-Pretending he’s heartless when he’s actually full of love and gay panic
WARNING LABEL:
-Contains high levels of testosterone, tattoos, and repressed emotions
AFFILIATED WITH:
-One very proud boyfriend
-Several traumatized dates and one traumatized Ducati.
EMERGENCY PROTOCOL:
-If found unconscious, whisper: "He was talking to someone else."
-He’ll rise. Fast.
VALID UNTIL:
-He stops being hot. So…never.
By the time he finishes, I’m trying not to laugh and absolutely failing. "Are you done exposing me?"
"Just documenting facts," he says with a straight face and tucks the new ID into the box. The illegal crap is gone. The mess. The evidence.
What’s left are things made by the only person who ever made me want to be better. I lean over and kiss his cheek. "Shut up," I mutter.
He grins. "Didn’t say anything." He hands me the box. "All done. Not a single illegal item left. Completely innocent. You can still throw it away if you want. But even if you don’t, it’s just a box now. Looks like you stole it from a daycare."
I let out a small laugh. God, he really did it. "Alright," I say after a second. "What happened at your house earlier? Everything okay?"
Rava pauses.
"Well…not exactly. Dad hit me,butit was part of the plan. Lorenzo was filming. Got the whole thing. And everything he said. Mom divorced him. He’s gone."
I drop back onto the sand and rub my hands over my face. Then I sit up and grab him gently but firmly by the shoulders.
"Please.I’m begging you. Let me just give this man the tiniest, most discreet little punch. Just one. I swear I think I’ll explode if I don’t."
Rava raises an eyebrow. "Don’t stoop to his level. You’ve been doing so well, Gio."
"Okay, yeah. But how wouldyoufeel if my dad laid hands on me like that? Treated me like trash? And you just had to sit there doing nothing?"
He looks at me and it hits him.
That image. I regret it instantly.
"Wait—shit. No. Don’t think about that. I’m sorry. I’m just pissed. Because if it was anyone else, I would rip them apart. But your family? That’s unfair. I can’t touch them. He doesn’t even realize how lucky he is."
Rava sighs. "Let’s not talk about him anymore. I don’t want to spend our last moments talking about him."
I nod.
No point wasting breath. All I want, all I freaking want, is for my Canada plan to work.
Just this one thing. Let it work.
Please.
