Page 76 of Love or Leave

Finally, Cara stepped forward and moved her hands to her hips. "What are you two doing here? And why isn't your car parked out front?"

The three of them turned to Cara in unison. Her voice had come out accusatory. Antonio suppressed a smile.

"The faucet wasn't— We needed a wrench from Ethan's—"

Adam stopped his explanation with a huff, as if he realized how ridiculous it was thathewas answeringherquestions. Clearly, he believed he should do the interrogating here.

"Are you two fu—"

"Don't say it," Ethan said, cutting him off. "This isn't our business."

Adam spun on him. "What?"

"I agree with Ethan," Cara said.

Adam turned and pointed a finger at her. "I'll get to you in a minute," he said, then spun back to Ethan. An entire silent conversation seemed to pass between the two friends over a three-second period, which gave Antonio a second to gather his thoughts.

Cara agreed with Ethan? That it wasn't their business? Did that mean she didn't want to tell everyone about them?

He wanted to be out in the open with Cara, not telling their friends to mind their own business. God, he hoped she wanted the same.

"Is Max coming?" Antonio asked, trying to figure out if he and Cara had enough time to talk things through. He'd prefer to know what he was going to tell Max before telling him about their secret. And for that, he had to know where Cara stood.

Adam and Ethan both turned toward him. Ethan winced, and Adam freaked out.

"Are you serious right now?" Adam asked, his eyes wild. "You better not think that whatever the hell this is," he waved between Antonio and Cara for dramatic effect, "will continue."

Ethan leaned toward him. "Max is at the pub."

Antonio exhaled in relief. That would give him some breathing room.

"Weare going to decide if this will continue," Cara said, her voice laced with rage. "You two will stay out of it."

"Agreed," Ethan said, turning. He grabbed Adam's arm, but Adam shook him off.

"There is no way you can keep this from Max," Adam said, before turning to Ethan. "When he finds out we knew and didn't tell him, he'll kill us, too."

Ethan considered this for a moment, then winced.

"Yeah," Adam said, nodding with wild eyes. “They're going to take us down with them."

"You're being ridiculous," Cara said.

"Am I?" Adam yelled. "Am I?" he repeated, louder and with wider eyes. "You think Max is going to be okay with his friend using his little sister?"

Antonio blanched at the word “using,” and was about to shut that down, but when he glanced at Cara, she'd dropped her shoulders.

Antonio turned toward her, ignoring his friends. "That's not what's going on here," he said.

She looked up at him, searching his eyes.

"I'm not using you, Cara."

God, he hoped she believed him.

"Oh, really?" Adam interrupted.

Antonio's eyes closed, and he sucked in a breath to calm himself down. But before he could speak, Adam continued.

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