“My relationship,” I said, dropping my voice a fraction until I had eyes on Luca. We hadn’t talked about what Sutton and I were with him yet, and I wouldn’t do that without Sutton’s okay. But Luca had run off to where Lolli was feeling up one of the enforcer’s arms as he flexed for her.
I turned back to Angie. “Sutton is my partner. I love her, and I’ll do whatever it takes to get these vultures to leave her alone. Right now, that means staying out of the limelight.”
Angie’s eyes were wide, and her face had gone pale. “You…love her?”
“Yes,” I said, dropping my voice again. I didn’t want to hurt Angie, but she needed to know.
“But you—you said you weren’t cut out for that sort of thing. For more.”
Fuck.
“I didn’t think I was. But sometimes it just takes the right person to change everything.”
Pain lashed across Angie’s face. “And that person wasn’t me.”
“I wasn’t the one for you. But you’ll find him one day. I know you will.”
Angie shook her head. “I had him. It’s just too bad he never gave me a chance.”
Guilt churned in my gut as Angie turned on her heel and strode away, heels clacking on the floor. But that guilt only intensified when a turquoise gaze met mine from across the room—with a look that held nothing but hurt.
47
SUTTON
I triedto focus on rearranging cupcakes and the other baked goods Thea and I had brought. As if making the perfect display would erase the images in my mind. But I couldn’t. I just kept seeing that woman’s lips on Cope’s cheek, her hand on his arm.
My stomach churned, nausea settling in. It wasn’t that I thought Cope had done anything wrong; it was that he hadn’t told me he worked with an ex. It might not have been a lie exactly, but it was one hell of an omission.
“Sutton.”
Cope’s voice skated over my skin in that familiar sandpaper way. My body reacted instantly, the traitor. I looked up and forced a smile. “What do you need?”
Cope’s mouth pressed into a hard line as he rounded the table and gently took my arm, tugging me off to the side.
“I need to help. I?—”
“Warrior,” he cut me off. “There’s nothing between Angie and me, notanymore.”
My mouth snapped closed, my back teeth grinding together. “But there was.”
It wasn’t a question, but he answered anyway. “We dated for a couple of months. It wasn’t serious.”
“Looked like it was serious to her.”
I knew what it felt like to look at Cope and wish for something you couldn’t have. But Cope had come along and given me a dream I hadn’t thought was possible. Today was just a reminder of what I could lose.
Cope scrubbed a hand over his face as guilt splashed across his features. “I didn’t realize she felt that way until today.”
I tugged the corner of my lip between my teeth. “You should’ve told me. I know you have a past, but you should’ve given me a heads-up that I was about to meet that past.”
“I didn’t know she would be here?—”
“Cope.” I cut him off with that single word.
“I should’ve assumed.”
“And you should’ve told me that you work with someone you were involved with. That’s respect. You want this to be more, but you have to treat it like that, too. I don’t want to be in another relationship where someone lies to me. By omission or otherwise.”
