Page 66 of Here to Stay
I laughed as he turned to the woman who had been watching our conversation with very curious eyes.
“Caroline, this is Julia Ortiz. The official founder of the Gotham Exiles Club.”
Caroline’s smile did not reach her eyes and her body language was giving off a vibe that let me know she was definitely competition.
“Nice to meet you, Julia.” She was sneering more than smiling, but I rolled with it. I extended my hand and gave her a real smile.
“Good to meet you. Are you here with friends too?” Okay, that sounded a little bit more pugnacious than I intended, but this girl was getting on my damn nerves.
Rocco must’ve detected the menacing vibe coming off me, and intercepted before Caroline could set me all the way off. “We just ran into each other coming in. Caroline and I go to the same gym; we met at the twins’ party on Friday.”
He gave those last two words a meaningful emphasis, but Caroline was oblivious. “Isn’t that a funny coincidence? I mean, what are the chances of us both being here on a weeknight?”
I honestly had nothing, and after a few moments of awkward-as-hell silence, Rocco finally put us all out of our misery.
“Anyone need anything?”
Caroline jumped on that shit like she hadn’t drank anything for days.
“Me, please. I’ll go with you.” She immediately hooked her arm in the crook of his elbow and smiled up at him, and that’s when it happened.
He looked at me, then at her. And without a word, he walked away.
I deserved that. I’d done nothing but give Rocco mixed signals and leave him hanging at every opportunity. Besides, it’s what I wanted, wasn’t it?
Then why were my eyes burning like I was about to cry and my hands itched to go and pull Caroline’s perfectly manicured nails off Rocco’s forearms?
Chapter Twenty-Four
Rocco
“I’ll be here!”
I sighed as I walked away from Caroline, who was sweet but had been sticking to me like a shadow. The night—which I’d already expected to be weird—had so far been excruciating. I hadn’t had a chance to talk to Julia and I was starting to fear she was royally pissed at me.
As I made my way back from the bar, I spotted her going out into the garden. I looked behind me and saw that for once Caroline had veered her eagle eye off me and was chatting with Tariq, Salome, Dani, and José. I liked her fine, but she had the completely wrong idea about my level of interest. Especially with Julia here. Not that she’d given me any indication she cared.
Although there had been that moment when Caroline put her hand on my shoulder where I could’ve sworn Julia sent her a very unfriendly look. But why would Julia be jealous? I was not her man. Her icing me out for almost a week told me that she was very clear on that.
I didn’t even fucking know. But the fact was that whenever Julia was around, my entire body was primed to track her every move. The need to get close to her like a gravitational force. And now here I was again, going after her.
I followed the path that Julia took and found her sitting on a bench in a dark corner. We were in a secluded spot by a copse of trees. It was a little chilly outside and Julia was wearing a bright red coat that she’d left unbuttoned, giving me a perfect view of the plunging neckline of the ivory sweater she was wearing. She looked tired though, and pissed. She looked really pissed. Not wanting to startle her, I stopped a few yards from where she was and lifted my hand before I spoke.
“Hey.”
My low voice sounded too loud in this quiet spot, and her head snapped up when she heard me. She seemed surprised to see me there, and her eyes had definitely lost the warmth that she’d looked at me with on Thanksgiving.
“Are you sure you’re allowed to be talking to other women on your own?” Her tone was placid, but there was a definite edge there.
Was she really mad because Caroline had been monopolizing my attention all evening?
Feeling warm and fuzzy about making her jealous was probably not the healthiest reaction, but I couldn’t help it. Julia seemed pissed off by the fact that another person wanted me, and even though it made me an asshole, I was glad to know it.
I’d been so unsure about what went on between us that night. If I’d been the only one affected by how good it’d been. I didn’t answer, but came closer until I was standing just a couple of feet from the bench.
“I ran into her here, Julia. We just know each other from the gym.” She rolled her eyes. Like she thought I was just bullshitting her. “Besides, you’re the one who cut me off. You practically ran out of my place the day after Thanksgiving and have barely acknowledged my texts since then. I feel like my head is spinning with you sometimes.”
She looked up and seemed embarrassed. Dammit. I took a deep breath trying to get a hold of myself. Shaming Julia because she didn’t want what I wanted was not the way to do things.
