Chapter 19
Carmine
My head is pounding and feet are aching as I run across jagged rocks and pinecones to get away from the cliffside villa I’d dragged Soren to in his wounded state. Everything between us had been so…peaceful. In a way that I wasn’t used to. The sex had felt like more than just fucking.
It sounds cheesy as hell, but I had been sleeping so good before Soren had woken me up telling me we needed to get the fuck out of there.
I would have much rather stayed in the villa than be hauling ass across the beachside into the woods to get away from whoever Eivor Fiorelli has sent after Soren now. I’m not the only one he wants dead now and because of that, my family isn’t the only one that is at risk to fall apart.
All because of one man’s desire for power.
“Where are we headed?” I ask Soren as we get further into the thick of it. Branches scrap my arms but it’s nothing compared to the way the stitches at the back of my skull pull with each movement of my head.
“I was hopin’ you’d have an idea,” he admits.
I growl under my breath. “You’re going to get me killed.”
“I thought we agreed to kill each other?” he replies breathlessly. We stop and both of us lean against a tree. When I look up at him, he’s fucking smirking at me.
I suck in as much as I can. The cold air burns my lungs.
“Sooner rather than later if you are not careful,” I grumble at him.
I hear shouting behind us. We don’t have long to idle.
“I think right now we have no choice but to keep moving forward, get them off our tails, and then decide where we are going,” I tell him before during forward ahead of him.
Soren is taller than me so he’s caught up with me within a second. “Better than nothing,” he agrees.
I’m not holding his hand anymore, as it’s harder to run that way. We weave through thicker areas and we get to a point where there’s somewhat of a trail.
“Looks like this might have been an old hunting trail,” I remark and motion to the ground. “We can go left or right.”
“My bets on left and hope they go right,” Soren says as he turns to the left and I follow after him.
We hike our way up the grass-infested dirt path. I ignore the rocks that dig into my heels and the cold that makes my skin burn. By the time we make it to the end of the path, my feet and fingers feet numb.
“Fuck,” Soren hisses. “There’s nothin’ here.”
I look around as he does. It’s all tall cypresses and broken branches that lay on the ground…but there’s something else.
Very light impressions in the mud leading right into the trees.
“This way.” I motion Soren over and push through the line of the trees to keep going.
After about three more feet of prickly pines and sharp bits of debris, there’s another path.
It gets wider as it goes along and then comes in from the left.
I’m not sure where the original path starts, but I’ll take my chances that the guys Eivor hired won’t be coming this way.
There’s a sign that says PRIVATE PROPERTY about eight feet away, but no gate and no cameras that I can tell.
“You sure?” Soren says between breathes.
“No, but we need to hide for now.”
Just ahead of us is a cabin. There’s no smoke coming from the chimney, that further proves my theory that the place is empty.
“Let’s hope so,” Soren replies.
I take a look around the side of the place. No cameras. No real security measures. If either of us had our phones it’d be easier to check, but they’d been left behind. I curse but make my way to the front door and try to handle.
“You any good at picking locks?” I ask Soren. It’s not exactly my forte. At least, not without blowing the door off.
“Not without somethin’ to do it with,” Soren tells me. He steps away and starts looking through the mess around the house and the driveway. Near a pile of what looks like scrap metal.
“Ah! Got something!” He rushes back over with a piece of jagged but thin steel and I step to the side so he can get to the door.
While he’s working on unlocking the door, I keep my eyes on the driveway. I don’t hear any shouting or car tires squealing, so we must’ve lost them.
I hear several clicks to the right of me.
“Fuck yeah.” Soren opens the door and the slightly warmer air from inside immediately makes my face tingle.
“Get inside before my fucking feet fall off,” I snap and step inside ahead of him when he’s taking too long.
Soren gets in, closes and locks the door and then immediately makes sure that all the blinds are closed.
“If there’s anyone in here, you’d better not be!” I shout just loud enough. I hear nothing in return.
Soren snorts. “Yeah, that’s threatening,” he chuckles breathlessly.
My teeth chatter. “You do better then.” I glare at him, but my expression softens as I see the red flushing of his face, especially along his cheeks and nose.
“Fuck I’m cold,” he huffs.
Inside the house is definitely warmer, but still not great. We can’t light the fire or it’ll give us away…but maybe there’s something we can do.
