“Black and pitch black.”
“I’m being serious.” I imagine her rolling her eyes as she says it.
“So am I.”
When she doesn’t respond, I say something I really shouldn’t.
“If you want to know the truth—one is obsession, and the other is restraint.”
She swallows audibly, letting that sink in. “Restraint because we’re casual?”
I hate that word with every fiber of my being, but I don’t let on to it. “No. Because I’m not a good man for you.”
“Is that why you don’t care that I was thinking about someone else tonight?”
There is no good response to that, and I don’t want to lie to her, so I choose not to answer it at all.
“Let’s get you rinsed off.”
I take my time, making sure I get all the soap and conditioner off her before I wash myself up quickly. When I grab a towel and dry her off, she’s quiet, and I know it’s not just because she’s tired. It’s because I’ve got her tangled up in a web of confusion and torment, because I’m a fucking asshole.
“Let me get you some pajamas.” I wrap the towel around her and leave her on the counter while I head to her closet.
I stashed some clothes for myself tonight, so I grab those and get dressed, leaving the clean hoodie I brought on her bed.
When I head back into the bathroom with her pajamas, I throw on the other hoodie I was wearing, along with my mask and gloves.
I switch on the light, dimming it as Gabi closes her eyes to shield them from the brightness. Before I dress her, I grab the first aid kit from under the sink and tend to the scrape on her knee from when she fell.
In the light, I can see the complete chaos I unleashed on her body. Purple marks litter her thighs and breasts. There’s also a very visible bite mark on her neck.
Seeing her so completely branded by me makes me irrationally hard, particularly when I know she’ll have trouble covering that mark tomorrow.
I dress her in her pajamas and brush her hair, attempting a loose braid to keep the wet strands from annoying her. When I carry her to bed, Beppe is already waiting for her, peeking out at us from beneath his blanket. I give him an ear scratch, then pull my clean hoodie over Gabi’s head, and she snuggles into the oversized fabric, blinking up at me with heavy eyes.
“What’s this for?”
“The next best thing.” I drag my knuckles over her cheek as she frowns.
“You aren’t staying?”
“I have to go, but I want you to rest.”
She looks like she wants to protest, but decides against it. Thank fuck for that, because I doubt I could deny her right now, and I still have one more thing on my agenda tonight before I can crash out.
Before I go, I test her by grabbing the raggedy old teddy bear off her bed and replacing it with the shark she won tonight. But as I tuck it under my arm to haul it off, panic flares in her eyes.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
“You don’t need it anymore. You have new ones.”
“I still want it,” she blurts, reaching out to grab its leg.
I let her yank it away, smirking beneath the mask as my voice dips. “Why?”
“Because…I just do.” Her cheeks heat.
“Because he gave it to you?”
