Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 110824 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110824 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Me:You’re wrong, but just remember that I’m the only one that matters.
Gia:I won’t forget. Keep yourself safe.
Me:I have to go. We’re landing. Text when you get to Antonio’s.
Gia:Ok. I miss you, Victor.
Me:Miss you too, sweetheart.
I move from that conversation to Sloan. I text her that Gia is out tonight, and she only needs to report to Antonio early in the morning. Then, I put my phone away. There’s more I need to discuss with Gia, but I don’t know what to say to her right now. I need to clear my head. I’m fucking pissed. I don’t want to say anything I can’t take back and risk pushing her away from me. One thing is definitely fucking clear. Gia and I are going to have to come to an understanding on what it means to be my woman.
Beginning with how my woman can’t go to the movies with any other fucker but me.
angelina
. . .
I stare at my phone with a sigh. I needed time to talk with Victor. That was hard to do with him being in Arizona and me here in Florida. He’s planning on looking into my attack and that alone has my anxiety on the edge. If Sam hadn’t spent the evening distracting me, I’m pretty sure I would have had a panic attack by now. I don’t know why it’s so hard for Victor to understand that trying to think about the past is so hard for me. It feels like if it’s not mentioned, it can stay buried—unable to hurt me. The minute someone tries to bring it up, it’s like I’m giving it a license to resurface and bring me more hell.
I just want everything from the attack to disappear.
That might not be the most adult way to handle things, but it is all I can handle right now.
“I’m sorry, runt.”
“Sorry?” I ask Sam, securing the seatbelt and laying my phone in the cupholder. We just finished up with dinner and now my stomach just keeps churning. I wish I could force Victorio to come back here and talk with me. I want to convince him to leave my past buried.
“You didn’t have a very good time on our date.”
Something about the way he says date worries me. I shrug it aside. Sam is my brother. It may not be by blood, but we both accepted those roles years ago. I admit that at one time, I wanted more. Sam never saw me as a woman, however. I was his kid sister, and eventually I came to accept that. Now, I’m glad I did. The attraction I felt toward Sam was nowhere near as intense as what I feel for Victor. It could even be possible that Sam and I would have made each other miserable.
I give him a tight, entirely fake, smile. “I’m okay. I’m upset with Victor.”
“You should be,” Sam says, surprising me.
“I should?”
“Of course. He’s looking into something that you told him not to. You have every reason to be upset, Angie. This is your life. You should have a say in people unearthing the most painful memories you possess.”
“Hold up. I thought you were all for getting revenge against the person who attacked me. What’s changed?”
“I am all for it. I want to give you closure. However, I only want to expose you to that if you want it. I’d never force that on you.”
“So what? You would avenge me behind my back, and I’d never know?”
Sam just smiles, which is neither a yes nor a no. I shake my head. This is silly. It’s not like Sam would waste the time to do that anyway. We haven’t had contact in years. Plus, we didn’t have the type of relationship that would make him possessive over me—not like Victor. Besides that, Sam probably has women everywhere. I doubt any of them would appreciate the fact he was spending time and effort on me.
I shake my head at him, making him laugh. “That’s kind of what Victor tried. You see how that worked out.”
He laughs. “Yeah, I’m smoother than that asshole, though.”
“Whatever you say,” I giggle.
“Are you sure you want me to take you to DeLuca’s?” he asks, the mood in his car suddenly changing.
“Yeah, I’m going to visit with Melina, and Emilia is coming over with Zoe tomorrow. I’m going to enjoy myself and try not to get baby fever,” I joke.
“If you do, maybe I could help you out with that,” Sam smirks.
“You did not just say that,” I gasp, shocked to the soles of my feet.
“Oh, I definitely did,” he winks. Yikes. Okay, I’m just going to ignore that remark and bury it way down deep, never to see the light of day. “Now, I’ll take you there, but honey, you do know who Antonio DeLuca is, right?”