18
“Kai!”
I slipped on my helmet when I heard Gio calling my name. I liked the kid, but I needed to go for a ride and clear my head. Luckily, one of Amalia’s people had jumped on my bike and rode it back that night. Two days since the compound ambush, and everyone has been on edge since. Amalia’s father hired extra security on all his properties, and at least a handful of men suspected of double-crossing him and Amalia had been tortured and executed. While she’d had no part in those punishments, she’d weighed in on their possible involvement and made the final call that sealed their fate. Yet there were still no answers. Rocco, of course, denied any knowledge and pretended to be just as shocked. His days were numbered.
“What’s up?” I tucked my helmet under my arm and waited for him to speak. His eyes were on the ground first, then on Gloria as he fidgeted with his shirt sleeve. I waited until impatience and the need to relieve some stress got the best of me. Shifting my weight, I put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Something wrong?”
He shrugged, and his whole body seemed to deflate. “It’s Amalia. She won’t talk to me. She’s avoiding me.” His glassy eyes finally met mine. “I think she’s disappointed.”
“She’s still shaken up about what happened. She’ll come around.”
Gio’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. “I just wanted her to be proud of me.”
“I know for a fact she is. You should see how her face lights up whenever she talks about you. But what you did was reckless. Hell, we barely made it out alive.” I gave his shoulder another squeeze. “Hey, I don’t think I ever said thank you for what you did back there for your sister, for me. That was very brave.” Gio wiped at his tears with the back of his sleeve.
“You think so?” he asked with a watery smile.
“Yeah, kid, but also very stupid. Don’t you ever fucking do that again.”
He nodded with his head down. “You think she’ll tell my parents?”
“Nah. She won’t. Nothing came of it. No harm, no foul, right?”
“You going for a ride?” He gripped the handle of my bike.
“Yeah, need to get some air. Sometimes, it’s the only thing that helps me relax. Feeling the wind, the speed…it’s freeing, you know.”
“Was Gloria someone special to you?”
I flashed him a grin. “You heard that?”
He chuckled, swiping at the last of the moisture from his eyes. “Yeah, and I think my sister is jealous.”
“She’d have to feel something for me to be jealous.”
Ever since the night of the ambush, when she slept in my bed, Amalia seemed distant, like she was avoiding me too, now that I thought about it. And I found myself missing our banter and arguments. Replaying our conversation over again in my head, what we went through that night, and how close we’d come to dying, I wondered if I’d said or done something wrong.
Did I snore?
“Now, who’s the stupid one?”
With my attention back then, I regarded him with knitted eyebrows. “What do you mean?”
“My sister definitely likes you, Kai. I’m not saying she wants to have your babies or anything, but I know how she is around people she doesn’t like. And that’s not you.”
She kicked my ass hard enough. I’d hate to be someone she didn’t like.
“You think so?” I asked to humor him.
“I know so. And she trusts you, because if you know Amalia, trust is crucial to her. I was never sure what she did or what she was capable of, but now that I’m certain, so much of it makes sense.”
His amused expression found mine again. “You two are a lot alike. Maybe even perfect for each other.”
“Because of who we are and what we do?” Gio nodded with a somber expression. “Does that bother you?”
“I killed a man, and I know I’m supposed to feel some remorse, but I don’t. Is that bad?”
I whistled out a long exhale.
“I lost my ability to judge anyone’s morals and what keeps them up at night a long time ago. That’s for you to decide. This is my job. It’s who I am and all I know. But when I kill, there’s a purpose, Gio, whether it’s an assignment or in self-defense. It’s not a sport.”
“I’m not trying to be a serial killer, if that’s what she’s worried about. I’m just tired of being the outcast or being treated like a kid. I want to prove to her and my parents that I’m just as capable.”
I climbed on my bike as the climate of our conversation drifted into territory I wasn’t too comfortable with. We all had our demons, and maybe I hadn’t been all that truthful.
“Sometimes it’s more important to prove certain things to yourself.”
He shrugged. “Yeah. Maybe.”
“You should let me take you for a ride one day.”
Gio’s eyes widened like goddamn saucers, and he shook his head almost violently. “No, thank you. Have you read statistics on motorcycle deaths?”
“You think they’re as bad as sneaking into an ambush, in a building with armed men trying to kill you, then pointing a gun at one of them?”
The corners of his eyes crinkled into a smile. “Touché.”
I couldn’t help laughing as I tugged the helmet over my head. “I’m heading out, kid. Remember what I said. Just give her some time.”
I needed to take my own advice.
“Kai, I wanted to say thank you.” I wondered if he could see my perplexed look from beneath my visor. “Thank you for being my friend and for not treating me like everyone else—as if I’m a child. I knew I liked you.”
“Well, at least one of you does.” We laughed, and I clapped him on the chest one last time.