by Jolie Damman
“Ahhh, that’s good. It’s really good,” he declared.
A moment of silence. Should I ask him the question that’s nagging me right now?
Yes.
“Why, sir? If you don’t mind answering…”
He fluttered his hand in front of him. “He will tell you. Just stay here for now. I’ve got some things to take care of.”
He approached me and grabbed my hand. “I trust you with him. He needs someone who cares about him now, and you are the best person for that.”
I nodded and said thanks. He walked to his car and disappeared back to the city. We were so far from the city I wondered how we got here without Angelo dying.
We got lucky. Too lucky.
He couldn’t endanger himself again, whatever was happening in his life.
I perambulated and searched the building until I found its ancient living room. The walls were cracked, the paint was coming off and had long lost its color, there was no light bulb in the support hanging from the ceiling, and a thick layer of dust covered everything.
I flipped the switch on the wall just to make sure there was no hidden light bulb in here, and upon finding out I was right, I walked to the couch, and sat down.
My hands covered my face.
What should I do?
I did the right thing, but waiting wasn’t for me. It never was.
I was a woman of action, and I felt like I needed to help save him. The doctors said I needed to wait. Just like Mr. Romani emphasized, I should be here for him when he woke up.
And he would.
The minutes went by. I checked my phone every so often. Something needed to be done – I needed to be more useful than this – but all I could think of was to lie down on the couch and close my eyes.
It was the best way to kill time.
Just when I thought I was going to fall asleep, I felt something prodding my shoulder. I got off the couch in a flash, and someone gasped.
My eyes fell on the mask, the white cap on her head and gown. She was a nurse, and I immediately felt bad for the way I treated her. It wasn’t my intention.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you,” I said.
Beneath her mask, she smiled. “It’s alright. I know you’ve been suffering because of him.”
She took a step forward and continued, “I’ve got good news. He’s awake and should be able to return to his normal life soon, though I do recommend him not getting shot again. The bullet almost hit one of his lungs.”
My heart leaped. It was so close.
I needed to find out what he was doing. Maybe he would listen to me.
Or maybe not.
Either way, I needed to talk to him about what befell.
“Thank you, but I don’t know your name.”
“It’s Lucia, but you don’t need to remember it. I’m going now. Most of the medical team is leaving. Some will remain to make sure he will be alright, but yeah. This is goodbye.”
She smiled and departed. I hurried to the old room retrofitted to become an intensive care unit, and crept the door open. I didn’t want to scare him or any of the doctors and nurses still in his room.
A machine beeped constantly when I stepped into the room. One doctor and two nurses still were here, their hands holding notepads and writing stuff. The two nurses were talking to each other.
My eyes then found him.
Angelo looked weak – weaker than he ever was. His eyes were open and looked healthy, though. Noticing that brought a shred of hope to me.
I thought he was going to die, and I’d be lost without him.
My legs felt like they were gliding on the floor as I padded to him. The doctor mentioned something about not pushing him and bringing up sensitive subjects to the conversation we were going to have.
I nebulously said to him it would be alright and that all I needed was a solitary moment with Angelo.
He darted his head to the nurses and took them out with him. The door closed behind them.
I sat down by Angelo, and I couldn’t believe how frail he looked. His torso was all bandaged up, and had thin tubes stuck inside his nostrils. Another tube punctured his wrist, and he could barely keep a smile on his face.
I couldn’t take this anymore, and shed one tear.
I hadn’t been this worried for someone since Rita’s AVC.
“Hey, Alide. I’m alright. I’ll be getting out of here, and I’ll be right there with you in the Bello Italiano.”
I shook my head. “I made a big mistake. I should have called your father instead. I had no idea you couldn’t be taken to a normal hospital.”
He scanned the room. “Yeah, it’s my first time here.” He paused, breathing. “You’ve got nothing to worry. You did the right thing.”
“No, I didn’t.”
He moved his hand a little, but couldn’t lift it.
“Look, Alide,” he uttered and I gazed at his beautifully brown eyes. “It’s been some time since you helped me in your home. This is becoming a habit. I promise not to show up hurt at your feet again.”
I chuckled, not believing he was cracking jokes during a moment like this.
He was just so close to dying.
“I’m not counting. You can show up hurt in my house as many times as needed. I’ll always do everything possible to help you.” I drew in a large cloud of air. “I can’t lose you, and it’s not just because of Luca.”
His eyes peered at me, like he couldn’t believe what I’d just announced. And neither could I believe those words.
They just came out, faltering.
But spouting them felt like the right thing to do.
Losing him would be worse than dying.
“I’m glad someone like you exists in this world…” He said, but didn’t elaborate on it.
I pondered the option of asking him what he meant, but my mind was such a tempest of different thoughts.
