Page 57 of Valentino

Carlo left me, but I know for a fact that he wouldn’t want me with Val…even if his ego was the only thing it hurt. Not that Val wants me anyway….

Dejected, I turn and walk back out into the kitchen.

I can hear the pounding on the treadmill and close my eyes as a vision of his perfect body running to the rhythm fills my senses. Muscles, perspiration, a deep throb….

Fuck’s sake…I need to get laid.

VALENTINO

I tap my fingers on the steering wheel as I wait for the lights to change. We are on our way back to Anna’s, it’s dark out and the streets are seemingly empty.

Anna glances over to me from the passenger seat. “Are you angry with me?”

“Nope.”

Furious.

“You’re acting angry,” she pushes.

I roll my lips to stop the venom from spraying her, stripping the flesh from her gullible bones.

She defended him.

“You can talk to me, Val.” She forces a smile. “You know that, don’t you?”

“Uh-huh.” I grip the steering wheel and keep my eyes fixed on the road.

No, I can’t.

The poison that lives within my blood is too strong to share, and I like it that way. The more potent it is the more it feeds my desire for vengeance. Once upon a time in what feels like another timeline, in another universe, I dreamed of a future with Anna, I dreamed of the happy ending. White picket fence with marriage and a family.

But not anymore.

There’s a darkness lurking inside of me, it’s hidden in the shadows and yet somehow so prominent that it’s all I can think about. Like a virus I can feel it spreading, growing and taking me over, killing all good that’s in its path.

We stop at another set of lights and I watch a group of young men laugh and talk as they cross the street. For their age they seem young, so carefree.

My fingers tighten around the wheel, I don’t know what was worse. Carlo’s betrayal…or the way that it changed me.

I used to live in a light world with a few dark patches, but now it’s dark and the only light patch sits with me in this car completely oblivious of what Carlo is capable of or the hold he still has over her.

Carlo would never hurt me.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

“Huh?” I glance over.

“The light’s green.” She gestures to the traffic lights.

“I know,” I lie, but I don’t know because I hadn’t noticed, after all he’s done, after everything he has put us through…. Still, she defends him.

Anna is chatty and talking way too much, overcompensating for her bullshit at dinner. The television is on and I’m on the couch staring at the box, if I wasn’t here…she would be with him.

My phone vibrates a text and I discreetly read it.

New intel in.

I text back.