We stayed at Bill’s until around two a.m. I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. But Bailey, Gemma, and Nick had to sleep at my place since it was the closest. No way were they driving anywhere. After tossing a couple of extra blankets and pillows their way, I headed off to bed with Gio where I curled tightly into him.
“That was nice,” I said quietly in the night with him beside me. “Do you like Gemma anymore now?”
“Sure, Bianca.” The way he said it I knew he actually didn’t like her any better than before but was too tired to care for now.
In no time, I’d found my happy sleeping place.
Chapter Fifteen
In the following weeks, we fell into a natural rhythm. I didn’t want to say that I could get used to this. At least, I didn’t want to say it out loud. Used to having Gio around, in my house, in my family, and in my bed but as those weeks passed a reality started humming at the back of my brain. At some point, summer would end and Gio never said he’d move here permanently. He was much more than a summer fling to me. Nothing more permanent had been decided and the fault for that fell on me as much as on him. We’d been going around happy without thoughts of the future. But he was still renting a room which reeked of temporary as much as anything else.
We liked nights in more than nights out as it was a nice way to spend the time together without the distraction of other people or being ‘on’ for a date. That’s where we were when I decided to bring it up. My couch had become our favorite place to be…well, second favorite. He sat on one end watching a baseball game while I lay across the rest of it trying to read a book with my feet in his lap.
His fingers stroked the tops of my feet and lower calves absently. I don’t think he realized he was doing it. The words in my book began to run together. It wasn’t making any sense as every part of me focused on his seemingly innocent touch. He had a way of making me feel sexy and wanted even as I sat there in an old t-shirt and cotton shorts.
“Hey,” I kicked his rock hard stomach to get his attention. Once I had it, I wanted to do something other than talk but had to reel those thoughts in. However, he shouldn’t look at me with those dark eyes smoldering the way they did whenever he wanted me. “Are you leaving at the end of summer?”
His cocky, completely sexy grin made me want to kiss the hell out of and slap him at the same time.
“I’ve looked at a few places.”
“You have?” I grinned like an idiot. I could feel it on my face but couldn’t do anything about it. If he even looked around for a place it meant he wanted to stay and I could be one of the reasons why. I wanted to be one of the reasons.
“Did you think I was going to just up and leave?”
Shrugging, I answered as best I could. “Well, I don’t know what you have going on at home.”
Moving slowly over me, he pushed my legs apart to settle in between. Man he knew how to put his weight in all the right places. A couple of precise movements and I’d come undone right there beneath him, without any warming up and while still fully clothed. The man had talent.
“Nothing there is more important than what I have here,” his lips brushed against mine as he spoke. “I’ll have to go back to tie-up some loose ends, but this is where I want to be.”
Book tossed aside, game completely forgotten; we showed each other, with a high amount of exuberance, exactly why the couch tied for first as our favorite place to be.
***
As July threatened to move into August, everyone had grown comfortable in their positions. The only other person besides Gio to show a dislike of Gemma was Carly and I had to break those two up more than once. They had worked well together in the beginning, but something must have happened between the two of them.
The bickering gave me a headache, but I refused to get into the middle of their arguments. I didn’t have the time for it. Around then I received the invitation to Grace’s wedding and if I had my way, Gio would be with me, although Bailey bitched about it being the three of us instead of the two of us for the trip. But come on, no way could I go to Chicago for two nights in a hotel without him plus he’d been invited by Nick the last time he came to town.
I promised her we’d spend all our time irritating the hell out of him, sing the wrong words loudly to every song we heard, and be complete girls about everything. My promise seemed to satisfy her.
Gio hadn’t found an apartment up to his standards. More than once I’d been tempted to say he could live with me. And I tried, really tried, once, but the words came out more like “Hey, do you want to get some ice cream?” instead of the “live with me” part. We hadn’t been together long and I didn’t want to rush anything.
“Hey, Bianca,” someone called from down the street as I tried getting the front door to the restaurant unlocked. Gramps needed the day off. Finally, Gemma got close enough for me to be able to see it was her calling my name.
“Hey, Gemma.” We both walked in. Yes, she had to work but man the girl was too early to be considered early. “What are you doing here?” Her face fell. Talk about someone who spooks easily. “I just meant you’re early.”
“I have some things I want to give you.” She pulled out an envelope of decent thickness. “It’s some stuff I found.” Her weight shifted from one foot to the other showing me how uncomfortable she became. “About Gio.”
I narrowed my eyes on her. “What do you mean ‘about Gio’?”
The envelope stayed in her hands. I wasn’t taking that. It’d been well established she didn’t like him and I had no patience for whatever she was trying to pull. Turn me against him; make him out to be a bad guy. Whatever. I knew him better than anyone and if Gemma had decided to butt her nose in where it didn’t belong, she’d be seeing a pissed off Bianca in the near future.
“Just some stuff. I felt like there was something … off about him. I just … read it, okay?” Then she left, slipping back out the door without another word and slinking away so I couldn’t even question her motives any further.
