Chapter 42🌜 Zanni
Zane's POV
The game has ended with a strip show, a break up, a confession of being polly and of course-a lap dance.
Honestly, I didn't even know I had it in me. Like recieving a lap dance is one thing, but giving one is definitely different.
Every doubt in me vanished the moment I dipped down on his lap, though. Not even a single ounce of awkwardness was allowed to breath when I planted his hands on me-and he didn't pull back.
He kept them there. Holding me this hard like I am his only support and his titanic was sinking. The way he groaned every time I rose, just a little, was a pleasant note of music to my ears.
People say you should dance with no hesitation and feel the music. What they don't tell you is how dangerous dancing becomes when the music you're feeling is someone's breathless curses.
The way his lips parted every time I rubbed his lower half with mine, boosted my confidence.
I kept going with the flow.
Blinded with the greed for his breathy whimpers against me.
There's a snap of fingers right in front of me that summons me back to reality. "Frahhh? Where are you lost? Waittt-why are there two of you?" Enzo rubs his red eyes with the heels of his hands. "Scopami di traverso! Now there's three of you. Teo, do you see three of him too?"
"Three? Coglione, I am seeing five of him-all thanks to the stuff that you made me eat." Matteo tries to smack his head, but blows the air instead.
"Edibles ain't that hard bruh, be a mannnn!" Malvolio pumps in.
"Hell, they have lost it." William finally talks for the night. "What did they even eat?"
I let the question hang, honestly surprised that he's picking a conversation with me-on his own. "You don't wanna know..."
"Hm..." He looks down as he shifts his weight from one to another. "Anyway, I'm gonna go for a walk." He casually strides towards the woods.
"Can I join?" I ask before I can leash myself. And then instantly start blabbering, "I mean it's just-it's late and things can go wrong in the blink of an eye. Plus, I know a place. It's like the best time to go there." I finally put a period to my tongue.
He wouldn't want me to irritate him more. It would be better to give him some space. "Forget it."
William beats me to it with a "Sure." He doesn't turn around fully to serve that whiplash, just a tiny look over his shoulder and he keeps up with his walking.
"Sure?" I repeat to myself as I tip my head. William Oberoi-Maxwell will never fail to surprise me.
For sure.
I look up to the stars above me to thank them and Jesus. Seems like it's my lucky day today-or night. I pick up a flashlight from the table as I run up to him. "Hey wait for me!"
The beam in my hand bounces as I catch up to him with a spark of electricity. "Were you gonna leave without a flashlight?"
William doesn't consider me much as he looks straight ahead. "I have my phone and I wasn't even gonna go far. Just a tiny walk."
"You have answers for every question, don't you?" I quip him with a harmless smirk.
"You have questions for every answer, don't you?" He dodges it back my way.
"That doesn't make sense."
"It sure does." He dismisses it.
"Whatever you say, gattino." He huffs, but doesn't complain.
"Anyway, where are we even going?" I slice the darkness around with the flashlight in my hand like it's a sword, trying to smother the echoing quiet.
The trees around us are getting thicker and thicker.
.. Every rustle of dried leaves under our feet is getting amplified.
The air is impregnated-
Heavy.
Wet.
With a smoky tart to it.
"I should be asking you that question." William's shoulder brushes mine as the path narrows.
He doesn't pull away.
"Then ask." I chuckle, jerking the flashlight upward. The cool, white beam locks straight on his face, illuminating those ballooning nostrils and murderous eyes that he blinks rapidly with an 'are you fucking serious?' flutter.
"You think you are so funny?" He tucks his hand deep inside his pocket and pushes his glasses up-a well known way of saying, don't try me, Zane.
"Been told so." Now I'm in front, as I keep our path visible and check for something abnormal.
"Well they lied." He walks right beside me.
"Ouch." I stretch the word with a slow whistle. "I love the way you care about my self esteem, Gattino."
"Gotta keep that ego in check, Mr. SAB." His shadow lengthens as I stop for just a second.
"What's SAB?" I bump his shoulder a little as I walk up to him. "And for the record, I don't have ego issues."
"It's nothing." He bumps me harder in return.
"And I have ego issues... sure." I mutter the almost inaudible jab.
"What did you say?" Without pointing the flash at him, I can tell his eye brow would be arched upwards right now.
"Nothin'" I poof a blow of air out, "We have almost reached there." The path is much clearer now, not as narrow as it should be, you know for skin-on-skin contact... for warmth, of course.
"Does that 'there' have a name?"
"It does. But I'd rather show you than tell you."
"Ugh... I hate surprises." He stumbles on a twig as he tries to crush it with frustration.
"Is there something you don't hate?" I steady him up in an instant, with my arm holding the flashlight behind his back.
There's pitch black darkness between us but a single strand of moon is enough to make his face glow.
"Nope." He pulls away from my hold, but this time I do notice some weight in his steps slowing his pace.
??
"A pond?" William questions nobody, leaving me hanging confused, if he's awed or if he hates it. "I didn't know there was a pond here... why didn't we camp here?"
"There is. But as you saw the narrow path-there would be no way our cars can come here, and we can't just leave our cars miles away." I explain it to him.
"Plus, it's not that known and people don't visit it often, so it's kinda my secret place." I ruffle the back of my head, suddenly feeling exposed.
