Chapter 22 Giovanna
Giovanna
The restaurant is cute, a new place on the water, one of the few restaurants I’ve ever seen in Brooklyn that not only has its own parking lot but is a standalone building.
It’s unseasonably warm for January with a light rain misting over the window, but I still have my faux fur coat wrapped around me, tight like armor, as Antonio and I look over the menu.
Antonio watches me as I scan the wine list, and I glance up and smile uncomfortably, then back down at the menu.
He stands and comes to my side of the table, sliding my coat off my shoulders.
I freeze as his fingertips brush across my cleavage, and his lips brush my neck as he whispers, “You look beautiful, Gigi.”
My voice croaks when I try to speak, and I clear my throat.
“Just friends, Antonio, remember? What happened to ‘I’m not trying to fuck you?’” I drop my voice to mimic his as I quote what he said earlier, and he laughs.
“If you were listening, I said I wasn’t just trying to fuck you.
Emphasis on the ‘just.’”
When I roll my eyes and go back to looking at my menu, he leans forward and ducks down so it’s harder for me not to look at him.
I lift my eyes to meet his, irritated.
“Hey. I’ll be good.
I promise.”
I sit back as he gives me an innocent look.
“What’s happening here, Antonio? Are you trying to fuck me because you hate Tommy or because you’re working for my father?
”
A darkness passes over Antonio’s face.
“I don’t work for your father. I work with your father.
I’m here because I want to be here. Why are you here, Giovanna?
”
My phone buzzes.
Fuck, you’re wearing that dress.
Tommy.
Relief that he’s okay lances through me, then immediately curdles into irritation.
He can’t answer my texts until he finds out I went out with someone else?
I look up and around the restaurant, looking for him, and Antonio notices.
He narrows his eyes at me as a text comes through from Lexi.
“Tommy’s not here, is he?” he asks, his voice smooth but guarded.
My laugh is fake. “Paranoid much? But why would you care? This is just two friends at dinner, right?”
Antonio scoffs.
“Yeah, because Tommy is such an understanding guy.” He watches me as text with Lexi.
“You’re with him, aren’t you?”
Do you need me to call?
No, I’m okay. If I need a bailout,
I’ll text you.
Not too late, bitch! I’m trying
to fuck this guy and I don’t
want to have to stop to bail
out your ass.
I send her back a laughing emoji as she sends me a selfie of her and a guy I’ve never met.
Antonio watches me suspiciously. “Everything okay?”
I shoot him a wry look.
So far, so good, since Tommy hasn’t stormed in yet and burned the place down.
“It’s Lexi. New man. Seems like it’s going well, but she’s texting me, so who knows.
” I show him her selfie.
Antonio scoffs.
“It’s always new man drama with her.”
“You would know,” I snipe, but I’m smiling and he groans with a sheepish grin.
My phone buzzes a couple of times and then rings.
It’s Tommy, and I move the phone before Antonio can see.
“It’s Lexi. Do you mind if I take this? If she’s on a date and things are going bad…
”
He watches me for a moment before he responds.
“This isn’t a ploy to end our date, is it?
You’re not going to come back in 30 seconds and tell me that your grandmother died and you have to go home?
”
I laugh. “It’s not a date, Antonio, and I promise you that’s not what’s happening; this is not a bailout phone call.
” It will be later, but I’ll deal with that then.
My phone stops ringing then immediately starts up again.
I raise my eyebrows at him. “It’s okay?”
He heaves a sigh.
“I’ll order for you.”
I mouth ‘thank you’ as I slide out of my chair and answer the phone.
“Hello?”
“You asked his permission to take my call.”
Tommy’s voice is flat and dangerous, and my heart simultaneously soars and thumps with rage.
“I’m trying to be polite, which is something you know nothing about.
” I scan the restaurant but don’t see him.
“I’m done playing games with you. Come out to the parking lot and talk to me, or I’m coming in.
”
Fury floods through me. “Are you fucking kidding me, Tommy?” I hiss.
“You ghost me for two days then have the balls to order me around? This is just a dinner, nothing more. I have an actual purpose for being here.”
