Chapter 34 Giovanna
Giovanna
Rain streaks across the windshield in sheets as Lexi merges onto the highway.
I lean my forehead against the cool glass, watching the blur of streetlights, trying to breathe through the knot in my chest.
“Girl, what the fuck is wrong with you?” Lexi shoots me a look, eyeliner sharp even in the dim glow of the dash.
“You’re twenty-fucking-one, and you’re out without your guard dog!
Fuck Tommy!”
Not only did Tommy not show up on time, he didn’t show up at all.
I lied to my parents, told them he called, that an emergency came up.
I’m sure something came up, but he sure as fuck didn’t call.
“You are about to have a club full of hot eligible studs buying you drinks all fucking night long, courtesy of moi!” She screeches up to the club and slams a kiss on my cheek before tossing the keys to the valet and pulling me out of the car.
The club is a wall of noise, bass pounding through the floor and into my bones.
We squeeze toward the bar, neon lights slicing through the haze.
Lexi slaps the counter and shouts over the music.
“Birthday girl here! 21 tonight!” It doesn’t take long for Lexi to convince the bartender to give us a round for free.
He smirks, lines up shot glasses, and soon strangers are passing more our way, chanting happy birthday.
I’m no stranger to drinking, and while I’ve been known to drink pretty heavily while waiting for Tommy to come home, I don’t usually down shot after shot.
“Enough,” I protest, shaking my head when a tall blond guy slides another in front of me.
“C’mon, birthday girl.” His grin is cocky, his shot glass raised, waiting for me to join him.
“I can’t,” I say quickly, forcing a polite smile.
He shrugs and downs his, while Lexi snatches mine and knocks it back with a wink.
She grabs my hand, pulling me into the crush of bodies on the dance floor.
Heat, flashing lights, sweat. Song after song melts together, Lexi’s laugh in my ear, my own voice hoarse from yelling lyrics with her.
The liquor has loosened something in me, and for a while I let myself laugh and forget Tommy.
But then Lexi leans close, her words hot against my ear.
“So, is this you coming back for real? Or is tonight just a birthday blowout?”
I shrug, hips moving with the beat.
“Thinking of moving back to the Village.”
Her eyes go wide.
“YES! I need my girl back!”
She suddenly glitters with excitement, her gaze locked behind me.
I spin, half-hoping, half-dreading to see Tommy, but it’s the blond guy from the bar, moving to the music behind me.
I turn back to Lexi and roll my eyes at her excitement.
Lexi’s grin turns sly, like I’d ever cheat on Tommy.
I’m drunk and angry, but no fucking way I’d do that.
Not with anyone. Though, if Tommy were here, we’d be having hot angry sex in the bathroom—fuck it, on the dance floor—if I had my way.
The blond slides behind me, his arms looping around my waist, his breath hot on my neck.
“Another drink, birthday girl?”
I peel his hands apart and slip away, spinning to face him with a strained smile.
I shake my head, searching for Lexi, but she just waves me toward him, laughing.
When I dance toward her, the blond guy grabs my arm and spins me up against him, running his hands up my back.
My dress is backless, so his palms are on my skin.
I cringe and pull away.
“I have a boyfriend,” I yell near his ear and shrug with a small smile, trying to dance some space between us.
“And he’s not here? On your 21st?” His grin twists.
He grinds into me, his voice dropping. “Fucking stupid.”
My smile vanishes.
I shove at his chest, but he clamps down on my waist, dragging me closer.
“I’m not interested,” I snap.
“I am,” he slurs.
Fuck, he’s drunk. Panic cuts through my buzz as I shove hard against him, but he suctions his mouth to my neck, sucking my skin.
Then suddenly I’m free.
He’s ripped off me so violently the seam of my dress tears at the waist. I stagger back, hand pressed to the rip, chest heaving.
Tommy. He’s a drunken blur, his dark hair falling loose over his forehead as his fist cracks into the guy’s jaw.
