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“How’s work?”
“Eh. I’m in Jersey now, as you know. Being an enforcer for Bonucci isn’t like being one for Gio.”
“Better? Worse?”
“Let’s just say, I miss the good ol’ days. Sometimes I even wonder if it’s for me anymore.”
I frown. “You mean being an enforcer?”
“Yeah, I don’t know if it’s still what I want. It’s not a profession I saw myself doing when I was a little boy. If you get what I’m saying.”
“Right,” I mumble. I’m tearing the tissue in my hands into tiny pieces without even realizing it. “I can see that.”
“But what else am I good at? A huge, tough-looking guy like me? Seems what I was designed to do.”
My throat’s burning and my nose tingles, but another feeling’s rising up inside me. Something unfamiliar and unwelcome, though unstoppable. I swallow to push it back down but only fail. It hits me a second later, washing over me as a sad, chilling wave of solidarity—Igetwhat he’s saying.
Because I’ve wondered the same. I’ve felt the same.
I’ve just never let myself go there.
“Kitty cat,” he says, piercing me with a curious look. “You good?”
I sniffle, though I’m not sure it’s from the flu and not emotion.
Damn it.
Nodding, I point at the TV. “Can you believe I had the biggest crush on Omar when I was a girl? I thought I was going to marry him.”
Louis chuckles. “Sounds like me and Halle Berry. That topless scene she did? Let’s just say, I was real acquainted with my hand after rewatching it a hundred times.”
“Ew, Louis!”
I’m laughing as I playfully kick at him. Being the enforcer he is, he easily catches my feet within the giant palm of his hands. He’s laughing right along with me as he takes the opportunity to flip the script on me and tickle my feet.
“Nooo! Louis! Stop!”
“Say pretty please, kitty cat. Then… maybe.”
“Pretty please! Shit. Damn.”
“Not good enough.”
He tortures my feet some more as my sides ache and more laughs croak out of me. Only when I wind up in another cough attack does he stop. Then he’s back to caring for me, making sure I have tissues and supplying me with water. He’s tucking the blanket deeper under me to ensure I’m nice and warm.
I can’t even pretend anymore. I’m grateful he’s here to do it.
Every part of me screams at me for breaking my rules and letting him in, even if it’s for a few hours. I’ve sworn against it, but I’ve had a spur of the moment change of heart.
Just this once.
SIX
Louis
PLAYLIST: ? PINK MOON - PINK SWEAT$ ?
Four months later…
