Gone - Anna Brooks Page 0,55
me about you. The fact that she opened up to a guy she’s known for weeks over her own blood…” He shakes his head in disbelief. “Fuck, bro.”
I give him a minute to come to terms with everything, not able to muster up any words to make him feel better, and when he walks out of the room, I don’t try to stop him.
* * *
A few hours later, I get through my front door loving the fact even more than the day before that I know she’s here waiting for me. She’s sitting on the middle of the couch, which reminds me I still need to tell her about Laila. I don’t think she’d be stupid enough to show up again, but if she was, I don’t want Izzy to feel like I’m hiding something from her.
“Hey, Izzy baby.”
As soon as she lifts her head and sees me, the smile she had waiting to greet me with collapses, and she covers her mouth with a gasp as she jumps up. “Oh my God, what happened to you?”
“It’s nothing.” I shake my head and reach for her, but she doesn’t allow me to pull her in. Instead, she rests her palms on my stomach and pushes me back. I wince and she lifts my shirt, eyes widening at the bruising on my ribs.
“That’s not nothing, Damien,” she snaps. “What happened to you? Who did that?”
When I don’t answer, I see the gears in her head spinning and realize she’s figured it out. Her olive skin deepens the tinted rose on her cheeks, and she steps back. “Did he do this to you?”
I don’t wanna lie to her, but I also don’t want her making a big deal about this. She needs to understand this was going to happen one way or another. Eventually, he and I were going to go to blows. “Listen, Iz, it’s really not a big deal, I promise you.” She tries to rebuttal, but I shake my head adamantly and hook her with a hand behind her neck and pull her to me. “This was inevitable, I expected it to happen, I needed it to so I could prove to him what you meant to me. I promise you everything’s good now.”
Her lips tremble, and wetness gathers in her eyes, and I do not like it. In fact, it’s the first time I’ve seen any hint of her crying. I cradle her face with my hands and kiss her forehead.
“Please tell me he looks worse than you?”
“It was pretty even, baby. It wasn’t some knock-down, drag-out brawl; he got in a few licks, I got in a couple. After we were done, we talked it out, and everything is good now.”
Sniffling, she steps away from me and then grabs my arm, pulling me to the bathroom and then takes out the first-aid kit. There’s no point in her trying to clean anything, but I let her do it anyway. “You should know, too, that I told him about Danny.”
Her fingers shake, but she doesn’t say a word as she’s wiping the cuts on my face with a cotton ball that she soaked with peroxide.
“It was the right thing to do, and I didn’t want you to have to do it.”
Her attention is now on the salve she’s spreading on, but she still asks, “What did he say?”
“Not much. He listened, grumbled a little bit, then walked out of my office.”
She finally lets me pull her close. I’d like to get my mouth on her, but she presses her face into my chest, and I just wrap my arms around her and hold her tight, refusing to let pain interfere. She’s worried about the repercussions and terrified that Gio’s going to be mad at her and I’m hoping that what I did lessens her fears even a little bit.
I kiss the top of her head, wishing I could stay like this forever with her. “I need a shower.”
“Okay. I’ll go make dinner.”
Tilting her head back, I brush my lips against hers. “I’ll be quick.”
She nods and walks toward the kitchen, and I go to the bathroom to take a quick shower. By the time I’m out and dressed, it’s only been five minutes. But that was long enough for her to vanish. Because both her and her car are gone.
Izzy
I pound on my Gio’s front door and kick it at the same time, cursing under my breath. He whips it open with a scowl on his face,