Surviving Mateo (Morelli Family 2)

“Yeah, I’ll bet. Admittedly, I never had to clean anything when I lived here, but just seeing how big the place is—man.”

“Mateo’s really finicky about his bed, too. I’ve never known a guy to be so particular about something like that—especially one like him, you know? You wouldn’t expect him to care about decorative pillows.”

Rolling her eyes, she nods her agreement. “He’s a weird guy. I don’t know about this decorative pillow situation, but I don’t doubt you.”

“He wasn’t weird about it when you were together?”

The smile drops right off her face. “Uh, what?”

I catch her gaze, grimacing. “Sorry. Is that weird? Should I not mention that?”

“Mention…?”

“You and Mateo were together before you and Vince, right? I thought you were his ex-girlfriend?”

Nearly choking on air, she shakes her head vehemently. “No. No. God, no. No. I wasn’t his girlfriend.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. I’m making things weird. I tend to be outspoken, I apologize.”

“No, no need to apologize,” she says, but she’s frowning. “Who told you I was his girlfriend?”

I can’t exactly explain that one, and I also realize Antonio never called her his girlfriend—just said she was the last girl he fucked. Maybe he had bad information. “I’m realizing the word girlfriend may not have been used…. And also that I shouldn’t have brought this up.”

“What exactly was said?”

“Just that you had a sexual history, I guess.” I shrug, glancing back at the kitchen doors. “Sorry, I’m not… super conservative when it comes to this stuff. I shouldn’t have assumed you’d be open to talk about it. I apologize.”

“Is there a specific reason you’re interested in his sexual history?” she asks, trying not to grimace. “I’m not—I don’t know how to…”

I try again to save her. “We can forget I brought it up.”

“Are you sleeping with him?” she asks, sort of scowling at me.

“Not exactly?” I watch her face, a little uncertain. “You don’t want to be sleeping with him still, right?”

“No,” she drawls, fidgeting with a cloth napkin on the table. “No, I do not. Um… are you… good? If you needed to talk to me about it, that’s totally fine. I didn’t mean to be weird, sorry; you just caught me off guard.”

Giving up, she crosses the dining room and leans in to talk in my ear, “If you need to talk about something and you don’t want him to hear, you should do it in a bathroom.”

“Oh, I don’t care if he… I mean, I think he already knows you guys had sex, so it’s not really a secret. I was just hoping we could be friends. I mean, you already know how to handle him and I don’t, at all, so…”

“He’s a lot to handle,” she agrees, but she’s still watching me like I’ve morphed into a Rubik’s cube. “So, you are in the process of willfully sleeping with him? And you want to be my friend because I’ve…done that before?”

“We have something in common already,” I point out cheerfully. “Also, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, and a friend with experience here would be great.”

“I am positive I’m the wrong person for that,” she tells me, shaking her head.

“No pointers?”

“Don’t do it?” she offers.

“Super helpful. Thanks, friend.”

Mia continues puttering around the table for a minute, but she doesn’t seem to be doing anything. After a moment, seeming almost confused, she says, “So, you want to be sleeping with him?”

“I think I could do worse,” I say lightly.

“You could probably also do better,” she states. “I don’t think his lovers have a very long shelf-life.”

“Yeah, Beth. Anyone know what happened with her, or is that another thing no one talks about?”

“Most things are things they don’t talk about. Nobody gave you a crash course on this family, did they?”

“Nope.”

“Okay,” Mia says, frowning. “Don’t bring up Beth to or in front of Mateo. I don’t know what happened there, but it is not a subject people talk about. If you can possibly avoid doing so, I would advise not getting tangled up with Mateo. He doesn’t trust people and he plays games with your head, and I think he has abandonment issues… just, not a great idea.”

“Really? I kinda like him.”

Nodding as if in understanding, she says, “He has an appeal, but once you get sucked in, man, he’s a black hole. There’s no coming out.”

“You seem to have made it out.”

Meeting my gaze, she states, “I was with Vince. I was always with Vince.”

“Oh.”

She nods, glancing toward the hallway. “I don’t mind discussing this with you, but please don’t bring it up in front of Vince, because he will lose his shit.”

“This sounds like a good story. I hope I’m not making you uncomfortable.”

“No, it’s just… foreign to me. I can’t imagine trying to befriend my lover’s ex—even though I’m not, you thought I was.”

“Well, you’re his ex-something, I guess,” I offer.