Page 2 of Brandishing Betrayals

I was just about to get up and tell Luke it was time to go home, when a body fell heavily onto the chaise lounge beside me.

I looked over at the tall blond-haired Adonis, Nico Gage sat tall in all his Italian glory. Deeply tanned and tatted skin, bright blond hair that hung down around his broad-shoulders and the brightest blue eyes I’d ever seen. Thick muscles strained beneatha gray t-shirt and his black leather biker cut. The horned devil on the patch on his shoulder stared me in the face.

I groaned internally, knowing my chance of escape was likely thwarted. Nico would want to sit and talk. It was what he liked to do. Talk.

I’d purposely been avoiding him for the last six months, knowing there nothing I could say. I couldn’t tell him the truth. I had to keep him and Marcos and Jason at a distance. It was the only way.

“Well hello there, Pretty Dreamer,” Nico said as I met his gaze. “I think you’ve been avoiding me.”

I swallowed thickly. I looked down at my hands before I forced myself not to fidget under his intense scrutiny. I turned to face the pool, hoping to appear calm and cool, bored even.

I needed to push him away, and keep him away.

“Not everything is about you, Nico.” I shrugged and turned back to him.

His bright blue eyes narrowed slightly, though an amused smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. He didn’t buy my act for one minute.

Fuck.

Jason once might have been good at reading me, but Nico was better. Nico knew my soul on a whole other level. He would be the one I’d need to be careful around. He wouldn’t give up as easily as Marcos and Jason.

Nico knew me so deeply, I often wondered if we hadn’t been made of the same soul at one point, and had split apart some eons ago. He was my heart and I was his.

Or we had been, at one point.

He chuckled gruffly. “Oh, Little Dreamer,” he shook his head. “Let’s not lie.”

I glared at him. “Let’s not act like you know me, Nico. It’s been ten years. You don’t know me.” I rolled my eyes and looked away from him.

He chuckled again and leaned toward me. “That’s where you’re wrong, Little Dreamer.” His voice was low and close to my ear.

I turned my head to find him only inches away from my face. I gasped softly.

He smirked at my reaction. “I can see how uncomfortable you are here. This isn’t your scene anymore.” He tilted his head toward the yard full of people.

I huffed a laugh. “It was never my scene.”

He smiled widely, showing off bright white teeth. “Another lie,” he shook his head. “You used to own these parties.”

He was right, I had owned these parties. People and parties and socializing had been my thing back in the day. I grew up with half of them in Creekton and the other half weren’t any different than those I’d grown up with. They’d all come from the same rough and tumble small town.

“I may have owned those parties,” I said. “But I didn’t like them and I’m done doing things I don’t like to do. I’m not that same girl anymore,” I admitted, looking away from him.

I saw him frown out of the corner of my eye.

“No,” he agreed softly. “I don’t think you are.”

I turned back to him and gave him a tight smile. “Do you think you could take me home? I’ll leave my car for Marcos to drive Luke home later.”

Nico was slow to agree. He looked me over slowly, like he was memorizing my face, or trying to see into my soul. It was unsettling and sent a shiver down my spine. I didn’t want him looking at me too closely. He was likely to find something I didn’t want him to see.

“Sure, Little Dreamer,” he agreed. He nodded once at me, before he slowly got to his feet. “Let me tell Marcos the plan and we’ll head out.”

I nodded and dug out my keys. I handed them to Nico and stood up. “I’m going to say goodbye to Lucas.”

I walked away before he could say anything more.

Luke was climbing out of the pool when I walked over. “Hey mom! Did you see that?” He grinned brightly at me, all the happiness in the world shinning on his face.

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