He twisted his lips. “That’s a story for another time.”
“Wow. You’re full of surprises. Are you affiliated? Should I be worried about my safety?”
“Good God.” He barely chuckled. “No, Gabi. I’m not a Mafioso.”
“Phew,” I said dramatically. “Though, I must say it’d be hot if you were.”
“What?”
“Nothing! Back to Priscilla.”
“Okay,” he didn’t sound convinced, but he dismissed it. “In Chicago, I found out…the bastard had been fixing her up with cocaine, convincing her it’d have given her a miscarriage.”
“What?! That bastard!”
Other people at the park within a walking distance from us flashed angry glares at me. Some of them had their kids around. I raised an apologetic hand in shame, but what that evil twat did made me lose my composure.
“I tried to get her to quit, but she was so hooked up on the shit,” he continued. “I was so worried about the baby, and I thought maybe she should have had the abortion.”
“Why hadn’t she? Wasn’t that what she wanted?”
“Even that was too late by then. We had no choice but to complete the pregnancy and have a drug baby.”
“I’m so sorry, Fabio. I can’t imagine your fear.”
“When I held her for the first time, though, all two pounds of her, all that fear and pain and ugliness dissolved. At the moment, I felt as fierce as The Hulk. Nothing was gonna stop me from protecting my baby. I was ready to sell my soul, not just my ass, to get her healthy, to get to watch her grow. I thought Priscilla would have felt the same.”
“She hadn’t?”
“She was diagnosed right about then. Her mind was working against her. I tried everything. Rehab, monitoring her myself, we even got married when she promised she’d never sniff again. I believed her. I thought my love and Carmen could help her. For a couple of months, things looked promising. I went back to work. I overdid it because we really needed the money. I barely had time to breathe, but I asked my family to help take care of Carmen so my wife wouldn’t get overwhelmed. I thought I had everything under control.”
“But?”
“I still wonder how after carrying that angel and watching her fighting every day to survive Priscilla didn’t find the motivation or strength to quit.” His eyes misted with tears. “I wonder how she could just leave us one day to OD at a crack house.”
CHAPTER34
Fabio
It was Wednesday. I’d been working for Gabriella for two precious days and already learned a lot.
She drank coffee once in the morning but nothing more during the day so she could sleep. She slept early at about the time I started my shift at Poles.
She always brushed her hair over to the side when her lips first touched the rim of the cappuccino cup, and the smell of her hair filled every breath I took because I always stood close to watch her have that first sip and get my first hard-on of the day.Creepy? Tell me about it.
The second hard-on was when she bent or leaned over her desk, immersed in a line of thought over papers she was always holding, frowning behind her sexy glasses, unaware of what a simple move of hers did to my cock. The third would be at lunch—we had that together every day—when she made unspeakable of sex sounds as she ate.
Despite how serious and strict she was at work, the people at Brighton loved her. They kept saying she was the main pillar of the press, and if she hadn’t given up on her dream to write her own books and became an editor instead, Jack, with his mood swings and sometimes unrealistic goals, wouldn’t have lasted a day in the business. They were grateful they still had jobs because of her.
I’d also learned Gabriella and Jack were college sweethearts, their love story was epic, and I was jealous of a dead man.
She didn’t have a massive library at her place as I’d have thought. She had a neat bookshelf that took about half a wall in her lounge and next to it was her favorite reading spot. A little corner by the windows with a cozy recliner and a coffee table that held a mountain of paper stacks and worn out novels. There were faded circular marks on the table which I presumed were from when she used to enjoy a glass of wine while reading.
She didn’t have a favorite color. She liked black, white, red and blue and magenta equally. She was a nerd when she was a kid, an only child and used to bite her nails.
But the most important thing I’d learned was the longer I stayed around Gabriella, the more certain I’d become I was setting myself up for a disaster.
And I didn’t give a shit.