I exhaled and stood up. “Well, I don’t think you need me in here anymore. You need some rest and then-”
“No, Alide. Stay here with me. Just call the doctor and the nurses to come when you want, or else they will worry my father will kill them because they didn’t do their job properly.”
I chuckled and sat back down with him again. My hands were interlaced in between my legs.
With an audible stir, he meandered his hand to mine, and held it in his. “Alide, you mean a lot to me. I want you to know that.”
Time stilled for me. What was going on here?
Was it really happening?
Was he declaring his love for me?
No, it couldn’t be.
I was day-dreaming. Nothing more than that.
“I’m going to call the doctor and nurses,” I stammered, trying to go to the door, but soon crashing against an impenetrable resistance.
And it was coming from him.
Angelo was still holding my hand in his. Gripping it this time, to be more exact.
His eyes locked with mine, and at that moment, he spoke more through them than he ever could have done with words.
He loved me, and I should have realized that a long time ago.
There was no rejecting it. Angelo wanted me.
And before I knew it, I was kissing him. I was kissing him like there wasn’t going to be a tomorrow. He’d just declared his love for me, and it was the most charming thing in the world.
It was the kiss to seal our fate forever.
Chapter 12
Renewed Hopes
Angelo
That was the best night of my life, despite being on a medical bed and hurt to the point of not being capable of moving my limbs properly. It took me a long while to recover, but I did, and now I was as good as new.
No one was going to stop me now.
Prudenzio and dad came to visit me there many times. It was our private, hidden hospital room located in the middle of nowhere.
No one would be bothered to find out what was in the building, and nobody made it th
eir residence. In the official records, it was said the place belonged to a magnate in the city. Not even the governor or the mayor would ever worry about its existence.
Prudenzio always mentioned how he needed me to come back so that we could continue our hurt.
And we would. Vinicio wasn’t going to escape our grasp again.
Of that, I was sure.
Dad was his usual worried and nagging self. He kept mentioning how I needed to reveal to Alide the marriage and the truth about her father.
I was going to.
It just… It didn’t feel right worrying her about that right now.
She had too much on her plate, and I didn’t feel like ruining her life.
We were lovers now. I visited Alide in her house sometimes and we began to share many dinners. We talked about our lives, shared our secrets and became everything many couples out there wished to be.
Still… telling her about the wedding. It felt so impossible.
And so, I continued to postpone the truth.
We also dined and had lunch together. We kissed many more times, and each time, it felt different. There was something about her I couldn’t find elsewhere.
As for Tiziana, I already told her we wouldn’t be happening.
She was okay with that. She blurted she never believed in us anyway, which pained me, but only a little. We had never come close to kissing each other, and I hadn’t met her often these last few months anyway, so that’s probably why she never grew fond of me.
My bond with Alide was something much more durable and stronger than what I had with Tiziana.
It would last.
I stood in my room, thinking and wondering. When would Vinicio ever come back home? And when would dad stop trying to kill him?
And killing him was now the order, but I didn’t believe it. It had been a long time. Father will understand he’s wrong. Vinicio is a good guy. He’s family.
He’s just… misguided.
I had a photo of him in my hand. It was taken back when we were teenagers. We were playing soccer, and our team won. It was nothing more than an amateur match between neighbors, but still, it meant a lot.
It solidified our bond, and now… it was like it was hanging by a thread.
Outside, the moon cast its white light into the city. The occasional planes flew from the JFK airport, and their destinations were all over the world. A dog barked every so often in the distance, and almost no one perambulated the sidewalk in front of the Bello Italiano.
I shed another tear, and then another and another. Before I knew it, I was crying like a little kid whose father had beaten him up.
The door crept open, and in stepped none other than Alide! I attempted to hide the photo and my tears, but it was too late.
She was going to close the door, but I held my hand up, asking for her to stop it.
She did, and her eyes looked confused. She’d just evaluated that she shouldn’t have seen me in my current condition.
Just a glance at the mirror over the dresser was enough to tell me I looked like a mess.
A complete mess with no chance to return to my normal self.
Not without Vinicio anyway.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have barged in,” she said, and her voice sounded so adorable and sweet.
Her eyes locked with mine. She was studying me, thinking about what her next step should be.
Just come to me. I hoped that’s what my gaze was telling her.
I pulled a drawer open and stuck the photo in there. I didn’t need to continue feeling like shit right now.
Not when Alide had just come here and she was looking that stunning.
Her hair was tied to a bun, and she wore no makeup, but still… Few women in the world could match her looks.
Despite her black and white waitress’ uniform, she was angelic.
Despite all the things that made her suffer, she had eyes that could make anyone feel alive.
“Come inside. I’m not going to bite you,” I announced with a demanding tone.
She smiled and walked to me. I felt like holding her in my hands, but I didn’t know how she would take that, and I didn’t need to do it to show her my love.
