Chapter 6 Carmine
CARMINE
My mind was racing with a million scenarios as I drove toward the airport.
Leaving felt like the thing I should do after I got up to use the bathroom.
But as soon as I stepped out the door and could still hear Dom softly snoring in the room, it took everything in me not to go right back in and climb into bed again.
He had slung his arm over my pillow as if he was reaching for me in his sleep.
The connection between us was not something I’d imagined.
But we lived on opposite coasts. We were both hired assassins who were loyal to different families. How could anything come from that?
I needed to get him out of my head because the longer I thought about him, the more tempted I was to turn around and go back to that motel room.
Back to Dom…my alpha.
I inhaled a deep breath and tried to convince my racing heart that last night was just a one-night stand. Nothing special. Nothing permanent. Just two people who happened to be in the right place at the wrong time.
But that was a lie.
The way my body still hummed with satisfaction felt like proof that something magical had occurred.
Something more intense than I’d ever imagined possible.
And my chest ached with each mile that I put between us, as if a string was being pulled tight and could break at any moment.
And what happened if it did? Would I find my way back to him?
We had to be fated mates. There was no other way to explain the way I felt.
Only my life didn’t have room for fate. My work didn’t exactly lend itself to the whole white-picket-fence thing.
My phone was in the cup holder, and I glanced at it every few seconds waiting for him to call and beg me to stay. Before I left the motel, I grabbed Dom's phone from the nightstand and added my number to his contacts. Then I'd texted myself so I had his number too.
I wasn't sure why I did it, but I couldn’t just leave without any means of contact. It didn’t make sense, but even as I was running from him, I needed to know he could reach out if he wanted to.
And I could reach him if I needed to.
I needed to.
The airport exit appeared in the distance, and my stomach twisted. Once I got on that plane, I'd be three thousand miles away from Dom. Back to my normal life where I didn't have to think about alphas or mates or any of the complications that came with them. Where I was completely alone.
My phone rang, and Lorenzo's name flashed across the screen. I hit the button on my steering wheel to answer. "Hey."
"Carmine." His voice was warm, but I could hear the question underneath it. "How did everything go?"
"Good. The guy who saw me was an enforcer from the Ferrini and Menetti families. They sent him to handle Webb, but I got to him first. He’s not a threat."
"You sure that’s all there was to it?" He didn’t sound convinced, but I could answer that question without hesitation.
"Absolutely."
Lorenzo was quiet for a moment, and I could practically hear him thinking through the phone.
"The families out there are good people, but they're not our people. You need to be careful about who you trust, Carmine. Especially after a job."
"I know." He was always looking out for me, even when I didn’t need him to. This time perhaps I would be smart to listen. Then again, that ship had already sailed. It wasn’t as if I could take back the last twelve hours.
"Do you?" His voice sharpened slightly as he lost his patience. "Because from what I heard, you spent quite a bit of time with this enforcer. Had breakfast together at a diner then went back to your motel."
Fuck. Of course Lorenzo had eyes on me. He always did. "It wasn't like that."
"Then what was it like?"
I didn't have an answer that wouldn't make things worse.
If I told him Dom was my mate, he'd either pull me off jobs permanently or demand I cut all ties.
Neither option was acceptable. "He's an ally.
That's it. I made sure we were on the same page about Webb and that there wouldn't be any blowback on our end. "
Lorenzo was quiet for a moment before he sighed. "Come straight home, Carmine. We'll talk more when you get here."
"Copy that." The line went dead, and I slowly exhaled. Lorenzo knew something was up and wouldn't let it go until he had answers. But I didn’t have answers to give him.
The airport exit was coming up fast, so I moved into the right lane. All I had to do was take the exit and I’d be on my way home where I could pretend last night never happened.
Just move on with my life. I’d accept another job, travel to another place, and Dom would be a thing of the past. It wasn’t as if I would spend the rest of my days obsessing over him.
My foot eased off the gas as I approached the turn.
Was running away from Dom the worst decision I’d ever made? I'd spent my entire life avoiding emotional connections because they were messy and complicated and dangerous in my line of work. But Dom was in the same line of work. He understood me in a way no one else ever could.
Alphas didn’t want omegas like me, yet when I was in his arms, it seemed like Dom saw me exactly as I was and wanted me not despite of it, but maybe because of how I was.
He wasn't some random alpha. As much as I had been trying to deny it to myself, I was pretty sure he was my mate. The one person in the entire world who was supposed to understand me and accept me for exactly who I was.
And I'd left him sleeping in a motel bed without so much as a fucking note.
I flew past the exit and kept driving down the highway and away from the airport. I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going, but I couldn't get on that plane.
Not yet.
Not without at least trying to figure out if this thing between Dom and me was real or if I was just caught up in the aftermath of great sex and a magical knot.
At the next exit, I pulled into a gas station and pulled up his number. All I had to do was call him.
But what would I say?
I leaned back in my seat and considered my options. The logical part of my brain screamed at me to turn right around and go straight to the airport. Lorenzo expected me to get back home, and I couldn't exactly disappear without explanation.
But the rest of me wouldn't listen to logic.
I picked up my phone again and opened a new message to Dom. My fingers hovered over the keyboard while I tried to figure out what to say. Finally, I typed out four words and hit send before I could change my mind. We need to talk.