Page 95 of Hexed
I don’t want them to anyway.
Still, them at leasttryingto pretend they care would be nice.
I sit down again and lean back in the booth, kicking my legs up on the seat in front of me like I can’t be bothered to pay any more attention to them. It’s an obvious snub, one I hope Enzo feels personally.
“Venesa.” A smooth voice coasts over my skin like melted butter, and then a shadow covers my frame, Enzo’s stupid face blocking the sun. “Happy birthday.”
I swallow thickly and close my eyes, forcing out a stiff nod. “Is it?”
“Bas, my office,” Uncle T snaps.
I wait for him to ask me to come along, but for every second of silence, I grow more disappointed. As usual lately, I’m left out here while Uncle T runs his business and tells me nothing.
My chest aches.Is it me who’s changing?
I brush off the feeling. It’s just because Aria’s back in town, and she brought her douchebag fiancé, who keeps making mefeelthings. Once they’re gone, things will go back to normal.
Sighing, I squeeze my eyes tighter, trying to block out the noise of Aria and Enzo talking. If I can’t escape, then I might as well continue to pretend I’m oblivious to my surroundings.
Dainty footsteps get farther away, and the sliding door that leads to the living area inside opens and shuts. But even if I couldn’t tell from the sound alone, I’d know it wasn’t Enzo who left because I canfeelhis stare, the same way I always can.
There’s a shift of weight on the cushions near me, jostling my legs, and then: “Hi.”
I pop open one eye and look at Enzo, ignoring the way my stomach flips. I don’t reply.
“How are you?” he tries again.
I adopt a lazy grin. “Swell. You?”
“Swell.”
I bob my head a few times and then reach into the bag on the table next to me before grabbing my sunglasses and slipping them on so he can’t see my eyes.
He throws his arm across the back of the booth and looks past me, toward the wall of sliding glass doors that separate both levels of the outside decks and the inside of the yacht. “Nice day.”
“Mmm,” I murmur, not really wanting to have a conversation.
“No business today?” he presses. “I thought for sure you’d be on the heels of your uncle and Bas.”
I stiffen my jaw and tilt my head back against the cushion, ignoring the sting caused by thinking about them in there without me. “Well, darlin’, you thought wrong.”
He leans in, and the back of his hand barely brushes against the outside of my calf. I bite the inside of my cheek so hard, I can taste blood. “You doing okay today?”
Something heavy pummels me in the center of my chest, both because he’s theonlyperson to actually care and because he’s acknowledging that today might be hard for me.
How dare he?
I drag my sunglasses down the bridge of my nose, just enough to glance at him over the top. “We’re not doing this.”
“Doing what?” He removes the slight touch and sits back.
“This.” I wave between us. “This whole, ‘I know more about you than anyone here and I care, so let’s have a heart-to-heart’ thing.”
His brows draw down, confusion splashing across his features.
Anger swirls like a sea storm through my body. If he doesn’t realize what he’s done, then I won’t be the one to explain it to him.
The sliding door opens, and I twist to see who it is.
