Page 106 of Diamond In The Rough

Bastard bounds through the door, his nose snuffling noisily, his backside wiggling as he trots closer to Christabelle and plants his chin on her lap. “Aw,” she scratches behind his ear and grins. “Hi, baby.”

“Arch and Minka are coming to New York?” I direct our conversation back to the point. “When? Why?”

“Next week sometime.” Felix circles to the sink and pumps soap into his palms. “And I don’t know why, but we don’t tell them no.”

“Why not?” Tiia’s voice is soft. Hesitant. Scared and yet sweet as Felix curiously glances across and studies her.

“What?”

“Well…” Her cheeks warm and I swear, her body grows heavier against mine. Like she can somehow fold closer and force me to hold more of her weight, though I was already carrying it all. “You’re the boss, right? Everyone knows Felix Malone is the current…” she clears her throat, “boss of the family.”

He slaps the tap off and snags a towel from the counter, then smug, he rests against the edge of the counter and grins. “Yes, Sweet Tiia. I’m the boss. Have been my whole life.”

I roll my eyes. Though the only person who sees them move is Felix himself.

“Right…” Tiia murmurs reluctantly. “But then you go ahead and say, ‘we don’t tell them no’, which kind of implies some sort of superiority.”

He chuckles, soft and almost silent in the back of his throat as Mary bustles into the room, swatting him away from her side of the kitchen. He tosses the towel down and wanders toward the fridge.

“We don’t tell them no, because we love them. We’ve lost half a lifetime already, and if we could ship them back here and put them up in Arch’s old bedroom safely, we would.” He grabs a bottle of white wine from the top rack, then a glass from the cupboard beside it. “But since they’re never moving to New York, then I guess we’ll settle for their visits. If they say they’re coming next week, then they’re coming next week.” He breaks the seal on the chilled bottle. “Whatever plans we had, we change.” He looks to Christabelle. “Cato’s coming too, right?”

“Yeah. I spoke to him earlier on the phone. He’s excited to come back and already fed up with college.”

Lix snorts and starts pouring. “He was sick of high school, too. And elementary school. He’s hated every classroom he’s ever been in, because he’d prefer to be on the basketball court, playing with his balls or messing around with the cheerleaders.” He stops pouring just before the lip of the glass, lifting the bottle as a smug grin curls his lips. “He’ll get over it and still find those straight A’s. Then we’ll celebrate him as the smartest motherfucker to come out of this godforsaken home.”

My phone rings in my pocket, vibrating and singing loud enough to capture everyone’s attention. So I lay one arm across Tiia’s lap to keep her from falling, then I angle my hips and fish for the device.

I rarely have my phone on loud. And never this loud. So as curiosity beats at the back of my mind, I free the phone from my pocket and frown when the screen announces unknown number.

“Who is it?” Lix reads my confusion just as easily as one would read a menu in a restaurant. “What’s wrong?”

“Dunno.” Swiping to answer, I bring the phone to my ear. But I don’t release Tiia. I refuse to let her go, even if she would prefer to be less conspicuous and sit on her own. “Yeah?”

“Micah Malone.” A woman’s voice comes through the line, surprising me when I was so sure it would be a man. “It’s Soph.”

“Oh, hey. Yeah.” I look at Felix. “It’s Ace.”

“Get some space, Malone.” Sophia’s voice is chillingly serious. Hard. “I know you’re there with an audience, so go find yourself another room. Take Lix… or don’t.” She crunches on something on her end of the line. Chips, maybe. “Figure it’s his business too. But that’s your decision to make.”

“What’s his business?” Frustrated, I push up to stand and carefully rotate to let Tiia take my seat. Her eyes swing to mine, wary. Confused. Her fingers come to my sleeve, gripping to keep me close. “I have to take this call.” I kiss the corner of her cheek and take her hand with mine. But I catch Lix’s eyes, too, and tip my head toward the doorway in summons. “And why are you calling me? You never do that.”

“Which kind of implies what I have to say is important, dipshit. I’m giving you thirty seconds to find that space, then I’m dumping my information in your lap and walking away. I have no horse in this race, so my affections for your sister-in-law are the only reason I don’t mind looking out for her family.”

“Minka?”

Like a cattle prod to the ass, that name on my lips has Lix moving quickly. “What about her?” He leaves Christabelle behind. And his wine. His shoulder touches mine before I even fully release Tiia’s hand. “Ace? What’s wrong with Minka?”

“Who is Ace?” Tiia whispers to Christabelle.

“Hurry up, Malone.” Another chip. Another crunch. “And go further than the pool patio.

I stop on a skid and look toward the door I intended to walk through. I mean, we all know Soph has eyes and ears inside our home. In our phones. Probably in our skin at this point. She’s a fucking spy who plays every side of every team, and yet, no one seems to mind keeping her around.

“Head upstairs or somethin’. You’re gonna want privacy.”

“For fuck’s sake.” I turn on my heels and make a beeline for the hall instead, hitting the stairs at a brisk pace. Side by side, Felix matches my steps and races me up four flights. If we’re going up any stairs, I figure we may as well go up them all and head to his office.

So when we finally pass his guards and cross the threshold to his room, I take the phone from my ear and hit speaker instead. “Alright. We’re ready.”

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