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My eyes find her again, and we remain locked in a trance until Owen nudges me.

“One girl or two?” he asks, and I blink at him with confusion. Then he gestures toward the phone in Tate’s hand. “For Mase. Do you think the first time should be one girl or two?”

“One,” I state. “Definitely one.”

Tate clears his throat and broadens his shoulders. “So, to summarize. One girl, natural beauty, fresh faced.”

I nod along to his words.

“Smaller tits, what color hair did you say?”

“Not blonde.” Mase quickly inserts, and we smile at one another at his speedy response. His ex dyed her hair blonde, so I can appreciate where the comment came from.

“Okay. Anything else?”

“No. If you click on accept now, you can skip all the specifics,” I add.

Tate scoffs. “Like what specifics?”

I glance over my shoulder to check Gia is out of earshot, then lower my voice. “Any additional extras like piercings, particular kinks and such.”

Tate sits forward, leaning on his elbows, his eyes alight with glee, and I want to hit myself in the face for giving him ammunition for his schoolboy antics. “What kind of kinks?”

“Just click on the next fucking page,” I grit out. He knows damn well what kinks are available on the app; he’s heard me brag often enough.

Tate slumps back in his chair like a petulant child. Then he stares at the phone in his hand, and his lip curls into a sly smirk. “What would you like your match to be willing to participate in?”

Great, here we fucking go.

“Ass play, spit play, blood play.” He scrunches his nose before continuing on. “Wet play, BDSM…” He quirks an eyebrow toward me as if I’m the one choosing, and I look away, not willing to be drawn into the conversation any longer than necessary.

His voice drones on, but I tap out of the sixty-five questions I was once accustomed to.

Until I met her.

She throws her head back on something Ava says, and warmth spreads through me as she places her hand on her stomach, stroking over it with affection.

“I’m going to marry her.”

“Do it before she has the kid. That way, you can both have the same name,” Owen adds, and I only now realize I spoke aloud. “And sort fucking Fanzio out. The last thing you want is that prick fucking it up for you,” he snaps, with a venomous glare aimed in my direction.

“You don’t want to lose her, Reed,” Shaw tacks on, and a tremor of fear flashes through me at the thought. Of course I don’t; that’s the last thing I want to happen.

They’re my world.

I steel my spine with determination; that’s never going to happen.

The girls pull me out of my daze when Ava’s panicked voice cuts through the air. “Reed! I think there’s something wrong with Gia!”

And just like that, all thoughts of George Fanzio are banished from my mind.

I just wish I’d dealt with him sooner.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-EIGHT

GIA

I’ve lovedevery minute of meeting Reed’s friends. From the moment we were welcomed inside Shaw’s home, I was embraced in Emi’s arms. She’s sweet and demure, and it’s clear how she holds herself that she’s been trained in sophistication; something I’ve shied away from over the years.