Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
ENZO
I can feel them. My eyelids are heavy and I can’t seem to open them to look, but I know they’re here. Their presence settles over me like the heat from the midday sun burning away the fear that has gripped me for weeks.
He didn’t break me.
I’m home.
“A-Aurora.” I try to speak, but my words are slurred. It doesn’t matter though because they heard me, and I hear the shuffling of bodies as they approach what I’m assuming is a hospital bed. It doesn’t smell like our home—like our med-room.
As they get closer, the sterile hospital odour is displaced by something far more familiar. I wasn’t aware I was able to recognise them by scent, and I couldn’t tell you what they smelled of, but collectively I recognise them and it makes me feel safe. Protected.
Fingers rake through my hair. “I swear Enzo if you ever leave us again, I’ll hunt you down and kill you myself,” Aurora says, her voice firm, but I can hear the warmth and relief in her tone, like she can’t decide if she’s mad at me for leaving or elated that I’m back. “I love you, Enzo.” Her words skitter across the shell of my ear and lay heavy on my chest. Somehow grounding me and bringing me back to life at the same time.
I fight against the exhaustion and force my eyes open. I don’t register anything other than her shining emerald eyes. I’m transfixed, held by her gaze in a way that makes me feel powerless to do anything other than whatever she asks of me.
“I never meant to leave you, but I couldn’t let him take you.” My words are slow and stilted, but I force them out, needing to say what I couldn’t before. “You’re not his. You’re ours, mia guerrierotta .”
“Never leave us like that again, Enzo.” It’s Aurora speaking again, but I know she’s speaking for all of them when hands rest on my legs and a palm grips my ankle like they’re trying to tether me to them.
“Never,” I promise.
The gold flecks in her eyes glisten as tears brim, flooding her lashes, before landing on my cheek.
“Quit dripping on him, woman.” Benedict’s familiar tone drifts from my left. I try to turn towards him, but it triggers a burst of spasms down my neck and across my collarbone. The pain is sharp and steals my breath.
“No fucking moving, you idiot,” says the disembodied voice of Sinclair from the direction of my feet. “You have a ton of hardware holding your left arm and shoulder in place, so you’re in a neck brace for the moment. Just stay as still as you can and know that, aside from some future surgeries on your arm, everything else is mostly fixed. Doc Em operated on you herself.”
“That’s, boss. Not, idiot,” I mutter with as much sarcasm as I can muster through the drugs that make me feel like I’m mentally wading through treacle. “So fucking tired.”
“Sleep, boss,” Nico says, before a hand squeezes my ankle.
“Don’t leave,” I murmur before I drift off again.
Every time I wake up, I feel a little less like I’ve been run over by an eighteen-wheeler. I’m able to focus for longer periods, the pain lessening a little. From what I’ve managed to overhear from the doctors and nurses, it’s because they’ve started phasing out the sedatives, which I’m thankful for. They made me feel groggy and more than once, I woke up thinking I was still in that basement, drugged with whatever Max had been dosing me with.
I’m still having difficulty understanding the pompous twat standing next to Doc Em right now though. He introduced himself as an ortho-something or other and then started rambling about external fixators and titanium rods while pointing at an X-ray I don’t have the first damn clue how to read.
I raise an eyebrow at Doc Em, giving my best ‘pissed off man’ expression, hoping she gets the hint.
“Thank you, Dr Hendricks,” she interrupts before turning to me, entirely missing the blustering asshole behind her, clenching his jaw and burning a hole in the back of her head with the heat of his glare. “What all this means, Mr Moretti—” I fight the eye roll at the bullshit formality our mob doctor is forced to maintain in front of the other surgeons “—is that you need to stay here for at least a few weeks. We are going to operate on your arm and shoulder in two phases and keep you in so we can monitor the healing process with regular scans while limiting your movement. It’s vital that you follow all the post-surgery advice and rehabilitation if you want to restore mobility on your left side.”
“Yes, well, thank you, Dr Mancini, for your overly simplified explanation. I’ll see you tomorrow for your next surgery, Mr Moretti.” Dr Hendricks huffs before barging past Doc Em, taking his mouse-like interns with him.
“Is he always such a prick?” says Nico from across the room.
“Yes,” Doc Em says with a smile, “but he’s a highly skilled prick. You need to rest before tomorrow, Zo. I’ll be back later to check on your incisions.”
I nod. She’s right. Just being awake seems to take it out of me, but this is the first time I’ve been awake longer than ten minutes and I want to spend some time with my family.
“Thank you, doc. For saving my ass. I owe you one,” I say.
“As do I,” adds Aurora, nodding at Doc Em like she’s bestowing her with a gift. And it’s then that my drug-addled brain realises that she is. Holy fuck. Aurora Bianchi is the don now. I may be the boss of this motley crew, but she’s in charge.
And fuck me if it doesn’t look hot as fuck on her. She was born to lead.
Not an entirely appropriate time to be noticing how much I want her, but my mind is a jumble of unconnected thoughts and disjointed feelings right now, heavily influenced by morphine. I can’t seem to follow a train of thought to save my life.