“Think there’s hot water?” I ask him.
“Yeah, it’d be a pain in the ass to turn it off completely,” he tells me. “Let’s go check.”
We both head for the bathroom first and foremost. I turn the sink on and wait. It takes a while but the ice-cold water finally turns to hot water with some clanking of the pipes in the walls.
I run my hands under the water for a second; it’s too hot, so I turn the cold water on as well until the water is just warm enough.
“You should take a bath,” Soren suggests.
“Why don’t we both?” I smirk at him as I run my hands under the water. I shiver at the tingle of my skin unfreezing bit by bit.
He motions to himself. “Covered in stitches, remember?”
I sigh. “Right. Damn. I guess I will.”
I turn the sink off, not bothering to dry my hands before I start to get undressed. My clothing is damp from the drizzle outside and it sticks to me uncomfortably.
“Does this count as a cabin vacation?” Soren asks as he gets the bathtub going and I rub my hands up and down my arms.
“In our world? Probably…” I mumble.
I sit down on the edge of the clawfoot bathtub and watch it fill slowly. Soren grabs some soap nearby and puts a little bit in, making it akin to a bubble bath. I can’t help but smile a little.
“You know, for a guy who tried to kill me, you are oddly sweet.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “I can change that,” he tells me.
I tilt my head to the side. “Oh, I know. That’s why I love you…” the words surprise even me, but I mean them.
Soren’s eyes light up. “Oh really?”
“Mhm,” I hum out. I run my hand down to the water to feel it. It’s nice and hot…smells faintly of vanilla. “The way you can go from tender to…rough. I like it.”
“Good,” he says simply, and then turns off the water. “Get in.”
I do as he says without hesitation. I sit down in the tub, with him sitting nearby. He places one of his hands in the tub to feel the water and groans.
“You’re lucky,” Soren tells me. “If I could get in this tub…”
“You’d what?” I ask him playfully. My heart is not pounding in my chest now that we’re not running for our lives. Well, not right at this second anyway.
“Pull you into my lap. Make sure you know how much I need you,” he explains. His hand brushes up the side of my arm.
I hum in delight at both his touch and the hot water that’s defrosting my chilly body. It tingles sort of like when a limb has fallen asleep. Slightly painful, but it starts to sink into my bones and truly warm me up.
“If you were not so wounded, I’d invite you,” I tell him with a sigh.
I lean back against the tub to relax more and close my eyes. After a moment, I feel Soren’s hands brush along my shoulders that are above the water. His fingers press against my muscles and massage along the side of my neck.
“Mm,” I hum quietly.
It’s like this for at least five minutes. Soren massages my neck and shoulders, and I melt into both his touch and the hot water. It’s silent, but not awkward or uncomfortable. It feels natural.
The sunlight is peaking in from the window above the bathtub, and my stomach I rumbling, but I’m more concerned with getting warmed up than anything else.
This hot bath is something I’ve needed for a while and I didn’t even realize it. A moment to just relax. I feel truly safe in Soren’s hands, even while knowing that there are people out there looking for us. To kill us.
They may technically be after Soren, but to get to him they’re going to have to get through me.
Briefly, I think about what we’re going to do if they do find us. Neither of us have our guns or phones. Then I take a breath and let it go. For now.
“Carmine?” Soren asks me.
I open my eyes slowly, and realize how difficult it is to do so. I could fall asleep right here. “Yes?”
“How did your mother die?” he asks me.
The question is sudden and my eyes widen in surprise for a moment; but I’m not truly shocked. After all, we don’t know nearly as much about each other as we should and my mother’s death is rarely spoken about. Kept as hush-hush as possible.
My jaw tightens. “The story my father gave was that she was attacked,” I tell him slowly. “That she was killed for the sake of revenge.”
The room feels smaller than it already is, and I fold my arms under the hot water. Soren brushed a lock of my hair behind my ear and then down the back of my neck. His touch makes me close my eyes, but there I only see the blood. The blood…the darkness. The pain.
I swallow the lump in my throat down and continue. “I know the truth.”
“What’s the truth, Carm?” he asks me.
I take a deep breath. “She was attacked, but…it was three months before she died,” I explain in a low quiet tone. “My father was gone for the weekend, Mom decided to take us to the park. Only one guard came with us. I was arguing with Alessio when she was dragged into the bushes.”