One blow, then another, until the guy is nothing but a crumpled heap, and Tommy throws him at the men flanking him.
When he turns, I gasp.
It’s not Tommy. It’s Antonio, his eyes flashing angrily, until they land on me and soften.
I’m so shocked to see him that I don’t say anything at all.
His gaze drops to the tear in my dress, jaw tightening.
He leans close so I can hear him over the music.
“I’ve got a table upstairs. Want to join me?
”
I look around for Lexi, and she gives me a thumbs up as she chats with some guy.
I nod at Antonio.
His hand presses lightly on the small of my back, guiding me off the floor.
My skin burns where his palm rests, my breath shallow.
Upstairs, the bass softens to a low thrum, replaced by the clink of glasses, the buzz of laughter.
Booths curve along the walls, waitresses weaving between them with trays of champagne flutes.
Antonio steers me to the back, dismissing the two guys occupying the booth.
“Berto, Franco. Go help Jimmy and Dante clean up.”
The one he called Franco leers at me as he gets up, but Berto, Antonio’s little brother, smiles shyly before slipping away.
I blink at him. “Oh my God. Berto grew up!”
Antonio half grins.
“Well, he got bigger. Can’t say that he grew up.
” He waves the waiter over as we slide into the booth.
“A bottle of Albarino.” He turns to me. “Unless you’re still drinking vodka tonics?
”
Interesting. He remembers my drink. I smile and shake my head.
“Water, please.”
“Could you put a little umbrella in it? It’s her birthday.
” Antonio smiles back, and I raise my eyebrows.
“Good memory.”
He shrugs off his jacket, and I avert my eyes as he rolls his shirt sleeves up, revealing tattooed muscular forearms. His whole body is bigger, sharper, harder.
My gaze snags on the label inside his jacket.
“Tom Ford?”
“Thought I’d switch it up. You like it?
”
I nod. “It’s nice. I like the fabric.”
He gestures at my ripped dress.
“Looks like you’re showing a little more than you intended.
”
I flush with embarrassment as I realize the rip is so big that my thong is showing.
He looks away, his face darkening, as he hands me his jacket.
I shrug into it. It smells like him. “It happened when you pulled him off me.”
“Guess he was holding on pretty tight.” His tone is icy.
The waitress arrives and sets my water with an umbrella and cherries in front of me, then pours two glasses of the white wine for us.
Albarino. He has good taste.
Antonio pushes one of the glasses toward me.
“It’s light, with fruity notes. I thought you might like it.
”
“I think I’ve had enough tonight,” I say, toying with the umbrella in my drink.
I can feel his eyes on me, steady, unflinching.
I’m not sure if I’m more embarrassed that he watched Tommy fuck me outside the restaurant all those years ago or that he had to rescue me on the dance floor tonight.
I’m always such a mess around him.
Cutting into my thoughts, he says, “I want to apologize for being a dick to you.”
I look up sharply.
“Don’t do that. What I did was shitty. Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t let that guy rape me on the dance floor.
Thank you for that, by the way.”
He shrugs.
“We weren’t exclusive. We were barely dating, and obviously you were meant to be with Tommy.
I mean, yeah, fucking another guy on two dates in a row with me is kind of a dick move—”
I duck my head and pinch my lips together, and he puts his hand on top of mine then taps my chin to get me to make eye contact.
“—but I got the point, right? And you did apologize. We were friends first, Giovanna. We don’t have to lose that.
We don’t have to lose anything—”
“GIOVANNA!”
I whip my head up at Lexi shrieking my name from across the room.
Her eyes are wild and lock on mine, secretively pointing behind her frantically.
I wrinkle my brow in confusion. What is she trying to say?
“Hey!” She bounds up to the table, giving me a meaningful look, her eyes growing wider when she sees Antonio’s hand on mine.
She smacks his hand away as she throws herself into the booth.
“Look who I found!” she says brightly.
Tommy is standing behind her with an icy glare.