by Rina Kent
Paolo watches me intently, his finger tapping his thigh. “I’m afraid I can’t trust your words either. You’re a Vitallio after all.”
“Suit yourself.” I keep my tone nonchalant. “This is the only warning you’ll get from me, old man.”
That should be enough to form a bigger dent between him and Lucio. While they’re busy murdering each other, I’ll sneak back and take payment for what they did twenty-five years ago.
I open the door without turning. If I give him my back, he won’t hesitate to shoot me like they did to my mother.
“How about my daughter?” His frail voice causes me to stop.
“Your daughter?” I pretend to be ignorant.
“Stop playing with me. You took my daughter somewhere, where is Georgina?”
He knows.
Well, of course, he knows. After all, he was the reason her mom disguised her as a boy. If my calculations are correct, then he must’ve found her exact location around the time I took her to Sicily.
“I thought you have a son?” I feign surprise.
“I’ll find her and she’ll choose me. You know why, Alessio?” He emphasizes my given name. “For the same reason, you’re doing all this. Family. I’m her only remaining member. Blood runs thicker than water, remember that.”
Fuck him.
He won’t find her so he won’t be able to take her away, and if he somehow ends up in Sicily, his men will be murdered before they can arrive at the Vitallios’ lands. There’s a reason why no Costas come over.
“Keep an eye on Lucio,” I tell him before I leave his mansion as quietly as I got in.
I find Angelo waiting in the car by the back entrance. Now that I started the dent between Paolo and his fucker of a brother, my first mission is done. I should head back to the airport and leave before I catch Lucio’s attention.
But instead of heading to the airport, I ask Angelo to stop in the shitty neighborhood I never wanted to return to again.
And yet here I am.
Angelo waits for me in the car as I take two steps at the time to my little Petal’s old fucking apartment.
Soon enough, the tenant will empty it and put her things up for sale. Not that she has anything to root her to this place. Her new home is Sicily whether she likes it or not.
I use the spare key under the fire escape and open her apartment. Pads of feet run in my direction before the two cats surround me, mewling like fucking crazy.
“Mr. Bingly, Mrs. Hudson,” I greet. “Get your shit, we’re going somewhere.”
They follow me all the way as I grab their things and her laptop and some of her clothes. I was in a hurry the first time so I only brought her mug and a few clothes.
The cats caress my legs, looking up at me with big fucking eyes. Judging from their half-full cans, Dinah and that Russian nurse have fed them, but they must miss my little Petal as much as she misses them.
I caught her playing with Salli’s grandkid’s cat the other day and telling him how much she misses her own cats.
“You owe me,” I tell them as I usher them into their cages. They don’t protest as they go in there.
I throw one last look over at the apartment as I balance a bag on my shoulder and the cages on either of my hands.
This is where my obsession with my little Petal started, where I first watched her, fucked her, tied her up, and made her fantasies — and mine — come true.
Or rather, no, maybe my obsession with her started since she was little Joe, as fucked up as that sounds.
Angelo raises an eyebrow but says nothing as I place the cats and the bag in the back seat.
“Gifts for the woman.”
He merely nods as if saying, Really? This is what we took a detour for?
I close the back door and I’m about to settle beside Angelo when I notice a movement to my right.
A black car passes by and its window rolls down before gunshots shower the street.
I jump inside, firing one of my own and shout at Angelo, “Go! Go!”
Our car revs in the streets as the gunshots echo behind us. I roll my window down and fire at one of its tires, making it swerve to the right.
Fucking Lucio. I knew he’d find me one way or another.
As the car loses our trail, I stare back at the cats. One of them is staring with wide eyes, but the other is sleeping.
Fuck. I can’t believe I’m worried about the cats’ well-being.
“Boss…” Angelo’s frantic eyes study me.
It’s then I see it, the red covering the fucking seats. I follow the trail to find my jacket soaked at the shoulder level and a hole punctures the skin.
Fuck.
At first, I don’t feel it, but then the burn grips me like a son of a bitch. The pain explodes all over my skin and more blood leaves me.
I attempt to squeeze the wound, but that doesn’t stop the bleeding. My vision starts doubling and I breathe through my nose. This isn’t the first time I’ve been shot, but it’s the first time I’ve lost so much blood this quickly.
Fuck, again.
At this rate, I’m going to faint and that’s never good.
“I’ll take you to the hospital,” he says.
“No.” I shake my head once. Lucio will find me in no time and kill me. “Take me home.”
“But boss…”
“Home. Sicily.” I croak.
Home. Petal.
10
Georgina
I tell myself I’m only upset because I can’t escape.
Because even though Jasper left, Enzo is here and he’s watching me like a hawk.
Jasper went out early this morning with Angelo, and while he always goes out to work, this time was different. One, they seemed tense. Two, he usually returns to have lunch with me.
Not today.
It’s already night time and there’s no trace of him.
Everyone refuses to tell me where Jasper went as if this is some sort of a secret I can’t be privy to. Even Salli says she doesn’t know and that these things are none of her business.
