Claiming Isabella Read online

  “Yeah, talk to you later.”

  I locked my door as soon as it shut behind me and set the flowers on the kitchen bar. Eying the flowers, I pulled out my phone and dialed Quinn.

  “You better not be calling to bail on us tonight,” she answered.

  “I’m in trouble, Q,” I answered back.

  I really, really was.

  Chapter 4

  Gluttony: Because once I am having a good time…I can’t stop!

  Isabella~

  Quinn, Avery and I were three shots, four beer and six karaoke songs in when we decided to finally get serious. I was doing my best to shake off the impending doom of having to tell Julian about the flowers being sent to my house, but I just couldn’t.

  “Iz, it was one thing when the flowers were being sent to Willshire, but your condo is a completely different ballgame,” Avery reminded me.

  Quinn threw back her shot of tequila. “She’s right, Iz. Usually I’m all for I-am-woman-hear-me-roar, or moan…but this is different.”

  I took a healthy drink of my beer. “I know, I know. It’s just…I can see Julian totally hiring me a bodyguard or something extreme like that.”

  Quinn snorted. “Hiring a bodyguard is more Nick or Chase’s speed. Julian’s more likely to become your bodyguard.”

  “Not helping, Q. You are not helping,” Avery chimed in.

  She looked over towards Ace. “Come on, Ace. You can’t really believe she shouldn’t tell Julian, do you?”

  “Of course not. I think she should have told him when she got the first delivery. But she’s not wrong in worrying about how he’s going to react. Not to mention how Nicholas and Chase are going to handle it.”

  Wait. What?

  “What do Nick and Chase have to do with this?”

  Avery rolled her eyes like I was simple and struggling with the basic A, B, C’s, “Seriously, Izzy? How drunk are you?”

  I tried my best to Quinn-Stink-Eye her. “I am not drunk. I’ve crossed into Happy Town, but I’m far from Shitfacedville.”

  “What I mean, is no one knows better than Chase and Nicholas how unstable Julian is. And after my run in with Eric and Quinn’s car accident, those two men know what it feels like to have the woman they love exposed to danger. They are both going to be on board with whatever Julian decides to do with you,” she explained.

  Quinn tipped her beer bottle towards me. “She’s right, you know.”

  We were interrupted by Flip-our DJ/Karaoke Extraordinaire-when he announced Quinn. We watched as she approached him, and after countless times of doing this, we knew she was changing her song.

  As soon as I heard the sounds of Childish Gambino’s Redbone come through the speakers, I knew she changed her song for me. The song was about not letting anyone catch you unawares.

  Fitting.

  “She has a point, Isabella. This person could be dangerous. I mean, if they just wanted a date with you, why haven’t they made themselves know already?”

  Jesus. Between this and dodging my mother’s calls all week, it’s been high stress. “I’ll tell him tonight. I promise.”

  Avery narrowed her eyes at me, trying to read if I was serious or not. “I’m not calling you a liar to your face, but just to be sure, I’m telling Nicholas tomorrow morning. So, if you haven’t told Julian, you’re going to be a world of deep shit, chick.”

  I gasped. “You traitor!”

  “When it comes to your safety, you’re damn straight.”

  I was about to call her all kinds of a traitorous hooker, when my eye caught her scar. That stopped me up short. She had every right to worry. “Like I said, I promise.”

  Quinn fell into her chair, smiling like a loon. “This is the life.”

  I looked at my beautiful friend, with her killer smile and green highlighted brown hair. “I got the hint, by the way.”

  She laughed. “I thought you might.”

  I took a swig of my beer. “I already told Ace that I’m going to tell Julian tonight. And to ensure I don’t chicken out, she’s going to tell Nick in the morning”

  Q nodded. “Alright then, I’ll be sure to tell Chase in the morning, too.”

  I nodded. “How’s your ankle? You still okay?”

  “Yeah, it’s healing nicely. I can hardly feel any discomfort at all.”

  Ace snorted. “Because it’s healing or because we’ve drank our weight in alcohol?”

