Cara's pov
Nino went from pissed at my many minutes of bathroom break to concerned at the crumpled look I knew I had. I ignored him, even when he asked me what the problem was, my legs practically wheeling back to the party.
I didn't want to speak to anyone, much less him. He was a man, a made man for that matter, he'd never understand what I felt at the moment. He would never empathize with the messy, heartbreaking feeling the encounter with Valentina had left me with. Men like him didn't do feelings and knowing this fact was what cracked at my ribcage and compressed my heart.
Made men didn't do feelings but Luca did with Valentina. I felt sick, which was a bad thing because I was heading farther away from the bathroom.
"Did something happen?" Nino asked again as he kept up with my fast pace, trailing closely behind me.
Groaning inwardly, I said through clenched teeth. "No, Nino. Stop asking." I wasn't about to let him know that I'd just gotten gagged by Valentina. I'd rather choose death by the guillotine than tell him of my pathetic woes caused by my lover's ex.
Yikes.
Luca had sworn he and Valentina were done but it was obvious their shared history still had them tethered together.
There were just some relationships that were never over even when the parties involved claimed it was. Valentina would always be around, Luca would always prioritize her like he had the time he "saved her." She was a princess and a princess was always in distress. Luca would always come running.
An uncomfortable knot twisted in my stomach, I will never surpass or even match whatever it was they had in the past.
My time with Luca was limited and the two of them might just return together by the time I'm out of the picture.
It made me green with envy and sour with foreboding rejection.
I met a pacing Diana when I returned to our VIP room. Two of the girls were passed out while the rest were still chatting and drinking. I was about telling her of my desire to leave–Valentina had put me out of my party mood–when she sighted me and burst into tirade.
"I knew men at clubs were douches, especially drunk creeps but I've never met a sober and intentional douche before."
My hand came up to scratch at my temple. I was utterly confused. "Huh?"
"The man I just ran into! He was a disaster!" She cried, eyes dilated, cheeks stained with a pink coloring.
My eyes squinted and I unconsciously put aside my own issues. "What man?"
Diana placed her hand on one hip. "After you left, I went searching for the bathroom…" She trailed off and I realized she was trying to get her intoxicated mind to remember properly. "I- um… I think I got lost at some point but I ran into this boulder of a dude, literally, and I apologized but he was so mean and basically talked down at me like I was some dumb teenager."
It was quite hard to follow through because have of her words were slurred and mispronounced but I got the gist of it. Guess it wasn't just me that had to deal with rude encounters on her bathroom break.
I scanned Diana's expression, the stranger must have been extremely disrespectful to have the usually easy going woman this angry.
"I've never met a more rude person, and I've dealt with drunk uncouth men for a good chunk of my years." She scoffed to the ceiling. "Might be his narcissism but the jerk thought I wanted to make a move on him, that I had orchestrated@ our chance encounter. Can you believe that?"
"That some bullshit." I frowned, affronted on her behalf. Narcissist might really be the term for the douchebag whoever he was.
"I know right?" Diana rolled off her tongue, pleased by my validation. "I mean I couldn't deny he was hot and built like a greek god and was probably the most beautiful man I've seen but I was just trying to find the bathroom for God's sake."
Now that was intriguing. I reached for her hand and brought us to a couch to sit. "He was hot? Maybe that's the reason for his character failing. He let it get to his head."
"Exactly!" Diana said with a passion then proceeded to rant and rant about this ill-mannered, narcissistic jerk she had met for no more than two minutes.
The party was over soon. The celebrant was too pissed about her rude stranger to continue the celebration in good spirits. She blamed the douchebag for ruining her good mood so she was taking this really personal.
We woke the sleeping girls then all of us proceeded to traipse back to the regular area, my bodyguards trailing around us. It was really amusing to watch one of Diana's friends hit on Sergio. The poor guy looked so distressed and at loss on what to do. And the look he gave me was a loud cry for help. I decided to save him by pulling the girl away and starting a convo on the one thing she'd talked about ninety percent of the time at the party–her golden retriever.
The crowd was still going strong by the time we got to the regular area. Some of Diana's friends decided to continue the fun leaving just Diana, Kiara, golden retriever girl and me. We weaved our way through the turnt up crowd and had to go through a little security procedure again before we were allowed to leave.
I took a deep breath the moment we stepped into the chilly night air. The desire to go home growing stronger and stronger.
And more dreadful.
I hoped I'd be able to shut the fuck up and not ask Luca about Valentina's story. I was a dog with a bone when I was bothered by something and I almost never rested until I had answers. But this was different, I was deciding to have more faith in Luca.
I remembered the night I'd moved in with him. The things he'd said while he fucked me. You had to be into a person a little more than usual to say things like that right?
Yes, it was for certain that Luca Salvatore was into me. But the problem was why. Unlike women men could be crazy about you for various specific reasons. And it'd look like they just like you for you but that was a big fat lie. A man could chase you around the globe just because he's obsessed with your tits.
Luca most likely was into me for the sex, like all the others. I was sexy and witty and had a fun personality, this I knew. It made men crazy with the idea of taming me. It was how I got entangled with Luca after all.
All of this wouldn't have been a problem if not for the stupid complications of my heart. For the first time in my life I wanted more from a man, I wanted Luca to see me beyond the sex appeal and oh how insane it drove me that I couldn't figure out if he did.
It was an itch on my skin but I was scared to scratch at it and uncover the layers. I was scared that Luca would affirm my suspicions that I'd always be second to Valentina, whether or not they're still together.