We smooched and it felt like it was going to last forever. Her arms went behind my shoulders, brought me closer to her as our lips pressed more passionately together, and her tongue battled with mine for domination.
We were lovers, but there was still the wedding thing, and I was waiting until disclosing it to her felt natural.
I’d rather keep the arranged marriage thing a secret for now.
I broke the kiss and we still hugged. Her eyes unlocked from mine, and her hand reached for the drawer where I had hidden the photo. I made no attempt to stop her.
I shouldn’t.
That’s when I spoke. “Alide, there’s something you need to know… about why I’ve been hurt so often recently.”
She didn’t say anything. Her eyes merely examined mine.
“I’ve got a brother. He’s younger than me, and very misguided. He thinks… that we are all trash. He wants to get out of it, of this city and build a new life somewhere else.” I paused to breathe. “To be honest, all I want is for him to be happy. Nothing more than that matters to me, but father… he won’t give up on him. He just never will. He will hunt him down even if he goes to Syria or something like that.”
Alide continued to gaze at me like she couldn’t believe what I’d just said to her.
To be honest, I couldn’t blame her. My whole life was a lot for her to take in, and bringing her into it was dangerous.
Still, I learned it was a danger worth fighting against. She meant so much to me now.
“It doesn’t matter if you think I’m right or not, but for the time being, I’m going to continue battling to bring him back. That’s my vow.”
A moment of silence while she pondered my words. “Angelo… I had no idea. I thought it was… It doesn’t matter anymore what I had thought.”
“Yeah, it’s all a mess.”
I sat down on the bed with her. Her hand looked for mine and she held it.
I felt my eyes watering again. I’d never presumed I would, one day, have to tell her about my brother, and what hunting him down made me feel.
I felt devastated.
I felt overpowered.
And yet, I couldn’t give up on him.
I thought I was going to break down before her when she, out of nowhere, held my chin in her hand. “You’ve told me so much about you, and I still feel like I don’t really know you.”
I chuckled and turned my head to the other side. “Just ask me anything you want. I’m an open book now.”
She cupped my chin again and forced me to turn my head to her for the second time.
I felt like this was leading to something much better than me crying in front of her, and I was liking it.
I was cherishing the direction this was taking.
There was a fire in her eyes that was difficult to control.
And it was making me think about all the things I could do with her. Things that should be kept hidden in between four walls…
“You can tell me anything you want,” she began to say, “I’m here for you, and there’s nothing capable of separating us.”
Out of nowhere, she dumped me on the bed and straddled me. I had no more than a second to think about what was going to happen before she leaned down to kiss me.
Her lips were passionate. Her tongue, even more so.
Her warmth throbbed from her body.
Her hands began to unbutton my shirt.
Her eyes closed after locking with mine, and I shut them as well.
I drank in her assault, and wished for her never to stop.
Oh Alide, you are so much for me now. You are my Queen.
You made me forget about being infertile, how I thought I wasn’t enough for any woman, and that I didn’t deserve your love. You showed me I was wrong all along about you. I
should have known you were like this right after we met.
She kissed me again, her lips pressing against mine.
Her nose sniffed me. She was loving where this was going to.
Her hand glided down and found my shaft.
She was stroking it.
“You are daring me to do it,” I murmured, sensing where this was going.
“I dare you to do it, and much more,” she whispered to my ear.
Gone was the woman who looked so carefree all the time. Gone she was, but not for very long. Alide was still there. She was the woman I learned to love. I just never thought I would find myself in a moment like this.
Her hand delineated my pectorals, my abs, and she took off all my clothes. I took off her clothes as well. We needed all of each other, and nothing more.
Outside, the serenity made me think I deserved this.
I was all alone with her.
I pressed my lips against her lips one more time. The flavor was just so her.
I disheveled her hair. I felt its texture and the individual flocks.
Her forehead sweated and my whole body felt slick. This was going too far, and I was loving every second of it. I was drinking every millisecond of our lovemaking. She was on top of me still, and she was making me love her so much.
More than anything, she was going to become my wife, once I had the courage to tell her the truth.
Her beautifully light-brown eyes locked with mine again.
Her hand stroked my shaft to full mast.
Her breasts kept pressing and rubbing against me.
She looked so different now, as if she had been born anew.
I fumbled her ass and brought her even closer to me.
I then spun around and shifted positions with her. This was my turn to make her happy. She gasped and protected her mouth with her hands. I pushed them gently to the sides and kissed her yet again.
Her hand raked my back.
Her nipples hardened like boulders.
And then, I entered her. I became one with her then and there, and I didn’t even consider using a condom. I felt it would only have gotten in the way anyway.
Her eyes were dark with her arousal and love for me.
She sealed them with mine.
I made love with her, and it was the best thing that ever happened in my life.