  “Our weight? Puhlease,” Quinn retorted. “I got at least 50 pounds to go.”

  “At least,” I agreed.

  “Oh, hey, I almost forgot,” Avery blurted out. “Michael and Audrey said to tell you hi.”

  I smiled. I loved how Avery’s brother and Quinn’s sister were dating. They are so perfect for each other. “Awe, tell them I said hi back. Did they already leave for their cruise?”

  “Yep. A month long cruise away from everything,” Avery confirmed, wistfully.

  Quinn was looking around the bar. “Do you guys remember the last time we were in here?”

  I laughed. “Yep. When those three Hoebag Barbies tried to hit on the guys. That was a fun night.”

  Avery smiled mischievously. “Fun, indeed. Nicholas took me home and proved over and over how I was the only one for him.”

  I remembered that night fondly myself. “So did Julian.”

  Quinn waved away our dreamlike states. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” She laughed. “God, I wanted to kill Chase that night.”

  “Uh, we could tell.” I got serious. “But just so you know, my money was on you that night.”

  Avery nodded in agreement. “I think Nicholas and Julian only put money on Chase out of loyalty, but we all knew you could have totally taken him.”

  I tapped my chin in thought. “Well, unless he’s shirtless,” I pointed out.

  “Ooooh…too true,” Avery agreed. “Not sure how effective you’d be against a shirtless Chase.”

  Quinn stink-eyed us. “Hey! My girls are just as distracting!”

  I weighed her statement. I wasn’t a lesbian, so I was going to have to disagree on that point. “I don’t know, Q. I mean…I’ve seen Chase shirtless. The boy’s hot.”

  Ace snorted. “Pulease, Iz. I’ve seen a shirtless Julian and Holy Mary Mother of God.”

  Quinn gasped and whirled on Avery. “When did you get to see a shirtless Julian?!”

  She smirked. “The night Nicholas broke my heart and we got drunk at Izzy’s. The next morning I was contemplating how to sever my head from my body and Julian came out of the kitchen to hand me some water and aspirin. When he went to pick you up off the floor and place you on the couch, I got a look at him in all his half-naked glory.” She got a dreamy look in her eye. “A good look.”

  I started laughing. Avery was so head over heels in love with Nick and Quinn belonged to Chase mind, body and soul that it was hilarious watching them drool over Julian.

  But then, Julian was very drool worthy.

  Quinn was clearly wounded. “Isabella Nichole Delucci! How has Avery been able to see Julian shirtless, but I haven’t?” She gave me a serious stink-eye. “I’m going to hobble my ass over to the bar and order more shots. I hope you use this time to think about how you’re going to make this right, young lady!”

  I watched in hilarious fashion as Quinn hobbled/stormed towards the bar. God, I loved that woman.

  “You know, Iz, I have to agree with Q on this one. I mean, I get that Julian’s your boyfriend and all, but you really need to learn how to share him with the world. I mean…really.”

  I reached for a fresh beer out of the bucket in the middle of our table. “And what about Nick? You can’t tell me Nick’s naked form isn’t fantasy worthy.”

  Avery’s face took on such a look of love at the mention of Nick’s name. “He does make me want to paint him whenever he’s naked. With my tongue.”

  I pictured a shirtless Julian, Chase and Nicholas and Holy Bejesus. “How’d we get so lucky, Ace?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m so gl
ad we did,” she swore.

  Quinn was making her way back with a server behind her carrying our fresh bucket of beers and a round of shots. I guess she didn’t want to have to clean up the mess Quinn was clearly going to make had she attempted the trip alone. She still winced from time to time when she overused her ankle.

  She plopped down in her chair and after handing the server a tip, she turned to me. “So? Have you decided what you’re going to do to make this right, Iz?”

  Before I could answer, Avery chimed in, “Did you girls know that there’s a pool on the roof of Soteria?” Soteria was an apartment building owned by SMA. The guys named the SMA penthouse building, where Nick and Avery lived, after the goddess of salvation.

