"Aurora?" I blinked. Bianca was staring at me now. "You just looked like you wanted to stab someone."
"I always want to stab someone,” I said defensively.
"Who’s on your hit list today?” Alessia asked.
I grabbed my purse. "Myself."
Sofia slowly smiled. "Oh my God. Something totally happened."
I pointed at her. "Don't."
"You LIKE him,” Bianca accused me.
"Shut your spoiled mouth,” I hissed.
She looked delighted. Absolutely delighted. I wanted new friends.
“Come on,” I muttered. “We’re already late. We need to go before Vincenzo has a heart attack.”
For once, the girls seemed to agree. We filed out of the club, the three of them whispering and giggling while I led the way. We barely made it a block. Then a familiar voice cut through the noise of the busy street.
"Aurora."
Everything inside me dropped. I turned slowly. Poor Vincenzo looked like a man who had just survived war. His dark jacket hung open. His usually neat hair looked slightly disheveled from dragging his hands through it repeatedly. His shoulders rose and fell with a hard breath and his eyes looked wild for exactly one second before they landed on me.
Then I watched relief physically hit him. Actually hit him. His entire body sagged. "Oh thank Christ."
He looked one second away from tears. Actual tears. I blinked. "Vincenzo. What’s up, old man?"
“You four,” He pointed at me. Then pointed at the girls. “Are going to be the death of me.”
"Why?” Sofia questioned innocently. “We’re all in one piece, aren’t we?”
Vincenzo covered his face with both hands. "No more of this shit. We’re going home.”
Bianca winced. "D-Did you get the cake, Vincenzo?”
"You girls are demons,” he muttered. Honestly? Fair.
He looked at me again. Longer this time. And his eyes narrowed slightly. Because he'd known me since I was little. Knew every lie. Every mood. Every disaster.
As he walked us back to the car, my guilt spiked, seeing a pink and red, heart-shaped cake in the backseat. After all that, Vincenzo actually got us a cake. I felt like the worst person in the world.
The ride back felt strangely quiet after that. Not actually quiet. Bianca and Sofia kept whispering dramatically in the back row while Alessia dissolved into random bursts of laughter every thirty seconds. The girls kept leaning into one another and giggling like tiny evil witches while city lights slid across the windows and painted brief ribbons of gold over their faces.
I knew exactly what they were talking about. Me. Obviously.
I sat behind Vincenzo in the second row of the Rolls-Royce and stared out the window while rainwater streaked softly over the glass outside. The city blurred by in ribbons of headlights and neon signs and crowded sidewalks, everything bleeding together into smeared gold and white and red beneath the night sky.
Normally I would've been talking. Normally I would've been making fun of Bianca for flirting with three different men in under ten minutes. Normally I would've been torturing Sofia over the way she'd practically fallen in love with some random dude in leather. Normally I would've been laughing.
Tonight I just... wasn't. Because my stupid brain kept replaying stupid things. The devil mask. His voice. His laugh. The way his eyes had softened for that tiny second before he'd hidden it again. The way he'd looked at me like I was the only thing in the room. And the way he’d left me standing there like a fool.
Bianca climbed out first. Her family estate sat behind giant wrought-iron gates surrounded by ridiculous landscaping and fountains that looked expensive for absolutely no reason.
Before getting out, she leaned back into the car and pointed directly at me, whispering, "I still think you kissed him."
"And I still think you should leave,” I bit back.