Page 44 of Knot To Be
“That’s another thing we are going to need to discuss,” he grits out. “When we leave Savannah, so will you, as you’re now part of our pack. Surprise?”
“Are you also kidnapping women?” Verona asks, now glaring at us. “I’ll go where Rosa goes, but I have a very hard time accepting anything else. I’ve always preferred women.”
“And Pablo and Nico have always preferred men,” I smirk. “Biology is wild, huh?”
“Food, Verona. Focus,” Nico says, glancing behind him toward the room he shares with Pablo. “I need to check on him. I know you’re having a bad fucking day, but until a few hours ago, he thought he was an alpha. Hearing you say the equivalent of not wanting him is not going to help his psyche.”
“It’s raining shit balls, not scent matches,” she mutters.
“Two things can be true,” Dario shrugs. “Spill. She needs to fucking eat before she wastes away. Food will help her bounce back from all of this stress. That is, if she can eat at all.”
“If we’re doing takeout, there’s a small Italian restaurant off Boughton Street. It’s called Mama Caro’s Place. Rosa likes their carbonara. I prefer their bolognese if you’re taking orders. I usually make sure to do takeout there, and she never sets foot inside the restaurant. Renzo tracks her phone.”
“She told me she didn’t have one,” Nico growls.
“Rosa lies when it’s necessary, and they always are for life or death reasons,” Verona explains. “Don’t feel bad about it. She’s been lying to me for years. You can’t take it personally.”
“How do you have a relationship like that?” I ask. “I really want to know.”
“Very carefully,” Verona shrugs. “I’d rather have a small piece of her than have her buried under the rose bushes because she overstepped her father’s boundaries.”
“I fucking hate that goddamned rosebush,” Nico says. “Why does so much of her history surround it?”
“She killed my mother when she was sixteen,” she says mildly. “And then she had to cut her into pieces and bury her next to the rose bushes. I immediately forgave her for it. I don’t want to answer any more questions.”
“I’ll get the food ordered,” Dario says.
“I’ll get clothes ordered,” I add. “I’m sure Verona would like a shower too.”
“Please,” she says.
With that simple word, we get to work. I have a feeling Nico was right to remove Rosalia’s weapon from her. She’s going to have a lot to deal with when she wakes up, and I don’t envy her that.
Nico is a raging bubble of anger over each piece of information he uncovers about her, and he’s going to need to figure it out before he speaks to her. As Verona said, Rosalia is just trying to keep her head above water, and even that didn’t go very well for her.
Chapter Ten
NICO
I need a second.Slowly, so it doesn’t appear as if I’m running away, I leave Dario and Ciro to handle food for everyone and clothing and necessities for the girls. My feet take me straight to Pablo, my hand slapping the door closed.
I need to get out of this tuxedo and into the shower. I’ve been on high alert since I woke up this morning. Everyone is semi safe now, no one is dying, and I can take a goddamned breath.
“She doesn’t know how to handle being scent matched to someone else,” I say gently, my fingers pulling the bow tie around my neck loose.
“I don’t like being something that needs to be handled, Nico.”
“That’s not what I meant. Take a breath and stop looking for a fight.”
Walking toward him, I grab his wrists and begin to wrap them with my tie.
“Nico,” he groans, watching as I yank a tie from the dresser drawer and pull his wrists toward the headboard.
“You’re in time out,” I murmur. “You’re thinking too hard. Verona thinks we’re the enemy, remember? Do you want to be scent matched to her?”
“I think she’s pretty,” he grumbles. “I dislike that she looks at us like we’re the scum of the earth though.”
Once his wrists are secured, I pull his legs until he’s lying on his back. He likes to sleep with an eyemask, which I have always thought is adorable, and I pull it into place to block the light.
