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Dom turned his head to see Bristol standing there, then let go of the bike.

Looking back at him, Maria felt the bike reverse again. “Bye, Dominic.”

She was grateful when Cassius kicked off and they rolled away. The sick feeling in her stomach grew tenfold when Dom simply let her go.

Maria returned her eyes to the blonde. What she had said about Bristol, she meant wholeheartedly. The gorgeous woman proved Dominic definitely had a type. He could claim she was a friend all he wanted, but she saw the hurt look in her eyes when he called Bristol just a friend. Maria couldn’t blame her either, but she wasn’t going to let Dominic fool her into thinking there wasn’t anything there when she had walked into the restaurant to find him holding her hand.

Maria had never been jealous of another girl in her life. It went against everything she believed in to pit herself against another woman, and she damn sure wasn’t going to start now.

As they rode down the sidewalk, Maria watched their surroundings pass her by while Cassius pedaled them through Blue Park.

Turning to look back at him, Maria wasn’t too happy with the youngest Luciano either. “You knew he was with her.”

Cass didn’t answer.

Now he goes back to not talking?

“Stop the bike,” Maria told him from over her shoulder. When he continued to ignore her, she yelled, “You either stop the bike, Cass, or I jump!”

Cassius slowed before hitting the brakes. “What are you doing?” he asked, watching her hop off, then taking her shoes off the end of the handles.

Sliding on the left then right of her stretched-out Jimmy Choos, she then reached into her bra to pull out her cell phone. Maria loved her purses, but there was no way in hell she’d bring a Birken to Blue Park. Both times she’d come down here via taxi, she’d stuffed her phone and some cash in her lacy bra. Her expensive shoes, however, were the exception, as there was no way she was leaving the house without them.

“What the …?” Maria patted her left breast. Her phone was nowhere to be found. The last time she had felt it was when … “Ugh!”

Cassius raised a knowing brow. “Problem?”

“No.” She shot daggers at the mini-me and swore internally at the man who had pickpocketed the phone off her without her even knowing. The bastard must have stolen it from her when he held her close to his body. She hadn’t noticed because the grip he had on her arm was more concerning. It was probably easy fucking pickings as the dress was a bit too tight up top, and she had to repeatedly shove it back down on the way here to conceal the phone.

“I’ll walk home.”

“No, you’re not.” Cassius’s tone told her he thought it was a joke.

So, Maria did the logical thing and started walking.

“Come on,” Cassius griped, watching her get about twenty feet until he rolled his eyes and caught up with her. “You won’t make it five miles in those things.”

“Watch me,” she spat as if she said the words “bite me.” Maria had gone endless miles in a mall with them on her feet, so the little know-it-all couldn’t have been more wrong.

“All right.” Cass shrugged, letting the princess walk if that was what she wanted.

Walking another twenty feet, she watched Cassius slowly pedal the bike beside her like he was bored.

“I can walk home all by myself, you know.”

“You sure about that?” he questioned without even looking over at her.

Maria furrowed her brows, seeming to understand what he meant. Looking around the neighborhood they were passing through, she saw bars through every window and several fenced-in houses with big dogs wandering the yards, barking as they passed.

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him. “I can take care of myself.”

He looked at her smugly, then glanced down to her feet. “So I’ve heard.”

“See? I’ll be fine. Good-bye.”

“Do you see that big guy over there?”

Maria looked toward an older man who Cass nodded toward. He was bald and huge, grilling in his front lawn while staring her down.

“That’s Big Vic.” Cassius continued pedaling beside her without a care in the world. “He got out of prison a month ago for murder. What do you think your chances are shoving your heel into that huge fucking neck?”

Crossing her arms, she saw the prison tats that marked his face come into view. “And you think if you stick around, that’ll keep me safe? You’re like thirteen ….” She paid him back for the earlier comment.

“Fifteen,” he corrected. “But, nope, it’ll keep those assholes behind us from touching you.”

Maria regretfully glanced over her shoulder, seeing three sketchy men in their late twenties tailing them. They had better luck fighting off Big Vic from prison than those three. A slight alarm went through her, but she didn’t feel the need to have to run yet as the men were still quite a ways back.