Well, that had meant a lot to me.
It was a special night, but it was done. And the last thing I wanted was Mr. D making disrespectful jokes at Aidan’s expense, sullying the memory of it for him. Carlucci was one thing; he’d cut out his tongue rather than make those jokes to Aidan’s face, and I knew that. He sawmeas fair game, and I didn’t mind his teasing. Besides, I was grateful he’d warned me before Mr. D’s eagle eyes opened for the day.
So I hurried Carlucci back home up the hilly part of the street, ignored his bitching about the slope, and when we got back to the house I ran up all those flights of stairs to get to the bedrooms rather than wait for the elevator.
Aidan wasn’t there.
I looked out the window in my bedroom, but there was no one in the garden. I stopped to think and I remembered Róisín Donovan talking about the attic. So I ran up another two flights of stairs and burst in to the attic room to find Aidan on his knees in front of a cross on the wall, rosary in hand. He turned, startled, and got to his feet. “What’s wrong?”
“Your neck—” I panted, waving at my own. “Carlucci said…” I stopped, and took a closer look at Aidan.
There wasn’t a mark on him.
Which made sense, since I hadn’t noticed anything myself that morning over breakfast…and God knew I’d been staring damn hard at him any time he wasn’t looking my way.
“Fucking Carlucci,” I growled, and from all those floors below I imagined I could hear his faint laughter carrying up.
Chapter Nineteen
Teo
“What’s wrong with my neck?” Aidan asked, eyes round. He went immediately to the window to try to see his reflection.
“Nothing,” I said, coming up behind him. “Nothing at all, just that asshole, Carlucci—forget it. He was just kidding around.”
Aidan’s anxious eyes met mine in our ghostly window reflections. “You’re sure?”
“I’m sure. And hey—listen—” I turned him around to look at me properly. “I should’ve said this morning, you, uh. You don’t need to worry about getting tested for stuff. I mean, after last night.” It had only occurred to me on the walk back that Aidan might be worried about that. “I got tested a while back. And I haven’t—I haven’t been with anyone since then.”
It had been alongtime since I’d been with anyone, in fact, because first of all I slept on a goddamn couch in the living room, and second, because I’d been training so hard with Angelo Messina that I’d had no time for messing around with guys. Messina had handpicked me as a good fit for bodyguard, and it was a coveted position in the Family, so I’d thrown myself into the training.
Between that and taking care of Marietta and the kids, I had no time to even think about kissing boys. I’d resigned myself to quick jerk-offs in the shower, and there had been one time at Kismet Nightclub when some guy offered to blow me in the bathroom, but apart from that…
It had been a while.
“Oh,” Aidan said, as my meaning dawned on him. “Okay. Well. Thanks. That’s…good to know. You don’t have to worry, either.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“How do you know?” he asked, his chin lifting up, challenging.
I raised my eyebrows. “Uh, well. Because you’re a virgin and all.”
His nose went pink, then his cheeks. “Oh.”
“Right?”
“Right,” he muttered, looking down. He frowned. “Am I, still?”
I hoped I wasn’t starting to blush like he was. “Dunno. Guess it depends what you mean by ‘virgin.’”
Aidan rubbed his red nose and looked up at me. “I still—I stillfeellike a virgin.”
I cleared my throat and took a step back. “Then I guess you are.” Aidan looked like he was about to continue the conversation, so I stopped him by saying, “Carlucci and I checked the block. It’s pretty tight. Maybe you could invite your parents here to meet you?”
But Aidan shook his head, his mouth firm. “They’re not fans of the Donovans, to put it mildly. And I’d rather not have them associating with…well.” He stopped.
I twisted my mouth into a smile. “Bad people?”
