God, I swear, I protect this man with my life.
I don’t care what it costs. Even if I have to burn every last piece of myself, I will keep him safe. He doesn’t even know what kind of miracle he is. And I will never, ever let the world ruin that again.
Rava suddenly freezes, then he jumps up.
I spin around. "What? What happened?" He grabs his wrist tight. "Gio. The bracelet. The one Emi gave us—mine’s gone. I’m not wearing it, shit—I’m not wearing it."
He is already tearing through the couch cushions. I bolt to the balcony. And there, on the cold stone floor near the wall, I see beads. Everywhere. Tiny letters staring up at me. The tiny heart. A piece of blue cord. "Oh fuck…" I whisper. I drop to my knees, gently pushing the rugs aside.
Rava appears behind me, and the second he sees them, he deflates. He just stands there, hollowed out. I get up fast and cup his face. "Hey. Look at me. They’re all here," I say gently. "All the pieces. I will fix it, Rava. I swear. It’ll be just like before. Like it never broke."
He looks like he might cry. "It didn’t break," I say softly. "It just…came undone for a second. That’s all. It happens. I’ve got it. I will put it back together."
He leans into me, resting against my shoulder. "Promise?" "Promise."
We sit on the floor in front of the couch, boxes pushed aside, everything half-done but finally quiet. Rava turns his head and looks at me. I stare back.
His eyes are still red around the edges. "Gio?"
"Hm?"
"I know today’s been hard. For you. For my family too. I’ll explain later. I was just thinking…maybe you could stay over at our house tonight? In my room. I just think it might help. Being there. Together."
I stare at him. I don’t deserve this man. He reaches for my hand. "Please?"
I nod immediately. "Of course," I whisper. "Whatever you want. I’ll be there." He exhales, smiling, pulls me into a hug, then stands and brushes off his hands with a little grin. "Okay. Come on. We’re about to do something amazing."
Now we’re out.
I put on his helmet. He looks at me with those goddamn eyes. I smile because what else can I do? We climb onto the bike.
As I start driving, Rava leans closer, resting his chin on my shoulder. "Can we go to that cave spot?" he says loud over the wind. "The one by the beach. Where you comforted me when my ex tried to cheat on me with you."
I laugh. "Okay, okay, don’t go into details. I remember."
We ride. The sky is stupidly pink, like some painter went way too hard on the romance filter. The air slaps our skin. By the time we reach the beach, everything is quiet. Just a few birds in the distance. We slide off the bike.
He grabs the bag. I grab him. We duck into the little opening facing the sea. It’s like a tiny hidden pocket of the world. We sit cross-legged on the towel. The ocean hums in the distance. The sky turns pinky purple. Rava pulls out a plastic container and pops the lid. The smell hits me. "Wait. Is that our breakfast?"
"Yeah. You didn’t touch yours. I packed it up while you were in the shower."
I gape at him. "Youpackedit? In a container? Like a picnic mom?" He looks at me like he’s about to end me. "You want to eat or not, Fontana?" I throw my hands up, grinning. "I love you, I love you, no notes."
He takes a few bites, groaning. "We need something stupid good after this though. Pizza. Gelato. We deserve it."
Then he reaches into the bag and carefully pulls out the box. My smile drops. He places it gently on the towel between us and starts pulling out paintbrushes, scissors, tape, acrylics, colored paper.
I stare. "Did you bring the wrong bag?"
He gives me an offended look. "Start cutting paper, punk." And we begin. We start with the papers. Rava hands me one and keeps one for himself. I glance down.
Well…shit. Purchase receipts for weapons I never touched. My name scrawled in ink on transactions that aren’t mine. Drug deals. Shady agreements. So much filth printed in neat little rows.
It makes my skin crawl. I really was disgusting. I stare at the page, then at Rava. "You’re not gonna ask me what any of this is?"
He shakes his head. "Nope."
Then he hands me a big paintbrush. "Dip it in a color. Any one you want. Just cover it. Trust me." I swallow hard and look at the paints. My fingers reach for the purple. The deepest one. Rava picks red.
