CHAPTER 16 #2
“No, Cara. They had specific orders when I entrusted you to them. I will not have them disregarding those orders and endangering you in the process.”
“Rafe, please…” I uttered tiredly.
“Sorry sweetheart,” Rafe huffed out. “I’ll stop ranting now.”
“I’d appreciate it.” I just rested my head against the cold window and closed my eyes when the front doors opening startled me. I sat up and watched as Arran and Dante climbed in. “I should go. The guys are here now, and we’re setting off for the hotel.”
“Please try to get some rest tonight, Gioia. And for fuck’s sake be safe for me. I need you home in one piece as soon as possible.”
“I will be,” I assured him as Cal whispered to his brother, in reply when asked to whom I was talking.
“Ring me anytime, I don’t care what time it is. I’m here if you need me for any reason, or even if it’s for no reason at all. I’m always here for you.”
“Me too…for you, I mean. Love you.”
My nerves felt a little less exposed after hearing Rafe tell me he loved me too, before he hung up. Talking to him had helped me to remember why I was there and what I needed to get done. Hopefully, after some much needed sleep, I would find the strength to do that too.
The drive from the club and back into the city was silent and pretty tense. Dante hadn’t glanced at me once and I got the feeling I wasn’t the only one he was pissed off with.
It was a huge relief when we pulled up out front of the hotel.
All I wanted was to leap out and run to our suite, so I could lock myself away in my room, but Arran forced us to wait until the additional security pulled up behind us.
One of Rafe’s men jumped out and walked round to the driver’s side.
“Okay, let’s go,” Arran said, but I just paused to watch as Arran hopped out, and a middle aged, balding guy jumped in.
“Are you coming?” Cal asked, pulling my attention to where he was leaning into the back of the car, and grinning at me with amusement. I nodded and took his offered hand, grateful when he pulled enough to help me out.
“What was that all about?” I asked as I glanced back to the car once Cal had slammed the rear door closed, and watched it pull away and out into traffic.
“Just a precaution. Rafe doesn’t like valet’s having access to our vehicles. It’s safer if one of our men parks it and locks it up,” Cal explained.
“We need to get inside. Get moving!” Dante barked, and when I turned slightly, I found him almost right behind me.
A part of me demanded I turn to get in his face and tell him not to speak to me that way, but then I remembered the anger I had seen on his face not thirty minutes before and I stopped myself.
Maybe I was a little scared of him in that moment, if I were honest. I was still sure he wouldn’t physically hurt me, but as emotional and raw as I felt right then, I did fear breaking down in the face of his temper, and I didn’t want to do that.
“That’s enough, mate. You don’t have the right to speak to Cara that way. Me either, while we’re on the subject,” Cal argued. His tone firm, but calm still.
It was cowardly, but I decided the best thing for me to do was put some space between Dante and I, so I released Cal’s hand and speed walked to where Arran was waiting for us several feet ahead. When I got to his side I wrapped both of my hands around his forearm and clung to it instinctively.
“Is Dante getting to ya, lass?” Arran asked, looking down at me with a sympathetic look.
“Not usually. Usually, I can handle him, but tonight…I just…he was s-so angry and I haven’t seen that before. On top of a really hard fucking day…” I hesitated.
“I ken he can be a lot, but only does it because he cares so much fer ya. He’s fear’t he’ll no’ be able to keep ye safe.”
“I get that…kind of. But I can’t deal with him acting as he did tonight, Arran. It’s too much. I don’t belong to anyone,” I gasped a little tearfully.
“Yer right. I’ll have a word wi’ him,” Arran agreed.
I was just relieved when we started walking inside the grand lobby of the modern, high end hotel Dio had booked and insisted we stay in, Apparently it had the best security of any other hotel in the city.
I had thought it way too lavish when we arrived, but didn’t bother voicing my thoughts.
Arguing was pointless where security was concerned. I’d already learned that much.
We walked into the lift, and the doors were just closing, when a huge, booted foot pushed between them, causing them to slide back again. Dante stepped inside, followed by Cal.
“We stick together, no matter how much the princess is pouting,” Dante growled, throwing me a dirty look.
“Oi!” Arran snapped angrily.
“Fuck off, Dante!” I threw back at the same time, raising my head to stare hard at him, not allowing him to see he had intimidated me.
