CHAPTER 18 #2
“I missed you so much,” she whimpered as more tears poured down her cheeks. “Please…j-just listen to the doctors. I need you to get better. I’m no good without you in my life, Rafe. I need you.”
“I’m here, Tesorino. I’m not going anywhere now.
” I reached for her hand and covered it with mine.
“But I c-can’t stay here. I have to go home.
I have to give the appearance that I’m back at the head of our table.
If anyone th-thinks our family is weakened right now, they’ll strike – particularly Adamian.
I…” I had to stop to catch my breath. My voice was little more than a whisper by now too and I hated the fact I knew it was all scaring her further.
“I have to keep you safe, because I need you just as much.”
“Let’s just wait for Dario, okay? We can all talk when he’s here,” Cal suggested as he appeared behind Cara and pulled her into his arms.
She cuddled against him, clinging to his sweatshirt tightly. It was obvious they had become closer while I was out of the picture. “Why don’t you try and rest until he arrives, Rafe? You’re exhausted.”
“I’m fine,” I argued, but it was a blatant lie.
“Then at least rest your voice. Your throat is raw from the tube. Carry on like this and you won’t have the ability to talk to Dar,” he pointed out.
Smart arse little prick. He always was too intelligent for his own good. But I loved him for that too. He was my family. Mine and Cara’s. Him, Dario, Arran, Terza, and Dante…if he ever came back to us. I couldn’t help but be grateful in that moment that I would live to have more time with them all.
CARA
The gym was becoming a comforting place to me, I realised as I stood in the middle of it, barefoot on the mats, rolling my shoulders loose and slowing my breathing.
In all of the chaos of the last week, ever since Rafe got shot, exercising was the only way I had saved my sanity and kept myself even remotely calm.
It was Arran who had first dragged me down there, that first day after Rafe was shot.
I had been in pieces, and struggling to hold in my anxiety that was fighting to consume me.
I’d obviously done a crappy job of hiding it all from Arran though.
He knew, and he brought me to train. It was the best thing he could have done for me.
Ever since, I had been down there every day, sometimes multiple times.
Arran had worked with me, as had Dio and even Cal, all of them seeming to know I needed a healthy way to vent my anger, anxiety, and fear.
They’d taught me new skills and techniques, strengthening what I already knew along the way, and it had made me feel stronger, and so much calmer.
In a lot of ways being down there, and learning to defend myself - making myself feel prepared for the next attack, that I knew without a shadow of a doubt would come -it had become my sanctum.
I glanced around me at the basement space.
It didn’t even have windows, but bright, even light poured from the state of the art lighting above, reflecting off of the polished mirrors until there wasn’t a shadow left to hide in.
Everything was pristine—weights lined up, equipment gleaming, the air faintly sharp with citrus cleaner.
It felt controlled, and made me feel the same, and I needed that more than I needed my next breath when the darkness tried to take over my thoughts.
“Yer distracted, lass,” Arran pointed out.
He was right. In that moment, my thoughts needed to take a back seat. I looked ahead and took another breath. My body felt loose, almost all of my old injuries fully healed now. I was ready, and I showed it when I turned my entire focus to Cal.
He stood opposite me, shirtless, broad, and solid under the lights, muscles covered with a sheen of sweat from the training we had already done down there. He looked unfairly steady, like nothing could knock him off balance. He wasn’t even out of breath, not even a little.
He smiled at me teasingly and I scowled, determined to wipe that smugness away this time. He needed to be out of breath when I was done with him this time.
“Play nice kids,” Arran joked from where he lounged against the mirrored wall, arms folded, watching us with quiet amusement.
I’d have sent him a scowl too, but it was hard to do anything but appreciate him when he stood before me in very hugging black shorts and nothing else. His long hair was pulled up into a top knot and every inch of his muscled body was glimmering with a sheen of sweat.
He and Cal had sparred while I watched, before Arran and I switched out, and it had been a spectacular show to behold, even with them being cautious because of Cal’s new boot on his ankle.
The doctor had not cleared Cal for exercise at the last appointment, but there was no stopping him when he set his mind to something, and he had been anxious to get back into the gym as much as he could.
The only reason I hadn’t put up more of a fight was because I knew Arran always took care of his brother.
