AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No, but I see she’s a treasured member of your community,” I say, watching her play with one kid. Although their energy doesn’t match, Zakiya seems to welcome the boy’s presence. Inarrow my glare at him. “Who is that boy? And why doesn’t he play with the other boys here?”
“Oh, Leo’s mine. He has a harmless crush on your daughter. My name is Elaine, by the way. Who knows? Maybe one day we’ll be in-laws.” She laughs at her own joke.
“Assuming he lives that long,” I say. “Keep him respectful, or else.” I walk away, but keep my eye on the boy.
Already, visions of Jinx’s popularity as she grows more beautiful will cause me agita. How many boys and men will I have to kill before one gets through and makes her fall for him? A sour taste fills my mouth at the similarities in my thoughts and how Giulio tried to control me. I find myself wandering Zakiya’s home until I’m outside in her backyard.
The silence soothes the chaotic thoughts inside my head. I almost feel bad about threatening a child, but not enough to apologize. As the night darkens, the visitors disperse, and I’m still holding onto this horrible realization that I share more than DNA with Giulio.
I’ve accepted Zakiya and the parts of herself she labels as ugly with deep disdain, but can she accept the monster inside me?
CHAPTER 22
Zakiya
I drag Max into an upstairs bedroom. “If you value your life, you won’t get on Sansone’s bad side.”
Max swings around. “Has he threatened you? I mean, the guy gives off 3-D- level bad vibes, but he wouldn’t hurt you, would he?”
I chuckle at her concern. “I’m more likely to hurt him.” I leave out the part where he encourages me to cut him with my blade.
Max knows a lot about me, but I’ve been able to keep a lot of secrets from her. Assured of my safety, she bounces on the bed. “Well, since you’ve resurfaced, we’re going on a trip. Just us girls. Jinx was part of my initial plan, but since her daddy seems to be the hands-on type, we can let him look after her while you and I have the time of our lives.”
I stare at her, waiting for the real reason behind this sudden urge to travel.
Max’s spontaneity is part of her DNA, a trait I’ve had to get used to over the years, but her whims always stem from her desire to run from something or a need to vent her rage. I never know when she’s a slowly burning ember on the way to destroy aforest or if she’s a flashy fireplace flame under a controlled burn. So I’ll be patient until she reveals why she waited until my few moments alone with Sansone to demand my time. Until now, she spent her time trading barbs with Aurelio, though I don’t understand her instant dislike of the man.
Although Max’s temper blows hot, I doubt she’s ever run afoul of the law.
When she begins to fidget, I know my silence is working.
“Please, Zakiya. I need to go somewhere fun. To get away from the people’s work.”
“What’s going on there?” I sit beside her and hold her hand while listening as she tells me about her boss gatekeeping opportunities that would help her advance her career.
This is the first time her problems seem to run deeper than anger from a slight.
“Before Jinx, you could have convinced me, but a trip isn’t in the cards right now.” I pat her arm to take the sting out of my rejection.
She drops onto the bed and covers her eyes with her arm. “Well, damn. I guess I understand.” She raises her arm to peek at me with one eye. “So…husband? He’s an intense dude.”
“Also dangerous and not my husband.” I drop beside her on the bed and turn my head to face her.
I don’t know why, but today seems to be my day for confessions. With Sansone this morning and now with Max, I feel the need to unburden another part of myself. Not about the dark, secret stuff. I can’t imagine telling anyone about that. But Sansone… he’s a subject bubbling in my throat to be discussed.
“I don’t know, sis. That man has a determined air about him. The way he had you up on that wall…” She fans her face. “That suit must hide some serious muscles because he didn’t break a sweat the way he?—”
“I get it. No need to go into detail.” My body heats at the memory of his hands on me.
Max nudges me with her elbow. “I can tell you more than like him.”
“Yeah? How?”
“From the time we were kids you always shrugged off any interest I had in the opposite sex. Even as adults, you never had a celebrity crush or once mentioned an interest in a man. No lingering looks or appreciative hums as an attractive man walks by. For a while, I thought you were a lesbian, but you never talked about women, either.”
Max’s simple rundown of my lack of girlhood attraction breaks the dam on all the things I’m holding inside.
“I can’t fake an attraction I don’t feel. And this thing with Sansone is…fresh. And I haven’t gotten a handle on how I feel about everything. It’s like all the years of not feeling anything for a man built up and all those non-feelings changed into this morass of confusion overnight with Sansone at the center.”