“Fuck me?” he scoffed. “I’m not the one endangering all our lives, charging around a dangerous city every time I don’t get my own bloody way. You used to be intelligent, Cara, but now you’re acting like an idiot! All of Rafe’s fussing is turning you into a spoiled, stupid, weak, brat!”
Dante had barely even got the last word out before I kicked out to where he stood in front of me and slammed my heavy boot right into his groin. He grunted loud as he dropped down to his knees right there on the floor of the elevator.
“Christ!” Arran cursed as he grabbed my arm and pulled me behind him. Whether that was to stop me attacking Dante more, or to stop Dante retaliating, I wasn’t sure, but I pushed around him anyway.
“Don’t you dare speak to me that way! You have no idea who I am, and you definitely have no right to judge me!” I yelled. Maybe I was just acting up to his accusations that I was a brat, but I refused to stand back and allow him to just lay into me as he had.
The lift arrived at our floor and the doors opened. I was breathing hard, my chest heaving with a mix of anger and hurt, as Arran took my hand and pulled me around Dante and out of the confined space.
“Dante, get the fuck up and stay out in the hall. I’ll clear the room, then you and I are gonna have a wee talk,” Arran ordered.
Cal took me from Arran the minute he got close to me, wrapping both of his arms around me and kissing my forehead.
“I’m glad you did that, or I’d have hit him myself. Fucking arsehole!” Cal hissed angrily, then kissed me again.
I didn’t say anything, too overwhelmed by what had happened. I remained silently in Cal’s arms as Arran opened the hotel room door and left us stood just inside while he searched the suite.
“Stay in here. We’ll just be out in the hall. Dinnae worry about Dante. I’ll see he screws his head on right,” Arran told me as he returned.
“Thanks,” I whispered flatly.
“I can’t believe Dante said that crap to you. I don’t understand what his problem is right now. He’s always been….let’s say…eccentric. But lately it’s like he’s seriously losing it,” Cal began to rant as soon as Arran closed us inside the suite.
“He was right about one thing. I shouldn’t have charged out of the car outside the club like I did.
I did put us all in danger. I just got so mad.
Fucking Dante! He just…he gets under my skin when he talks about me like I have no say in anything!
I lived so much of my childhood allowing my Mum and other evil fucks to do that to me.
I can’t let it happen again! I refuse to, even if that does make me seem bratty,” I tried to explain in a rush.
Cal circled me until we were facing one another again, then he took my hand and pulled me close until I was pressed against him. I should have pushed away, but I wanted the comfort he offered, so I grabbed his shirt in both hands and clung to him as tears started to slowly fall.
“Cara, no one has the right to tell you what you can and cannot do. You’re an adult, one who has lived through more trauma than most people would ever endure in a life time.
You are intelligent, tough, and so strong.
Make your own decisions and do not take shit from anyone, including Dante bloody Russo. Stop doubting yourself.”
I didn’t know how to reply to that. It wasn’t the first time I had been told how strong I was in recent weeks, but no matter how many times people said it, it didn’t make it any easier to believe when I felt so shaken up and unsteady.
Instead of a reply, I released Cal’s shirt and wrapped my arms as far around his waist as I could, hugging him in the way that I needed right then. I almost sighed out loud in relief when he held me back just as tightly.
“Will you sleep in my room with me tonight?” I asked with a sniffle.
“Already planned to,” Cal replied, then leaned in to kiss the top of my head. “There’s no way I was leaving you alone to your nightmares, not after the demons you faced today.”
“Today was nothing compared to tomorrow,” I sighed at the thought of who I would be facing next.
Tracking down Justin, the drug dealer I used to go to for my Mum’s pills, was a terrible idea for so many reasons. Seeing him again after the last time, when I had allowed him to use me for a discount…It made my stomach revolt just to recall it.
And then there was the fact that Cal, Arran, or Dante – maybe even all of them – would be with me and if Justin mentioned anything…
“Cara?” I swallowed the bile rising in my throat and looked up at Cal.
“Sorry,” I whispered.
“Who are we finding tomorrow, babe? I don’t think I like the idea if just thinking of it makes you look that unwell.”
“I don’t like the idea of it either,” I agreed. “But I have to do it if I’m going to get my answers.”
“We could just send Arran and Dante to question whoever it is. They’ll get answers, have no doubt about that.”
“That would just make things worse. I think I have to do this. I will do it. I’ll be okay,” I tried to convince him, and myself.
***