  We both looked at her. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. “Are you telling me, at any time, we could have had those three men shirtless and wearing nothing but swimming trunks?” I was stunned. “Are you serious, Ace?”

  She smiled sheepishly. “I guess I forgot to mention it.”

  Quinn just stared at her, betrayal written all over her beautiful face. “First, you get to see Julian shirtless, and now you’re telling me there’s been a pool at your disposal this entire time and you’ve kept a half-naked, dripping wet Nicholas Savage from us?” She downed her shot. “It’s like I don’t even know you guys anymore.”

  She had a point. “Okay, so I propose a pool party Sunday.”

  Avery smiled. “You guys can stop by tomorrow and stock Chase’s and Julian’s rooms with lube and handcuffs, or whatever, for Sunday.”

  “Uh, most people just bring a pie or a 12-pack to pool parties, Avery,” I thought I should point out.

  She cocked her head at me. “Julian and Chase, both, have their own bedrooms at the penthouse. Are you seriously telling me after hours upon hours of watching those three dripping wet with their muscles flexing everywhere as they swim, you’re going to last the drive to Julian’s or your condo? Puhlease, Iz. I’m not that drunk.”

  Quinn just nodded in acquiescence. “You got a point, Ace.”

  She did. But you can never discount anticipation. “There’s always road head on the way, though.”

  Quinn shook her head vehemently. “No, Iz. If we’re going to be hoes, we’re going to be safe, responsible hoes.”

  Too true. I was about to reply when I spotted a hot, 6’4”, specimen of sexiness making his way to our table.

  I could look at Julian forever.

  He smiled at me and I blushed all 6th grade school dance like. “Ladies,” he greeted.

  “Hey, babe,” I replied.

  “Hey, Julian,” Ace smiled. “We’re having a pool party Sunday on the roof of Soteria.”

  He nodded and then smiled at Q. “Quinn.”

  She stink-eyed him. “Don’t ‘Quinn’ me, Julian Moretti.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “What’d I do?”

  Julian~

  I stared down at Quinn’s pretty face, wondering what the hell I could have done to bring out her signature stink-eye.

  She didn’t leave me guessing for very long. “I heard Ace has seen you shirtless,” she accused.

  I pulled out a chair and sat down next to Isabella. “Now, Quinn, to be fair, you could have seen me shirtless, too, that morning. It’s not my fault you were still passed out from guzzling your weight in wine and tequila.”

  Q scoffed then started flapping her hand in my direction, as if to say ‘get to it’. “Well, I’m not passed out now,” she pointed out.

  I couldn’t stop the muffled laugh that escaped. Jesus, these women. “Now, Quinn, this is a place of business. I’m pretty sure shirts and shoes are required to patron this fine establishment. You don’t want me getting kicked out, do you?”

  She snorted at me. Actually snorted. “Yeah, right, like the females in this place would let them kick you out. It’d be a blood bath, if they tried.”

  Avery was nodding her head in agreement and Isabella was too busy trying to contain the smile growing across her perfect face. “You’ll see me shirtless on Sunday, Q,” I reminded her.

  She leaned towards me-probably to give me the what for-when Flip (their DJ/Karaoke Extraordinaire) called her name. She pointed a finger at me. “I better, Julian Moretti.”

  I threw my hands up in surrender. I leaned into Isabella’s ear as I watched Q make her way up to the stage. “She’s scary.”

  Isabella shook her head. “You have no idea.”

  I decided to fire off a text to Chase.

  Ur chick is certifiable.

  His response was immediate.

  True, but her hot body outweighs her crazy.

  He had a point.

  She wants 2 c me without a shirt

  Don’t blame her. Ur hot without ur shirt. U sexy beast.

  The fucking asshole.

  Fine, but dnt blame me when she’s screaming out my name nstd of urs.

  I got a middle finger emoji for that one.

  Isabella leaned over, sneaking a peek at my phone. “I’m just letting Chase know that Quinn secretly wants me.”

