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They waste no time after that, wanting to get the hell out of here as badly as I do. We rush through the door, taking our immediate left as we exit and reaching the emergency stairwell. I’m sore as hell, my body having been strung to the bed like a sex doll for the past two days, but it doesn’t stop me from pulling Gio’s arm over my shoulder and helping him down each step. Luce helps him on his other side, doing his best not to jar Gio’s shoulder, but the grunts of pain coming from him tell me we’re not doing a very good job.
“Almost there, G. Hang on.” Luce tells him as we get to the next landing.
“Did you call anyone for back-up?” I ask him breathlessly.
“Shit’s too last minute, sweetness,” Luce tells me, fully taking on Gio’s weight, “our car is waiting just outside the doors.”
We finally reach the last landing, and I push the exit door open and spot the white nondescript car with dark tinted windows sitting just one yard away.
“Get in the back and help Gio get in.”
I do as he says and slide all the way to the door, swallowing down my tears as Gio groans painfully, the sound battering my tender heart. Once his head is settled against my lap, his long legs bent on the seat, Luce rushes to the driver side and starts the car. He pulls out of the alleyway, driving insanely slowly as fire trucks and police cars pull into the front of the hotel.
“It’s okay, Gio.” I tell him softly as I run my fingers through his sweat-soaked hair, his eyes are closed and rolling behind his lids, and his breathing even as though he were sleeping. His skin feels too hot, like a fever has set in.
“He’s going to be fine,” he mumbles, “he has to be.”
There’s an undercurrent to his words, something he’s not telling me, but I can’t tell if he’s just overwhelmed with emotion right now or if it’s something more.
“Talk to me, Luce. Please. Has he been hurt more than you’ve told me?”
Luce begins to race down streets now that we’re away from the hotel, his knuckles whitening as he grips the steering wheel in his left hand. My fingers continue to stroke Gio’s face, reminding myself that this is real, but my eyes stay on Luce’s green ones in the rearview mirror.
They look like Maxine’s, only his are harder, tinged with years of anger and pain. He doesn’t answer me, just continues to race through the streets.
I’m not going to wait for him to tell me anything, I just pull Gio’s hoodie up, his stomach and chest coming into view, but I don’t want to cause him more pain, so before I accidentally disturb the makeshift bandage on his shoulder, I pull the hoodie back down and rub his arms.
This bitterly reminds me of when he was a small child, and I’d be checking him over for broken bones after one of his father’s daily fits. Checking for knots in his skull as I cursed Alan to the gates of hell for laying a hand to his son. Even as a full-grown man, Gio has managed to find himself at the end of his father’s bullshit.
Alan needs to die. I only wish he were there in the hotel room when my boys came in with death in their eyes.
“He hasn’t slept since you were taken.” Luce’s rough voice has my hands stopping and my eyes shooting up to his.
“Not at all?” My voice practically lodges itself in my throat. I look back down at Gio’s face and really take him in, the deep purple circles around his eyes, the exhaustion evident in his features. My heart breaks a little more. I knew he’d be losing his mind trying to find me, but I didn’t think he’d be practically killing himself. I’m reminded of Maxine’s words not long ago, telling me that he and Luce partook in drugs that kept them awake.
Uppers, she called them.
“And you?” I ask Luce, leaning over to give Gio’s forehead a kiss before looking into Luce’s eyes as he drives. I notice a tear slipping from his eye before he quickly swipes it away.
“I just got out of the hospital. Broke my arm and wrist.” I gasp at his words, but he shakes his head before turning into Gio’s apartment complex. “I’m fine, sweetness. We got you back, and that’s all we needed. Just you.”
His words sink deeply into my soul, my lungs filling with air for the first time since waking up in that dank cell with Maxine.
“Maxine!” I shout with new worry as Luce opens his door and climbs out. He opens my door and holds his hand out to me, but his eyes refuse to meet mine, and I feel a new kind of pain rip through me, a pain that can’t be replicated by anything physical. I take his hand and slowly stand, placing Gio’s head softly on the seat before turning to Luce.
“Please, Luce. Where’s Maxine?”
Finally, his broken green eyes meet mine, and in them, I see the sorrow of a thousand woes.
“She’s dead.” His voice cracks, his chest shaking silently as though he’s holding back rage and wails.
I feel the same, his words breaking everything inside me, but I push it all back and throw my arms around him, pulling him to my chest as though I could glue him back together…but I can’t. How can a shattered cup hold the pieces of another?
His face buries into my neck, his arms squeezing around my body as I hold the back of his head, whispering words to him, doing my best to convey my heart. I want him to know he doesn’t need to be strong right now, I’ll do my best to be that for him.
“I’ve got you, Luce. I won’t let you go.”
I feel him shake, his fists clenching the fabric of the robe at my back. The front part has opened, the rough fabric of his clothes rubbing painfully against my tender skin, but I don’t care. I’ll take a thousand painful moments if it means I provide a bit of love and comfort to this man. Luce has always seemed so broken to me, hiding his darkness with a quick smirk or suggestive joke, but he can’t hide it from me, not when I myself have the same darkness within me.
I turn my head, pressing my face to the side of his, laying soft kisses to his cheek when I hear one cry slip though his lips.
I hate Alan, I loathe his fucking guts! He’s taken too much! Why couldn’t it have been me who died instead of sweet Maxine? She was the kindest, most free-spirited person I knew. She loved me unconditionally and took me in as her adopted sister. The introvert and the extrovert…we were completely opposites, but we were perfect together. She was my best friend, and now she’s gone. Because of me.
I feel my own sob fall free, and I bite my lip, folding them inward to stop the floodgates. Right now, Luce needs me, Gio needs me. I can’t afford to break right now; I have to be strong for them both. There will be time later for me to find a quiet spot to mourn my best friend.
Mark my words though, I’m going to make the fucker bleed if I ever see him again. And I will, because from this moment on, I’m no longer the damsel. I’m never going to be in need of saving, I refuse it. It’s going to be me who causes pain. It’ll be me who brings ruin to Alan Vaccari.
