More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
I move closer to the operating table he’s lying on, and leaning over my little brother, I frame his beaten-up face with trembling hands. Feeling how cold he is, a breath explodes over my lips before a broken cry is ripped from my very soul. Pressing my forehead to his, the unbearable pain of losing my brother makes it feel like my soul is hemorrhaging.
Unlike when Dario hugged me, I can’t keep the tears from sneaking from my eyes, and I grip my best friend in a crushing hold. I’ve been friends with Franco since school, and besides Giulio, he’s the person I’m closest to. “I’ve got you,” he whispers, and that’s all it fucking takes for the pain to explode from me. My grief is so fucking intense it shudders through my body.
That’s when I realize just how much trouble I’m in. Where my heart is fluttering like a caged bird’s, Renzo’s is steady. Not even killing a man can get his heart rate up.
Fuck, she’s asking permission to cry, and it hits me square in the chest.
Did the name change of the guy Renzo killed? Who is this now?
“Sooo, last night was nice,” she murmurs. “We should do that again.” Letting out a sigh, I mutter, “I’ll make you deal. Just for today, I won’t be an asshole, and you’ll drop the act.” “What act?” “The one where you think flirting with me will make me care enough to let you go.” My eyes flick to hers. “I’m not that kind of man. If you make me love you, there’s no fucking way I’ll let you go. You’re fighting a losing battle.”
With all the raw pain out on the table between us, I stare at her as she cries for my brother. Giulio would’ve loved her.
“I’m s-so sorry, Renzo,” she cries. Yeah, so am I, my little mouse. So am I.
“Just one taste,” he growls. That was way more than just a taste. “That’s all it took.” His expression turns grim as he pulls his hand from between my legs, then he says, “Careful, mia topolina, you’re making me fall in love with you.” ‘If you make me love you, there’s no fucking way I’ll let you go.’
“Don’t you dare make this awkward. I made you come, and you loved it. Own it.”
“Fuck, amo,” he whispers while pulling me against his side. His arms wrap around me, and with his mouth by my hair, he says, “I never wanted this. I’m so fucking sorry.”
“They killed them,” I whisper, my voice hoarse. “I’ll find them, amo. I’ll fucking hunt down every last one of them.”
The cries tearing from her break my fucking heart, and all I can do is hold her. Where I once wanted her to feel the same pain as me, I’d now do anything to be able to take it from her.
“You have me, amo.” It’s only then I realize what I’m calling her. Love. It came so naturally I didn’t even notice. In Skylar’s darkest moment, I realize I’ve fallen for her. Hopelessly, irrevocably, madly in fucking love.
“You’re not fine, and I want you checked out. If your body rejects the kidney because of this, I’ll fucking burn the world down. Think of having the checkup as you saving mankind from extinction.”
“She had to watch as you killed him,” I hiss as I hold the knife ready over his stomach. “And I had to watch as she fucking broke.”
I don’t think Skylar fully understands what she just did. By taking my bloody hand, she stepped into my world and left her own behind.
Before this moment, I would’ve taken Skylar any way I could have her, but now I want her love. I want her to want me, and I’m not sure that will happen.
I’ll love her so fucking hard she’ll have no choice but to love me back.
With my lips against his, I whisper, “I love you.” I pull back and meet his eyes. “The good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful. I love all of you. I might regret it one day, but there’s no way to keep you out of my heart.”