"Oh? So it's your secret place, hmm?"
"Kinda."
"Damn, did I just willingly come to the lion's den?" Instead of looking scared, he looks thrilled as he lazily walks on the wooden bridge. The loose planks shift and creak under his weight as he hesitates to walk further. "How old even is this thing? Like, can we even walk on it?"
"No you cannot. It's gonna break in your very next step and you will fall in the pond." He does stop completely almost with fear, but he turns around and gives me a mouthful.
"Stop messing with me." He holds the handrail behind him tightly.
"I am not. And I won't think about holding those things, seeing how the last one ended...' I keep it incomplete, making William read inside the lines.
"What happened to... the last one?" He removes his hand hastily, as his voice takes an anxious break.
"Well people say she drowned in the pond and died a painful death.
Her whole body was torn apart by the eager fishes in this pond.
Since people found her body floating on the surface, it's said that she haunts anyone who visits the pond.
" I narrate her story with grief. "Now you know why people don't visit here often. .."
"Such a poor woman..." I look up, as I pray for her soul.
"By the way, she was standing right there." I point at where he's standing.
He sprints from the spot, the bridge squeaks louder with each step. But he doesn't stop until he reaches me. His hair blown back, dangle above his head.
I cover my mouth as I can't resist my laugh any longer. "You asshole!" He swats my chest, his own heaving fastly.
"Ahh, only if you could see that look on your face." I wipe the tear under my eyes.
"I hate you!" He stabs my foot with his shoe, hard enough for me to groan loud. A slow smirk of satisfaction finally dissolves that anger and apprehension.
"Hate me later, currently we are going to that bridge.
" He doesn't follow me when I walk. "Ahh, don't worry-I won't let bloody Mary haunt you.
" I smirk cockily, making him roll his eyes.
"The water isn't even that deep, and the bridge is stable enough.
We won't fall. Pinky promise." I raise my pinky up.
"You are so childish..." He shakes his head, and there's almost a hint of a smile taking over his lips.
"Hey now lock the promise. Otherwise..." I turn my head behind and make a spooky howling sound. "She will come, for us."
William comes forward and locks his pinky with mine-rather harshly than needed. He pulls my finger with his, almost bending back. "Cazzo..." I moan with pain.
He finally lets my finger breathe, not for long, because I hold his hand with mine. "Let's go now, plus there ain't even some fish inside it." We walk together on the bridge.
His soft hand in my rugged one.
He doesn't pull away.
We stop right in the middle of that bridge. The stagnant water below is clear enough that we can see the reflection of the full moon crystal clear. There's our reflection too, not big like the moon's.
But it's there.
Us standing on a bridge under moonlight.
Holding hands.
Alone.
No. I am doing this again, and I need to stop. This is not that big of a deal. I need to fucking stop. I slowly pull my hand back, my fingers trailing his palm as they leave. For a second, I feel his trailing mine too, before he tucks it back in his pocket.
"So, urm..." William swallows the hoarseness in his voice. "How did you find this place?"
I finally turn my head away from him as I look down. "We used to come to this forest when I was a child." I don't say more than that and he doesn't force me.
"hmm..." There is silence after that and I start feeling bad. He is trying to know about me and here I am being a douchebag.
"When we were about to turn ten. My dad used to bring me and Vance here fishing. Enzo and mamma will stay in the camps while we fish." I think about all the times we have come here. This is the box of memories that I almost forgot in my brain's storeroom.
"But you said there's no fish here?" He looks down as if trying to search them from this much distance.
His silliness lightens my head a little as I tell him, "There were some back then. But the whole pond has been clear for years now."
"Oh-okay." He looks back up. "Yeah, and what happened then? Was that how it became your secret spot?"
I smile at his enthusiasm but it's hard to maintain it with the rising memories in my heart. "That day he was trying to teach me horse riding." My voice is quiet and I just wish William doesn't ask me to repeat. Because I won't be able to.
My chest burns again, like just the thought of him undoes that wound every time. "I was falling again and again. Unable to keep my balance and he wasn't so happy about it...
He pushed me from a racing horse and left me there. Because I didn't get it the first time he explained it to me."
I still remember my own scream, because this was the moment my fear of heights was pushed off the cliff.
I remember my body rolling on the ground getting injuries in every part tangible.
I violently jerk when I feel a hand on my back, breaking my chain of sadness. "He's not here anymore, Zane. He can't harm you anymore." William says, and I almost doubt if it's even him.
He has never spoken like that to me.
His voice is soft as his hand rubs my back.
I stare at his face for a while and that gives me the strength to continue. "Everything just stopped when I got hit by a huge rock. Everything was black and then when I woke up-only one person was here."
There was someone that now I wouldn't expect to be there for me.
But he was then.
I remember his crying face above my head as he was trying to look at my almost open skull.
"Vance was there when I woke up. He helped me, took care of me and brought mom here.
" Equally-if not more-horrified with what was happening, he was trying his best to keep me stable.
"Vance?" His voice raises a little bit with shock. "Sorry, I thought he didn't like you."
"He did back then..." Back then when he didn't think of me how he does now.
"Please keep your eyes open, Zanni." His tear slicked face still comes to my mind whenever I look at his cold and cunning exterior now.
And as that memory ended, so did the nickname that just he was the one to use.