Page 34 of A Bond Beyond Blood (The Butcher’s Daughter Trilogy #1)

J ack

In the hour since Eli dropped Gannon into my lap like he needed a babysitter—and that babysitter should be me —we’d gotten absolutely nowhere. The three of us couldn’t even agree on where Gannon would sleep , let alone how long he would stay or what I was expected to do with him.

The only reason I hadn’t sent his ass packing was what he’d said about his mom.

And out of the three of us here, two of us were monsters; I certainly was not .

It broke my heart that Antonella had turned her back on her son because he’d become a vampire.

I understood not wanting to interact with them, wanting to steer clear of their kind as much as possible in a world where both species mixed and mingled as if it was normal to do so.

But turning your own son away? I couldn’t imagine.

And I’d tried. While Vinny and Gannon argued about who deserved to be inside this apartment more, I considered what might lead Antonella Hayes to disown her only son, what might lead a mother to make such a horrific choice, but nothing I could come up with was a worthy excuse.

I simply couldn’t fathom it.

I didn’t have children yet, but I knew love . I knew the bonds of family. If Giovanni or Leo showed up on my doorstep craving blood instead of Bolognese, I’d be freaked out, sure, but I’d still love them. They’d still be my brothers .

As soon as I recovered and sorted this mess out, I’d pay Gannon’s mom a visit.

Antonella had been like a second mother to me for as long as I could remember.

We hadn’t been in as much contact after Gannon broke my heart, but I had to believe she’d still want to see me—and maybe I could convince her to see reason as well.

The obvious sounds of a scuffle carried down the hallway and I huffed out a breath. Dropping the sheets I’d collected onto the couch, I turned and stormed into my old bedroom.

Vinny stood over my old bed, his stance angry and terrifying as he glared down at Gannon, who’d stretched out atop the pink comforter of my old twin bed like he owned the place.

The sight of him lying on my bed stalled my heart as the familiarity and the intimacy of his presence in my room filled me with such a powerful sense of longing my chest burned with the intensity of a thousand suns.

How many times had he laid in that bed with me, sneaking kisses and so much more while my father was downstairs at the shop? How many times had he snuck in late at night, long after Dad’s snoring had kicked into gear, and curled his body around mine so he could hold me until dawn?

Too many times to count.

But one time, one time he held me in this bed for the last time.

And that’s all I needed to remember.

I swallowed hard and pushed everything else aside. This was the boy who broke my heart. “Gannon.”

He flicked his gaze to where I stood in the doorway of the room and his smug smile fell. “Jackie, I’m—”

“You can sleep on the couch.” My words were thick with emotion even as I tried to push it down and stuff it away. I pointed toward the living room. “The couch or the cold, those are your options.”

Gannon rose quickly and left my childhood bedroom without argument, his gaze not meeting mine as he headed down the hallway toward the living room.

“Hey,” Vinny whispered, tugging me toward him. He pulled me into his arms and tilted my chin so I’d meet his gaze. “You okay?”

I exhaled and nodded, then dropped my head, resting my forehead against his chest. “It’s just... it’s a lot. That shit with Eli, Gannon being here...” I trailed off, remembering that Gannon was now a vampire and, likely, could hear even the softest of whispered words.

“Want me to make him leave?”

I shook my head, rolling it back and forth on Vinny’s chest. “He has nowhere to go.”

“Hey, look at me.” When I lifted my head, Vinny cupped my chin. “That’s not your responsibility, sweet girl. Not at all. Eli dumped him here because he’s a dick, but that doesn’t mean he has to stay here.”

The front door opened and closed softly and I tensed.

Vinny tipped his head, then smiled. “See? That was easy.”

I groaned as I pushed out of his arms and hurried to the front door, annoyed with myself that I couldn’t send Gannon off into the night by himself even after the way he’d destroyed me. I swung the door open and called his name.

Already halfway across the parking lot, he was mid-stride when I said, “Please stay.”

Gannon’s shoulders rose and fell on a deep breath, then he swiveled around and looked up at me. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

I snorted and shook my head. “Too late for that, Gannon.”

He grimaced. “I know. I know it is. But I saw your face in there, the way you looked at me in your room... if staying here brings you more pain—”

“I’m fine.” I pulled my cardigan closed and crossed my arms around myself as snowflakes began to drift down from the sky. Tilting my head back, I closed my eyes as they fell onto my cheeks, brief bites of cold before they melted into nothingness.

The squares squeaked as Gannon started back up. “You’re still so beautiful, Jackie—”

“Don’t.” My eyes flew open and I straightened, looking down at him, now stopped on the stairwell halfway between the asphalt and the second level. “None of that. You can stay, at least for tonight, but I don’t want you to tell me you miss me or think I’m beautiful. You don’t have the right .”

He breathed deeply, mouth in a tight line, then gave me one curt nod.

“Okay,” I said on a deep sigh. “Okay.” Nodding, I turned and headed back inside. Vinny stood just inside the living room, obviously waiting close by in case I needed him. I patted his chest as I passed. “I’m going to bed. You don’t have to—”

Vinny snatched my hand and laced his fingers through mine, falling quickly into step behind me. “If you think I’d rather stay out here with him than crawl into bed with you, little Fiorino, you haven’t been paying attention at all.”

When we reached my bedroom, Vinny paused at the threshold as I continued on into the bathroom.

To Gannon, he called, “Touch a fucking thing besides that couch and the linens provided for you... and I’ll break your neck.

” He paused, then added, “And don’t even think about going into her old bedroom again. That’s creepy shit.”

The door closed and Vinny joined me in the bathroom, stepping up behind me as I looked at myself in the mirror.

Bone tired.

I think I finally understood that phrase. An exhaustion so deep my bones ached. There were bags beneath my eyes and that puffiness was new—

“Sweet girl,” Vinny murmured, resting his chin on my shoulder, “it’s been a long day. Let me take care of you.”