I thought Jasper’s absence would give me more incentive to escape, but I find myself by the window watching for a car to arrive or something.
It’s getting late and yet I can’t sleep. I feel like something is missing.
Or wrong.
I did lay in bed but without his warmth in it, it felt empty, almost too empty.
What is wrong with you, Georgina?
I force myself to go to bed and lie on top; my hands are crossed over my stomach and I keep staring at the ceiling. Images of when Jasper spanked me then fucked me raw on this same bed trickle back to memory.
Letting my hand trail to my neck, I touch the collar and sigh. It’s like I always have a part of him with me in the form of this collar.
I immediately drop my hand.
Happy thoughts. I need happy thoughts.
Today, I managed to spy a back way through the fields. It’s where the trucks load the supplies and leave. They’re not farm people so they don’t work for Jasper and his family — whom I discovered is super big around here.
According to Salli, people consider the Vitallios their benefactors, and that’s why they respect Jasper to the point of reverence.
Or rather Alessio.
No one calls him Jasper here. It’s either Senior Vitallio or Alessio. I like his other name.
“Alessio…” I murmur as if I want to get a feel of it on my tongue.
I still like the fact I’m the only one who gets to call him Jasper, though. Just like he’s the only one who calls me Petal.
Closing my eyes, I decide that I’m going to forget about Jasper as soon as I’m out of here. I’m going to forget about his firm hand and consuming kisses and the way he brought each of my fantasies to reality.
I’m going to forget about his wicked tongue and the gleam in his icy blue eyes or how his thick hair feels beneath my fingers.
As soon as I’m out of here...
&nb
sp; I doze off or I think I do.
Instead of dreaming about an escape, I dream about Jasper lying beside me, slowly waking me up so he’d thrust inside me and make love to me.
Wait. Make love?
“Miss!”
I jolt awake at the harsh accented voice. I’m disoriented from sleep, I don’t focus for a bit, and when I do, I wish I didn’t.
Angelo is wrapping his arm around an unconscious Jasper’s shoulder. Blood drips down his white shirt soaking it in red.
His head lolls to the side and his eyes move beneath his lids.
My heart nearly stops beating and it takes everything in me to form a voice. “W-what happened?”
“He was shot. Can you help him?”
I tuck away all the emotional reactions swirling in the front of my head and I jump to my feet. He’s a patient. A patient.
“Let’s take him to the hospital.”
“Negative,” Angelo says. “No hospitals.”
I know I can argue from here to tomorrow, but Jasper’s men are just like him; if they don’t want to do something, they won’t do it.
Besides, this must be because of criminal activities.
“Put him here.” I motion to the bed.
I try not to focus on how much blood he lost and fail. That’s a lot of blood soaking his shirt. Shit.
“Is there a medical kit here?” I ask Angelo as I rip the buttons off Jasper’s shirt.
“I can check with Salli.”
“Do it, now! And get hot water.”
I take my first look at the wound. It’s a graze, there’s no bullet, but it’s a deep graze that hit vessels and it’s why he lost a lot of blood. It’s been oozing out of him for a long time, hours I assume.
“Jasper!” I hit his cheek. “Jas, come on, open your eyes.”
They move behind his lids but he doesn’t open them. I need to stop the bleeding and stitch him up fast.
“What have you gotten yourself into this time, you idiot?” I try to use my stern nurse voice but it comes out as something close to a sob.
His pulse is steady so that’s a good sign. On the other hand, his breathing is slightly choppy.
“You asshole.” I press on his wound and he groans. “What did you do to get yourself shot, huh?”
His lids move again and his lips part but he says nothing. A drop falls on his cheek and I realize it’s coming from me. I’m crying. I’m not supposed to cry when I take care of a patient.
This isn’t a patient, though. It’s Jasper.
“Here.” Angelo barges inside carrying a box that has the red cross logo on it. “Salli is bringing the hot water.”
I wipe my eyes and get to work.
Surprisingly, the box has most of what I need. I get the tweezers, soak them with isopropyl alcohol and remove the pieces of tissue stuck inside and then I clean the wound.
Salli, Angelo and even Enzo join me. Salli helps me as if she’s the nurse and I’m the doctor. She doesn’t even look away when I stitch the wound. Most people don’t like seeing flesh being sewn together, but Salli and everyone here aren’t normal people.
They all come from a brutal world where gunshots are normal.
In my world, gunshots only belong in the ER, and while I worked there, I never got used to them.
And now that Jasper is the victim of one of them, I’m on the verge of a breakdown. I keep thinking of all the scenarios this could go into. My hand shakes and I take deep breaths to regulate it before I continue.
After I inject him with antibiotics, I hand Salli a list of what I’ll need. She leaves saying she’ll have her son get them.
“What happened?” I ask Angelo, my voice low and thick with emotion.
“He was shot by Lucio’s men when we were leaving.” Angelo talks while still standing at the entrance.
Enzo has made himself at home and is sitting on the chair by the bed.
“Lucio’s men came here?” I ask, closing the lid of the box.
Angelo stares at Enzo as if asking permission from him to talk.