“Giovanna, I saw him touch you. I will fucking kill him if you make me come in there.”
He hangs up, and I keep the phone next to my ear like I’m still on the call.
I don’t want Tommy in here, and I don’t want Antonio following me outside, but when I glance at the table, the waitress is blocking me from Antonio’s view.
I take the opportunity and slip out the front door.
Outside, the air hits me cold and sharp, rain pricking my cheeks.
I spot him, a shadow at the far end of the building where the alley catches the streetlight.
He’s in a hoodie and jeans, glaring at me.
He disappears into the alleyway, and I follow, my boots crunching on the gravel, my hand like a visor over my eyes to stop my makeup from running.
When I get around the corner, Tommy is standing at the far end of the building, as far away from me as he can get.
I stomp toward him, and he backs up a few steps.
I stop, confused and angry.
“What the fuck, Tommy? You couldn’t just text me back?
” I spit out the second I reach him. My heart is jack hammering in my chest, and there’s a metallic taste in my mouth.
“Why are you wearing that dress?”
“Seriously? That’s what you want to say to me?
If you had bothered to return any of my texts today, you would know exactly why I’m here.
”
“You’re here with him, in that dress, to punish me for not answering your texts.
”
I let out an incredulous laugh. “You think I went out with him to spite you? You are such a fucking narcissist,” I snap.
“And you came here why? To ‘take what’s yours’?
Please. All you had to do was answer a fucking text!
My dad said he talked to you, and I thought you left me—”
“Bullshit,” Tommy snarls.
“Lorenzo has made it no secret that he doesn’t want me around you.
If I was going to let that stop me, I wouldn’t have had my dick in your throat the other night.
”
My jaw drops and I turn away, looking out over the parking lot, cheeks flaming.
“Nice. Very nice. It’s not your dick that I needed today, Tommy.
I needed you to just be there for me, and you weren’t.
Two fucking days!”
“I called you when I saw that I missed your texts. You didn’t answer.
”
I frown and look at my phone. There are six missed calls from Tommy about an hour ago.
We were probably in the tunnel. Fuck.
“I missed those,” I say hoarsely.
“But that’s not the same as ghosting you for two days, Tommy.
”
“Don’t be such a child. I was cleaning up our place, turning my shitty little bachelor pad into something that you would feel comfortable in, and I lost track of time.
You know how I am, how sometimes time goes by quicker than I realize when I’m focused.
It’s not personal, and it doesn’t mean I’m fucking leaving you.
” Tommy’s jaw tics.
“Wait—you were cleaning up ‘our place?’ We don’t have a place together, Tommy.
This is what I’m talking about!” Fury erupts in my veins, and I’m suddenly shaking with anger instead of cold.
“When I need something from you—like time and space to think things through, physical intimacy, or my best friend to talk to when my dad threatens to disown me—you can’t give it to me because what you need is more important.
Yet somehow I’m the asshole!”
Tommy looks pained.
“I was trying to do something nice for you, Gi. You didn’t find me at dinner with another woman.
”
I throw my hands up. “No, you were just doing what you wanted. You didn’t even ask me if I wanted to move in with you—and by the way, Tommy, moving in when we haven’t even slept together yet is another fucking example.
I wanted to go slow, date, let things progress naturally, but I give you a blow job and suddenly we’re fucking roommates?
”
“Don’t do that,” Tommy growls. “What happened with us the other night was so much more than that, and you know it or you wouldn’t care that I missed your texts.
”
“That’s what I thought, too! So when my father fucking hit me today and told me he’d disown me if I see you again, I thought my man would help me through it, but you were too busy doing what you thought was best for us instead of what I needed.
”
“He fucking what?” Tommy’s voice is deadly, and his fists clench.
“You say you want me to be your forever, Tommy, but when I needed you, you weren’t there.
You can’t get mad at me when I then have to figure things out on my own.
” My voice snags on a sob.
Tommy closes the distance between us, and cups my face.
“No, I said you are my forever. Fuck everything else, baby. I’m here now.
