Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
brONWYN
My head shoots up, and my hands freeze on my jeans I was beginning to pull down my hips as I hear the lock on the front door turn. Before I can react, it opens, and Gio saunters in like he owns the place. His shirt is stained crimson, matching the blood that’s coating his hands.
His eyes land on me, heating as they take me in. He closes the door behind him and flips the lock, all without taking his attention off me. Suddenly, my small studio feels like a sauna.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I ask, trying to keep the heat out of my voice and sound pissed like I should be, but all I can think about is how I got off to the thought of him last night.
And the way he’s looking at me right now with the blood on his hands of the man who wanted to hurt me isn’t helping.
“You can’t just barge in here whenever you want.
I’m pretty sure the lease I signed says you need to give at least forty-eight hours before entering. ”
Gio takes in my unbuttoned pants as he finally moves, advancing toward me at the same pace he walked in here with. He’s approaching me as if he owns me.
“And just who are you going to report me to?” he asks, the challenge in his voice clear as day.
“I, I, I’ll tell Matteo,” I stammer. He’s in my space, and his scent is filling my nose, making me lose all thoughts. He smells of leather and sin, all wrapped up in one.
“Oh, sweet cara. He’s not going to be on your side,” Gio says, sounding amused.
“I can report you to the housing department,” I try again, doing my best to stand my ground, but I’m losing this war fast.
Gio laughs. “You’re cute.” I hold my breath as his hand comes up and smooths down the back of my hair. I’m sure he’s coated it in blood, but I can’t think straight when he’s in my space, let alone begin to care. “You doing okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be doing okay?” This man is intoxicating. I need to move away from him, but I can’t get my body to be on the same page as my brain.
“You just saw the dead body of a man who you said was following you around today. That can be a lot to take in,” he says, his voice soft and his brown eyes warm with concern. It’s a complete 180 from the man I’ve come to know.
“I’m fine,” I tell him, not sounding convincing at all.
I’m trying my best to do what I usually do when life decides to turn my world upside down, I act like it didn’t happen and move on.
But this one is proving to be harder to shake.
I mean, can you blame a girl? A random man followed me around town today, decided to invite himself to have coffee with me, and then, when I decided to call it a day, I found him murdered in the alley leading to my apartment.
And somehow Gio is there. He’s always there lately.
“Tell me what happened.” Gio applies pressure to the back of my head, leaving me no choice but to lean into him. Much to my surprise, he places a light kiss on my forehead before releasing my head as his hand slides down to the small of my back, not letting me out of his space.
His shirt feels cool from being wet with blood. It should freak me out, but it doesn’t. Does it make me crazy to say I think it’s hot he went to that length to protect me?
I close my eyes briefly and press my lips together, keeping the soft sigh inside. The comfort he’s giving me feels too good. I know from experience that nothing sweet ever lasts for me.
“I told you I don’t want to talk about it,” I tell him, turning my head to the side.
Gio’s hand grasps my chin, squeezing lightly as he turns my head back so I’m looking at him again.
“I just murdered a man for you, cara,” he says, his tone so dangerously low that it sends a shudder through my body.
“I’d say the least you can do is tell me why I found that piece of shit waiting for you under the stairs outside. ”
Oh my god.
“He was waiting under the stairs?” I gulp.
My mind is running through a million possibilities as to why someone like him would be following me, but all of them seem so far out of reach.
“He was.”
“Why?” I ask, sounding way the fuck freaked out. “I keep to myself. I don’t bother anyone. Why would someone want to stalk me?”
“Hey.” Gio’s calm but commanding tone cuts through my rant. “It’s done with. I took care of him. But I need you to tell me what happened earlier today.”
My eyes search his face, looking for any sort of unspoken answer. “Why did you take care of him?”
The next thing out of his mouth rocks my world to the point where I don’t know if I should test out that rodeo theory or check myself into a mental institution.
“Because I’m the only one who’s allowed to stalk you.”
“What if I don’t want you to stalk me?”
“Well, that’s just too damn bad.”
My eyes narrow at him. “You know, it’s really starting to be quite annoying that you’re everywhere I am.”
Gio’s hand moves, leaves the small of my back, cupping my ass and squeezing lightly. “And that’s just too damn bad, too.”
“You really killed him?” I ask.
Gio studies me before answering, “I did. And I’d do it again.
” I know I should be scared and running for my life, but I’m not.
I’ve never had someone in my life looking out for me before.
My dad never did that; that’s for damn sure.
No matter how much I begged and pleaded, I was never a priority.
“This stays between you and me though, okay?”
I nod my head. “Thank you for looking out for me.”
I can’t believe I’m thanking him for killing someone for me but the thought of what could have happened if I came home and he was there…it’s something I don’t want to think about.
“Cara,” Gio sighs, “You don’t know, but you will. You never need to thank me for looking out for you.”
Emotion clogs my throat; the anger I felt from him bulldozing his way in like he always does forgotten. My eyes move over his shoulder, focusing hard on a spot on the wall across the room, not wanting him to see the feelings this has brought up. He doesn’t get those.
“Look at me,” Gio demands. Once again, my body isn’t on the same page as my brain and follows his orders, this time making eye contact with him. His eyes are burning straight into my soul. “Now, tell me what happened.”
I take a deep breath as I let my shoulders sag.
I’m so mentally and physically exhausted it isn’t even funny, but I need to get this over with.
“I don’t really know what happened. I was exhausted last night because I couldn’t sleep.
