Page 94 of Privilege

Breakfast meant spending time with her father when he finally rolled out of bed. It had been a couple of days since she came back home, and despite all her father’s efforts, they just weren’t talking. She made sure of it. The tension in their home was thick enough to smother a person with all the bitterness and words left unspoken that was weighing it down.

Lucia wished she cared.

Except she didn’t.

At all.

Because for every single day that passed without contact from Renzo, she was left feeling more and more bitter with her father. She didn’t try to reach out to Renzo, to be fair, but that was because she was waiting for him. Had her father—whatever he did—scared him off for good? Was he making a choice about her because he felt like he had to?

Then, so be it.

It still hurt, though.

God.

Like an ache deep in her chest that no matter what she tried to do, she just couldn’t ignore. It was there when she went to sleep, and lingered long after she woke up. She would become accustomed to it just long enough for her to forget about it before it came back around to kill her again.

Still, she didn’t call.

“Are you sure—”

Lucia swung the front door opened, and stepped outside before her mother could even finish her question. She didn’t need to hear it, anyway. Yes, she was sure that she didn’t want to spend even one more minute than she had to in her father’s presence. It would only lead to the two of them arguing again, and she just wasn’t in the mood today.

Glancing one last time at the screen of her phone, Lucia shoved the device into her pocket, and glanced up. It took her a second to realize what she was seeing at the end of her driveway, and exactly what it meant.

A second for her heart to start beating out of control, and feel like it was going to burst. A second for her to catch air in her lungs when he smirked, and winked from his position leaning against an older, restored Mustang with beautiful lines and a bright, fiery red paint job. A second for her own smile to grow wide before she darted off the steps, and closer to the man who was currently holding her entire soul in his hands, but probably didn’t even know it.

Renzo.

He looked like sex on a stick in his black jeans, leather jacket, and a plain white T-shirt. With his scuffed up combat boots hooked one over the other, and his arms folded over his chest, he seemed as though he didn’t have a single problem in the world. Certainly not because he was standing where he was … where he absolutely shouldn’t be right in front of her fucking house.

No doubt, the enforcer leaning over the hood to talk to Renzo was telling him exactly that, too. He didn’t even pay the guy any mind, just waved a hand, but kept his gaze on Lucia all the while.

She heard the last bit of the man’s statement to Renzo, though.

“If you’re smart, you’ll get the fuck out of here, man.”

Renzo didn’t even reply. He was too busy pushing off the hood of the Mustang with arms wide open to catch an oncoming Lucia. His arms wrapped around her like bars, but damn, she’d never wanted to be locked in more than she did with Renzo. Nothing would make her happier, honestly.

His lips moved against the line of her hair as he said, “Morning, baby.”

She grinned, tipped her head back, and found those familiar eyes of his drifting over her face like he was taking her in all over again. “What are you doing here?”

Blasé, far too sexy for his own good, and a little too cocky, Renzo shrugged one shoulder. “Last couple of days were busy, and I finally got a day to relax a bit. Wanted to spend it with you.”

Lucia arched a brow, and passed a look to the enforcer who was still lingering a little too close for her liking. Never mind the fact he was digging in his pocket, likely for a cell phone to call somebody. Probably her father who very rarely woke his ass up out of bed before eight, but usually closer to nine.

They needed to get out of here.

And quickly.

“Besides,” Renzo added, nodding his strong chin in the direction of her house, “asked around, got your address easily enough … figured, might as well make it clear I wasn’t going anywhere.”

Oh, God.

She liked that as much as it terrified her.

“I’m sorry for … whatever happened,” she murmured.