Page 17 of One Breath After Another

“You sure?”

Not at all.

3.

Luca

“FINE—I’m fine.”

“You sure?” Luca asked.

Because the girl didn’t look fine.

At all.

Her wide eyes looked like large, blue moons. Clear, like the color of freshly frozen ice, he thought. There was something haunted in her stare and while he couldn’t see any fear staring back at him, he figured she must be. The tint of pink in her pale skin and the straightness of her back spoke of her discomfort at the very sight of his interruption.

Luca hadn’t meant to be a shit.

The girl was like a kitten. Small-featured. Pretty. Skittish at the slightest provocation.

Vulnerable.

A beautiful, terrified kitten.

There was no denying the very sight of her could invoke all sorts of feelings from the people around her. From the way she used her long layers of white-blonde hair as a curtain to shut the world out to the dark clothing she drowned her figure in and kept hidden from view. She radiated an aura of distress constantly. He’d noticed it over the past few months that she’d been living with his friend and sister. Whenever he came over to visit Roz or Naz, it was hard to ignore the way Penny shrunk away from any visitors, not wanting to engage.

It was like a person couldn’t stop themselves from wanting to help her. In any way they possibly could, too.

Luca wasn’t an exception to the rule.

Especially not now when he was sure his surprise intrusion had upset her. Considering some of the things he knew about her past—regarding men, specifically—it wasn’t a shock. It also caused his stomach to twist with guilt. The last thing he wanted was for her to think that she was in danger around him.

On the scale of good to bad, Luca fell on the latter end of the spectrum ... on paper. Because of his raising, the family he was born into, and the last name attached to his legacy, he was who he was. Crime was crime, right? He also thought he wasn’t entirely bad—he did have a moral compass, to some regard. He wasn’t a fucking monster.

He should just leave the girl alone.

She still hadn’t even replied to his question.

Instead, he at least wanted to try to make her comfortable before he got out of her sight. Luca grinned, saying, “Really, I’m sorry for scaring you. I didn’t know anyone was home when Naz asked me to stop and grab something out of his office for him. I would have shouted at the front door to warn you had I known you were back here when I heard something this way.”

Penny kept staring.

Silent.

She swallowed hard enough for him to hear it, though.

Shit.

He had freaked her out.

Damn.

Now he felt worse.

Luca wasn’t even going to try to fix the situation when clearly, he wasn’t doing a very good job in the first place. Jerking a thumb over his shoulder, the squeak of his leather jacket loud in the resounding quietness of the music room, he said, “I think it might be better if I just go, yeah? I’ll see you later, Penny.”

That said, he turned to leave.