Page 79 of Humility
“What? But….”
“No,” I said and bit back the smile at the distraught look on his face. It served him right. He spent the last few weeks with me almost every single day and had earned my trust. I thought he genuinely liked me, and even if he actually did, I wanted him to suffer a little.
“Why do they get to apologize?”
“She’s not playing,” Angelo said. “You better walk away and get some air before you piss her off even more.” I didn’t know the dynamic between them, but the smirk only I could see told me he was having way too much fun antagonizing Enzo.
Enzo glared at Angelo’s back and then threw his hands up. “You did this. This is all your fault.” He stomped out of the room, and there was a certain satisfaction to pissing him off and making him feel as in the dark as he’d kept me.
Angelo leaned on the counter and smiled at me. “It’s nice not being the only one in deep shit for a change.”
“Maybe, but you’re still in the deepest.” I crossed my arms as he pushed away from the counter. Picking up a strawberry on the way to me, he smiled, and I squirmed.
“Are we still talking about getting me in trouble or something else that I get deeper?” Leaning in, he ran his lips up the side of my neck, and goosebumps and shivers raced along my skin.
“Do you think your charm will work on me?” I managed to sound unaffected, but my insides were turning to mush.
“Maybe.” He held out the strawberry for me to bite before slipping the rest into his mouth. The fruit was sweet and exploded with flavor on my tongue. I squealed as he grabbed my waist and sat me on the large island. “Maybe I lay you out on the counter and have you for breakfast instead.”
“Didn’t you get enough yesterday?”
Wrapping his hand around my throat, he turned my head slowly from side to side, a dark, predatory look in his eyes. “I could never get enough of you.”
Anger flared in my gut and I glared at him. “Is that so? So tell me, is that why you paraded around with models and American princesses for the world to see, because you couldn’t get enough of me?”
“I didn’t want any of them.”
I narrowed my gaze as the tension in the room grew. My jealousy was as volatile as any volcano, and I’d destroyed a few expensive items over the last five years.
“Yet, I’m sure you had them.”
“You’re free to kick his ass, but can we have a nice breakfast first. I already have cannoli made, and the saccottino will be done shortly. I’ll happily help you later. Would you like me to shoot him? You’re the only one that I would shoot him for.”
Angelo released my neck and glared at Dario, who’d managed to defuse the room, but it wouldn’t last. Angelo and I had a lot more to work through if we would ever have a chance. That was if I even took him back, took any of them back, for that matter.
“At least I know where the line is on your loyalty.”
Dario smirked. “It’s in the same place it’s always been.”
“I can live with that. I’d hate to ruin a great breakfast,” I said, and Angelo huffed and wandered back to the fruit salad he was in the midst of making.
Slipping off the counter, I took the coffee that Dario held out to me and found it made perfectly. He gave me a shy smile before returning to work, and my heart sighed. I didn’t want to let them in again after all the sadness and anger, but standing here with them felt like no time had passed at all.
Would Angelo even let me go now that we were in the same space? I had a feeling that would turn into another fight. The number of things we needed to argue about was growing. How did this even happen? How had I escaped my past only to run right into it all over again?
Chapter Thirty-Six
DARIO
The entire breakfast was a tennis match of insults and retaliation. I would’ve laughed at Jasmine and Angelo if it weren’t over such serious topics, but the tension was growing out of control.
“Don’t tell me what to do. I am going home, and that is that,” Jasmine said. She gripped her fork so tightly I thought she might use it as a projectile to throw at Angelo’s head.
“No, you’re not,” Angelo growled.
“Yes, I am.”
“No. You’re. Not.”
