apartment, his apartment, here, I always have the right side, he has the left.
Oh, crap, my apartment! I was supposed to meet with someone I’d found to sublet. Maybe today, maybe yesterday . . . The woman was getting divorced from her husband all before the holidays. Damn, I’d capitalize on her misery. I get out of bed, stretch, and mosey toward the railing. Santino stands at a tiny coffee pot.
I grip the rail, extending my arms and sighing. “Good morning, Santino. What’s on the itinerary today? As I offered you a fuck already.”
“No!” His Italian voice thickens. “You were ensnaring me.”
“What about a preg—” I choke down the word. Could be why I’ve taken hits below the belt? Snorting, I retort, “The best pussy you ever had!”
“The best pussy, prettiest pussy, tastiest pussy I ever had and will continue to have, Gina Morelli. When you’re calm, I will tell you what happened.”
I gasp. “You can’t honestly want to marry my vindictive ass? You got what you wanted, Santino. You had me. Aren’t guys like you interested in a different piece of ass each night?”
“Guys like me?”
I smile down at Santino, and yet I feel so tiny all a sudden. This is his sore spot.
“Whoring stripper.” I feel icky and disgusted with myself.
He climbs the stairs, saying, “Keep it coming, sweetheart.”
I dig in harder and use another cruel name.
Santino towers over me. Teeth bared, he orders, “Keep. Going. Sweetheart.”
“Cheating.”
“You lost momentum there, that should go without stating?”
“Lying.”
“Yeah, I lied.”
When he doesn’t deny being a cheating, lying bastard, all I can see is his cock in women’s faces. Their mouths are jolly buckets for his cum!
“I stopped stripping the day we met, Gina.”
“So, the video I saw was old?” I sniff.
“Who showed it to you?”
“Why, Santino? So you can shift your weight around and intimidate them?”
“Yeah, I’ll do ‘em just like I did Carlos. Someone gave me—”
“Carlos? Your friend whose house you were,” I pause, throat tightening. You were cheating all along. “There was never a flip, was there?”
“No. I took a couple of gigs to buy you an engagement ring, Gina!”
For a moment, I gape at him. The declaration’s enough to blow me away. Mrs. Santino Morelli . . . last week, I would have coveted the idea. All I can see is him cheating on me, I snarl. “I could never marry someone like you.”
“Someone like me,” he huffs. “We keep going round and round in this argument, Gina, not getting anywhere. I won’t go there with you, sweetheart. Not insulting or judging you.”
“That’s your prerogative, Santino.”
“So, you come into a dispute ready to inflict all the pain you can.” His hands come to rest on my neck.
Electricity juts up my spine as his thumbs stroke across the vulnerability at my throat. His mouth is a fraction away, and desire licks across my flesh. Goosebumps rise as I await his intoxicating kisses that stoke the fire inside of me. Seeds of conflict course through my soul. I’m better than a man who would cheat on me. In the back of my mind, I try to believe a conspiracy led to the disorder of our amazing connection. For now, carnality rages through my body, too intense to deny. Make me forget just for a moment, Santino.
But Santino doesn’t kiss me. His forehead drops against mine; his breath a perfect tease across my nose and cheeks.
“Christmas is ten days away. I guess that’s all the time I have to convince you that I’m never letting you go, Gina. I love you so much.”
Gina the Grinch vs Santino the Scrooge
43
Santino
I was never a liar. I always owned my shit. When doing home invasions, it never failed; someone asked if they were going to die on that night. I’d tell them exactly how they would die if they didn’t comply. In this instance, I told a little white lie I thought would lead to happiness for the rest of our lives.
Now, I’m a certified fucking liar.
“ . . . I’m never letting you go, Gina. I love you so much.”
One of those thoughts is a lie. I will love Gina for the rest of my fucking life, but the second we rekindle our feelings, I’m done with her. This past week alone has been an eternity of torment. She smeared my name, causing me to lose my job. Once I remind her of what love feels like, Gina Galloway will come face-to-face with pain. My pain. I’m heartbroken. Women always get to play