I look down at myself and all I see are red, bloody lines along my legs. There’s a deep scrape on my thigh that I hadn’t even noticed till now.
“Oh, no.” I grab hold of the tub to steady myself and feel his hands on my arms, making sure I don’t collapse.
“Even this is too much for you?” he muses. “These are all light wounds.”
“Yes.” I jerk his hands away and peel his shirt off and throw it near the toilet.
“I didn’t mean to offend; that was meant to be an internal thought.”
“Maybe you should do a better job of keeping those thoughts internal,” I mutter.
I look away from my legs and focus on my breathing as he patches me up. I don’t know what I was expecting. Maybe him gruffly wrapping gauze around my legs or telling me to deal with this myself. But he seems strangely… attentive. Gentle even.
His hand brushes up against my thigh, where that large scrape is. I don’t know if it’s on purpose or absent-minded, but he caresses me with his thumb as he patches this one up. It stirs up a feeling in me that makes me question…
“Does it look like I hit my head?”
His eyes snap up and narrow in concern as he gently runs his hands through my hair, checking for blood on my skull. “Does your head hurt?”
“No, but I feel weird.”
“You’re probably starving. Do you want me to send something up?”
My stomach growls as if it’s directly answering for me.
“Maybe. The food here is delicious, but I really want something American. Comfort food. Lots of carbs.” My mouth waters when I think about what I want. “Hmm, mac n’ cheese with pulled pork and barbeque sauce over it. Do you guys even have barbeque sauce here?”
I’m expecting him to make fun of, well, all of that. Tell me I’m classless or a child. But he responds simply with, “I’ll ask.”
He finishes tending to me and instead of walking away or taking me to the bedroom; he lingers eye-level. His green eyes flick down to my lips briefly before he nervously runs his hand through his hair.
“I’m sorry about all of that. Marco? He’s uhh… awful.” A faint smile forms on his face, and it makes me blush before he quickly looks away before getting back to business. “Are you in a lot of pain? I can see what kind of medication I have here.”
“No, I’m fine.”
He stands up, pulling me with him. I bear weight on my less-injured foot and feel his firm hands support the rest of me. I can feel his body heat radiating from him. His masculine scent surrounds me as we stand in the bathroom suspended. I have to come to terms with myself—that I crave more of his touch. But I need to keep my head in the game. I’m sure these butterflies in my stomach have more to do with seeing literally no one else most days and with him saving me from someone even more cruel than he is.
But is he cruel?
I assumed so based on what Savannah told me. But he hasn’t shown that side of himself to me.
He guides me to the bed and leaves me alone, finding someone to make me the food I requested. He leaves me feeling oddly… hopeful.
Maybe the two of us can actually get along. And only good things can come of that if I can get him to like me and trust me more. But if not, it’ll at least make this prison more pleasant.
Chapter 14
Alessandro
Ididn’tgetasingle minute of sleep last night. There were too many emotions flooding my mind for that to occur: adrenaline from getting shot at, regret from taking Sofia away from the safety of my home, anxiety that Marco is only going to further torment me regarding Sofia—and worst of all—I felt a glowing excitement in my chest all night long.
I don’t know if it’s an intentional thing she’s doing or not, but she’s getting under my skin. The thought of her jumping to her death filled me with the same type of fear I felt when Elena broke her leg falling off of a horse when she was a child.
The version of myself before I met Sofia Calabrese would have been callously delighted at the notion of her taking care of my problems by violently opting out of her current predicament.
Butwhydo I care? We haven’t had any pleasant conversations or anything romantic or intimate occur. Although last night when she was in my arms…
Tending to her legs…
