Page 92 of Ruin Me With Lies
“I’m gonna knock your fucking teeth out if—”
“Holy shit, it wasyou, wasn’t it?”Gio cuts me off, eyes wide with realization.“You’re the one who shot out the transformer last night.You saw us making out didn’t you?”He throws his head back and howls a laugh.“My God, you dramatic bastard, throwing tantrums with live wires.”
“For shit’s sake,” Lorenzo grumbles.“It’s like we’re fifteen all over again.”He leans forward, elbows on his knees, all business now.“Stefano.What’s your deal, brother?One minute you hate her and want her gone, the next you’re pulling power stunts to poach her from me, and now you’re attacking your own blood.What’s going on?What is she to you?”
Shit if I know.I’ve never felt more confused in my life.“She’s nothing to me.”
Lorenzo lifts a brow.“Then why the hell does it matter if Gio’s into her?”
Again, Idon’tgoddamn know.I grit my teeth.“Come on, Lo.You know how Gio is.He just wants to fuck her.All he sees are her tits.”
“You don’t know shit about what I want from her,” Gio defends.“And you sure as hell don’t know what she wants from me.”
This fucking fool.
“Oh, you think you ‘know’ her now, is that it?”I turn toward him, jaw tight.“You believe whatever bullshit she tells you, huh?”
“I know her better than you do,” he fires back.“All you do is threaten her and make her feel unwanted and uncomfortable.”
“Oh yeah?”I lean in, cold and coiled.“Tell me, do you know her tells for when she’s lying?Can you tell when she’s hiding something, or when she’s charming you into a trap so she can manipulate you?Have you seenallher faces?Do you know the rhythm of her breathing, the micro-shifts in her expressions?Have you looked into those ‘pretty eyes’ long enough to memorize every fleck and fracture?”
Gio stares at me.Silent.
“Because if you had, you’d know they’re not pretty.They’re dangerous.They’re cunning.”I prop my elbow on the back of the couch.“How many accents does she have, Gio?Because they change with every person she speaks to.She’ll shift right in front of your eyes.So seamlessly, so fluidly, you won’t even realize she’s doing it.”
He offers nothing.I keep going.“Ever noticed how her tits are always on display around you?That’s not by accident.That’s strategy.She’s figured you out.She knows what you like.And if she can keep your attention locked there”—I tap my temple—“you’ll never actuallyseeher.And that’s the point, because Raya doesn’twantto be seen.She distracts.She deflects.She circumvents.Shehides.You don’t know her, Gio.”
Gio stares at me for a long beat, jaw ticking.Then he slips into his blasé armor, tossing a look at Lorenzo.“What’s up with fucking Shakespeare over here?”he scoffs.“From the man who doesn’t so much as glance at a woman unless she’s got power, leverage, or an empire tucked between her thighs.The man who claims to only use his dick as currency.All those poetry books finally getting to your head, huh?”
“Classic,” I mutter, bored.“Attack me as a person because you know I’m right.”
“I’m sorry, who’s the one who justphysicallyattacked who again?”
Lorenzo exhales hard, looking all kinds of done.“Stefano.Your argument is that Raya isn’t who Gio thinks she is, that she’s using his weaknesses to manipulate him.Okay, fine.If that’s the case, what does it matter if all he wants is to fuck her?”
Gio claps his hands.“Thankyou.”
Still, I’ve got no answer for this.Nor the irrational fury gnawing through my chest.So I blurt, “She’s not even his type.Plus she’syourassistant, Lo.You really okay with him dicking around with her, getting in her head, and then moving on to the next nice pair of tits that comes along?You’re not worried about how that will screw with her focus, her work?”
“Hm.Never thought of that.”Lorenzo scratches his jaw, weighing it over.“Right.Gio, no messing around with my assistant until we’ve got all this shit sorted out.I don’t want her distracted.”
Gio scoffs, incredulous.“If you think Raya’s the kind of girl who’ll be distracted by some dick, then you really don’t know her.”
Tossing him a victorious grin, I ask, “Is that a confession that your dick game is weak?Not memorable?Forgotten by morning?”
“Motherfucker,” he growls and launches himself at me.“I’ve about had enough of your shit.”
But I’m already off the couch, and he face-plants into the cushions instead.
I’m laughing at his dumb ass when he lurches back up and takes a wild swing at me.I duck easily, still laughing.He charges again, and I backpedal, bouncing on my toes, getting into stance.
He mirrors me, fists up, eyes locked, both of us circling like we’re fifteen again, waiting for an opening to land the first clean hit.
“For shit’s sake,” Lorenzo mutters.
I fake a right hook and Gio dodges left, like I knew he would.But he recovers fast, reading the setup, and weave back to the right just in time so my left hook barely clips his cheek.
He snarls, curses, then fires back.I bob, dodging the first swing, but I’m too slow to clock the tight side hook.Pain explodes across my ribs.
