Page 55 of Joey

I groan, tossing my phone onto the nightstand and wiping my eyes. “Come in.” Kat walks in holding Gabriella, and I sit up and grin as my niece gives me the biggest smile I’ve ever seen. At least one person in this family isn’t constantly disappointed in me.

“Hey, smooch.” I take her from Kat’s arms as soon as she’s within my reach. “You can go now,” I say, not bothering to look at my sister-in-law.

Kat ignores me and sits on my bed beside me instead. “How are you?”

“What did they tell you?” Just how much of my sex life has been discussed by my family over the past few hours? I rest my lips against Gabriella’s head, kissing her baby-soft skin and inhaling her sweet scent.

“That you spent the night with Max.”

My cheeks turn pink with embarrassment, and I roll my eyes. I have no reason to feel embarrassed—my brothers and their wives can barely keep their hands off each other. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve walked in on Kat and Dante groping each other in the kitchen. Anya and Lorenzo are into some freaky shit. He’s her Dom and she wears a collar. Yet none of that is ever talked about. It’s just the way things are around here. So why is my sex life a topic for discussion?

“You want to talk about anything?” she asks softly.

“Like how it was the best night of my life until my brothers completely ruined it?”

“Yes, if you want to.”

Tears prick at my eyes again, and I shake my head. It feels too raw and personal to share, even with Kat, no matter how much I adore her.

“He told me to leave, Kat. He said I should go with them.” I swat a tear away and Gabriella reaches for my finger, curling her chubby little hand around it.

“Well, given how your brothers reacted, he probably thought it was for the best.”

“He hasn’t even called or texted me.”

“Won’t he be driving back? If he’s on his bike, he won’t be able to make a call.”

“I guess,” I admit with a shrug. “But he told me to go. Like what we did meant nothing.”

“Joey.” Kat frowns and places a hand on my cheek, catching a rogue tear and brushing it away. “Do you really think he would risk his friendship with your brothers for nothing?”

I let that sink in. Max loves my brothers. He isn’t only their friend, he’s a part of our family. Suddenly, an incredibly offensive smell drifts into my nostrils, and I gag.

“Wow! Smooch.” I chuckle, looking down at my niece who’s still holding onto my finger and smiling. “That is nasty.”

She giggles at me as I hold her up to her mom.

Kat laughs too. “I guess I’ll go deal with that.” She puts my niece on her hip and starts to head out of the room.

I call out her name, and she pauses, looking over her shoulder.

“Thanks.”

Giving me a gentle smile, she shakes her head. “I know they act like overprotective jerks sometimes, but your brothers love you, Joey. They just want you to be happy and safe.”

I’m tired of arguing, so I don’t say anything else as she leaves my room, closing the door behind her. Safe? Yes. Happy? I’m not so sure.

I flop back onto my bed and stare at the ceiling, and like a pathetic loser, I wonder what Max is doing. When my phone rings a few seconds later, I almost dislocate my shoulder trying to get to it. And when I see Max’s name on the screen, I damn near burst into tears.

I answer it quickly. “Hey.”

“Hi, baby girl. You okay?”

“No,” I sniff.

“You left your pendant.”

I instinctively reach for my neck, and my fingers brush over bare skin. Shit! “Will you take care of it for me? Please don’t let anything happen to it.”