27. Chapter 27
Mason
I re-read the message from Max on my phone while I sip coffee in our room.
Mr. Bush has been doubling down and is gaining more traction.
My silence hasn’t helped, but Jinx asked to take care of it when we got back from Italy.
He was steadfast on the issue, so I gave in.
Max isn’t happy about it, and I don’t blame him.
A heavy sigh escapes me as I set my phone down and watch Jinx sleep. The sun is trickling in through the small window, kissing his skin, its warmth spreading through me.
What he doesn’t know is that I have plans, too, but this is one thing I’m keeping to myself for now.
He’ll be so angry with me, so he can find out after the fact.
It’s still not decided yet. A lot depends on the circumstances later when we get back, but I’ve made my damn decision at the crossroads.
It doesn’t feel as heavy as I expected. Still, fuck Mr. Bush.
As if sensing me staring, Jinx yawns and stretches, exposing strong abs.
His eyes flutter open, and he smiles sleepily.
Watching him like that, smiling, happy, bright, takes my breath away.
He should always be happy, and I’ll do my damnedest to make sure he is—all the more reason to stick with my idea.
“Hi,” he says, yawning again.
“Morning, my pet.”
I pour him a cup of coffee from the silver pot when he comes to sit at the small table. He pours sugar and cream into it and takes a tentative sip. “God, coffee is so good here, and we have amazing coffee back home. Julien’s a coffee snob.”
I raise my cup in cheer. “As am I.”
“I never drank much coffee until I met Julien. As a hooker, and having to be on the street all day, we could get really dehydrated and hungry. We didn’t touch coffee because then we’d have to piss and shit. Fuck, I do not miss those days.”
I raise my arm and beckon him over. He stands and sits on my lap. He smells of sleep, my favorite smell on him. “I’m sorry, Precious. I wish I could take the pain away from you, and that you never suffered.”
“You do, every single day.”
Jinx finishes off his coffee before he pours another cup. “You know, I talked to Aleks about it all… about our past and my guilt.”
“You did?” He still hasn’t told me all of it, and I won’t push.
He nods, frowning. “I thought I’d feel better, you know? My therapist talks about this. She’s told me I need to tell him how I felt about what happened. I finally did, and the guilt is still there.”
“Did he not forgive you?”
“Yeah, he said he never blamed me for any of it. All I could think about was yelling at him to notice what I did to him. But he’s too sweet for that.” He sighs heavily. “Anyway, it’s out now, and I’m not sure how I feel about it.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m proud of you.”
Jinx smiles sadly and kisses my forehead. “How? I haven’t told you everything about that day.”
“Doesn’t matter. You feel you did the right thing. You felt you had hurt him and apologized for it. It was important to you, so it’s important to me.”
“Thanks.”
“Tell you what… Let’s go for a little drive. There’s this little villa and former horse ranch not too far from here. It’s for sale. The day is beautiful and not too cold. Let’s check it out, just for fun. Then we can drive into Siena and explore the medieval town.”
“That sounds fun, actually.”
“Then it’s a date. Now, let’s have a small bite of breakfast, then get cleaned up.”
He kisses my cheek. “Yessir.”
The concierge at the castle arranged a meeting with the real estate agent at the estate for sale. It’s a beautiful home that was expanded in the 1800s, but the original part of the home dates back to the 1600s.
Jinx has rushed off exploring everything, room by room, with the excitement of a child. I smile as I listen to the agent prattle on in Italian.
“The main house and guesthouse are over twelve hundred square meters total. They feature nine bedrooms and eight bathrooms. The guesthouse is perfect for your parents, or perhaps you could list it as a vacation rental. The previous owners did just that, offering horseback riding lessons and horse training. There’s even a beautiful pool. ”
I stared at the ancient wooden ceiling and beams that had withstood the test of time. The fireplaces are ancient stone, and I’m pretty sure all the doors are original.
“How many horses do the stables hold?”
“Sixteen, Mr. Vitali. The home also features an underground wine cellar, and between the two houses is a stunning courtyard, covered by trees and wisteria come spring.”
