The Gallery (Contemporary Reverse Harem 4)

“Ash,” I called, in my attempt to rescue him.

He excused himself from the bella signora, feigning great remorse.

It’s not that he wouldn’t have liked any of these ladies under other circumstances, but when he was hosting, he tried to keep his clothes on.

Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn’t.

But we were all interested in only one woman these days. Unfortunately, that obliterated the chances of any of the other ladies at the party spending time with us.

“Guys!” a voice boomed.

“Shit. Who invited him?” Ash muttered.

“I think it was Sum. He felt badly for him,” I answered.

Smith rushed across the room to us, his eyes nearly bugging out of his head at the scene around him.

On one hand, I couldn’t blame the man. Everyone was like that the first time. But most people had enough game to try to hide it a little.

But not Smith. Cretino.

“We need to keep an eye on this one tonight,” I said, lowering my voice as Smith neared.

“Agreed.”

“Damn, guys. This is some serious shit,” Smith said, taking a too-big swig of his scotch in one hand and adjusting his trousers with the other.

I really wasn’t sure why Sumner had included Smith in this part of our lives. The guy had the maturity of a ragazzo going through puberty. If he misbehaved by bothering anyone, and we had to kick him out, things would be awfully awkward at work the next day.

And the chances of his misbehaving were very high.

Merda.

“Good to see you, Smith,” I said.

“Thanks for inviting me, dude,” he said, slapping me on the back.

I hadn’t invited him, but I wasn’t going to point that out.

I decided to address the elephant in the room. I knew the other guys would eventually do so, too, and I thought the more of us he heard it from, the better.

“Smith.” I put an arm around him and walked him to a quiet corner. “Amico, I must ask that you behave tonight.”

He pulled away from me, outrage splashed all over his face.

“What the hell does that mean, Gio? Behave?”

I inhaled deeply. “Smith, I did not mean to insult you. But we have rules for the club. You have to take it slow, and be careful to not drink too much.”

“Don’t worry, Gio. I’ll be fine.”

And with that, he stormed off to ggod knew where. All I could do was hope he didn’t piss off any of our guests.

And hope he wasn’t invited next time.

It was another hour before I found the beautiful Avril, shining in a slim white silk dress with her masses of black hair twisted into some confection at the nape of her neck. A neck I was dying to lay my lips on.

“There you are, mia cara.”