Dive In

Chapter 11

•Nolani•

I'm embarrassed to admit that after the encounter with Giovanni in Rafael's den I went home and put my vibrator to use, except this time I slept like a baby afterward. I know, I'm disappointed in myself too. The O I had that night tamed my horny dreams for a good two weeks though, so at least I got a break from those for a while.

I just got back from filming in Chicago. Thankfully I didn't have a ton of scenes in the movie so I didn't have to stay as long as I had expected. My pants are starting to feel tight at the waist but I guess it doesn't help that I've had a large milkshake every day for two weeks now and I also didn't work out the entire time I was in Chicago, all I feel like doing in my spare time is sleeping. No matter how much sleep I get it's never enough, I'm always exhausted.

"Are you staring at yourself in the mirror again?" Jade's voice effectively pulls my head from the clouds.

My eyes meet hers as she glares at me over FaceTime.

"No and I don't stare at myself." I scoff and go back to massaging lotion into my skin.

"Yes you do. You get that far away look as you dissect every feature on your face because your Mom gave you a complex over your looks." She huffs. "You act like we aren't best friends or something."

"Sometimes it's scary how well you know me." I mutter.

"You're welcome." She replies, mimicking the mean girl from a show we watched on TV and then laughs. "So what are you doing today since you can't hang out with me?"

She got on a plane at five this morning heading to who knows where for her current story.

"I'm going shopping with Alessia and Viola." I answer.

The morning after the dinner with Rafael's family I went straight to Jade's apartment with breakfast and gave her the run down of what happened. She applauded me for playing Giovanni and was happy everyone, minus Riot, was accepting of me and the babies. Alessia called me almost every day while I was in Chicago and demanded that her, Viola and I must go shopping for baby things when I returned to the city.

She gives me a pout. "I'm jealous, I wish I could be there."

I laugh lightly. "Me too but you aren't, you're obsessed with your current story. Follow that lead and become the best journalist of our time, there will still be plenty of shopping to do when you get back."

She flashes me a beaming smile. "This is one of the many reasons why I love you. Now if only I could find a man who felt the same way about my career."

"I take it he already broke things off?" I frown.

She had just started seeing a guy she met online but they don't usually stick around due to her schedule being so hectic. She's a serial dater, not that it's her fault none of them can cope with her constantly being on the go. She's tenacious though, I would've given up twenty dates ago and became a cat lady but she's still putting herself out there not blinking an eye when it doesn't work out.

She sighs. "Yep, via text message. It's always the same story." She lowers her voice. "Your jobs too demanding I need a girlfriend that can focus solely on me." Then she rolls her eyes. "They expect my life to revolve around them like they're the damn sun."

I fight back a yawn and close the bottle of lotion I had been using.

"He didn't deserve you anyway."

"I'm just gonna marry you and be your baby daddy." She replies solemnly.

I laugh. "So I'm the consolation prize, ouch."