Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
With the promise of safety close, I could feel the adrenaline slowly seeping out of me, leaving just the fear and pain and shock in its wake. By the time Venezio had me parking at the curb, my entire body was shaking.
He reached to unlock the door just a second before my door flew open.
And there was Cosimo.
Looking like a dark avenging angel, the sharp hollows of his cheek catching the shadows as he looked over me.
“Fuck,” he hissed, reaching inward.
“No, help Venezio,” I said, my voice sounding shaky from the way my body was jolting. “He can barely walk,” I added.
As if to prove my point, Venezio had his door open, and was using it to pull himself up, hissing as he went.
When Cosimo didn’t immediately go to help, I turned in my seat, trying to move past him to help Venezio myself.
It was right about then that a car came peeling out of nowhere, slamming to a stop a few feet from us, the door throwing open.
A gasp escaped me, seeing it.
“It’s Miko,” Cosimo said, voice calm, as he looked down at my hand grabbing him. “Come on,” he said. “We gotta get inside,” he said, reaching past me to hit the ignition, turning it off as I saw Miko rushing toward the passenger side of the car, reaching for Venezio.
“Baby, let’s go,” Cosimo said, more firmly.
I still couldn’t seem to force myself to move, because he was reaching for me, pulling me out onto the street.
When my shaky legs refused to carry me, though, he suddenly swooped down, grabbed me, and lifted me up into his arms.
My belly felt like it fell out for a second before I was nestled against his strong chest, his arms holding around me, the scent and feel of him filling my senses.
“You got him?” Cosimo called, making me turn to look and see Miko throwing Venezio’s arm over his shoulders, being a lot rougher about it than I had been.
“Yeah,” Miko said, brows drawn down as he looked at the blood covering Venezio’s shirt. “This all yours?”
“Feels like it,” Venezio confirmed.
“What’s up with your leg?” Cosimo called, sounding completely in control of himself, not strained at all by the weight of me nestled in his arms.
“One of ‘em stomped on it before the other knocked me out cold.”
“They out their fucking minds, fucking with us?” Miko asked, but seeming like he was speaking mostly to himself.
Cosimo turned then, facing the building he’d come out of, letting me see it for the first time.
I’d probably passed it a thousand times in my life. But apartment buildings were a dime a dozen in the city. You kind of just didn’t pay them much attention when you were a local.
His was one of the newer ones, though.
All concrete shear walls and gleaming glass. This glass took on an almost black shade, though, likely from a tint that gave privacy, and also kept the sun from baking the apartments in the warmer months.
There was a doorman standing there, all dressed in his black uniform with slight gold piping around the sleeves and up the lapels.
Somehow, he seemed completely unbothered by the commotion, and the bloodstained, limping man being half-carried inside ahead of Cosimo carrying me in.
I wondered what kind of money Cosimo handed him to make him mind his own business, and not ask questions. It had to be a lot.
He just gave Cosimo a nod as he walked me through the doors.
The lobby was a lot like the outside. Everything shiny. From the tile on the floors and walls, to the golden elevator doors that didn’t seem to have a single fingerprint smudge on them.
Miko reached out to stab a finger into the button, then we all stood there in silence, save for Venezio’s pain-labored breathing, until the elevator car gave a little chime before the doors slid open.
We waited as Miko led Venezio inside, then Cosimo carried me in, making no move to set me back down on my feet. It wasn’t until his arms pulled me a little more tightly toward him as he faced out of the car that I realized it was because I was still shaking. Not as violently as before, but enough that he felt he shouldn’t set me back on my feet.
Safe, finally, and figuring no one was paying me much mind, since Venezio was so injured, I went ahead and let myself rest my head against Cosimo’s shoulder, taking a deep breath, breathing in that spicy scent of his that I’d been thinking about nonstop for days.
I let my eyes slide close even as the elevator doors did.
And for a few, short seconds as we rode upward, there was nothing in the world save for Cosimo’s arms around me, his chest against me, the steady, calm beat of his heart in my ear.