Cleo barks, twisting her head to the side to bat her eyelashes at Antony as she bounces into a series of back handsprings, flashing her black lace underwear. It’s gross.
Antony’s phone beeps. He turns away to read the message. Cleo finishes showing off, frowning when she notices Antony isn’t even looking. When Antony turns back, the vein in his neck swells and I know I’m in trouble.
“Great work, Ms. St. James. If you can’t find a rich sugar daddy, you may have a future in the sports industry yet.” Antony nods to the gym door. “Ms. Malloy, can I see you outside for a second?”
Cleo’s jealous gaze burns into my back as I follow Antony into the corridor. He slams the gym door and pulls me into a narrow closet that serves as Mrs. Anderson’s office. I sit gingerly on the corner of his desk as he slams the door so hard the wood cracks.
“Antony, what the hell—”
“You didn’t tell me your fucking boyfriend was connected to the Lucian family,” Antony hisses. He slams the trash can against the floor with such force he dents it.
I shake my head. “That’s insane. We dealt with Senator Marlowe. No way would he risk it getting out that he’s working with one of the gangs—”
“Not him. I’m talking about Captain America. I have Joey watching his house. He says Nero pulled up at his place last night and he hasn’t left.”
Nero.
No no no no.
Nero fucking Lucian – Imperator of the Lucian family. Nero is a cold, calculating motherfucker with a vacuum-cleaner salesman smile. I don’t want him anywhere near Eli.
“I swear I didn’t know about this.” I reach for his phone. “I trust Joey sent pictures.”
Antony grunts. I scroll through his messages until I come to the series of images from Joey – it’s Nero all right, entering the house, being greeted at the door by Eli’s mother – who wears a figure-hugging fishtail dress with silver threads shot through the fabric.
But Eli’s family has a housekeeper. Shouldn’t she be answering the door?
I keep scrolling. There’s Nero kissing her hand, and her beckoning him inside with her index finger. Joey has pictures of Eli arriving home timestamped an hour later. There’s a picture through the window of their dining room of the three of them eating dinner together, and Nero’s car parked in their driveway overnight.
I’m not the only one with secrets.
“It looks like he’s Eli’s mother’s boy toy,” I say with more confidence than I feel. The three of them sitting around the table, Eli’s mother reaching across to her son. Eli’s back is to the camera, so I can’t see his face, but it looks like the perfect happy family portrait. “Eli might not know—”
“I don’t care. You’ve got to get this under control.” Antony snatches the phone from my fingers. “If your boyfriend tells the Lucian family who you really are, you know what this could mean—”
“He wouldn’t do that.” But honestly, I have no idea what Eli will do. I betrayed him and he’s hurting. Just because he punched Alec doesn’t mean he’s forgiven me.
Another thought occurs to me – that this might not be a coincidence. But I don’t know what that means exactly. And I won’t know until I can find out from Eli, who isn’t currently talking to me.
“You need to make sure he keeps his mouth shut,” Antony says. “If you don’t, I will. And my solution will be permanent.”
19
Claudia
Talking to Eli proves to be more difficult than I think. The next day, I try to catch him as he heads out to track practice, but he’s already on the field when I arrive, doing warm-ups in his tiny shorts and talking to his coach. I head to our last cheerleading practice before the big game, where I drown in Antony’s drool as he leads a hellish warm-up drill where skirt hems fly in all directions. He shoved Cleo aside and tries to teach us some boxing moves to inject a little attitude into our carefully choreographed routines. It’s hilarious watching Cleo try to keep her squad together without pissing off her new favorite teacher.
I race from practice without changing to try to make it to the track before Eli finishes. I’m too late. The field’s empty. Noah emerges from the changing rooms, his dark hair wet from the shower, sticking to his forehead in an adorable way.
“I need to speak to Eli.”
“He’s already gone.” Noah’s arm goes around my middle, and he pulls me