Chapter 13
I heard Aurora screaming at her brother from outside my bedroom door. Just as I was about to get up and find out what was going on, that same door burst open and Lorenzo stormed inside with his sister draped over a shoulder.
After tossing her next to me on the bed, he threw out a hand and told me she was my problem. Now I’m lying here, staring at her, wondering what the fuck she managed to get up to in the matter of a couple of hours since I fell asleep.
Aurora rolls on to her side, blowing out a puff of air in an attempt to get her hair off her face. I reach over and tuck a loose strand behind her ears. “Hey.” I smile, and then I get a whiff of it. Liquor. “Are you drunk?”
“Pfft… no,” she says.
Raising a single eyebrow, I don’t say a word. I can see that she is. Her cheeks are rosy as fuck and she smells like she bathed in a barrel of red wine.
“Okay, fine… I’m a little tipsy, but not drunk,” she admits.
My fingers twirl in the hair that falls over her shoulder. “How much did you drink?” I ask her.
“Two bottles,” she says.
My eyes shoot up to hers. “You drank two bottles of wine by yourself?” That’s a lot of fucking wine.
“No… I was drinking with Zara. She was hiding too.”
“Who’s Zara?” God, please don’t tell me Aurora has imaginary fucking friends. I mean, I’d get on board if she did. I’d probably go as far as to pretend I could see them too. For her, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do. I’d just prefer not to deal with that level of crazy.
“Kyla’s little sister. “
“How little?” Kyla is young herself.
Aurora rolls her eyes at me. “She’s the same age as us. Relax.”
“What happened that made your brother literally throw you on my bed?”
“Do you want to talk about my brother, or do you want to talk about getting naked and fucking me into oblivion?” Aurora sits and attempts to pull the shirt over her head. She ends up getting all tangled in the fabric instead.
“Stop.” As much as I hate it, I tug her shirt back down, covering her breasts. It really is a tragedy to cover those things. “Why’d Lorenzo get pissed?” I try again.
“He’s just in a bad mood because he’s on his father-in-law’s shit list. Zara might be drunk too.
She was hiding because I think she’s got a thing for Ares, and that’s not going down well with her dad.
She also got arrested last night for street racing.
Against Ares, I think.” Aurora’s rambling.
I have no fucking idea who these people are that she’s talking about.
“Who’s Ares?” I ask.
“Ares De Bellis, you know him? No, why would you know him? Then again, you did know the Mancini brothers. Mmm, maybe you know Ares too,” she says.
I know the De Bellis name. I also know their whiskey label. It’s not that great if you asked me. No one does whiskey like the Irish. What I want to know is how Aurora knows them? “I don’t know Ares, babe. How do you know him?”
“Well, my cousin Zoe—she’s Mabilia’s older sister. My aunt and uncle adopted her when she was sixteen. They saved her. Anyway, long story. She came to Melbourne, married Marcel, who is Ares’s uncle. But my family knows all the De Bellis brothers and their offspring,” Aurora says in one long breath.
I lost interest when she said cousin. There’s too fucking many of them. I mean, I have a lot of cousins back in Ireland. But, fuck me, the Valentinos take reproducing to the extreme.
“Oh! Do you still have that burner phone?” Aurora says all of a sudden.
“Yeah, why?”
“I need to call Zoe.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, babe. No one is supposed to know you’re here,” I remind her as I climb off the bed. “I’m getting you some water.”
“Why?”
I laugh. “Because you need it.”
“What I need is you, inside me, Connor.” She pouts.
“And you can have that as soon as you’re sober.” I shake my head. I’m not fucking her while she’s intoxicated. “Don’t move,” I tell Aurora as I step out of the room and shut the door.
When I walk into the kitchen, her brother is there. Alone. Which isn’t awkward at all. I open the fridge and pull out a bottle of water.
“She okay?” Lorenzo asks.
“Right now, sure. Ask again once the hangover she’s about to be sporting kicks in,” I tell him.
Lorenzo chuckles. “She won’t get a hangover. We’re Italian. We’re born with red wine in our veins.”
“Sure.” I roll my eyes. I’m about to walk out when I decide to add, “She’s asking to call her cousin Zoe.”
“Of course she is. I’m surprised she hasn’t already tried to leave the house and go see everyone.” Lorenzo shakes his head. “No one is supposed to know you’re here.”
