Family Surprises

- RORY -

"I talked to dad," Raya says, squinting at me while we sit around the pool. 

"Oh yeah?" My attention stays where Luciano is standing across the pool, engaged in a discussion with the woman who greeted us when we arrived, Xeni. 

Dex just got up to go join the conversation. I'm sure they're talking about security and things of that nature, but the girl who seems to be Xeni's shadow is watching Luci intently, gaze drifting down to his body. 

Who can blame her? He's like an Italian god—dark and fierce and sculpted perfectly. But for some strange reason it's his scars being on display that creates this unfamiliar stab of jealousy right in my gut. Like those scars are mine. I don't know why. It's definitely not something I was expecting. 

Mine. Luci said he's mine. Tendrils of warmth sprout in my chest at the memory, and the stabbing feeling eases. 

"You've got nothing to worry about, Roar," Raya says by my side.