“Tell me about this dickweed who proposed to her. What do you know about him?”
“Let’s see,” she said and tapped her chin. “He’s rich, but that wouldn’t matter to Angel. He always sends her presents and treats her with respect from what I’ve seen. She said he was okay with waiting until they were married before…ya know…they did the dirty, dirty. Anyway, that’s all I know. I met him a couple times when I visited her in LA. He gave me the creeps, for real, though. There was this way he made me feel like he was sizing me up for his next conquest.”
“Oh, that makes me feel much better.” He paced away from her.
An uneasy feeling took up residence in his stomach.
“I can call her roommate, Renee.” Gia didn’t wait for him to approve, and for that he was grateful.
Her face scrunched up, and then he heard her leave a message.
“It’s still early in LA, maybe she’s in the shower. I’m sure she’ll call me back.”
Lorenzo wasn’t so sure. He had an overwhelming urge to hop a flight to LA. His family jet could be waiting on the tarmac in less than an hour, and he’d be with Angel before the sun rose. But, if she was okay, then she’d think he didn’t trust her.
Damn!
She had until noon tomorrow. After that, all bets were off.
Gia touched his sleeve. “I thought you were hanging out with Derek.”
“I was, but I left him with Candis.” Distracted, he stared off.
“What? How could you do that?”
The outrage that accompanied each word made Lorenzo take a closer examination of his sister. Gia’s beautiful face was shadowed with a hurt she couldn’t hide.
Lorenzo tilted her face up to his. “Gia, I’m sorry.”
“Whatever, it’s okay.” She jerked away from him, her usual smooth movements absent as she turned towards the bartender.
But it wasn’t, and Lorenzo knew he’d just fucked up. Damn. Damn. Double damn.
He wondered if his sister had known about Angel and Derek five years ago, and almost asked, but changed his mind. He’d already screwed up where Gia was concerned by assuming her feelings for his best friend were nothing more than a young girl’s crush.
What a hypocrite he’d turned out to be. Angel and Gia were the same age, and Lorenzo was actually older than Derek by a few months.
“I’ll make this right with you, I promise.” He touched her arm.
Gia grabbed the bottle of water the bartender handed to her. “Just forget about it. I gotta get back to work. I’ll talk to you later.” She shrugged away from him.
She walked off to make a trip around the club without the bounce he had come to expect. The young girl who always chewed gum and popped bubbles was missing, and he had nobody to blame but himself.
He pulled his cell phone out and called Derek. Never had he been called a cockblock, but this once he would do his best to be just that.
“Hey, Derek, where are you?” Holding one finger to his ear, he thought he heard the same music on the other end of the line.
“I’m actually getting ready to walk into Club Inferno. Where are you, you fucking pussy-ass-bitch? I can’t believe you left me alone with that…that…I have no words for what she is, and my mother taught me better. I will leave it at that, but just so you know, we are so fucking pax, it’s nonexistent. You feel me?” Derek yelled over the club’s sound system.
“You’re at my club? That’s great.” Relief made him lean against the bar.
“Don’t pretend you didn’t hear me, and, yeah, I’m here. Why? Is something wrong with Gia?”
The concern in Derek’s voice came through the phone loud and clear.
“She’s fine, so chill,” he teased. “Have you gotten past the bouncers?”
“What the hell? Of course I’m past your goons. They know to let the rich, famous, and beautiful inside, and, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m all the above.”
Lorenzo saw Gia stop in her tracks and totter in her extremely tall heels. That was his first clue she knew Derek was there, and then she did an about face and fled in the other direction.
Holding his hand out, Lorenzo grasped Derek’s palm and pulled his best friend in for a back-slapping hug. “We’re cool, man. No hard feelings, okay?”
Derek’s grin flashed. “Buy me a drink, and all’s forgiven.”
“You’re such a cheap date.”
“I know, and I’m a sure thing, too.” They laughed at Derek’s lisping accent.