Half asleep, I feel the bed dip and I open my eyes. Kieran is climbing into the bed, throwing a blanket over us both, even over our heads. I smile, his hands wrapping around my waist and pulling me into him.
“How are you feeling?” he asks, again.
“Tired,” I mutter.
“How’s the pain?” His breath brushes against the side of my face, the smell of minty implying he brushed his teeth.
“It hurts, but I’m okay,” I state, rolling over on my side to face him.
“Well nobody can hurt you now,” he whispers, and I smirk.
“Why? Because we’re in an invisible fort?” He smiles, and by God if he doesn’t look handsome. I love it when he smiles.
“It’s not just any invisible fort ya know, it’s top secret.” He cups my chin with his fingers and gently tugs me toward him. Our lips barely touching, and an affectionate, warm sigh leaves my body. I feel safe under this blanket and never want to leave. I want to discover all the things there is to know about Kieran and live in our own little bubble for the rest of our lives.
But that’s a delusional thought because we’re mafia brats and destined for life of organized crime. The closest thing to a fort we’ll get in New York City will be a body bag.LeonaThrowing the blankets off my head, crisp fresh air hits my face along with the morning sun. My arm aches and I look at it. There’s gauze wrapped around it and stained red.
“You’re awake,” Kieran greets, coming into the room in an expensive-looking suit. Armani, it looks like. I haven’t seen him that dressed up since the day he arrived. Then I remember, we’re going back to New York today. Taking off his blazer, he rolls up the sleeves to his shirt, and I notice a big BVLGARI watch on his wrist for the first time. He sits on the side of the bed causing it to dip down, and he gentle raises my arm and unwraps the gauze, wiping my arm up with antiseptic wipes. He’s so gently, his eyes focused on caring for my wound. My eyes follow his hands and up his tattooed arm until finding a nasty bruise in the crook of his arm.
“What happened?” I ask, and he looks down to see what I’m talking about.
“You needed blood and apparently we’re a match,” he explains, wrapping my arm back up. My mouth opens as words hesitate to make a full sentence.
“You—you gave me blood?”
His head rises, those ice-blue eyes looking right at me.
“Yes,” he replies dryly.
I have someone else’s blood inside of me. I have his bloodline inside my veins. Looking at the blood-stained gauze lying on the bed beside us, I don’t think of it as my body fluid but as ours. We are one now. My heart beating a mix of mine and his DNA.
“There wasn’t any other option, you were dying,” he continues, sensing my nervousness about a blood transfusion. I silently nod, still shocked I had the procedure done right here in this room. I was sleeping one moment only to be brutally woken up with a bullet to the arm. It’s insane how fast your life can change.
“Do you need help getting dressed?”
“No, I can do it.” I use my good arm to sit up, and my hair is a mess. I can feel it.
“Okay. I’ll be in the other room if you change your mind.” He stands, running his hands over my head gently before leaving me alone.
I slide off the bed and carefully head to the closet. I pull a black romper with long pant legs down. That’ll do with some flats.
Getting dressed, being careful not to move my hurt arm, I start pulling clothes off hangers to pack when Kieran walks back in. His eyes sweep the room until landing on me.
“Don’t. I’ll have Romeo do that.” He takes a shirt from my hand, tossing it in my luggage bag.
“No, he doesn’t—”
“He wants to, it’s fine. Where are your shoes?” He helps me over to the bed and I press my hand to my head, I’m starting to feel dizzy.
Opening my eyes Kieran is on his knees slipping on some flip-flops.
“We need to be going, so let’s get you to the Escalade so we can be on our way. It’s not safe here,” Kieran reminds me. Standing, he takes my hand and leads me out of the room and down the hall. The couch in the living room is missing, and I stop in my tracks. That must have been where Eddie died.
“Romeo, get her things and I’ll meet you in the city,” Kieran instructs, his hand pressing on the small of my back, ushering me to the front door. I stop and look the place over.
“What?” Kieran asks, but it’s in that tone like he doesn’t really want to know, he just wants me to get my ass out to the car.