Page 79 of Devious Love

“Chiara? Or the girl who’s sitting with her boyfriend?”

Miles twists his lips. “I may not have any interest in something serious, but I know better than to hit on a girl in a relationship.”

A pit forms in my stomach. “Sorry, man. I know not everyone makes the same mistakes I have.” I do my best to avoid thinking about the incident in college, but it pops up here and there, always when I least expect it.

“Stop beating yourself up over that shit,” he chides. “That girl was in the wrong. Not only did she wrong her boyfriend, but she led you on too.”

“I saw them together,” I grit out, rubbing at my eye with the heel of my hand. “I should’ve known better, but I chose to believe her when she said they weren’t dating. Maybe if I hadn’t been so desperate to shake Remi off, to show her I was moving on, I would’ve put more thought into it.”

He grimaces. “Yeah…that too.” He rests his forearms on the table, fingers laced. “What about now? How are you going to keep Remi from butting in with this new girl?”

“I’ll talk to her when she’s back in town, make sure she listens this time.”

He wrinkles his nose. “Sure, because that worked out so well for you before.”

“Fuck you.” I fold my arms over my chest and lean back.

As the waitress brings us our orders—a chicken burger and fries for me and a bacon cheeseburger and fries for Miles—thebell over the door dings, and Matt steps in. He plops himself down on the bench beside me. His hair is a mess, dark circles under his eyes.

“I never want to go to the office again.” He unfastens the top button of his shirt and sighs.

Miles and I exchange a look. “What happened?”

“I’ve been stuck researching case law, statutes, and regulations for one of the junior associates. It’s gone well, even if it’s been exhausting, and she actually complimented me.” He looks down at the menu the server dropped off, avoiding looking at Miles and me. “I saw her on Tinder,” he says, his face turning red, “and swiped right.”

Miles and I break into laughter. This is fucking gold.

“How old is she?” I ask, trying to catch my breath.

“Twenty-seven.”

“Show us her profile. I wanna see what she looks like,” I say.

He slumps even deeper into his seat. “I deleted my account.”

Miles grins. “Bet we can find her picture on the firm’s website.”

“Fuck off,” Matt hisses. “I’m gonna apologize to her and tell her it was an accident, that it will never happen again.”

“Wasit an accident?”

“It doesn’t matter.” He shakes his head. “Please, leave me alone. I’m traumatized enough.” The server returns to take Matt’s order, saving him from further conversation. As Miles and I dig in, Matt glances over his shoulder. “I think Mia lied about going to Chiara’s on Friday.”

My chicken burger turns to ash in my mouth. “What are you talking about?”

“She told Mom she was staying at Chiara’s, but she posted a picture on her Instagram story that night. It was the view of a city that didn’t look like Monterey at all. It didn’t register right away, but when it did and I went back to look at it again, she’ddeleted it.” He leans forward, his voice low. “And she has a hickey. I noticed it this morning.”

Miles frowns. “You probably won’t like hearing this, but it’s none of your business. She’s your sister, but she’s eighteen, and she’s not your puppet.”

“You’re an only child. You have no idea what it’s like to have a younger sibling to protect.” Matt glares at him then zeroes in on me. “You get why I’m worried, right?”

I lean back and drape my hand over the back of the booth. “Miles is right. She’s almost nineteen; she’s old enough to make her own mistakes. Who she’s seeing has nothing to do with you.”

It’s the only answer I can give him…because I know exactly where Mia was on Friday.

And Matt would kill me if he found out.

The moon ishazy through the cloud of smoke encircling me. At one a.m., I gave up on trying to sleep, forced my ass out of bed, and came out back.