AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What?! Who are you? Why? Who doesn’t have social media?” She exclaimed with a look of shock.
“Someone who does not want to be found,” I said quietly. This definitely caught her interest as she leaned forward, giving me all her attention, brown eyes fixed on mine.
“By who?”
I sighed deeply. Since opening up about Henry to Gio, I had felt lighter and free, but I still hadn’t told him everything. Like the fact that Henry was somewhere out there, most likely looking for me. “My stepbrother. He is not a good person and is dangerous. I left England and came here to hide from him.”
Her eyebrows raised a fraction as she sat back and studied me. “Does Gio know?”
“A bit. He knows about him, yes.”
“That's good,” Elle said, deep in thought. I wanted to ask her why that was good, but we were suddenly interrupted by two attractive men. I immediately recognised one as the ski instructor Elle had been flirting with in the shop this morning.
“Elle!” he smiled warmly as he kissed her on the cheek. In a flash, two of Gio’s men were next to us and the one that was always with Elle had a firm grip on the guy's shoulder.
“Finch, it’s okay. I know this man, he is a friend,” she smiled sweetly at the young but terrifying, muscular man whose face was set in a deep frown. I looked over my shoulder and saw the other man who worked for Gio, hovering over me protectively. Jheez, what did they think would happen? These men would harm us with their cheesy pick-up lines? The man I now knew as Finch looked between Elle and I and then gave the Frenchmen menacing glares before stepping back.
“Liv, you don’t mind if Freddie and his friend join us, do you?” Elle gave me a pleading smile and I shook my head and gestured to the stools next to us. This girl needed to have a little innocent fun and who was I to stand in her way?
“I messaged Freddie that we would be here,” Elle whispered to me across the table and I smirked. Of course she did.
“Thiz iz my friend, Louis. Would you beautiful ladiez like another drink?” Freddie asked, his French accent made me giggle and we both smiled as they walked over to the bar.
“You better get all your flirting crammed into the space of one hour,” I said, looking over at the clock above the bar. “I don’t fancy dealing with Giovanni tonight.”
She giggled and put her hand on my arm. “Girl, if anyone can deal with Giovanni, it’s you!”
The next hour went by quickly. Freddie and Louis were very funny and easy to get on with. They were a year older than us and always came and worked as instructors during the ski season as they were both from a little village not far from here. Freddie and Elle were snogging each other’s faces off in no time, which Finch seemed very unhappy about. He was keeping an extremely watchful eye on the situation, which made me laugh internally. Louis was a sweetheart and turned out to be gay, which was a blessing as I didn’t have to fight off any unwanted advances.
“So beautiful girl, what iz you zay to a dance? I 'ave all the moves so watch out!” He winked, holding his hand out to me as he climbed down from the bar stool. I giggled, the wine had gone straight to my head and the atmosphere was so enticing that I wanted nothing more than to get up and dance to the blaring music. Taking his hand, we walked to the middle of the terrace where people had created a makeshift dance floor with a backdrop of the mountains. Louis did indeed have the moves, making me laugh with his energetic and dramatic slut drops, shimmies, grinding and Beyonce moves. My stomach was hurting from laughing so much. His eyes fixed on something over my shoulder and his whole face turned into a look of awe and desire.
“'ot damn! I may 'ave to ditch you girl. My dream man iz 'eading my way,'' Louis shouted over the music. I turned and saw the muscular frame and fierce face of Giovanni, pushing his way through the crowd towards us. Oh shit.
“Louis, run!” I turned back to him, and he laughed, thinking I was joking. I was being deadly serious.
As Giovanni reached us, I slammed my hand on his chest to force him to stop his rampage towards Louis. His face was hard and he didn’t even look at me as he glared at the poor Frenchman who thought he was coming for him in a different kind of way.
“Gio!” I shouted. He gripped my wrist and pulled my arm off his chest, stepping up to Louis menacingly. Louis gulped and took a step back.
“I see your hands on my girl again,” he lifted his shirt a fraction, just enough for us both to catch sight of his gun in his trousers. Louis put his hands up in surrender and I grabbed Gio’s arm, pulling him back.
“Are you insane?! We were just dancing!” I yelled at him and, for the first time since he had stormed in, he looked down at me. The fury in his eyes was causing them to appear almost black. Pulling him by his arm, I weaved through the crowd until we were round the corner of the bar away from everyone. “What the fuck was that?” I shouted at him, losing my temper.
“I could ask you the same thing,” he snarled back, his hands flexing open and closed repeatedly. I could tell he was trying to get whatever was going on inside of him under control.
I moved away from him and crossed my arms over my chest, stumbling on my feet slightly. I hadn’t realised until now that I was a little drunk. Not as drunk as the date with Luca but still...
“Why can’t you just be nice to people?!”
His face softened slightly and I watched as the rage inside him wavered and a flicker of amusement crossed his eyes. “That was me being nice.”
“You threatened him with a gun!”
“Well, yeah. But I didn’t shoot him.” He was smiling now. That sexy, irritating smile that made him look devilishly handsome and I narrowed my eyes.
“So, what... you are going to threaten every man who looks my way? Even the gay ones?” I cocked my head to the side and glared.
Realisation dawned on his face that Louis was gay and his smile grew. He stepped towards me and I backed up against the wall. Wrapping his hand gently around my throat to hold me in place, he brushed his lips against mine. My core tightened and my legs turned to jelly. His minty breath mixed with mine in the crisp air and the anticipation for our lips properly connecting was too much. “Yes. No one touches what is mine.”