It had been worth it when I got to watch them. They were both works of art, and the power I saw from both of them as they fought was enough to have me clenching my thighs together as my body heated wildly.
“Okay, babe. Let’s try this again,” Cal taunted.
I smirked, shifting my stance. Determination rushed through me.
“You just don’t like that I got you last time.”
“You didn’t get me,” he scoffed. “You surprised me.”
“That’s kind of the point, isn’t it?”
Arran huffed out a laugh. “Careful, Lad. She’s looking mighty pissed right now.”
Cal didn’t look away from me, but he nodded. “Good. Means she might stop holding back this time.”
That did it. I moved first. Using my speed to my advantage, I closed the few feet between us in a heartbeat, reaching for his wrist while hooking my left foot behind his ankle.
He reacted immediately, completely ready for me, catching my forearm and starting to pivot, but I twisted out of it, adjusting mid-motion, slipping free before he could lock it in and pin me.
“Better,” Arran said from behind me.
“Don’t encourage her,” Cal muttered, though I caught the hint of amusement on his face. He was enjoying this as much as I was.
I slipped free of Cal, ducking under his arm and bouncing back away from him. I was already panting, my breathing picking up speed with the exertion. And of course I couldn’t even hear Cal’s breathing. Had it not been for the fight with Arran, I doubted he’d have even broken a damned sweat.
“Aren’t you both supposed to be encouraging me? That’s literally why I’m down here,” I pointed out breathlessly, swiping my arm across my sweaty brow.
“We’re teaching you control,” Cal returned, as he slowly stepped closer and circled me like he was looking for weakness.
Had it been anyone but Cal, I would believe that was what they were doing, but knowing Cal, I was pretty sure he was checking just how exhausted I was. Worrying whether I was up to going on.
“It’s no’ all about what yer know, Cara. It’s about how you use it too,” Arran added.
“I know that. I can handle myself.” I flicked a glance toward him stubbornly.
Cal’s gaze ran over me, drawing my attention back to him. It was sharp, assessing, but there was something else in it too. Something quieter that made my chest tighten just a little.
“We know,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we stop making sure.”
The way he said it changed the air between us, shifted it. My determination and fight gave way to need. I felt it settle under my skin, warm and so distracting.
I forced myself to take a deep breath. This was what Cal wanted – to throw me off and show me that I wasn’t in control, exactly as they had said. I wasn’t going to be distracted. Cal was going down this time.
“I’m not falling for this. Less talking,” I told him, lifting my hands as if that would ward off the power he had over me. “You should focus more on not getting crushed.”
Cal stepped in again, testing my guard. I blocked instinctively, and he feinted to the right.
I adjusted and my body took over, knowing what to do from the amount I had practiced.
The movements came faster now, sharper, falling into a rhythm that pulled me fully into it.
I found that place of calm within me, the quiet that blocked everything else out but that moment, that fight.
I could hear Dio’s barked words in my head. Contact. Break. Move. I could feel myself smiling, even as my breathing got faster.
“You’re holding back,” I told Cal when he backed away from an opening I had stupidly left.
“You want me not to?” he laughed.
“Try me.” I held my hands out and waved my fingers in invitation, taunting him to come for me.
“This should be good,” Arran murmured with a chuckle to himself.
Cal didn’t hold back this time when he came at me.
He just moved, faster this time - grabbing, turning, using his weight in a way he hadn’t before.
I barely avoided being pinned, twisting hard, my back brushing briefly against his chest as I slipped past him.
Just that contact sent a sharp, unexpected jolt through me, the heat rising within once again.
“Okay, that’s new,” I conceded as I pushed away quickly.
“You said try you.”
“Yeah, yeah! You haven’t won yet. Don’t get cocky,” I huffed out.
But seeing the true fire in Cal seemed to have lit mine too.
I went at him again, more aggressive this time, pushing harder, faster.
Cal met me fully, no hesitation. Our bodies collided in controlled force, his strength pressing against my speed.
He caught my wrist again, but I dropped my weight instead this time, pivoting in close, using the movement he’d committed to, against him, and then he was falling.
“Oh!” Arran’s voice echoed in the room, clearly surprised.
Cal hit the mat with a solid thud, and triumph flared through me. I did it. I got him down. Then Cal’s hand reached for my wrist and caught me.