Tossing the envelope onto the desk in the office forgotten, I got right to work. First, I prepped everything out front. Then I did the take-out window where we sell to beachgoers. Lastly, I got to work in the kitchen starting with toppings then sauce and brought out an adequate amount of dough to get the day started and preheated the ovens. In no time flat, the room would feel like a tropical paradise or a tropical something because I guess I wouldn’t call it paradise.
I got everything done before the first shift showed up. They were all on time; I worked quick enough we could chat the prep time away. Then the first customers of the day showed up. It seemed like no matter the time, people were ready for pizza. Gramps had a personal rule not to sell beer before three, though.
By the time Gramps showed up for the second shift, I was beyond hungry. I hadn’t had the time to stop and eat at all the entire day. While I finished up my tables, I asked him to put in an order for me because honestly, I felt like I could devour a pizza all on my own. Twenty minutes later, I handed my tables off to Carly and Gemma then headed to the break room.
First I stopped in the kitchen to pick up the pizza. They were busy and I felt guilty for asking, but seriously my blood sugar was about to bottom out. Sneaking in and out without being seen was easy since they were swamped. Though I did peek around the corner on my way out to watch Gio flex and toss the dough since the man was a sight to behold. A bloodthirsty growl from the pit of my stomach put me back in gear.
Barely tasting anything, I’d inhaled two slices when I noticed someone shuffling behind me.
“Hungry?” The low sexy voice asked.
“Starving. And making a pig of myself.”
Gio moved the chair so he’d be sitting right next to me, but facing me at the same time and stretched his long legs out behind me. “Sorry to miss it.”
“What’re you doing here?” Taking a large gulp of bottled water, the coolness went down soothing any leftover burning.
“Gramps ca
me in. Said you were about to leave and I could take my break if I wanted to.” His hands ran through his dark hair twice making it even messier and sexier.
“Gramps likes you.” I shrugged.
“Well, I like him.” A smile played on his lips. “But I love you. It feels really weird to say that.” His lips softly replaced the pizza I’d had there and suddenly I the hunger for something else reared its head. He turned me into an addict. “I better get back. I’ll text you when I get off.” I cocked an eyebrow at him. “Off work, Bianca. Work. If you’re up, I’ll come over.”
Nodding, I took another bite, but the old stomach started to protest. No matter how hungry I was, it still had limited capacity regardless how delicious the crust and cheese tasted.
I almost forgot the envelope Gemma gave me and had to turn back. Even though I had no intention of reading it, I didn’t want to leave the smear campaign she put together for Gramps to find. He didn’t need to be involved in whatever funk those two had going.
Around ten, bored with television and having already finished my book, for some reason, I focused on the envelope Gemma gave me. There couldn’t be anything in there, right? Gemma just didn’t’ like Gio, which I didn’t care about. But I did care if she was trying to mess with my relationship because she didn’t like him. I’m not even sure why it matters to her. Then again what if there was something in there I should know. A feeling of distrust nagged my chest, a heavy burden of feared regret. If I looked, did it mean I didn’t trust Gio? Because I did. I thought I did. But would I regret it if I didn’t look to see what was inside?
I needed to look. If for no other reason I’d be able to tell her all the ways she was wrong. Then inform her she needed to back the fuck off.
At first, none of it made sense. The claims laughable even.
The first article about The Trinity Corporation with an old photo with one person who kind of resembled Gio. Coincidence or an excellent Photoshop job. Then there were photos taken without the subjects’ knowledge. Photos of Gio with various women including me. All in all, there were nineteen different women in the photos with him. What the fuck was Gemma up to? My heart thumped so hard I thought I might pass out. I’d never felt anything like it. Not because I believed it but my anger grew beyond words and she was lucky she wasn’t in front of me. Actually, that was probably why she slinked off like a coward earlier.
Then came more articles. Some printed off the web. Stories about The Trinity Corporation being a family company yet still had rumblings of some unsavory business practices. There were hints about one of the sons being sent to bring a company down from the inside. The rumor said his name was Sal.
When I read that, the papers went flying. I pushed them off my lap with a ferocity I couldn’t contain.
Gio had a cousin named Sal. The only member of his family he gave a shit about. But it had to be a coincidence. In my mind, I already had plans to kill Gemma the next time our paths crossed. I thought she was my friend, why would she try to break Gio and me up? Did she hate him that much? Even if she did, I was supposed to be her friend.
Convincing myself to be logical, I ran to the desk to grab my laptop and settled back on the couch right about the time my phone chimed with a text.
GIO: I’m out. Are you up?
Wide awake. But did I want to answer him? If I did he’d come over and see that I got freaked out by something and he’d want to know what. I didn’t want him to know the things Gemma gave me, not until I had time to think and research. I wasn’t in the mood to explain right then. Everything was still too confusing.
He loved me. I knew this yet something clawed at my stomach. Some sort of sixth sense, woman’s intuition bullshit telling me it wasn’t all a lie.
Then the decision was made for me.
GIO: You must be asleep. I’ll see you tomorrow. Love you.
GIO: Yup, still a little weird
Was it weird? Was he playing me? Was this all about the restaurant? I knew we were the bomb but damn, this seemed extreme. Every time he said he loved me in person, a light, almost boyish, happiness oozed from every pore in his body. I suppose great actors could fake anything.
