Page 99 of Forgotten Comeback
She’s silent for a beat. “I can’t tomorrow. I’ve got an appointment, and then I’m going to Kat’s wedding reception.”
“Oh?” I say, unease sliding down my spine.
“Um, yeah. It’s at Kat’s and Fabio’s house down the shore.” She eyes me cautiously.
“Taylor, you can’t say anything to your friend about me and you,” I warn her. “Or anyone connected to the Parisis.”
“Don’t worry.” She snorts. “I’m not sure how I would even begin to describe this situation…”
“We’re not a situation,” I correct her, my voice clipped.
“Tell me why you and Inferno wanted Kat,” she presses.
“Tell me that you’re my girl.” I’m not going to serve up my Achilles until I know she’s as crazy about me as I am about her.
“Gavin, why can’t you tell me?” She squeals as I charge forward and throw her over my shoulder.
Carrying her to the bedroom, I smack her ass before dumping her onto the bed and crawling over her luscious body. “Are we fighting, or are we fucking?”
She fists my shirt, pulling me down for a kiss as her legs wrap around my waist.
Fucking it is.
Taylor
My eyes flutter open, and it takes me a second to orient myself. Gavin’s heavy arm is banded around me, his chest rising and falling. The man’s hot, and I don’t just mean his obvious good looks. He’s at least three degrees warmer than I am; like sleeping beside a furnace.
A part of me wants to snuggle closer, but the more rational part of me says that’s a bad fucking idea. Cuddling and catching feelings.
Holding my breath, I lift his arm and place it by his side before crawling out of bed. His T-shirt is crumpled on the floor, and I scoop it up and tug it over my head. Ignoring the delicious masculine smell that fills my senses, I tiptoe out of the room and downstairs, flipping on the studio light.
Eek, my very own studio!
I do an inventory check, ecstatic that I have a collection of pre-prepped canvases; oooh, and they’re the most expensive brand on the market. Opening a box of graphite pencils, I tap one excitedly on the new sketch pad.
It’s a dream come true, except I get the feeling there’s a slew of hidden strings. Or webs, since I’m dealing with the Spider.
The Parisi family paid me off, and now Gavin has too.
And the damn thing is, I still don’t knowwhyI’m supposed to choose sides. Maybe their beef is about money: Gavin and Inferno’s club and fight action was cutting into the Parisifamily’s action. Everybody knows the Parisis run the streets of AC, except Gavin and Inferno didn’t, and now they’re learning that lesson the hard way.
But why would they need Kat? Unless they already knew she was Fabio’s wife, and they planned on using her as leverage.
If that theory is true, then I’m the only one who didn’t know my bestie got married. It was always a given we’d be each other’s maid of honor…until it wasn’t.
Kat’s extending an olive branch by inviting me to her reception, but am I really supposed to pretend her husband didn’t drug me and threaten me?
Pot, meet kettle.
Because there’s a man naked in my bed who had no problem threatening Kat.
With my mind reeling, I channel the chaos into the sketch for my next painting.
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
Gavin
