Tough Love (Stripped 0.50)

“But the guards?” I tell her.

A ghost of a smile crosses her face. “I still have some friends here.”

Then she’s gone, leaving only Gio and me. Alone together. Just like we have been every night. Except totally different. Because this time tomorrow I’ll be gone. And Gio will be…where? Here. Except if they find out he helped us, they’ll hurt him.

And once Javier wakes up, they’ll kill him.

“Gio, no.”

He runs a hand down my arm—so lightly. His fingertips barely brush my skin. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m serious. We aren’t doing this. I’m not kidding.”

“I’m not joking.” He sighs. “You don’t know they’ll take me. I’m not going to go easy.”

“Yeah, but up against Byron? Against all of them?”

His gaze dips to my chest. “This dress, Clara.”

The scarf is long gone, and all the running and freaking out have left my breasts almost popping out. I look like some kind of bombshell. I don’t feel like a bombshell, though. I feel like a bomb that’s about to go off if someone doesn’t listen to me. The two people I love most are making plans about my life without me. Very serious plans that involve Gio getting hurt.

And I’m afraid nothing I say can stop them.

“You can’t,” I say, my voice soft and desperate.

“I just need a minute,” he says, still staring at me in this dress.

“To what?”

“To remember this.”

Fear grips my heart tighter than anything before. This can’t be happening. I’d have let Javier touch me if I knew it would lead to this. I would let Javier do anything if it meant keeping Gio safe.

I can’t stand him looking at me. Not because I don’t want him to see. Because he’s looking at me like a dying man would—as if he knows it’s his last sight. As if drinking his fill.

My breath stutters. I need to be closer than this. This place we’re in—this is water. And he is air. I push up to him, pull him down to me. I meet his lips in a gasp.

Then he’s kissing me back, his lips demanding, tongue fierce. And his hands. Those large, beautiful hands that have done violence tonight—for me. They cradle my head so sweetly. How can something so good feel like pain? How can this be the end?

I shove him back. “We’ll find another way. Something. Anything.”

“There is no other way. This isn’t the first time I’ve thought of how to get you out of here. And if you stayed here, you’d condemn your sister too. Byron would make everyone suffer.”

And now it will only be Gio suffering. The canapés from the party turn in my stomach. My hands curl into fists, useless. “You wouldn’t let me do this. You wouldn’t let me sacrifice myself for you. So how can I let you?”

“You’re not letting me do anything, Clara. You don’t have a choice.”

Angrily I shove the tears aside. This isn’t a time to be sad, because this is not happening. We’re not leaving him behind. So why can’t I stop crying?

Why does it feel like I’ve already lost?

“Gio,” I say, my voice breaking.

His forehead touches mine again, his hands cradling my face. I feel so delicate when he holds me like this. I feel loved. “Let me do this for you,” he says roughly. “I couldn’t protect you before. I don’t have anything to offer. I never did. But this?”

“No, no,” I sob.

He pushes me tighter against him, cheek to cheek, and I swear these tears aren’t only mine. “You care too much, Clara.”