“They were in the States,” Enzo says in a monotone voice. “Your family is finishing what they started decades ago.”
“You were in the States?” I stare at Angelo, unbelieving. “Why didn’t you get his wound treated there? It might get infected.”
Angelo keeps his rigid posture. “He didn’t want to.”
“If he stayed there, Lucio would’ve killed him for sure.” Enzo pauses. “Or is that what you want, Costa?”
“I don’t know what your problem is with me, but you need to stop.” I jut my chin. “If I wanted him dead, I would’ve done it just now.”
Enzo continues staring at me with his unmatched eyes but doesn’t say anything.
Angelo disappears outside, leaving me in my silent war with Enzo. I ignore him and focus back on Jasper, checking his temperature.
It’s climbing. Damn it. He has an infection. But then again, with the time he spent bleeding, it would’ve been a surprise if he didn’t.
The sound of mewing gets me out of my thoughts. Angelo appears in the entrance carrying two cat cages with Mr. Bingly and Mrs. Hudson inside.
“He made a stop to get them,” Angelo says. “That’s how he got shot.”
All my attempts to fight the need to cry fail. I couldn’t stop even if I wanted to.
He went back to get my cats. He did this for me.
Damn him.
Damn him to the darkest pits of hell.
I wrap my hand around his neck and brush my lips against his as I let the tears loose.
“Don’t you dare leave me, Jas. Don’t you fucking dare.”
11
Jasper
A few weeks have passed and my injury still hurts like a fucking bitch.
You know those times when your skin hates you and kind of starts attacking you? Yeah, me neither.
It’s called infection and my little Petal has been doing her best to get rid of it, or rather to stop me from spiraling down that path. She cursed me, too, in the meantime, always reminding me of how stupid I was when I came all the way back here when I could’ve gotten treated back in the States.
She’s so fucking adorable when worried and acting like a stern nurse. And yes, it’s like porn, and yes, she fucked and sucked me like in those nurse fetish movies.
I can’t get over how our kinks keep expanding over time.
Now, however, she’s making me take a walk because I need fresh air and Vitamin D from the sun or what-the-fuck-ever. The only reason I’m going along with this is because I get to wrap my arm around her waist, tuck her to my side, and show her to the entire fucking world.
The workers at the grapery nod in respect whenever we pass by. My little Petal has learned enough Italian to greet them back and even accept the grapes some of the workers wash for her.
I glare at a boy who watches her with admiration in his light blue eyes. He can’t be older than seventeen, but I still want to poke his fucking eyes out for staring at her. Who does he think he is to show me this type of disrespect? To look at what’s mine as if he has every right to?
His father seems to understand my sign and scolds him in low murmured Italian words.
“Why is he yelling at him?” my little Petal asks me as she sucks on a grape.
For a second, I’m lost in the way her lips wrap around the fruit before it disappears inside her mouth. Fuck me. She’s like an erotic dream come true.
“Nothing you need to worry about,” I answer her question.
She narrows her eyes. “Why do I not believe that?”
I lift my good shoulder as I whisk her away from the workers’ field of vision. It’s not the season of olives, so fewer are on this side.
Even though Petal’s dressed in a simple floral dress that matches the spring sky, I don’t like that anyone can look at the hints of skin showing through the cloth.
She’s mine and I want it to remain that way. Just mine. I don’t even like it that she learned —
or remembered — enough Italian to strike up simple conversations.
Possessiveness. Fucking Google it.
My little Petal leans her head against my good shoulder, her small fingers wrapping around my bicep as we walk in silence.
We have done this a lot since I was shot. Walking, going into the forest and breathing the earth’s scent.
Usually, we spend more time with the workers and my little Petal would leave me stranded under a tree — with her fucking cats — and go help. They try to refuse, but she doesn’t take no for an answer and puts everything into it as she works with them.
Today the cats are with Salli and I’m not allowing her to leave me. I need my dose of her, too.
“I love it here,” she says with a sigh.
“Pretty sure it’s because I’m here that you love it.”
“Stop being an arrogant jerk.” She glares up at me. “Besides, you tried to ruin it for me.”
I raise an eyebrow. “How so?”
“Um...excuse me? You don’t remember making me run in this forest naked and barefoot while you kept shocking the fuck out of me?”
“Admit it, you loved it.”
She huffs. “Whatever.”
“You did love it. Besides…” I run my fingers over her collar and a slight shiver takes hold of her. “You love your collar.”
“I do not.”
“You mean you don’t like how I hold you by it while I fuck you raw?”
She keeps her glare, pretending to sulk, but soon enough, she returns to admiring our surroundings.
It’s genuine, the fact that she likes this place, I mean. She wakes up with a smile on her face and she speaks to her cats in that soft, happy tone telling them about all the fun they will have today.
However, even I know that if she gets a chance, she’ll run and never look back.
It’s not about her job, her friends, or the life she left behind in Chicago; it’s about her father. She’s yearning to meet Paolo and the more I keep her away from him, the more she wants to run to him — and leave me.
The fucker was right. Blood does run thicker than water.