I mean, I’m still exhausted, even more so now because I feel like I’m floating through this fucked-up reality that has somehow become my life. ”
“Bronwyn,” Gio cuts off my rant. “Focus.”
“I’m sorry,” I groan as I tip my head up toward the ceiling.
“I’m so tired I can’t think straight. Okay, so I wanted a coffee this morning, obviously.
” Gio nods his head. “And when I was sitting at The Drip waiting for my order, this man came up and sat down at my table basically without asking. Which threw me off, by the way, because who does that uninvited?” Gio’s face hardens.
“And then he kept going on about how if I had a boyfriend he wouldn’t leave me alone to sit by myself, so obviously I don’t have one.
It was so insulting. Even if I did have a man, I can sit by my damn self and have a coffee.
It’s not like I invited him to sit with me.
” I scoff. I’m getting upset all over again about this.
“The next man you’ll have will let you have a coffee by yourself, but he will be paying for anything and everything you do with or without him. Did he stay with you the entire time?”
I look at Gio, a little stunned at his comment. My next man? What does that mean? And why is he commenting on it?
“Cara.” Gio sighs in frustration. “I know this has been a long day for you, but I need you to focus.”
“Sorry,” I reply. “He sat with me until I got up and left because he made me so uncomfortable.”
“Why do I feel like there’s something you’re not telling me?” Gio asks, his tone taking on a scary edge.
“Because I don’t know what to make of it, and I tried to forget about it today because, honestly, it really freaked me out.” Gio stays silent, waiting for me to finish. “He knew my name,” I finish in a whisper as a chill runs down my spine from the distant memory.
I wish I had more answers as to what and how all of this transpired, but I don’t. That’s almost more unsettling than a stranger knowing me when I don’t know them because how? How does something like that happen?
“He knew your name?” Gio asks, his brows rising slightly.
I nod, not wanting to repeat it again. The guy may be dead, but I don’t think that’s fully sunk in yet. For some reason, I still feel like someone is out there following me and waiting for the right opportunity to do…well, I don’t know what, but I don’t think it’s good.
“Do you recognize him from work?”
“No.” I would remember if someone like him came into AFK. Let’s just say he doesn’t look like the typical guy who frequents the store. Someone wearing a tailored suit would stick out like a sore thumb.
“Have you ever noticed someone following you home from work before?”
I shake my head. “I’m usually in my own world. Headphones in and music blasting. To be honest, sometimes I don’t remember walking home. It’s like my brain is on autopilot and it just knows the way.”
Gio’s mouth hardens into a thin line. “That’s not safe, cara. You need to be aware of your surroundings at all times. We live in a fucked-up world, and there are monsters out there that don’t have morals.”
I tilt my head. “Monsters have morals?”
“They’re different from traditional ones, but everyone lives by their own code.”
I guess that’s true. “Do you consider yourself a monster?”
“Do you think I am because I killed a man for you?”
Do I?
He took a life, and that’s something you can never get back.
But on the other hand, who knows what that man would have done to me when I came home.
I know for a fact I wouldn’t have seen him waiting for me under the stairs.
Gio’s right, I need to be more aware. But…
that still doesn’t take away from the monster that’s standing in front of me.
“You killed a man, Gio,” I tell him, my shoulders squaring as I stand up straight, hoping it will give me the balls to get this out.
“I know you’re not a Boy Scout. But something like that sticks with you, you know?
It might not hit you today or tomorrow, but eventually it will.
I don’t want that on my conscience. And I don’t want to be the reason you end up serving life in prison.
I appreciate you looking out for me, and I’ll never be able to repay you.
” I pause as I swallow, struggling to get my words out.
“But please don’t do that again,” I end on a whisper.
“Cara,” Gio says, his tone commanding my attention.
“The first night I met you, I was holding a dead man’s hand I cut off.
You think I go to sleep thinking about that?
Because I sure the fuck don’t. I’m not a good man, Bronwyn.
I’ll never be your definition of a good man.
But I get my own form of justice for me and for my family.
And now you. That’s never going to change.
So, to help you out, something like that does stick with me.
But not in the way you think it does. It sticks with me in a way I feel a sense of pride because I can go to sleep easy knowing my woman doesn’t have some sick fuck following her around trying to get a lick at what’s mine. ”
My heart starts to race as it becomes hard to breathe. “Your woman?” I barely choke out.
Gio’s hand rises to my face, his thumb slowly stroking down my cheek. “You will be. But that’s a conversation for another day.” My mouth drops open, but I don’t have time to catch up and process what he just said before he’s barreling forward. “Do you think this has something to do with your dad?”
“No,” I rush out as I shake my head. “There’s no way he would do that to me.”
Dennis will never come close to winning the best dad of the year award, but there’s no way he would give me up like that.
As far as I know, he’s never been that deep into a problem.
Does he spend more money than he makes? Yeah.
Do I have to help him out sometimes? Yeah.
But would he sell me out? No. Absolutely not.
“I don’t want to upset you, cara, but I just want you to keep it in the back of your mind, okay? I’m going to look into this. I’ve got an ID on the guy. I don’t like someone sniffing around my territory. I want you to promise me something.”
“What?” I ask, scared of what’s going to come out of his mouth.
“I want you to promise me you’ll call me the next time your dad makes contact.”
“Why?”
“I just want to ask him a few questions. You have nothing to worry about. Give me your phone.”
I slowly hand Gio my phone and watch him put his number in. He hits call, so he has mine as well before handing it back to me.
Something tells me I have a lot to worry about with Gio.