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I said nothing and just lay in his arms, soon enough, he fell asleep again. He must have been so tired. I was smiling, happy and satisfied. It wasn’t long before I fell asleep too, completely forgetting to ask him about his dream.
The night felt short for some reason. Maybe it was because I was too worried about him having a good rest. I was waking up at intervals from dusk until dawn.
At 2 a.m, I woke up and decided to read a book to pass the time. I picked upThe Other Side Of Midnightand continued from where I had stopped the day before. Any other book would have bored me to death or would not have held my attention, but Sydney Sheldon had a spectacular way with words.
I read a few chapters while Angelo was still sleeping peacefully. He didn’t seem to be having any bad dreams, and I was happy about that. Perhaps it was the green tea working its magic.
When finally I fell asleep, I didn’t wake up until early morning. I breathed a sigh of relief to find that Angelo was still asleep. I did not want him to wake up before me.
Maybe I could get some more of Dorothy’s magical green tea before he woke up. But I did not want to leave him. I had the feeling that he would wake up if I moved, so I just laid there beside him until he stirred.
No, he was still asleep. I sang softly to him as he slept. When he awoke, I would have to check his wound. He better play safe next time. I knew I could never deal with this trauma again.
Angelo enjoyed listening to Lionel Richie and Luther Vandross. I knew because I had gone through his music shelf before. So, I sang some of their songs softly to him. Whatever would help him sleep more sweetly. Touching his chest was a newfound hobby.
In the past few days, so much had changed between us. So much. I could not imagine him going back to the cold, standoffish, cynical man he used to be. And if he did, I did not know how I would deal with it, now that I thought I knew him so well.
“Good morning.”
I felt the bass in his chest before the words reached my ears. His voice was a deep, husky sound.
“Good morning.” I kissed his chest, and he held my hair. “How do you feel now?” I asked, leaning into him.
“Shockingly good. And you’re here, you’re still here.” He smiled. His body stiffened, but after a moment he relaxed. He waved his hand over my arm.
“Where else would I be?”
He said nothing but just stared at me strangely, as though he was really shocked that I was here.
“Thank you, thank you for staying with me.”
I kissed him, and it went on for about a minute. I did not mind that he was just waking up from a very long sleep, we kissed for what seemed to me like an eternity. When we finally stopped, my head was dizzy with joy. He could see in my eyes how happy he made me, and he smiled. Hopefully, I made him feel the same way.
“Do you want to tell me about it now?”
“Tell you about what?”
“What happened with…” His name slipped my mind for a second. “Vasquez.”
He hissed and looked away. I knew it was not his favorite subject now, but I just felt like I needed to hear him say it. We needed to talk about how he felt about the whole ordeal.
“Vasquez is a fool. I feel like a bigger fool for thinking I could make him see reason. It was just a waste of time. I should have known right from the start All he wants is war.”
I swallowed a lump in my throat. “Well… are you going to go to war with him?”
“Of course not.” He seemed insulted by the question. “What kind of person would that make me if I decided to go to war with him? I’m way past that, Maria. I have to be. It was the last thing my father wanted, and one of the reasons I’m still alive today is to uphold his legacy. Vasquez is a greedy, cunning, insatiable son of a gun. We’ve known each other for a long time, even though we’ve never seen eye to eye on anything. I was sick of his hit. So, I… I thought it would be a good idea for us to meet, that maybe we could learn to tolerate each other, learn to stay out of each other’s space. But I was stupid to assume that he would want that too. He made it clear to me that violence is the path he would rather be on. It’s not like I can’t kill the bastard if I wanted to. It’s not like I can’t put his men in body bags, too. But I choose not to.”
“Isn’t it kill or be killed?”
“It’s doing whatever your conscience allows for you to stay alive. I can’t kill him. It was against the things my father stood for, and all I want to do is follow in his footsteps. All my years of being who I fucking am, I have never killed or resorted to violence. I would not be changing that clean streak for a bastard like Vasquez. He had his way this time. Next time, he may not be so lucky. I won’t touch him, but my men won’t be so merciful.”
“I just want you to be safe,” I whispered to him, deciding to derail the conversation. Obviously, it was making him upset, and I did not want him emotionally drained.
“I am.”
I smiled at him, an idea in mind. He saw the wicked glint in my eyes.
“I should punish you for having me that worried.”