Tell me exactly what happened.”
My phone buzzes.
It’s Antonio.
Everything okay?
Yes, sorry.
Girl drama.
Okay. Let me know if you need me.
Tommy lets his arm fall to his side when he sees who I’m texting.
The rain is falling harder now, and I cross my arms over my chest, shivering, as tears pour down my face.
He pulls off his hoodie and holds it out to me, and I scoff, shaking my head.
“I have to go, Tommy, and I want you to leave. I am actually here for a reason, and it has nothing to do with fucking anyone else and everything to do with protecting us.”
He shakes his head, clenching his jaw.
“You’re not going back in there to him.”
“I am, Tommy.”
“There’s no fucking way I’m letting you go back in there, Gi.
He doesn’t get to touch you—” He reaches out to touch my shoulder strap and I slap his hand away.
“It’s not about that! I need information, and he’s the only one who can give it to me.
I don’t have time to explain. Just please, let me do what I have to do.
”
“So he can help you figure things out but I can’t?
” Tommy snarls. “Are we back to you just wanting to fuck me but be with him?”
Without thought, I slap him across the face, hard, the sound wet and loud.
The fire in his eyes explodes, and he grabs my wrist.
We stand for a full minute, chests heaving, the rain pouring down, his grip on my wrist tight and unyielding.
His gaze drops to my mouth.
“Do you love me, Giovanna?”
I’m floored by the question.
“Do I—do I what?”
“Do you love me?”
Standing there, shivering in the rain, staring at him, that lock of hair falling over his intense dark eyes, tears well up again and spill down my cheeks.
I choke on the words. “Tommy—”
“Do you love me?”
When I speak, my voice comes out as a sob.
“I don’t feel safe with you.”
“You don’t feel safe with me?
” He releases my wrist, the menace melting off his face.
His voice comes out broken. “But you feel safe with him?” He gestures toward the restaurant, toward where Antonio is sitting waiting for me.
“Yes! He can’t hurt me, Tommy. If I were to fuck him, be with him, it doesn’t matter what he does—cheat on me, ghost me, leave me—I’ll never get hurt.
”
Tommy’s horrified gaze snaps to mine. He’s breathing heavily, his white t-shirt sticking to his skin in the rain.
I can practically see the calculations ripping through his brain.
“He can’t hurt you because you don’t love him.
But with me—”
“With you, I’m fucked no matter what.
”
“Because you love me.” He stalks over to me, backing me into the wall of the restaurant.
The rain is pounding on its roof, puddles forming in the mud around us.
The heat from his body and mine are practically turning the rain to steam.
He cups my face in his hands and stares at me searchingly.
“I need you to say it, Gi.”
“I don’t really care what you need, Tommy.
” I wipe my hand across my face, swallowing back a sob.
Tommy’s lip twitches into a sneer as he lets go of me roughly.
He turns on his heel, walking toward the parking lot, his boots crunching on the gravel.
I watch his back retreat, my heart shattering.
The rain is pouring down on us in a torrent, loud and relentless.
I tilt my head up so that the water strikes my face, blending with my tears.
When I look back at him, he is standing facing me, fists clenched, his gaze raking over my body with pure lust. I’m suddenly acutely aware that I’m not wearing a bra, that my dress is transparent and sticking to me.
Thunder rumbles in the distance, and Tommy sets his jaw.
I can’t breathe. I can’t move. Then he closes the distance between us, grabbing my jaw with both hands, crushing his body into mine, pinning me against the wall.
“Fuck it,” he murmurs, and takes my mouth with his, his hard cock grinding into me as he pushes his tongue into my mouth, devouring me, his large hands sliding down around my throat.
He pulls back and we’re both breathless, panting.
He shoves back the locks of wet hair hanging in my face, stares at me like an animal, a half sneer on his face.
“You were right about one thing: you’re not safe with me.
” He rubs his thumbs across my cheekbones.
His gaze bores into me, roves over my face, lands on my mouth, then back up to meet my gaze with a snarl.
“I’m the worst decision you ever made, sweet girl. ”