“You’re being very rational about this whole thing, a lot more than I am. My little sister is about your age and I can’t help but make the correlation between you two. And that has me wanting to choke the fuck out of my boss.” He blows out a sharp breath. “At least you’ve got a good head on your shoulders and won’t end up like those other young women who chase after someone they shouldn’t or get pregnant and stuck with a kid to raise alone.”
My world shifts and I sway on my feet. Beni is quick to catch me before I fall and stares down at me, his gaze shining with worry.
“Are you okay?” he asks, still gripping my shoulders.
“I don’t know…”
How can I admit that I didn’t think about getting pregnant? I can’t believe how stupid I’ve been acting and if that doesn’t show my age, I don’t know what else will. Doubt creeps along my psyche with whispers of Tristano’s words:you’re too young to know what you want or what to watch out for.
I certainly wasn’t mindful of conception. And now I’m beginning to think he might be right about me.
“Ah fuck.” Beni wraps his arm around me and leads me further into the bedroom, kicking the door shut with his foot. “Look, it’s not that big of a deal and it’s not even a sure thing anyway.”
I’m shaking so badly he pulls me into a hug and continues to ramble, what I assume are words of encouragement. But I can’t hear him. My mind is too busy screaming and my heart is racing as though it’s about to rupture. How could I have been so irresponsible? I guess there’s the excuse of being in a romantic setting and falling in love for the first time, but those reasons sound idiotic in my mind, so there’s no way I’m speaking them out loud.
When Beni’s entire body becomes like steel, hard and stiff, I jerk back and glance up to find his gaze elsewhere. With fear coiling around my lungs, I turn to see what he’s looking at, and all the air is squeezed from me.
Tristano stands in the doorway with his feet planted shoulder width apart, his arms folded, and his face void of any emotion. But his eyes…they glitter with a violent rage.
“What is going on?” he asks, his voice deceptively soft and calm.
I tense and Beni tightens his hold on me. That would comfort me if Tristano’s lip didn’t curl back in a snarl. I’m not sure who he posed the question to, but I can’t find my voice. It disappeared in his presence.
“Nothing,” Beni says.
Tristano scoffs. “Really? I’m supposed to ignore you being in Violetta’s room at night?”
“If it’s none of your business, then yes.”
Beni is going to get us both killed.
He continues speaking and my anxiety swells. “This might be your house, capo, but Violetta isn’t a piece of furniture that belongs to you, which means she can do whatever, withwhoever, she wants.” Beni lowers his arms and fists his hands at his sides, then takes a step toward Tristano. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you the one who refuses to speak to her? The one who’s acting like she doesn’t mean shit to you?”
I hate myself for it, but I wince at hearing the truth. Beni is right about everything and, as much as I despise it, I need to come to terms with the facts. Just not right at this moment because Tristano and Beni both look ready to murder each other.
“Please stop.” I clasp Beni’s shoulder and he breaks his stare with Tristano in order to look at me. “I appreciate you, I really do, but I’m tired and I want to be done with all of this.” From my peripheral vision I catch Tristano’s gaze narrowing at my words. He must’ve caught on that I meant that in reference to this situationandhim. “Thank you for coming by, Beni.”
“No problem,” he says. “If you need me, just yell.”
Beni strides past Tristano and the look they share nearly sets my hair on fire because of the hostility between them, not to mention the air of impending violence. I turn my back on them and walk over to the window, already lamenting my lack of sleep between now and the morning. There’s no way I’ll be able to sleep now.
When the door clicks into place, I glance over my shoulder to confirm they’re gone.
Only to find a pair of silver orbs, smoldering with intent.
Violetta
Iwrap myself in a cloak of silence, not trusting myself to say the right things.
Whatever those would be.
I’m not sure what I’d be trying to accomplish anyway. Tristano is livid about something and I don’t have the energy to guess what. Since I haven’t done anything wrong, I wait for him to explain his presence in my room.
“What was Benito doing here?” he asks.
“What areyoudoing here?”
Tristano works his jaw back and forth, no doubt collecting his thoughts and tempering his wrath. He looks as though he’d love nothing more than to demand answers from me.
