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We didn’t finish talking but honestly there was nothing more to talk about.
He leaves and as the door clicks shut I look back to Salvatore who is already watching me.
Pulling in a deep breath I go into the kitchen to him and stand a breath away.
“What did he want?” he asks.
“I told him. Salvatore… I told him about the … baby.”
“And?”
“He’s sorry.”
“Yeah, fucking right he’s sorry. And does his sorry make everything better?” The cynicism ripples in his tone, tangled in his words.
“Salvatore, please don’t say that to me. You know it doesn’t.”
He balls his fist and presses into the counter. “You know what baby… this shit is going to follow me. I never fucking thought I would be able to accept this, but I’m fucking jealous of him. Can’t think straight or see for shit because I have this thing about him being with you before me.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“You were having his child Mimi. Yes it was like that.”
“Salvatore, stop… please. I don’t want this and I don’t want you guys not talking either.”
He gives me a pointed look and stares at me long and hard.
“Answer me honestly, be real with me and tell me the honest truth. I can handle it… let’s pretend Gabe wasn’t a prick who put you through shit. Wipe away that whole bad memory. If you had a choice between me or him who would you pick?”
I stare back, studying him and I think back to that day when I was eighteen and he was teaching me to fight. Some guy was following me and while I managed to escape it freaked me out. Gabe took charge of the lesson and it was like something changed between the three of us. I remember that moment how Salvatore looked. Pretty much like he does now.
The thing I’ve always felt for him knows the answer. It’s easy.
“You… I pick you. I choose you,” I say with a small smile and he presses his forehead to mine, holding me.
“Thank you. It means a lot to know.”
Our lips meet for a kiss. It’s not wild like the kisses we’ve shared over the last few weeks. This one is subtle… sweet and so different to what we are. It holds a promise of what we could be and I want it.
A piece of the wall I placed up around my heart crumbles because I want this with him.
More than anything.
Chapter Eighteen
Salvatore
I straightenup as Gabe walks in.
He looks me over cautiously and that weirdness between us comes rushing back on me.
Last night I decided to sort this thing out.
Air out the shit and try to move past it.
I thought the best place to talk would be here at the booking office for The Odyssey. So I called him and I knew he’d come.
He looks worse for wear, worse even than when I beat him up. I imagine it must have been hard to hear what Mimi had to say to him.