“That’s what I told her, but Aurora can be… determined when she has something in her head. She’s going to find a way to do it.”
“I’m well aware of my sister’s determination,” he says. “I’ll handle it.”
“Right. Good chat.”
“O’Malley, my dropping her off in your room doesn’t mean I like you. As soon as she gives the okay, I will kill you,” Lorenzo grunts.
I smile at him. “If Aurora ever has a reason to kill me, she’s not going to need you to do it for her.” I’m proud as fuck at how capable my girlfriend is at looking out for herself. She’s not meek—that’s for damn sure.
When I make it back to the bedroom, she’s not on the bed where I left her. “Aurora?” I call out, and then I hear it. The unmistakable sound of someone throwing up.
I find her in the bathroom, bent over the toilet, a shit-ton of red liquid coming back up.
“Fuck, babe.” I sit down next to her, scooping her hair up into one of my fists.
“Connor, go away. I do not want you to see me looking like this,” she says right before she throws up again.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You look fucking gorgeous,” I tell her.
She doesn’t. She looks like absolute crap. Sweat covers her body. She’s shivering and tears are streaming down her cheeks. But I’m not stupid. I would never tell her that. Also, underneath all of it, she’s just as gorgeous as ever.
“You’re a liar,” she says.
I uncap the water with one hand and hold it out to her. “Here, drink this.”
Aurora’s hands shake as she takes the bottle. “This never happens. It was red wine. We’re born with the stuff in our veins,” she mumbles, repeating her brother’s words.
“You do know that’s not actually true, right? Like it’s biologically impossible.” I laugh, but when Aurora turns her icy glare on me, that laughter dies in its tracks. “How about we get in the shower?” I stand, bringing Aurora with me.
“I can do it myself. I don’t need you to look after me,” she says as she leans all her weight on to my side.
“I know you don’t. But I like looking after you.” My lips press against the top of her head.
I walk her over to the shower and lean her against the wall. With one hand, I reach in and turn on the water. Once I’m satisfied with the temperature, I glance back at Aurora.
“Arms up.” Gripping the bottom of her shirt, I lift the material over her head. I reach one hand behind her back and unclasp her bra, dragging the straps down her arms.
“You’re really practiced at that, huh?” Aurora smirks.
My lips tilt up. “Patty and I practiced unclasping bras when we were ten. I mastered the art within weeks.”
“Ten? You we’re thinking about girls at ten?” Aurora asks.
“I was thinking about boobs at ten,” I clarify as I stare at the best tits I’ve ever fucking seen.
Not the time, though.
Shifting my attention to her shorts, I undo the buttons and then peel the fabric off her body.
I make a mental note to ensure they disappear before she sobers up.
I fucking hate and love those shorts at the same time.
Next, I slide her underwear down her legs, crouching to help her step out of the thin, lacey material.
Fuck, now my face is level with her pussy. My cock is straining. Not the time, I remind myself.
Straightening back up, I help Aurora move into the shower. “Hold on to the wall. Do not fall,” I tell her.
“Okay. Gee, you’re bossy.”
I make fast work of stripping out of my own clothes, not trusting her ability to keep herself upright for too long.
Once we’re both under the shower spray, I pick up the loofah.
It looks to be brand new. Squirting some shower gel onto the top, I then start wiping her down.
This isn’t the first time we’ve showered together, but it is the first time we’ve showered together without me pushing her up against the wall and shoving my cock deep inside her.
When I’m done washing her hair, I shut off the water and wrap a big fluffy towel around Aurora’s body before doing the same with her hair.
She looks a bit better. Color is returning to her face.
After drying and dressing myself, I open a toothbrush that’s sitting on the counter, squirt some toothpaste onto it, and hand it to her.
“What? You’re not going to brush my teeth for me too?” she asks.
“I can. Open wide,” I tell her.
She snatches the toothbrush from my hand. “It was a joke.”
“There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you, Aurora,” I say.
“I know,” she replies around the bristles.
Once she’s finished with her teeth, I lead her into the bedroom and pull the covers from the bed. Aurora strips the towels off her body and climbs onto the mattress. Completely fucking naked.
Fuck me, how am I supposed to get into a bed with my naked girlfriend and not touch her?