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She looks up at me, her bottom lip still caught between her teeth. “I mean, not if you don’t,” she manages.
I smirk at her. “So, I get whatever I want?”
“Pretty much, yeah,” she agrees, and I bark out a laugh, leaning over to kiss her on her nose.
“Well then, I guess we’ll see,principessa.” I pause and she just looks up at me with a blush spreading across her face. “We’re going upstate to another safehouse,” I tell her.
Aurora’s brows draw together. “Why? Is something wrong? Francesca—”
I shake my head quickly. “She’s fine,” I say. “Everything’s fine, but we aren’t sure how safe this place is. Dante’s had it for a while and Marco might know where it is.”
Aurora looks terrified, and I put my hand on her shoulder.
“You’re not going to let anything happen to me,” she says slowly in a quiet voice.
I smile at her. “That’s right,principessa.I’m not.” And I mean it.
She looks around at the kitchen. “I don’t have anything to pack,” she says, and I chuckle a little, grabbing the duffel bag, which has a needle and thread, some gauze, more clothes, and the quarter-empty bottle of whiskey I’d found in the cabinet.
“We’re already packed,” I tell her, and head out to the car. She follows after taking a bathroom break and she’s a lot more obedient than Francesca would have been in the same situation. She buckles her seatbelt and sits quietly as we take off. She doesn’t ask too many questions or chatter too much.
I’m beginning to think this might be a mini vacation instead of a difficult situation where I feel stuck.
Aurora is good company anddefinitelyeye candy. I don’t know why I haven’t noticed before that she’s exactly my type. I’m not against starting a physical relationship with her, at least as long as Francesca doesn’t know.
Physical being the operative word. I don’t get close to people, nature of the job, and especially not to women. Being in love is a weakness, and I’ve told Dante that over and over. Anyone who gets ahold of Mia willownhim, and I don’t want that for my own life.
I don’t want anyone to own me just by virtue of taking someone I love, and I’ve already got enough trouble with Francesca and my mother, who hasn’t been well for some time.
I sigh, not wanting to think about my family, and Aurora looks at me sideways. I want to get as much of this drive done as I can before nightfall, so I keep my eyes on the road.
“What are you thinking about?” Aurora asks, and I don’t know why I tell her the truth. Maybe because she’s the only person I’ll be around for the next week or so, maybe because we slept together last night. Maybe because she’s just easy to talk to.
“My mother,” I say, and Aurora hums.
“I think about my mother a lot,” she says quietly.
I glance over at her. “Are you and your mother close?”
She barks out a bitter laugh. “She left when I was seven,” she says. “Chose drugs over me and my dad.”
“Shit. I’m sorry.”
Aurora shrugs. “It is what it is.”
“My father died when I was twelve,” I tell her.
Aurora nods. “Yeah, Francesca says she doesn’t really remember him.”
Francesca. I almost forget, spending time with Aurora, that she’s my little sister’s best friend. I’m only about six years older than her, but it seems like a lifetime given that Francesca doesn’t exactly act like she’s twenty-seven years old. More like seventeen.
“It’s better to have a dead parent than one who doesn’t care about you, I guess,” I mumble, not really sure how to respond.
Aurora laughs softly. “I’ve never heard it put quite that way before, but I guess you’re right.” She pauses. “But I’d never want to be without my father. Even if sometimes he is not as present as I’d like, he’s all I have left.”
“Daddy’s little girl?” I ask with a smirk, and she smiles.
“Yeah, you could say that,” she says. “He’s been sick and I’m worried about him.”
