CHAPTER FOURTEEN CHLOE
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHLOE
THEN
TEN YEARS AGO
“You’ll only be gone a few days,” I giggle as Ronan pins me against his bedroom door.
I only came in here looking for my favorite lip balm, but I’m hardly surprised to find myself in this position.
We’ve never been able to keep our hands off one another, even when we were kids and didn’t understand what the big feelings in our chests meant.
It used to be tickles and hugs, and now it’s kisses and other things we didn’t know existed back then.
Ronan presses kisses down my throat, tearing a soft moan from my chest.
He’s so fucking good at that, it’s hard to believe he’s only ever been with me. After our awkward first time, we found our feet quickly, learning what each other liked and how to drive one another wild.
“I know, but I’m going to miss you,” he murmurs, biting down on the place where my neck and shoulder meet.
I moan as my hips jut forward, searching for relief. I shouldn’t be horny, especially considering he fucked me against the shower wall just a few hours ago, but you know what they say about young love.
“You have to go,” I sigh.
This is the last job he’ll do for his father for at least a few months, because next week we’re off to California for college.
Just the thought of a life away from the mafia makes my chest tighten. Neither of us got to choose this life, as we were born into it, but for a few blissful years we’ll get to imagine a life without the guns and danger, without blood and sin.
We can pretend to be normal teenagers in love, finding our feet in a whole new world. Except while everyone else’s transition will be from high school to college, ours will be from armed guards to freedom.
“Just one more minute,” he says playfully, gazing down at me with pure adoration.
The way he looks at me still has butterflies erupting in my belly every single day, and I can’t see that ever changing, because despite only having loved one another, that same love grows every day.
I lean forward and take his lips, allowing myself to sink into his arms for the one more minute he demanded, because I can’t deny him anything.
Ronan pulls back just enough that he’s staring down at me again. “I’ll call you tonight and let you know when I get in safely.”
I nod, dragging my bottom lip between my teeth and biting down to warn away the tears that threaten to fall. It’s stupid. I know we’ll see each other again in a few days, that I’ll hear his voice in a few hours, but saying goodbye is hard when safety isn’t a part of your everyday life.
Every time one of us steps outside the walls of this compound, there’s a chance we won’t come back, and that’s the reality of mafia life I struggle the most with.
“Be safe,” I whisper.
“I always am.” He presses one last kiss to my lips and steps back, and I miss his warmth immediately.
It’s just a few days, I remind myself as I watch him head down the hallway, disappearing toward the front of the house once he reaches the end.
But there’s a pit of dread rolling in my belly that I haven’t been able to shake since I opened my eyes this morning.
Something’s not quite right, and no matter how hard I try to convince myself otherwise, it’s all I can think about as I head back to my own room, my favorite lip balm clutched in my palm.