The home needs work, no doubt about it. The previous owner must have updated the house about twenty years ago. I peek into one of the bathrooms with the most hideous tile I’ve ever seen.
“How many acres?” I ask.
“Forty-six. The land is very quiet. Behind the house are the woods, thick with lush trees. To the south are stunning pastures for the horses. All is fenced in.”
I nod as ideas and thoughts swirl in my head, envisioning what I could do with a place like this. It’s possible to turn it into a bed-and-breakfast, which wouldn’t be a bad investment. It’s also very close to the town of Siena.
We walk into the living room and dining room, divided by a stunning brick arch in the ceiling. They just don’t make houses like this anymore. Everything these days is a copycat of everything else.
“This is the oldest part of the house, with the kitchen off to the side there.”
Before I can respond, Jinx pops into the living room, grabs my hand, and yanks me upstairs. “Look at the main bedroom!”
I smile, his excitement contagious.
We step inside the room and look around. It’s huge. It’s so different from where I live back home, which is contemporary and clean. The ceilings here are the same as downstairs, with ancient brick archways. It has a separate sitting room and amazing natural light pouring in through the windows.
“I love it here!” Jinx says.
“It’s very nice.”
“Pft, nice?”
The agent, of course, jumps on Jinx’s excitement. “The price is very reasonable for the area and size. Yes, it needs some work, but it’s all move-in ready.”
I bite the bullet and ask. “How much?”
“Two million six hundred thousand in US dollars.”
That’s surprisingly reasonable for all that comes with the house.
Jinx tugs on my hand again, dragging me to a private corner. “Let’s buy it! I’ve got money. I can pay for half. We can come here in the summers for vacays and shit. I love it here, this town, this fucking country.”
“Let’s talk about this later.”
He throws his body at me and pulls me into a hug. “Yes!”
Fuck it. I’d give the goddamn world to him, if he wanted it, just to see that huge, beautiful smile on his face.
Jinx’s excitement from exploring the horse farm had extended to discovering the beauty of Siena. We’re sitting at an outdoor café for lunch, and then we plan to be tourists.
He takes a bite of his pesto pasta while scrolling on his phone. “It says here that Siena started as an Etruscan settlement way fucking back to 400 BC. I can’t even fathom that long ago. In 30 AD, it was a Roman colony. Holy crap. Then it became a medieval republic back in the 11th century.”
“The US is just an infant in comparison.”
“No shit. You know what’s weird? Not seeing gas stations and strip malls every mile. It’s almost like time stands still here.”
“In a way, it has.” I sip on a glass of Fiano di Avellino, people-watching. “If you could choose to live here or stay in Durango, which would you choose?”
Jinx thinks about it for a second, sipping his water. “That’s a tough one. I mean, I love it here, but Durango is more than a place, ya know? It’s family. The only family I’ve ever known.”
Just as I thought. It’s something to consider as I go through thoughts and ideas to keep Jinx while salvaging my reputation. For now, I’ll see what he comes up with when we get back into town.
After lunch, Jinx takes my hand in his, forking our fingers together.
His fingers tighten and rub absentmindedly, and he points excitedly at the sights.
It’s such a small thing, but his growing affection does things to me.
In such a short time, he’s gone from being closed off to being openly expressive and loving.
You can see the fear wash away from him as the confidence builds.
All the more reason to hold on tightly to him. I never want to see that go away.
We get some strange looks since Italy is still relatively conservative, but no one bothers us as we walk through Piazza del Campo. Even in the cooler temperatures, the area is filled with tourists.
Jinx takes several pictures on his phone, including selfies of us, then rushes off to some gift shops to bring home souvenirs.
“It’s so weird to see all this modern stuff smack dab in the middle of ancient buildings that probably look the same as they did when they were first built. And everyone walks. There are hardly any cars here. It’s crazy to me.”
I love Jinx’s awe in everything. He sees life with fresh eyes. I say nothing, unable to stop watching him.
We slowly wind through the narrow side streets, lined in brick or stone. It’s quieter through here. It’s easy to get lost in the past, imagining how it looked five hundred or seven hundred years ago.
Jinx yanks me to a stop. “Oh, look!” he says, pointing at a boutique shop for leather goods. “I read you should buy some leather stuff in Italy.”
