“Damn, what an ass,” Jasmine says, and she looks at his smoke. “Yuck.” She puts it out into the tray so it no longer smells. “You okay?”
I nod again. “I’m fine. I’m just … bored out of my mind and can’t wait to get out of here.”
“Same, girl,” she says, rubbing her legs. “Even that talk with Liam.”
“What?”
Liam? Boring? I can’t fathom those two words belonging in the same sentence.
“Yeah, I just can’t connect with him, but Mom said I should try, so I did.” She sighs. “But all he wants to do is talk about sports and school.” She rolls her eyes.
“What did you expect?” I raise a brow.
She snorts. “Well, I don’t know. Deeper stuff.” She grabs a pillow and clutches it to her stomach. “What did you talk about with Luca?”
The second she mentions his name, the image of me lying on top of him flashes through my mind and makes my cheeks hot again. I can still see those dark eyes in front of me, still feel his breath on my lips, and the thought alone makes goose bumps scatter on my skin.
Nope, nope, nope.
“Nothing,” I deadpan.
She snorts again. “Nothing? C’mon, there must be something interesting. These boys can’t both be boring.”
“They’re not,” I say, maybe a little too fast. “At least, Liam isn’t. But no one likes to be set up by their parents.”
“You’re right. Maybe I’ll go check and see what they’re up to.”
She gets up and throws the pillow back on the couch, walking to the office where our parents are having a very important business conversation.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I ask. “Mom said we weren’t allowed to go inside.”
“They want us to take over someday, don’t they? Shouldn’t we also get to know their business?”
Well, she has a point there, I guess. Besides, it’s not like I can stop her. Once Jasmine has made up her mind, that’s that.
She opens the door and peeks inside. A smile appears on her face. I hear some voices but can’t tell what they’re saying. She steps inside, her body disappearing behind the door, which clicks into place.
Great. More silence.
Liam suddenly comes back from the kitchen with three glasses of Coke fizzing away. And the smile is right back on my face again as he places one of the glasses on the table in front of me.
“There you go.”
I’m surprised he didn’t ask their butler to do it for him. I know they have plenty of people working for them. But I guess he enjoys pretending not to be rich.
“Thanks,” I say.
“I know you didn’t ask, but I figured you might’ve been thirsty too.”
He’s always so thoughtful and considerate of others. Unlike Luca, who is driven only by his own egotistical desires.
“Where’d Jasmine run off to?” he asks as he places the last Coke down and sits on the couch next to me.
“She’s in ‘the room.’” I make quotation marks with my fingers.
He frowns. “Never pegged her to be that interested in the business side of things.”
I shrug and pick up my Coke to take a sip. “I’m not either, but I guess we gotta learn someday anyway. Might as well make it today.”
Liam gulps down some of his Coke. “I don’t know. To be honest, I don’t care all that much about the business side of things even though I’m the first in line. But the thought of having to take over all that fucked-up stuff makes me feel dead inside.” He shakes it off like bugs crawl over his skin.
“I get it. I feel the same way,” I say, finally feeling like I have a connection with him. “Our parents are always forcing us to go everywhere without ever asking us what we want.”
“Yeah, exactly,” he responds, which makes me smile. “And it’s messed up they’re dealing weapons and drugs.”
I never heard it said out loud before like that, but we all know what our parents do behind closed doors.
“I know it’s what they do to make a living, and I’m grateful for all the opportunities and the stuff they’ve given me.” He looks around at all the luxury, the expensive furniture, even his clothes. “But to be honest … all that fucked-up shit they do makes me want to run far away.”
“I totally understand,” I say, tucking my hair behind my ear. “I feel the same pressure from my parents to always appear perfect and to fall in line. Like this business is the only thing that matters, and that we’re supposed to take over, and that there’s no way out.”
He nods a few times before grabbing his Coke. “See, this is exactly what I tried to talk to Jasmine about, but she doesn’t get it. She thinks it’s an honor to be part of the family business.” He sighs and looks away for a second. “I wish I could see it her way. I know it would make her happy.”