Some mistakes had to be lived.
It led to the polar opposite of a restful sleep.
Upon waking, I felt more exhausted than when I’d climbed into bed. But as my eyelashes lazily fluttered on the precipice of returning to my rowdy dreams, I immediately stilled. Tension replacing drowsiness as instincts kicked into gear.
The whirring of the overhead fan was a new type of background noise.
The only problem?
I hadn’t switched it on before I’d gone to sleep.
I hadn’t needed it, not with the AC.
Then, I heard the crinkling of a wrapper…
Swallowing my fear, I made slits out of my eyes and scanned the room. There was enough light that I knew dawn had passed but?—
When I saw him sitting in the corner of the bedroom in an armchair, gun loosely tucked in one hand, what looked like a freakin’ Little Debbie’s cupcake in the other, feet crossed at the ankle, gaze locked on me, I jumped so hard that I was sure I could have fallen off the mattress.
“What are you doing in here?” I shrieked.
“Guarding you.” Steel lined his words.
“Why? We’re on allied territory!” What words had I just spoken? Allied territory—what was this? WW2? The fucking mob, I swore. Ruined. Everything. Even my vocab!
“The looting spread wider than Martinez originally realized. He got the situation under control, but I refused to take any chances.”
“My sisters!” I cried, surging up again.
“They have guards too. Not inside their rooms,” he conceded.
“So, I get the personal touch?” I patted my heart. “You scared the shit out of me.”
“You’re safe. That’s what matters.”
Snagging the sheets around me, I dragged them high as I hauled myself against the headboard, then for good measure, I threw one of my pillows at him.
Of course, it landed wide.
With a growl, I hurled every single one off the bed while he watched on, amused.
Only one damn pillow got even close.
Grr.
“You could have warned me,” I said, huffing after that unexpected bout of exertion.
“How? Should I have whispered into your ear while you were sleeping and scared youtheninstead of now? At least you got some rest.”
I glowered at him.
His lips curved, that strange flatness fading from his expression. A flatness that told me the Capo had guarded me.
The biochemist had told me that I was as serious as HPAI.
How many other sides were there to his nature?
A brother, definitely. The brother to a sister as well. I knew from my own family that they were two types.
