Chapter 47
Chapter
Forty-Seven
WREN
“ W hat do you want?” I slur into the phone.
There’s only one person I know who would call me before nine in the morning. Working bar shifts for so long has made my internal clock despise the morning. No one in their right mind should be up and functioning before noon. Plus, the softness of Matteo’s sheets and fluffy bed doesn’t help. It makes me feel like I could sleep all day.
“Happy Birthday, bitch!” Delaney sings into my ear. Ugh, she should go straight to fucking jail for being this peppy so early. “It’s tattoo day!”
“Ink doesn’t even open the shop until noon. So what the fuck?” I say groggily as I roll onto my back.
“I just needed to be the first person to tell you happy birthday. But now that you’re awake, get your ass out of bed. We have shit to do. Don’t worry about an outfit for tonight. I already got you one. See you in a few hours.”
“What’s tonight?” I ask to a dead line.
“Ugh…” I groan as I toss my phone onto Matteo’s side of the bed, which has been empty for almost a week now.
I can’t say that I’ve done much with my life since he left to go hunting. I’m still not allowed to work. I even tried bribing Cain to let me come back, but all he said was, “Sorry, babe. I’ve seen how crazy your man can fucking get. I prefer to stay on his good side.” That’s what I get for being a loyal employee.
The traitor.
The one thing I did notice was that I’m never alone with Rob. Aldo just popped out of nowhere the first day Matteo was gone, claiming he had work in his office to do and has been here ever since. Enzo has been in and out as well. I think he’s running out of excuses about why he’s coming by because he stopped saying hi and now just smiles and waves.
It’s not a coincidence that this happened after Matteo found out how Rob acted when Delaney came over. It’s like they think I’m a fucking idiot and don’t know what’s going on. I’m grateful though. Being alone with him makes me so uncomfortable now.
Part of me is a little disappointed that Matteo isn’t here to celebrate my birthday. I can’t exactly be mad about it though, considering I never even told him when it is.
I hope Delaney isn’t planning some wild fucking party. Matteo would definitely lose his shit, but… we always have the best sex when he’s punishing me. So maybe it is time to turn it the fuck up. Being bad mixed in with not seeing him for almost a week?
That sex is going to be explosive.
“Where are you off to?” Aldo sounds from behind me, scaring the shit out of me. On instinct, I threw the first thing that my hand could grab. “Ah! What the fuck?”
My phone smacked into his face, nailing him right in his nose.
“Oh shit!” I exclaim, frozen from what just happened, that is, until I see the blood starting to pour out of his nose. “Oh my god. I am so sorry, Aldo. Are you okay?” I ask, grabbing the hand towel hanging off of the oven door and rushing over to him.
“No, I’m not okay! I think you broke my nose.” Aldo groans, taking the towel out of my hand. “Who just throws their phone at someone like that?”
“It was a reflex!”
“And how would you have called for help if I was someone who was actually here to hurt you?” he asks as he tips his head back.
“I don’t know. I didn’t exactly think that far ahead. I threw the first thing that was in my hand and planned on running away.” Probably not the best move, but I never claimed to be a final girl.
“You need to work on your situational awareness.”
“I’m in the house. I’m fine,” I say as I bend down to pick up my phone that fell on the floor after almost taking Aldo out.
“Never let your guard down unless you know one of us is in the room. But even then, there’s people you need to watch out for,” Aldo warns.
Who is he talking about?
I don’t respond as I try to wrap my head around his warning. Sometimes, I miss my boring life, where all I did was go on runs and go to work. But that past life didn’t have Matteo. Now that I have a taste of a good thing, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to let it go. Even if he lets me go at the end of all of this, I’ll still cling to the little bit of light he’s shown me in this dark fucking world.
“Where are you off to?” Aldo asks again, breaking me from my thoughts.
Do I tell him? He’s probably just going to report back to Matteo. “I’m meeting Delaney.” There. That’s vague. Safe even.
“Does Matteo know?”
See? “No. He hasn’t exactly texted me much this week.” That reminds me that I do have a reason to be pissed off at him. I sent him two good morning texts, and I am not a good morning text kind of bitch. And what did I get in return?
Silence.
Fucking silence.
Actually, all I’ve really gotten is a ‘Hope you had a good day. Wish I was home with you’ bullshit at the end of every day. After day three, I just stopped texting back because, honestly, what the fuck is that bullshit?
“He’s focused right now. It doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care,” Aldo says, tossing the bloody towel in the sink.
I know that, but… “I still deserve a random check-in phone call or a longer text conversation. It takes two seconds to message someone.”
“You do.” Aldo inclines his head. “I’m not saying don’t give him shit for it. I’m just saying it doesn’t mean that he isn’t thinking about you every fucking second. The man is like watching a lovesick teenager.”
“Whatever,” I say with an eye roll, a small smile creeping onto my face.
“Is all of the blood off of my face?” Aldo asks.
God, I can’t believe I threw my phone like that at his face. “Yeah, it’s gone. I’m really sorry again.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Aldo waves it off. “I shouldn’t have snuck up on you like that. Are you ready to go? ”
“Are you coming with me?” I really fucking hope not. The last thing I need is him snitching on me to Matteo about getting a tattoo.
“Someone has to make sure you don’t hit someone else in the face with your phone. The last thing we need right now is an assault charge,” Aldo jokes as he tosses his keys in the air. “Let’s go.”
Ugh, I have a feeling I’m going to regret this.