My gaze snapped to him and I took in his laid-back appearance, casually watching Rose as she spoke with Ridgewood’s finest. He seemingly had no care in the world about her interactions with other men, and it sat about as well as a bag of nails in my stomach that a man she was sleeping with had little regard for that. “Tell me, Sly. How does it not bother you that while Rose warms your bed at night, it’s me in her head and in her heart?”
I wasn’t a fool. I knew Rose had filled Sly in on everything—our past, our present, and hopefully our fucking future, too. Although I wasn’t sure how much of our past he actually knew, the main point was, Sly was up to speed on this wholesharingagreement she and I had come to.
Sly sucked in his lips slightly as he narrowed his eyes at me. I took the time to set my glass down and cross my own arms over my chest, mirroring his calm demeanor as I leaned back against my chair.
“You want my truth?” he asked once I settled.
I nodded once, flicking my eyes to where Rose now stood behind the bar, engaged in conversation with her head bartender—the chick with pink hair. When I turned my attention back to Sly, he was staring straight at me, unwavering.
“I love her,” he said without so much as a blink.
Beneath my crossed arms, my hands squeezed into fists, and my jaw clenched so tightly I thought I might crack my teeth. Around me the noise of the bar faded into a dull hum, and I began to lose focus of my surroundings as everything blurred from the rage I felt coursing through my body.
“I love her,” he repeated, and I swear I was about to lose my mind when he lifted a hand, stopping me. “But I’m notinlove with her, mio amico. She has told you about our arrangement, but I am confident she has yet to explain my side of it. My heart belongs to another, and our Rosie is aware of that. But I cannot have her, and because of that, I am here. The pain of not seeing her hurts less than the pain of seeing her with another.”
“I think if anyone can understand that pain, it’s me. I know Rose has told you our history.”
“Sì, she has. It is why I know what’s in your heart. I know your love because I, too, feel it, only for someone else. Rosie and I have an arrangement that benefits us both. It’s not only physical, but deeply emotional. We are compatible on an incredible friendship level and can speak freely with each other.”
I must have flinched at his words as they resonated with me, because he shook his head. I understood everything he was saying because it was the type of connection Rose and I had. Hearing that she had it with another man was internally gutting me. Scanning the bar again, I found her within seconds and let my sight linger as Sly continued.
“My words do not mean to harm you, mio amico, but to help you understand. Rosie and I are ninety percent friendship, and ten percent sex. The sex is an emotional comfort, not an emotional connection. Our bodies crave sex, and through each other, we are able to subside that craving. But since things have shifted with you, the sex has lessened. The last time she came by my doing was because she was looking atyou.”
Snapping my neck in his direction, I ran my hand over my beard as I narrowed my eyes in question. “What do you mean, she was looking at me?”
A wide smile crawled across his face, his pearly whites making me narrow my eyes at him even more. “Oh, mio amico, you have no idea, do you? She knows you stare at her through the glass of her office, watching, though you can’t actually see, and she likes it. So much so, when I pleasured her a few weeks back, she came with your name on her lips.”
Rather than respond, I reached for the remaining tequila and brought it to my mouth, quickly tossing it back. The soundtrack of how Rose may sound roared through my thoughts, causing my cock to stir in the confines of my jeans. Slamming the glass back down on the high-top harder than intended, I felt my nostrils flare as I scoured the bar, looking for the one person who could instantly ground me.
Like magnets, our eyes connected, and I slid from my chair, never breaking our connection from across the room.
“Let's go,” I growled at Sly, not bothering to see if he actually followed or not. I had more important things on my mind. His recollection of Rose coming with my name on her lips was something I just couldn’t ignore.
It changed things.
Put things in a different perspective.
Even when she was with him physically, that beautiful mind of hers was thinking of me.
And that told me everything I needed to know about where her heart was at, too.
CHAPTERELEVEN
The heat of Cain’s stare intensified with every stride he took, and the closer he came, the harder my heart pounded in my chest. Behind him, I could see Sly meandering, looking relaxed while keeping a respectable distance as he followed.
The bar was packed tonight, and it took Cain several seconds to close the distance between us, pushing past patrons, weaving through connected bodies until he practically crashed into me.
A tattooed hand immediately tangled into my hair, wrapping the brunette strands around his fist until he held it tight in his grasp at the crown of my head. His other hand gripped my hip bruisingly, and he yanked my head back, tilting my neck just enough to crash his lips to mine.
A low growl erupted from his chest as he sank his tongue into my mouth, kissing me in a way that sent an obvious message to everyone around us.
Cain was staking his claim, marking me for everyone in Andromeda to see.
My hands clawed up the front of his shirt, bunching the fabric in my fists as he continued to kiss me with a passion that burned through my soul.
Releasing my hair, his warm, calloused hands sank down my body as he reached for my thighs, hoisting me into his arms. Curling my arms and legs around him, I pulled myself closer to his body and kissed him back, not caring who saw.
Let them see.
