Falco stops drilling me for information by the fourth day, and he settles into becoming my shadow.
Unable to shake him, I throw myself into trying to make him uncomfortable.
A spa day with Mom, complete with a manicure and having my hair done.
Clothes shopping that lasts an entire day.
Hours and hours spent at the salon getting my hair redone until my scalp burns. Even hours at the gym trying to shed the pounds Mom points out without fail.
None of it affects Falco.
He doesn’t falter.
He doesn’t even blink.
It’s like part of him has switched into this quiet, robotic state that only activates when I ask him a direct question or someone walks too close to me for his liking.
It would be sexy if it weren’t completely smothering.
Until one day Giacomo drops by and throws himself dramatically onto my bed.
I sit at my desk, pouring over online catalogs while trying to make it look like I have contact with the outside world that Falco should be worried about, but he’s wise to my games now.
He stands just outside, half of his body visible as he rests against the doorframe and observes the hallway as if he expects a threat to jump out at any second.
“So.” Giacomo grins at me, snatching up the little elephant plushie from beside my pillow. “You still sleep with this guy?”
“Hey!” Rising quickly, I try to snatch Henrietta back from my brother, but he’s far too fast and holds her just out of reach.
“Come on, Aerin. You’re twenty-one now. You can’t be caught sleeping with stuffed animals.”
“Give her back!” I lunge once more, but Giacomo is far too nimble and he slips out of the way as I fall onto the bed. “And I don’t feel twenty-one.”
Laughing, he stops near my dresser and holds her aloft in one hand. “What do you mean?”
Sitting up, I lift one shoulder. “I dunno. Doesn’t matter.”
“What? It does.” In an instant, he’s by my side setting Henrietta back in my lap. “What’s wrong?”
Clutching her close, I play with one well-loved, floppy elephant ear and glance up at him. “I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like…it’s like I stopped. Just me. And everything else moved on without me. I don’t feel twenty-one. I don’t feel like an adult or a woman. I feel the exact same as I did at eighteen, or sixteen. I wished so hard for things to be different at twenty-one because you get your life at twenty-one. And I just get…” Frustrated, I glance past Giacomo and glare at Falco’s back. “I get a robot shadow and more rules than I ever had before.”
Giacomo follows my gaze and winces. “Oh. Him. Dad told me he was some ex-marine or something. Is he giving you trouble?”
“Yes!” I answer immediately, then my stomach knots and I shake my head. “I mean…not really. He’s just following dad’s orders like everyone else here.”
“He’s why you didn’t come to dinner with me last week, isn’t he?”
I nod. “Sorry.”
He shrugs. “Don’t worry about it, squirt. Listen.” Lowering his voice, he leans in and toys with Henrietta’s other ear. “I know how you feel. Trust me, I was there. I also thought that it wouldget better when I got to thirty and here I am.” He huffs softly. “But I can give you something I never had.”
“What?”
“Me!” Giacomo leans up. “Listen…pick out your best dress, do your hair, and make sure you eat something because I’m taking you out tonight. I’ll take you to my favorite club, okay? It’s thebestplace in the world. We’ll have a great time, I promise.”
My heart begins to race at the prospect of leaving here and doing something normal, but as soon as my mind embraces the possibility of fun my heart sinks. “Dad will say no. You already know he will.”
“Sure.” Giacomo smirks. “But Mom won’t. I’ve got her wrapped around my finger.”