He takes my hand again and drags me into the little shop. I’ve just let him run this show since this is his first time overseas. I’m happy with whatever we do.
“Buongiorno,” I greet the salesperson.
Before Jinx reaches for a jacket hanging on a rack, I grab his hand and shake my head. “Let the clerk do it. Shopping is more interactive here than in the States.”
“Oh, okay.”
The salesperson greets me in Italian and asks what we’d like to look at.
“He wants to know what you’re interested in, Precious.”
“Ah… la giacca,” he says in Italian. “I’ve been trying to learn Italian. Just some words and shit.”
“I’m sure you’ll be speaking it in no time.”
The man grabs several jackets he thinks would look good on Jinx and picks the correct size. We step over to a full-length mirror, and he hands Jinx the first leather jacket. He removes his warmer one and hands it to me.
The salesman helps him shrug it on and checks the fit. Jinx turns his body this way and that, checking it out in the mirror. It’s a dark brown leather, and it fits him like a glove.
“When’s your birthday, Mason?” he asks randomly. “You’re turning 40 soon, right?”
“Don’t remind me.”
He eyes me in the mirror and smirks. “Well, now I definitely have to know.”
Jinx removes the jacket, hands it to the man, who hangs it back up, and tries on the next one. It’s a warmer brown and looks intentionally vintage. I like that one better on him.
“It’s in May. May 16th.”
“We’re gonna have to throw you a huge party,” he chuckles. “I really like this one.”
“Me too.”
“I never knew when my birthday was. Only a vague idea of my age. None of us knew. We picked a day as our birthday and celebrated. We’d sneak in dry cupcakes or cookies we grabbed at a convenience store.
It’s kind of sad when you think about it.
” Jinx tries on the next jacket, a black one this time.
“The day I picked was the day Aleks got hurt because of me. It was the day that changed me forever. I’ll never forget it either. July 18th.”
Jinx has been talking more about his life outside the safety of my arms in bed.
It truly shows his level of comfort and growth around me.
While I love his openness, hearing his stories is always fucking painful.
He talks about his past as if it’s just another day growing up.
Even something as small as picking a day to celebrate with friends over stale cookies and cupcakes was meaningful to him.
To me, it’s a knife in my heart that cuts deeper and deeper the more I learn.
Jinx removes the black jacket and shakes his head. He definitely looks better in brown. It makes his eyes pop. The last jacket is tan. “Oh, this one is the same color as Waffle. God, wouldn’t it be funny if we matched?”
“Cute, but I still like the other brown one better. So, did you find out your real birthday?”
He eyes me in the mirror and nods. “Yeah. It’s September 9th. Kind of nice knowing when I was born. Not so much how and why.”
“I’m sorry, Jinx.”
“It’s whatever. Can’t change shit about your past.” He shrugs, then shakes his head at the salesperson. Good, I didn’t like that one on him.
Jinx ends up buying the second leather jacket, and my favorite, for almost 1400 euros. I tried to buy it for him, but he wouldn’t let me. I know he’s got money, but I have no idea how much. It must be substantial for him to pay for half of that estate. It’s clear that Julien has been very generous.
I stand and rub the leather. It’s incredibly soft and supple. It will last him forever.
“You look absolutely handsome in this, Precious.”
He smiles shyly. “Thanks.”
“Ready to head back? They’re expecting us for dinner at the castle. And we have to be up early in the morning to take the train to Vernazza.”
“Can’t wait!”
When we step outside, the sky is starting to cloud over, with a threat of rain. Jinx presses his hand to my chest to stop me from walking. “I meant what I said. I can pay for half of that house. It could be an awesome investment.”
The side street isn’t crowded here, so I dip down to brush my lips against his. “It’s something to consider. We still need to talk about it.”
The fact that he wants to invest in something with me will tie us together indefinitely. It’s a promise that he wants forever as much as I do. It’s definitely something I’d like to consider.
The day was amazing. My heart was at ease despite the stresses back home. Jinx made me forget and focus on him and the present. He makes me excited to see life through fresh eyes. It doesn’t take much to envision happiness with him, no matter what happens.