  Isabella’s eyes widened. “It was a secret?”

  I laughed and nuzzle my face in the crook of her neck. “I’ll always be grateful that Chase didn’t let a little thing like professional ethics stand in our way of meeting you girls that night at Xavier’s.”

  She looked like she was about to say something, but then Flip called her and Avery’s names to join Quinn. Isabella smiled and kissed my cheek before she made her way up the stage.

  I grabbed a beer out of their bucket, sat back and watched as they belted out Angie Martinez’s Ladies’ Night. God love those women, but they couldn’t sing or rap worth a lick.

  That didn’t stop them, though.

  No way, Siree Bob.

  I looked down as my phone pinged with an incoming text message.

  What time u dropping off the love of my life?

  I still didn’t understand how Nick hasn’t just married Avery to make it legal and then still have a wedding later.

  As soon as they tell me. 3 against 1 here.

  How drunk r they?

  Just buzzed like the professionals they r.

  Good. I have plans for Avery 2night.

  The six of us shared way too much.

  Don’t wanna know, Sav. Don’t wanna know.

  

  I do have to say tho, there’s nuthin like being surrounded by 3 hot women.

  There was no response, but I knew it was because he was most likely on his way to drag Chase away from his office to make it down here. Nick and Chase could talk all the shit they wanted about how obsessed I was over Isabella, but those two fools weren’t far behind.

  They were supposed to be pulling an all-nighter tonight, working to get our top ten clients to jump on a new stock Nick had vetted. That’s how it came to be that I would pick up the girls, but I knew they wouldn’t be able to stay away.

  Watching Isabella, Avery and Quinn drunkenly sing karaoke had become one of our favorite pastimes since the first time we crash one of their get-togethers. Now, to be fair, most of it stemmed from us not being able to stay away from them for longer than a few hours, but hey…

  The girls were done singing and had to give up the stage to another karaoke enthusiast. I really don’t know how Chase and Nick didn’t think to buy the girls their very own home machine. I mean, come on, that was a given.

  I watched as the three made their way back to me and it bristled a bit that Avery was the only one wearing a ring. I knew Chase and Quinn wanted to take it slow with some delusion that they weren’t every bit as serious as Nick and Avery, but we all knew better. And Isabella knew there wasn’t any way I was ever going to give her up.

  Call me a sexist pig, but even if it’s only been a few months, those three should be wearing wedding rings and already pregnant.

  Quinn plucked a beer out of the bucket and hit up Isabella. “I heard a rumor that SMA was going to buy Willshire and sell it off at a garage sale because a senio
r associated couldn’t get you to pimp yourself out, Iz.”

  Isabella started laughing. “Yeah. Lyle Garside. What a twit.”

  “So, what happened?” I asked. I had planned on asking her what happened this weekend, but since Quinn brought it up…

  “He came into my office going on and on about how we’re all dating each other and actually told me to ask Julian for their business. He even suggested I was destined to stay where I was if I didn’t take risks like that.”

  “Why’d you call Chase? Why didn’t you call me?”

  Isabella side-eyed me before shrugging her shoulder. “I figured Chase was less likely to threaten murder over speaker phone than either you or Nick. I mean, he’s the easy-going one, right?”

  I huffed. Chase might be the easy-going one in comparison to me and Nick, but in comparison to the average adult male, Chase was just as unhinged as a lunatic off his meds if his temper came out. “I might hav-”

  Isabella rolled her eyes. “Julian he also suggested that you didn’t love me as much as I thought you did and hinted to that being the reason I wouldn’t ask for SMA’s marketing business,” she went on to further explain. “That’s why I called Chase.”

  Good call.

  “Lyle Garside, you say?”

  Her face took on a wide-eyed look. “No, Julian. Just no. You are not going to get that man fired. You hear me?”

  “Better fired than buried six feet under, Dove,” I reasoned.

  “Julian, I’ll grant you that Lyle is an imbecile, but his ridiculousness doesn’t constitute him losing his job. He has a family to feed,” she pleaded.