“This is my house, asshole. And I say get out before I call the cops. Hell, I’ve got enough of their numbers on speed dial after the mess you dragged me into.”
“It’s not like that,” Gio adds, and I fight back a tear. What in the hell is happening right now and why was I so careless walking around the house naked, and now I can’t do anything other than hide behind the door, peeking around, as Gio’s body shields me from my dad. I’m not worried about dad hitting me or anything, he would never do that, but the last thing either of us needs is for him to see me completely bare in front of him.
“Out!” my dad yells, pointing at the door.
Gio turns around and cups my face. “Don’t worry, this is all going to—“
“Out!” my dad yells.
“I’ll call you in a bit,” Gio adds. “You’re mine, piccolina. Don’t forget it,” he says, kissing me on the forehead and wiping away my tears, but new ones quickly replace them. “Have faith in your Daddy,” he says softly enough so that my dad can’t hear.
My dad just looks at me shaking his head as Gio grabs his duffel bag beside the couch and walks out the front door in his underwear.
“Hey, neighbor!” I hear a woman’s voice call out and I want to run outside and scratch her damn eyes out.
“Get dressed,” dad orders, showing a kind of anger and backbone he never has before. “We need to talk.”
9
Giovanni
A week later
From across the street on my motorcycle, helmet on, I watch as Gabriella exits her first class.
It’s the first time I’ve seen her in a week and my chest tightens and my cock twitches instantly. Damn, she’s so beautiful. Her short shorts and red crop top really accentuate that body of hers, but she needs to understand that body belongs to me, no matter how hot it is outside.
And no matter the pain I’ve put her through this week. I grit my teeth, reminding myself I had to lose this battle to win the war. There’s a master plan and there’s us and they are one and the same.
She meanders across out of the building, her gaze down as she seems lost, people passing her on both sides like she’s a boat at sea, sinking, and no-one else cares.
I care, dammit! And my heart sinks just watching this.
I pull off my helmet and dismount my bike, moving quickly toward her hoping she’s going to embrace me, but knowing I should brace for her shouting at me, her flipping me the bird, or maybe even kneeing me in the groin. And I’d deserve it.
As I move closer all I can think of is how much I want to take her, right here and now, and at the same time how much I want to cover her up, hide that perfect body away from the rest of the world. As a matter of fact, we should both run away from everything, but actually it wouldn’t be running at all. We just need to get away somewhere where we can be left alone.
But alone is probably how she’s going to want to be when she sees me. I can see she’s hurt, and it’s my fault. Her phone hasn’t worked since that moment at her house when her dad found out about us, and every time I drove by their house the blinds were pulled and the windows shut. Hell, I even rattled the doorknob one day. Locked, of course.
I’ve never felt this kind of angst before, and I need to rectify it now. My obsession with her is all-encompassing and I can’t eat, can’t sleep, can’t live without her by my side.
It’s time to tell her that right now, but as I move within a few feet of her, my big shadow darkening her path, she looks up…and quickly looks right back down. “Get away from me,” she says as flatly as she can as if everything inside her is dead.
I know it’s not true. I know she still longs for me as I burn inside for her. And something, call me crazy, tells me she’s carrying my child. That first time we made love I climaxed so hard I thought I’d ruined her insides, shot a hole clear through her. There’s no way that special seed didn’t take, that she’s not carrying my firstborn right now.
“I can’t and I won’t,” I reply, getting in step with her as she picks up the pace.
“You can and you will,” she says, stopping on a dime and staring me down, her eyes throwing daggers at me.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get a hold of you for a week, but you have to know it wasn’t for my lack of trying.”
“So you wait until I’m off at college, when my dad’s not around, so you can try and sneak back into my life?” she hisses.
“There’s no sneaking. I came by your house multiple times, even tried to enter. Your phone number obviously doesn’t work anymore and there’s only so much I can do when we both know there are still Feds in the area, although they’re probably gone by now.”
“No, they’re gone by now. Goodbye,” she cuts out at me, but more importantly, she doesn’t move.
And neither do I.