Three hours later, I’d re-read everything Gemma gave me, trying to carefully avoid the photos of Gio with other women because those made me feel sick. Somewhere along the way, I found an obscure blog by a woman who posted about her parent’s pizza place being taken over by The Trinity Corporation. Her blog seemed to be all about bashing them, which I totally got. Some of the tactics, according to her, were dick moves to make. We’d seen a little of the sort of pressure tactics they used. Saying it could become ugly wasn’t a stretch of the imagination.
And then I found what I’d been looking for. A post from the year before titled “Heartbroken”. My stomach sank.
She started out with the normal bash about Trinity then moved it all to a personal level. She wrote that the company wanted her parents place desperately and they sent in a man to woo her to ensure he’d be in close confidence when the decision to sell was made. She said she’d been a way for him to get into the inner circle of the decision making.
Julie, the girls’ name … Julie wrote about how she fell for the guy almost immediately and it ended up being her bad. She should’ve been suspicious, she said, but the guy finessed his way into her life. When the shit hit the fan, as she called it, she was left humiliated and heartbroken. The only credit she could give the guy, whom she never named, was that he never tried to convince her they were a long-term thing. He’d been determined that they were temporary. She never mentioned the name of the guy, but there were enough similarities my stomach started burning.
In the end, I felt terrible for her. Scrolling back to the top of the page, I noticed she had a photo in the corner. Clicking, it took up most of my screen. With my heart screaming to put it away and my head convincing me I had to know, I grabbed the photos Gemma included and went through them one by one.
The girl in the sixth picture, standing next to Gio with huge smiles on their faces, was Julie.
Chapter Sixteen
I almost didn’t make it to the toilet before everything I’d ever eaten in my life came back to revisit. Once I had nothing left to offer the porcelain god, I fell back against the bathtub with a thump, my hair stuck to my forehead. I could feel the sweat dripping down my spine.
It didn’t make me feel any better. The physical purging did nothing for the emotional one still needing to happen.
This was real. And I didn’t think my heart still resided in my body. It had been ripped away and run over by a lawn mower tearing it to shreds. Then someone burned whatever remnants remained. I didn’t know how I could ever recover from the emptiness I felt but realistically, I couldn’t even think about it.
First instinct … talks to Gramps. A quick check of the clock on the bathroom wall told me I’d have to wait. I couldn’t bother him at four o’clock in the morning. I hadn’t realized how much time passed. I hadn’t slept at all and spent the entire night going through articles and websites. I guess it doesn’t take long for a person’s world to fall apart.
Why would Gemma do this to me? Was she trying to be a good friend? I mean, if I knew something like this was being done to Bailey, no question I would march over there so she didn’t get hurt even more. I would stay with her and hold her until I could kill the guy who destroyed my best friend.
The next hours were spent staring out the window facing Gramps’ kitchen. The light switched on about six thirty and I immediately headed over there with the envelope and my computer. I knew I had to look like a crazy person with wrinkled pajamas and a mop of tangled hair I’d been yanking on the entire night. I did take the time to brush my teeth, though. I could at least do that. Especially after my time hovering over the toilet.
“What’re doing up this early?” He pulled the door open for me to slip in. One good look at me and he knew things weren’t right. “What’s wrong, Bianca?”
I walked toward him,
shuffling feet that were refusing to cooperate, my jaw clenched so tightly that it started to ache. My entire body had been tense since I woke up and a huge elephant still sat perched on my chest. The added weight of a heartbreaking slowed me down.
I burst into tears. Gramps held my face and rubbed his thumbs under my eyes before the wetness dried on my cheek. Even before I had the chance to explain, his anger grew to epic proportions because I was crying, because someone had broken me this badly.
It didn’t take him nearly as long to believe everything as it did me. I’d already done everything to confirm what I saw, but Gramps only cared about my well-being and if there was a chance someone could continue to hurt me, he’d put an end to it.
“I…I don’t want to deal with it right now. I want him out of the restaurant. That’s all he’s here for. They can’t have it, Gramps. They can’t.” Hardening every emotion I had could allow me to function. Right then, I couldn’t think about the fact that the man I loved used me and would soon be out of my life permanently. The out of my life part should make me feel better; it should be what I wanted more than anything. It didn’t and it wasn’t.
“Well, let’s head in. He’s on early today and usually brings something from the bakery to eat in the break room right before. We’ll do it before anyone gets there. I’ll call Pablo in to take Gio’s shift. You aren’t working today.” By the tone of his voice, I knew better than to argue. He’d throw me out forcefully if he had to, even if the last thing I wanted was to sit and wallow.
Gramps picked up Danish on our way in because he’d gotten dressed without stopping for breakfast. I couldn’t eat, no way. Anything I took in would come right up. But he needed his strength. I realized Joe would be in early as well, which made me feel a little better. If things went south, Joe wasn’t someone to mess with even no matter his age. He’d boxed semi-professionally and knew how to handle any situation. That’s how he and Gramps had met. They boxed together as teenagers though Gramps had no desire to do it as his career.
Love by the Slice (Harbor Point Book 1) Page 12