Soulless Devil (Sons of Valentino #3)(19)

“Livvy, did you?” Luca questions.

I don’t know why, but my instincts to protect her against anyone take over, and I step in front of her. Blocking Luca’s view. He lifts one brow at me, silently asking me if I’m serious right now.

You bet your ass I’m serious.

Livvy steps around me, her arms folded at her waist. “No, I can’t have a report about this. Oh god, if my dad finds out, he’s going to be here by morning.”

“Why would your dad find out?” Luca asks, curious.

“He’s a retired police officer. He has friends in New York, who like to keep him updated on everything and anything to do with this college,” Livvy says.

Luca points a finger at Livvy. “You’re dad’s a cop?” His finger then moves to me. “And you’re… you.” He shakes his head from side to side. “Fottuto idiota, Romeo. Mi stai prendendo in giro adesso?” Fucking idiot, Romeo. Are you kidding me now? Luca fires off in rapid Italian.

“Stai zitto.” Shut up, I growl back at him.

“Di tutte le fottute ragazze, dovevi scegliere la figlia di un poliziotto di cui innamorarti.” Of all the fucking girls, you had to pick a cop’s daughter to fall in love with.

I’m about to fucking hit the motherfucker to get him to shut up.

“Aspetta cosa intendi?” What do you mean? Both of our heads spin to Livvy, who just replied to us in perfect Italian.

“Conosci l'italiano?” You know Italian? I ask her.

“I know many languages. What is he talking about, Romeo?” she asks me.

“Nothing. Forget it. He’s an idiot.” I walk to the door and open it, since the knocking isn’t stopping. “Can I help you?”

“Yeah, there was a report of vandalism?” Campus security is standing in the hall.





Chapter Ten





I feel awkward. I should have insisted on staying in my dorm room. The problem is I have a really hard time saying no to Romeo. Which is a dangerous position to be in. After he talked the campus security into not lodging the complaint, which surprisingly wasn’t that hard for him to do, we went to his apartment.

He escorted me to his room, took me into his bathroom, and washed the paint off my hands with some kind of liquid soap he had in a clear unlabeled bottle. He then walked out and told me he’d be downstairs. I showered and changed into a pair of yoga pants and a baggy shirt. Now I’m debating whether to just jump out the window, which I’m not even sure if it opens or not. Probably not, considering we’re so high up. Or my other option is to go downstairs and try not to be as awkward as I’m feeling.

Inhaling a deep breath, I choose door number two—well, the only door. However, the closer I get, the more I hear Luca’s words. You chose a cop’s daughter to fall in love with. Neither Romeo nor I brought up that can of worms. Luca has to be wrong. There is no way Romeo Valentino is in love with me. He doesn’t even know me. And if he did, he certainly wouldn’t be in love with me. He’s the kind of man who will end up married to some stunning supermodel, not the girl next door. There is a little part of me that wonders what life with Romeo as a boyfriend, lover, would be like. If he’s this attentive as a friend, then whoever he ends up with will be one lucky girl. I don’t allow myself to dream of that girl ever being me. I may be a hopeless romantic, but I refuse to live my life with my head in the clouds. This is reality, not a fictional love story for the ages.

As soon as I enter the living room, Romeo and Luca stop whatever heated conversation they were having. “You okay?” Romeo asks, walking over to me.

“Uh-huh.” I look between the two brothers. I could cut the tension with a knife. “I’m really sorry if I’m imposing… I can go…”

“You’re not imposing,” Romeo grunts and glares at Luca.

“No, you’re not. Come on, come eat. I didn’t know what you liked so I ordered a bit of everything,” Luca says, pointing to the Chinese takeout containers that are scattered across the coffee table.

“I’ll eat anything. I’m not picky,” I tell him, taking a seat on the sofa.

“Obviously, if you’re friends with this one, your standards are low.” Luca laughs, gesturing a thumb at his twin as he plops down on a single chair opposite me. Romeo sits next to me on the sofa.

“I don’t know. I happen to think he’s a great choice for a friend,” I defend Romeo.

“You two are something else.” Luca laughs again. Romeo is silent as he loads up a plate with a bit of everything from each of the ten containers. He then hands it to me.

“You don’t actually expect me to be able to eat all of this, do you?” I ask him.

“Not all of it,” he grunts.

“Maybe you could add conversational skills to those tutoring sessions of yours, Liv,” Luca comments.

“There’s nothing wrong with his language skills,” I deadpan.

“You know I’m joking, right? I’m his twin. Trust me when I say there is no one in this world who has his back more than I do.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean…” I don’t even know what I’m apologizing for.

“It’s fine. Ignore him, Livvy. Ma dropped him on his head when he was a baby,” Romeo says.