Page 98 of Tinsel in Telluride

“How. Long. Luca.” His words are staccato, taking over the knife and plunging where Leigh’s rejection left off.

“She’s been calling for the last month or so, but I didn’t answer until tonight.”

“Why the fuck would you do that?” he thunders, slamming his fist into the water, causing Bash and Holt to wince. “That woman has never done anything without an agenda.”

“Gianna’s pregnant.”

“I don’t give a flying fuck if she’s the next Octomom. She chose to sit by and watch our parents silently ostracize us andpicked up the slack when we wouldn’t, so she could be the golden child.”

“I’m sorry,” I wince.

“I—” He runs his hand through his hair, slicking it back. “Fuck, I know you are. And I know you didn’t do any of this because you wanted to hurt me. But you did. You know what they did to me. To us. And still you can’t help yourself when they dangle redemption in front of you.”

“I told her no.” And for the first time in a long time, it didn’t hurt. Of course, that’s when I thought my own dreams were still on the table.

Now I’m floating, searching for solid ground.

“This time.” Enzo’s jaw ticks. “You told her no this time. But what about next time? What about when you have a family of your own and they want to be a part of their grandchild’s life?”

“It won’t happen,” I reassure him.

I’d need a family first. But that’s not the point. He’s right. Even though my track record has shown my loyalty, at the first opportunity, I broke.

“Even if it means your children will never know their grandparents?”

“We didn’t know ours.”

“And now you chase family like it's a goddamn sport.”

“That’s not what I’m doing.”

“You sure about that?” Enzo presses. “Should I go ask Leigh?”

“Low fucking blow.”

“He’s right.” Bash finally decides to jump into the fight, only I’m not sure whose side he’s on until he continues. “Are you sure you aren’t just projecting the way you cling to family onto Leigh?”

“No.” My jaw clenches right alongside my fists. I inhale a steadying breath, so I don’t give into the need to connect saidfists with my best friend’s jaw. “If this was just an idea, I could've found someone years ago. Trust me, plenty of women have tried. I didn’t want it then, and I don’t want it with anyone else now. Shit, with Leigh is complicated, and usually I steer clear of that, but with her? I want it all. The white picket fence, or in this case maybe the upper east side apartment, and every messy moment it’s going to take to get there.”

Enzo sucks in a sharp breath. “You’re going to move to New York?”

Our eyes connect. The same set of eyes on two different souls, and I know he feels my words when I say them. “I love her.”

“Does she know this?” Holt asks.

“I mean,” I scrub my hand down my face, recalling the conversation. “I just let our mother know I was going to marry her, so I think she knows.”

My twin sighs but doesn’t look away. “No, she knows you're a psycho stalker who might be the father of her child and wants to trap her in a marriage she didn’t ask for. Do you see the problem here?”

Disappointment rocks my soul, and I look away first. “Fuck.”

“You did it again.” Bash huffs with a laugh.

“I did.”

If this was anyone else other than my best friends, I might deny it, but they know me inside and out. Once again, I got ahead of myself. And as it does every time I do so with Leigh, it bit me in the ass.

“Did you give her the results?” Enzo whispers, but it’s not soft enough that Bash and Holt don’t hear.

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