His nose is broken. His face is swelling already.
Good.
"Gio!" Rava shouts again, furious. "Answer me, what the hell happened?!"
I don't say a word. I grab his wrist. "We're leaving. Please."
"The fuck we are—"
"I said we're leaving, Rava. Please hear me out for once."
And I pull him through the crowd, past the shocked faces and the bloodstained floor.
Where no one else can look at him like that again.
34) Lick It Off
Gio
We walk back to my place in total silence.
My face feels like someone parked a damn truck on it. My knuckles sting so bad, and I probably look insane.
The second we walk through the door, I drop my keys on the dresser with a dull clack and head straight for the bathroom.
I don't even look at him. I need cold water first. And yeah, I'm basically bracing for impact. Because he's definitely going to rip into me. And honestly? He should.
He didn't see what I saw.
He didn't hear what was said about him.
He doesn't know about the disgusting shit that pushed me over the edge.
All he saw was me losing my fucking mind, fighting like an animal in the middle of a party for no reason he understands.
So yeah. I deserve the yelling. The disappointed look.
The "what the hell is wrong with you, Gio?" speech. I lean over the sink and splash cold water on my face. Rava paces near the wall, arms folded, hair messy from the wind, still furious.
He spins around. "You gonna talk now?"
"No."
He laughs bitterly. "Of course not. Because God forbid Gio fucking explains himself."
"I don't owe you a goddamn explanation."
"You don't?" he snaps. "You dragged me out of there like a maniac, started a goddamn brawl, and I don't even get to know why?!"
I step closer. "You don't want to know why."
"Try me."
He asks for the truth, and it's so fucking fair of him to ask, but literally, how the hell am I supposed to give him the truth?
What am I meant to do? Clap my hands together and go, "Oh yeah, babe, super casual, they were talking about you like you're some drunk sex toy on legs, wondering how easy you'd be to take advantage of, and my brain cracked in half, so I beat the guy until his nose stopped pointing in the right direction. Nothing crazy. Very chill of me."
Yeah. That'll go over great.
