
“Just because you and Joe are happy together doesn’t mean everybody needs to couple up.”
“No, it doesn’t. But I’m going to tell you what my cousin told me when I refused to tell Joe how I felt. Stop being afraid of what you feel and go after him. You won’t be happy unless you do.”
“I can’t.”
Devil gave me an assessing look. “I didn’t take you for a coward.”
Anger rush through me. I balled my fists and rose, but Devil held up his hands in surrender.
“Sit your ass down. If you don’t want to talk about it anymore, fine. But if you do, I’m here, and I’m going to stay here tonight so you can get some rest. If it happens you do that in Lane’s room then…”
“It’s the only bedroom.”
“How convenient.”
“I need to keep an eye on him.” Fuck, that sounded way too defensive.
“I told you I would stay awake and do that.”
“Give me a break, Devil.”
He grinned.
“I’m not afraid of saying it.” I fucking was, but I wasn’t going to admit it. “Lane’s a client, and X has a strict rule about messing around with clients.”
“So you’re telling me you haven’t—”
“It’s none of your fucking business what I’ve done with him.”
Devil nodded. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“If X finds out, he’ll kill me.”
“Lane won’t be a client forever. You’re going to get this fucking bastard, then the job will be done, and you’ll be free to—”
“No, I won’t.”
“Why not?”
Wasn’t it obvious? “Lane doesn’t need somebody like me.”
“And Joe needed me?”
I huffed. “Apparently he did.”
“And you think that boy doesn’t need you?”
“He needs me to save his life. After that…”
I couldn’t tell him about X, but maybe I finally needed to talk about Thomas. “Imagine how you would have felt if you hadn’t been able to save Joe.”
The color drained from his face. “I…”
“Fuck, that was… I’m sorry, but I need you to understand why I can’t do this.”
“You lost someone.”
I nodded. A few moments passed before I could speak past the lump in my throat.
“You know I was special forces.”
“Right.”
“I got out because my last mission was fucked all to hell. I can’t talk about most of it, but there was a guy in my squad, Thomas. We started fooling around. After a while, things