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"The vet will be here in half an hour," Ivory sighed, changing the subject from the man she knew I wouldn't want to talk about. Just another in a long line of disappointments who couldn't handle how messed up I was. Constantly living a life in opposition with my own desires, how could I ever expect a man to keep up with that? Or understand why one day I wanted one thing and the next was completely different?
Sometimes, the idea of taking risks terrified me. Other times, it thrilled me. I couldn't keep up with it or predict it.
"’kay. Think you can send someone over with a car? We took the bike to the gym, and I don't think Rebel will like riding bitch very much." Ivory chuckled into the phone, the soft breath too much for my ear to handle as I held the phone away.
"Your man's got you covered, Sadie Anne. He had his SUV dropped off an hour ago." She hung up, not giving me time to respond. My eyes drifted up to the bastard in question, finding him smirking at me. Looking for recognition of his good deed.
I'd throw him a bone later. I just didn't know which variety. I knew which was the smarter option, but it was so much less fun.
Enzo was mostly quiet in the car, but it didn't make me think he was appropriately chastised. His hand on my thigh and his heat searing me through the jeans I'd slipped on over my shorts didn't help. I wished I could say that I didn't like the touch, but something about the feeling of his weight on my leg settled me.
Comforted me.
Made me still. In a life where my brain constantly spun, the moments of stillness were precious and rare. I wanted to enjoy it for just a few more minutes, to not bounce my knee rhythmically or tap my fingers to quiet the noise in my head and distract myself from the need to straighten things out.
Things never stayed in place in cars. It was a problem.
Rebel paced in the back of the SUV like a caged animal, and I hated the feeling of camaraderie I felt for her. I knew what it was like to feel like a prisoner in your own life. Even if the bars of my cage were more metaphorical, I still related.
The cage felt very real, though, when Enzo pulled the vehicle through the gate to the Bellandi estate. I hated being there, but I'd had to get over that to spend time with Ivory and Luna since she'd married Matteo. I didn't like it when I felt limited in where I could go or what I could do.
"You okay?" Enzo asked, studying the knee that started bouncing his hand up and down as the gates closed behind us, the moment of stillness forgotten in the face of my anxiety mounting.
"Yeah. I don't like being trapped," I admitted in a rare moment of honesty. "I know it's necessary for her and Luna. I just feel like I can't breathe sometimes."
"Did something happen? To make you not like gates and walls?" he asked as he pulled up to the front of the house. Other cars lingered in the driveway, but most of the SUVs I associated with the Bellandi estate were notably absent.
"No. I've just never liked being co
nfined or told what to do," I snarked back, giving him a pointed look. In other words, everything he wanted to do to me to keep me safe.
I kept my distance from him as we got out of the SUV, ignoring the way he cradled Rebel in his arms so gently. She didn't seem like she had a care in the world with him carrying her like a baby, even after growling at him earlier in the day. At some point, she’d gotten used to him. She'd get spoiled if we let her, and I'd be damned if I wouldn’t.
She just couldn't get too used to Enzo doing it, because she was coming home with me when we went our separate ways.
Enzo didn't push closeness between us, giving me a moment of reprieve. He said he didn't give a damn if Matteo knew about us having sex, but he certainly seemed to.
"It's about fucking time," Matteo grunted as soon as we stepped inside. "Drop the dog in the living room.”
"Did I miss a meeting?" Enzo asked, his brow furrowing in confusion. It didn't take a genius to know that Enzo was incredibly organized with his portion of the Bellandi business, and to miss something would drive him insane.
"No. Liam O'Connell agreed to meet with us. Scar will keep an eye on the girls, and I've got the guys on the perimeter."
Enzo's eyes came to me as he guided me into the living room. Setting Rebel on the floor, he turned to me and took the moment away from Matteo's prying eyes to stroke the back of his knuckles over my cheek. "Be good," he said, lips brushing over my forehead in an oddly intimate and sweet caress. I looked over my shoulder as he moved out into the entryway, the sound of the front door closing as he and Matteo left.
Turning my attention away from the door finally, I found Ivory, Samara, and Calla all staring back at me with bright grins. "Shut up," I whispered.
Scar barked out a laugh in the corner, then returned his attention to the knife that he worked to polish. The sight of the massive man polishing a knife in one of the antique chairs from when Matteo's father had owned the estate, in other words velvet and looking fit for King Henry VIII, was almost enough to make me echo his amusement. "You think after you nagged them for details relentlessly, you'll just get out of it now that it's your turn?"
"Nobody asked you for your opinion, Smoosh Baby," I warned him. His eyes narrowed and his hands polished the blade with more force, but he didn't slit my throat with it. I counted that as a win. "Where's the vet?"
"You beat her here."
"Oh lovely," I said, dropping to the floor next to Rebel and curling her into my side. The dog snuggled in automatically, feeling like a part of me in a way I'd never expected I could have, given my circumstances. Ivory studied the contact curiously for a minute, and then her smile turned soft.
She was happy for me, but I knew she would transform back to the nosy thing she was. Ivory was incapable of not poking her face where it didn't belong. That was how she'd ended up back with Matteo after her incredible stupidity of seeking him out after a bank robber cowered in fear, invoking Matteo’s name at the sight of her and letting her go.
Ivory was not intimidating. She should have taken the survival for what it was, not poked the lion. If she had, I wouldn't have a niece though. And I wouldn't change Luna for anything. "Where's the Moon Monster?" I asked, making Ivory laugh.
