Brando and I never allowed layers to come between us before, and they were, like the table that used to separate him and Luca.
A sudden chill touched me deeper than flesh, and I snatched a thick blanket from the end of the bed, covering my shoulders with it.
Brando slipped into his thick, long wool coat. It made him look menacing, like a high-powered man who ruled the world.
He stared at me for a moment before he came to stand in front of me.
“My hair,” he said.
“What about it?”
“You didn’t fix it for me.”
I lifted my hand to settle the pieces, but he took a step back.
“It doesn’t matter.” He rolled his shoulders. “I’m putting a hat on. Waste of time.”
“All right,” I whispered, forcing the tears back. “Will you be long?”
Go, just go!I wanted to scream. I didn’t want him to see me cry. This was my issue, not his.
How could I expect him to be someone he wasn’t anymore? Damn if the change didn’t break my heart though.
I didn’t mind this man as long as he retreated into the darkness when daylight was over. Lately, he was there more often, sending my husband deeper and deeper into the shadows.
“No.” He placed a soft kiss on my forehead and then turned and left.
After the door shut, I lost all strength to sit up and plopped over on the pillow, crying into it. I’d be damned if I grieved in front of that man—the one who was hard to get close to.
I loved him, but I knew he wasn’t meant to stay.
Crying wasn’t a sign of weakness, but I didn’t want Brando to feel guilty, to base his choice on whether it would break me. I’d love him regardless, as he had always loved me, even if that meant grieving for the loss of my husband for the rest of my life in private.
This man could never kill him—I’d never allow it—but I’d have to be content with catching glimpses of my husband instead of catching glimpses of the beast who usually stood in the darkness.
When the door came open, I shot up as quick as lightning, and a surge of cold floated through the air, the door shutting quietly behind him.
“You waited for me to leave.” His jaw ticked and his fists were clenched. “To cry.”
“Hormones.” I sniffed.
“Lie.”
“So?”
“I’m not fucking finished with you.” He removed his jacket, throwing it to the floor.
“W-what are you doing? Ro—”
“You come first,” he said, removing the rest of his clothes. “My vow.”
He threw the blanket that covered me wild and then ripped the slip from my body in one fluid motion. It seemed to vanish in thin air, like he was a magician. Then he was inside of me, and we both made noises that echoed.
His tongue traced the lines of my tears, before he touched my tongue, and I tasted salt and whiskey. Every pleasureful noise that came from my mouth he swallowed down, like sustenance for his soul.
“Brando!” I cried, pulling him closer, both of our bodies moving in a powerful rhythm, rising higher and higher.
His skin against mine was the cure to the loneliness.