Doc Em retreats out of the room, leaving us all alone for the first time in what feels like forever. I have so many things that I want to say to them, but nothing that comes to me seems like it’s enough. How do you thank those you love for saving you from hell ?
“Don looks good on you, mia guerrierotta .”
“Can you give us a minute, guys?” she says, turning to the others, and I can’t help but feel a pang of jealousy as they fall into a group embrace. Nico and Benedict sandwich her in a heavy-handed bear hug while Sinclair taps his forehead to hers.
“We’ll be back with snacks and a remote to get the TV working. If you’re going to be bed-bound, can’t have you missing your stories, can we? Aurora’s been pissed that she’s had no one to watch the new season of Bridgerton with,” Nico says on his way out the door.
I can’t help but chuckle. “Guess my secret’s out.”
“Wasn’t much of a secret, Enzo. I snitched on you almost immediately,” she says with an impish grin.
“Come here, Aurora,” I say while wiggling the fingers on my right hand. “I need to touch you. I need to know that this is real.”
“I know what you mean. I never thought I’d see you again.”
She gets a chair and pulls it close, entwining her hands around my good one and bringing it to her lips. The second her hot breath strokes across my knuckles it anchors me, reassuring me this isn’t a dream.
“I am so fucking sorry, Enzo. We didn’t know. He shot you in front of us, made it look like you were dead. We had no idea you were alive…” Her words descend into incoherent mumbles where I only make out the odd ‘I’m sorry’. I want to hold her. Pull her to me and not let go until she truly hears my words, but she can barely look me in the eye.
“ Mia guerrierotta , stop,” I demand, unable to mask my frustration. “Don’t you dare apologise. I’d do the same again in a heartbeat if it meant you never had to endure Max again. What I experienced was nothing compared to the years you endured. ”
“Don’t try to make me feel better, Zo. If anyone understands what you’ve been through, it’s me.”
“Look at me, Aurora.” I pull my fingers from her grip and attempt to lift my right arm to cup her face, desperately trying to suppress a grimace as pain explodes through my body. She leans into my touch and closes her eyes, hiding herself away from me. “Look at me, please.”
Finally, she obeys. I’m not sure what she was expecting to see in my expression, but I have nothing but love and respect for her. I don’t blame her for Max’s depravity. Equally, I can’t lie to her. She’ll know what he did to me and I don’t think I’m ready to open this particular Pandora's box. What with the drugs and the concussion from the fall, I’ve been able to ignore the brief flashes of memory that have begun haunting me. But if we talk about it, my biggest fear is that it will unlock the floodgates and I won’t be able to keep the memories at bay.
Is denial the healthiest coping mechanism? Fuck no.
But I’m simply not ready to deal with it. I’m alive. I’m safe. And she’s here with me. They’ve all been here for me. That’s all I want right now.
“I can’t think about that, little warrior. I’m really hoping that you, of all people, will understand,” I whisper, my voice rasping like sandpaper in my throat.
She nods, slowly, and in this moment, I’ve never felt closer to her. We are bound together through a horrendous, painful experience, but I’m grateful that I will always have her understanding.
“Did you mean what you said yesterday?” I ask her, changing the subject.
“You were still pretty out of it… I wasn’t sure you’d remember. There was a time I thought I’d never get to say it to you and now I have you back, I’ll tell you every day,” she says, leaning down and taking my jaw in her hands, careful to avoid th e road rash on my left cheek. It’s tender as fuck, but I don’t care. I’d rather have the feel of her touch on my skin than avoid a little pain. “I fucking love you, mio re. ”
Her words knock the air out of my lungs. My king.
I’m the furthest thing from deserving such a title, but I don’t fucking care. Before I can say anything else, her lips press against mine, stealing my words and my thoughts.
I am nothing but hers.
“I love you too, Aurora,” I whisper against her lips.
My feelings are no surprise, but the joy of being able to say them out loud throws my world out of kilter. For so long, I have kept every hope, every desire buried so far down that I convinced myself they were nothing more than unrealistic fantasies, not meant for men like me. I don’t fucking deserve this woman, but there’s nothing on earth that will stop me from having her.
Her lips are soft against mine, leaving imprints of warmth that set my pulse racing. Her impatient tongue presses eagerly, demanding entry, dancing with mine until her delicate gasps grow wanton and desperate.
“I wish I could curl up on you, do more than just hold your hand.” Her voice breaks as she sits back down on the chair, absent-mindedly, running her fingers across my knuckles, circling the back of my hand, and soothing me with her gentle caress.
“It won’t be long, Aurora. I promise I’ll do everything the doctors say to make sure I’m healed and home with you soon.”
We sit in silence, happy to exist in each other's space, and I’m so thankful she’s here. That I’m not alone in the dark anymore. Before long, I’m stifling yawns, struggling not to doze off.
“Sleep, mio re . I promise I’ll keep you safe until you wake up. ”
I do as I’m told and drift off with her soft hands stroking my hair, grounding me enough to know that I’m free and she’s truly here and not a wishful dream.