Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
“Where are we going now?”
“Your dad wants to see you, apparently,” I say, “but we don’t have to go to him, Mia. We can tell him you just wanted to go straight to Lexi’s. She’s your best friend. It’s a good cover story.”
“Yeah, and it’s the truth,” she says with a shaky sigh.
I feel like there’s this new rift between us. Things were weirdly easier back when I was her kidnapper.
“Have you still got the phone?” I ask.
“Yeah, why? Should I expect a text?”
“It’s easier over text, anyway.”
She glances at me with a small smile, almost dragging my attention away from the road. Even being apart from her for a few hours was enough to make me hungry for her again. “We can agree on that.”
“I know it’s tough, Mia.”
“I meant what I said,” she cuts in. “Before, about me being the one to do it.” Her voice gets dark. She’s got a hint of the devil in her, too. “I know it’s messed up. I wish the world weren’t so dark, Dante.”
“It’s a twisted place,” I tell her, “for you and me even more with my dad and your dad. The Marino brothers have their demons, but Colt is different. Colt didn’t have it good.”
“We’re just our own special shade of darkness,” she says. “It’s like when you’re painting a night’s sky, and you gently try slowly blending the black into gray. We’re one of those, Dante—you and me.” Her voice is getting dreamy and tired. She rests her head against the window. “Just take me to Dad. I can face him.”
“What?” I snap.
She turns to me, glaring. “I won’t react like I did with Vito again.” I try to focus on the road, but she looks pissed at me, at herself. “I’m better than that. I’m not going to be a scared little kid anymore.”
“I’ll be there,” I tell her. “I’m not leaving you alone with him.”
There’s a long silence as I drift through the city, sensing and feeling her sadness, agony, and pain. She finally whispers, “You don’t even know what he did.”
“You don’t have to say,” I tell her.
“It wasn’t what you think. It wasn’t… It was… I don’t know how to say it.”
I’m clenching the steering wheel so damn hard, ready to tear something to pieces, smash the whole damn car up. I can’t believe how badly I want to hurt anybody who’s ever hurt her. It’s this sudden thunder in me.
“Over the clothes,” she says, and then gulps like she’s drowning.
I pull the car over and park on the sidewalk. She’s gasping with her hands on her stomach. She pushes the car door open, shuddering. I quickly run after her. She’s breaking apart. I take her hands and look into her eyes. “Breathe, Mia. Just breathe.”
Even with her breath trying to strangle her, she tries to smile through it, a shaky battle against her pain. It’s like she’s trying to downplay it. People walk around us on the sidewalk. “Suh-sorry,” she says as if she’s doing something wrong.
“Mia, relax. Please.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to be sorry,” I snap.
“How am I supposed to relax when you’re yelling at me?”
I move closer, slower, trying to tame the darkness in me. She’s right. “You don’t,” I say, my voice getting softer. “You’re allowed to be… whatever you are.” I sigh, finishing lamely.
She starts to breathe slowly, then smiles it all away again. “It’s stupid, Dante. Storming out of the car like that. All melodramatic.”
I shrug. “Better that than keeping it all locked inside, right?”
“Right?” she repeats, raising her eyebrow. “Is that your mantra, too? You’re not exactly unlocked, are you?”
“Pfft. With you, Mia, compared to everybody else? Yes, I am.”
“Did you just pfft me?” she says, with another gorgeous smile. Every one is like a gift that shoots me up with little bursts of dopamine.
“Shall we go back to the car?”
“Pfft.”
I laugh, then she laughs, and it feels so perfect momentarily. Then another car pulls up. It’s Luca. He rolls down his window. “Lovebirds, let’s get moving. Colt’s waiting on us. Remember, we’re in public. Where is the etiquette these days?”
It takes me a second to realize what he’s talking about. It’s my hands on her hips, hers resting on my chest. It’s the obvious connection between us. Mia slowly lowers her hands. “I’m okay,” she says.
“You told me. I know it was hard for you, but you did it, Mia. You’re strong.”
“I never have to say it again,” she whispers, her eyes on the ground.
“Not if you don’t want to.”
“And it doesn’t make you…” She bites down and gets into the car. I get into the driver’s seat, waiting for her to go on, but she doesn’t. She folds her hands and stares out of the window. I wonder if I should ask her again, but I don’t want to push her.