Gypsy Moon (All The Pretty Monsters #4)(46)

What…the…fucking…hell?

Wh-what?

Where did that come from?

I glance at the mirror to see if I suddenly stopped looking like the brute I am.

Nope.

Still the motherfucking king of masculinity.

Leiza is pale and casting a horrified look toward the kitchen where Violet is just underneath.

“Can he hear us?” Violet asks in a hushed tone.

Leiza covers her face at this point, while I remain rigid and slightly stupefied by…well, I’m a man. I’m a fucking beast.

There’s not a cocking inch of me that’s not bloody masculine.

I really wasn’t prepared for this conversation, given the fresh madness happening about, but they don’t know Marta Portocale is coming back from the grave and that she’s Violet’s mother…

“No, of course not. Would I have said that so loud if he could?” Tiara asks rhetorically, though we both know it’s a complete lie.

Even Leiza can hear them.

“I really need to stop talking to you so much. You hear one thing and take another from it,” Violet tells her, not at all answering the question.

“Didn’t realize they’d gotten so chummy,” I state dryly.

“Tiara calls her, on average, at least twelve times a day when she’s been gone a while. Never know what mess she’s gotten herself into,” Leiza rushes to say. “But you know us girls. When we talk, we don’t always—”

“You called him sweet and mild,” Tiara’s voice cuts in, and Leiza mutters a curse under her breath as she covers her face again.

“He is sweet and mild,” Violet tells her as something grinds in the background.

Put the nails in my coffin. I’m fucking done.

“And I like that about him. But he’s more of a friend that’s rough-and-fun in bed. Not a boyfriend I should be cuddling with on a couch. And now that things with Vance have sort of progressed—”

“Emit is just treating you with soft gloves. You’re a soft girl,” Tiara defends, while I sit up here like a pathetic little bitch listening in.

“Which is sweet,” Violet counters.

“How did this happen?” I ask Leiza, who just shakes her head in refusal to come up with an answer.

“It’s just…that passion and intensity isn’t there when a bedroom isn’t involved. He looks like a caveman, and I keep waiting for him to give me that punch of power he’s capable of. However, he just keeps holding back. Or maybe he’s not holding back and I’m building up impossible expectations. It’s fine. Despite what they think, I don’t have to be in a relationship with all four of them.”

“I’m falling out of contention because I’m not man enough for her?” I ask Leiza in completely dumbfounded disbelief.

“You can’t be pleased. Arion’s all over you and that’s no good, and Emit—”

“Arion’s attention would be great. But he’s been devoted to one woman for this much of his eternity—a woman who’s rising soon. And even if he’s as completely over her and ready for me as he claims to be, he still hasn’t gotten any closure from her. I don’t want to compete. Why put myself through that at all? It just seems like a pointless risk.”

“Why are they talking about Arion right now? I’m Tiara’s alpha,” I decide it’s important to point out.

Leiza nods like she completely agrees.

“How could Emit get ahead?” Tiara asks, finally asking something useful.

“It’s not a competition,” Violet groans.

“Hypothetically,” Tiara counters.

My phone rings—Damien’s name flashing across the screen. Obviously I ignore the damn thing and turn it right the hell off.

I can get the details on the ludicrous shit Isiah is accusing Edmond of at another time.

The hesitation Violet emits is palpable, as though she’s giving it thought.

“I don’t know. I still feel like Emit is just interested in me because I’m convenient,” Violet says as her phone buzzes on vibrate.

She has no idea that she’s the most inconvenient woman I’ve ever felt anything at all for.

I grab the buzzing phone off the table beside me, seeing Damien’s stupid fucking face on the screen. I turn her phone off too, as Leiza makes a show of looking around, not judging.

“You can feel the difference. With Damien, there’s always been that sort of desperate passion. With Arion, there’s this annoyingly intense chemistry, and I feel like I’m failing all women everywhere every time I struggle to pull away from him. With Vance, there’s been this subtle, slow-boil passion that is finally coming to fruition little by little, and it’s…”

Her voice trails off, and I inwardly groan when I practically hear her smile.

“Oh good grief. That smile is making me nauseous,” Tiara says, mocking a gagging noise.

“The point is, with Emit, it’s fun and nice, but it’s not powerful. That connection I thought was there faded when I realized I’m not all that special and my secrets aren’t my secrets when they reach him.”

“So this is hell. I’m the gossiping wolf toy that’s nice to play with, while the vampire is the forbidden fucking fruit that hangs so low it’s suspicious. It’s absurd,” I angrily tell my very silent omega.