“Fuck,” I whispered under my breath, darting for the door. My hand gripped the handle harder than it ne
eded to, and just as I was about to close it, I spotted a figure on the same curb Chiara had been sitting on earlier.
I narrowed my eyes, letting them adjust to the darkness outside.
Luna. She was still out there.
I took a step forward but stopped myself. I had enough shit happening in my own life, I didn’t need to get involved in someone else’s. So I closed the door, shutting myself off from the rest of the world.
CHAPTER 4
LUNA
Everything seemed dimmer since my parents had relapsed. Like somehow the sky wasn’t as blue. The grass wasn’t as green. The saturation on my life was turned way down, and I didn’t know what to do to turn it back up again. I was wading through each day, not knowing which way to turn.
I went to my classes daily, then spent as much time as I could at the library, but at the end of the day, I still had to go back to that small apartment where they got high on a cacophony of drugs. Meth, heroin, cocaine. You name it, they’d taken it. And almost as if they were making up for lost time, there was more than there ever had been.
My sleep was messed up being woken at all hours of the night. I was sure someone in the apartment block would have complained by now—in fact, I wanted them to, at least then it may have put a stop to it.
But I wasn’t so lucky. And it continued.
They didn’t care how it affected me. They didn’t even seem to remember I was there most of the time. Just like last night when they’d put the deadbolt on the door which meant I couldn’t get into the apartment until someone left at four this morning.
I was running late, tiredness taking ahold of my body and not letting go no matter how much caffeine I consumed. The bus dropped me off outside the campus, and I huffed out a breath because my first class of the day was on the opposite side.
Rifling through my bag, I decided that I could do two things at once—rush to class and get my book and pad out at the same time so that I could get right to work as soon as I made it to the lecture hall.
“Dammit,” I ground out, searching for the book for this class and not able to find it in my backpack. I was sure I’d put it in there, but my mind was a bleary mess this morning. “Shit, fuck.” I skirted to a dead stop in the middle of the walkway and closed my eyes. This was the cherry on top of my epically bad morning. I couldn’t go to the class if I didn’t even have the book, and I’d forgotten my laptop to boot.
Some days you needed to declare them a mess and give in to the fate the world had captured you in. So I spun around, deciding that today would be the first day I wouldn’t attend my classes. I wasn’t looking where I was going as I cursed my mom and dad in my head. This was their fault. It was a repeat of high school.
My stare was hyper focused on the pathway, determined to get off campus and escape to anywhere but here. So I didn’t see the person walking toward me until we collided. The air was knocked out of me, and I gasped for oxygen to enter my lungs. Had I just run into a brick freakin’ wall? Ouch.
Something wrapped around my biceps, holding me in place, and as I looked up and stared into the beautiful brown eyes, I finally took a breath.
“Sor—” I cut myself off as my gaze focused fully on the face only inches from mine. I’d seen him a week ago, and I wouldn’t forget him if my life depended on it. Those dark eyes and flawless skin were nothing compared to his plump lips which were…in a straight line. Shit.
His eyes narrowed on me as if he recognized me, but I knew he wouldn’t. I was a fleeting moment in the grand scheme of things, but as he opened his mouth, I wished he would have remembered me. For once I wanted to be seen and not forgotten about.
“You okay?” His deep timbre rolled around us. Goose bumps prickled over my skin, warning me of something, but I didn’t listen.
I nodded, so fast I made myself dizzy. “I’m fine.” I cleared my throat but didn’t move a single inch. His palms were burning through my T-shirt and I was sure he’d scorch my skin at any moment.
His fingers tensed, but he didn’t let go. He kept his hold on me, and I wondered if he realized. “It’s Luna, right?”
“I…” I blinked. “Yeah, it is.”
His lips pulled up into a smile. Not the same kind he’d given Cardo and Chiara, but it was still a genuine one. “The kids haven’t stopped talking about you.”
“The kids?” I swallowed and took a step back causing his hands to drop from my arms. It hadn’t even occurred to me that they were his kids. I’d been in a dream world when I met him, and if I was honest, I’d only thought about his face when I felt like I couldn’t get away from the loudness in my apartment. I hadn’t thought about who he was.
He ran his large hand over his jaw, the sound of his short scruff making me bite down on my bottom lip. “Yeah. Cardo and Chiara?” He tilted his head to the side, his brows lowering. “My brother and sister.”
“Oh!” I chuckled, feeling my breath rush out of me. “I wasn’t sure who…” I threw my hands in the air. “I mean…” I glanced away, then back to him. His full attention focused on me was almost too much to handle. “I wasn’t sure what…” I screwed up my nose, realizing that I was making no sense.
“You weren’t sure?” His lips kicked up on one side as he planted his hands on his hips, showcasing those damn forearms again. What was it about those things?
“I erm…” I stuttered a breath and took a step forward. I didn’t know why I moved closer to him. “I thought you might have been their dad.”