I am ashamed of the amount of jealousy that is intertwined with that question. There has to be a logical reason why she is here alone with Carmine, arguing in an empty warehouse in the middle of nowhere. I sound more naïve than rational, trying to calm myself from the unexpected envy filling my body more with each passing moment.
I notice there are tears in her hazel eyes. “Titi, what the hell are you doing here?” I say as I run up to hug her. We stand there, locked in an embrace, as I feel the tears roll down her always perfectly made-up face.
“I’m sorry, honey, I was going to tell you. I swear it, I just needed to—” she interrupts herself, wiping away the remainder of her tears as she clears her throat to regroup. “He just beat me to it.”
I shake my head, “Beat you to what?” I ask.
She takes in a deep breath but does not answer my question.
“Titi, beat you to what? What the hell is going on?” I press once more.
She still doesn’t answer my question.
“Did he hurt you?” I ask, bringing my hands back to her forearms, slightly shaking her so she can answer me.
Finally, she comes to, snapping out of the daze she was in, “No, he didn’t. He just prevented me from hurting who I came here to hurt,” she says as she peers back at the curtained-off area, looking agitated.
“Hurt who? Titi you are scaring me,” I say, with apprehension in my eyes.
Before she can say anything, I hear the curtain rings cling against the metal rod as the row of velour fabric begins to become smaller. My eyes leave Lana’s face as I process the man emerging from the curtains. Carmine opens the curtain, revealing himself.
He looks like he has gone through war. He is without his signature black pinstripe suit, instead, in a once white undershirt covered in crimson. Blood splattered on his face, his forearms, hands, everywhere. Not an inch of him, aside from his eyes, is not covered in blood.
Through the sea of red, I notice the veins in his forearms are bulging, pronounced, as if he just got done working out. Even stained in blood which should be concerning, I can’t look away.
He walks toward Lana and I and, of course, he has a cigarette hanging from his mouth. Somehow, his ink-filled arms, now glistening from the death that is splattered all over them, create a throbbing in my center. I try to look away, but it’s too late. The throbbing is now mixed with the wetness forming, making me wanton for him.Fuck, I’m so messed up.
He takes a long drag of his cigarette as he looks to me, like he and I are the only ones in the room.
“Ms. Ricci, I do hope you are prepared for what I have planned for you today,” he says. His ability to be so nonchalant amongst the confusion and chaos that surrounds us is truly remarkable.
I turn to Titi Lana, but before I can say anything to her, she reaches for my hand glancing at Carmine once more. “Please, call me later, we need to catch up,” she says to me.
You think?
Carmine directs his gaze to Eric, blowing his smoke in his direction “See Ms. Diaz out of here, Eric.”
Eric nods and walks up to greet Titi Lana, but she looks to Carmine instead. She flips her elegantly draped, wavy brown hair before inching closer to him. “I will see myself out the same way I came in, Mr. Moretti.” She looks back toward Eric, scanning him up and down. “I don’t trust him,” she mumbles but her statement is loud and clear.
Eric hears her also and awkwardly backs away. “It’s no problem, Boss, I have to head back to the office, anyway. There is some unfinished business I need to take care of,” he says, ominously.
I’m curious what Eric needs to get done at the office, considering he is an intern and Carmine doesn’t seem to utilize him for any work other than errands or driving me around. I look at Carmine, who nods, half paying attention, as his intense stare melts me.
As Carmine brings his arm up, puckering on his cigarette, I see crimson droplets bead down to the floor. Whatever was the cause of the blood drenching his skin is beyond that curtain, and as concerned as I should be, I hate to admit that intrigue takes over.
Eric nods goodbye to us all before scurrying out of the warehouse. The door slams, echoing through the empty warehouse.
Lana moves a moment later and she whispers something to Carmine before coming back to give me a hug.
I watch Carmine’s eager eyes, studying me as I interact with Titi Lana and say goodbye to her. Through puffs of smoke, I see an unexpected yet adorable grin form around his mouth.
“I love you, Sienna, call me when you leave. I’ll explain everything,” she says before tapping her heels in the opposite direction of the entrance Eric and I came in.
The fact that I am alone with Carmine in this environment solidifies all my fears about him, and then some. I don’t know whether to walk toward him or run away. So, instead, I stand frozen, hoping that my mind will take over, because my body melts under his wicked flame.
“Ms. Ricci, follow me this way.” He motions for me to come closer as his body starts turning toward the bloodied, curtained island in the middle of this otherwise pristinely clean, yet empty, warehouse.
“I made a little mess, hope you don’t mind helping me clean up,” he says nonchalantly, as he begins to peel the curtain back further.
