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“Yeah, well, I didn’t.” I grabbed his hand and gently wiped over his knuckles with the inside of my shirt. “You split one. Does it hurt?”
“How can you be worried about me right now?”
“You’re hurt. Of course, I’m worried.”
Giancarlo shook his head and pulled his hands free.
“You’re hurt because of me.”
“I don’t want to play the blame game.” I wanted more desperate seconds of holding his hand. Being connected to the warmth that radiated off of him effortlessly.
Giancarlo pulled out the red leather gloves I’d gotten him and slipped them on. “You need to listen to me, Ash.”
“No.”
“Ash.”
“If you tell me to leave you behind again to die, I will never fuck you again.” We weren’t together, and Gin had kicked me out, but I prayed he took my threat seriously. I wasn’t leaving without him. I couldn’t.
“If I die—”
“Then we die together.”
“Fuck,” Giancarlo moaned. “Did you just propose to me?”
“Gin,” I stressed.
Giancarlo grabbed the back of my neck, bringing our faces close together. “We have some talking to do later.” He pressed his lips to mine, and I fell apart, unable to deny him. It had been less than twenty-four hours, and I’d missed him so much. I didn’t even care about my split lip or the pain I was in. I never wanted the kiss to end.
“Now I have to go handle this so I can take you home.” Giancarlo let me go with one final kiss. “Be a good puppy and stay.” He was up and gone before I could stop him.
I touched my mouth, my heart racing for a different reason than the men hunting us down. Could we still be something after everything that had been said and done?
Fuck, I hope so.
He looked sogood splattered in blood.
That was all I thought about as I left Ash behind, tucked away into a little corner. Gun still in my hand, I popped the clip and checked what was left. Besides the ones Able had fired, the rest were still there. Good. I slammed it back into place and slipped down a corridor. My brain switched to business mode.
Need to get them away from Ash.
I looked around and found a long pipe on the ground.Perfect.I picked it up and ran toward the voices before taking a sharp right. Stopping, I slammed the pipe against the wall.
“I heard something this way!”
Grinning, I turned the corner, pushed my back against the wall, and waited. Every second that ticked by was filled with the sound of my blood rushing in my ears. My hands tightened around the pipe, the creak of the red leather gloves against it almost soothing. As soon as we got the hell out of here in one piece, I was going to get on my knees and offer to blow Ash for hours if he forgave me. The shit I’d said made me groan just thinking about it.
He didn’t deserve any of that. Shit.
Yeah, he lied to me, but I understood. I’d let my paranoia tune it out before, but he was right. After being around his father for so long, how could he do anything but fall into line? It wasn’t as if Benito, Enzo, and I didn’t have daddy issues. They weren’t on the same level as his, but still. My chest ached. I didn’t want to think about how I’d dismissed his words about his father, about what that man had done to him, but I did.
I could already feel it. I was in for a long, groveling road ahead. The crazy part was I didn’t hate that. Being in that empty house, seeing my future laid out in front of me, I knew the truth. I never wanted Ash to leave my side. He was worth groveling.
“Where the fuck did he go? I swear he was—”
I cracked the pipe across the man’s face. He dropped like the sack of shit he was, screaming as he rolled back and forth. I straddled him, ignoring the way his nails sank into my ankle through my jeans. Lifting the pipe, I brought it down on his face repeatedly. It went from normal to a bag of hamburger meat in minutes. Insane how quickly the human body could get fucked up. That always fascinated me.
Panting, I stepped away. He’d stopped moving, his swollen eyes nearly shut as they stared at the ceiling. I turned. Something hard slammed into me, knocking me to the ground. For a minute, all the air rushed from my lungs. I saw spots. Hands circled my neck, thumbs pressing against my windpipe.
