Page 37 of Caruso

I don’t know why he asked, because I never do anything for my birthday and I never have. I only know it’s today because my teacher once told me and made the class sing happy birthday before class started for the day. It’s the only happy memory I have of my birthday.

“Nothing, I guess.” I smile to take away the pain that always brings with it. Mom died a while ago, and my stepfather is merely counting down the birthdays until myeighteenth one, when my present will be his cock inside me.

Jason nods, defeat heavy in his eyes, and then surprises me by saying softly, ’’I’ve got you something.”

“You have.” My heart leaps a thousand miles as I prepare for something that has never happened before. A gift?

He removes his braided bracelet from his wrist and beckons me across.

“Your bracelet?”

My eyes widen as he grasps my wrist, and I’m surprised at my reaction to his touch. A warm shiver of delight fizzles through me, and I stare at him wide-eyed, wondering if he felt the same.

His expression is an unreadable mask but there is a muscle twitching in his cheek as he stares at his braid on my wrist, his fingers smoothing it over almost lovingly.

“I want you to have it.”

He stares into my eyes, still holding my hand, and I smile, touched by the gesture, the happiest I have ever been in my life.

“You look after yourself, Taylor. Promise me that. Remember what I’ve taught you and don’t let them win.”

“Never let them win.” A huge smile breaks across my face as I experience a lightness in my spirit that has never been there before.

“Thank you, Jason. I love it.”

He nods, a sad expression in his eyes as he whispers, “Remember this, Taylor. There is some good in the world.”

He holds my wrist as if he can’t bear to let go, and Iwonder if he is more attached to the bracelet than I imagined. He has always worn it. Ever since I can remember, and when I asked him about it once, he told me it was special. He never elaborated on that, and I didn’t think he’d appreciate me asking, so I brushed it away and never thought of it again, until my birthday. The day I lost him forever.

I never saw Jason again. That was the night my stepfather told me he had won the fight against him and Jason was now a corpse in an unmarked grave in the mountains. He noticed the bracelet on my wrist and ripped it off, tearing it apart with an evil smile.

I never believed him. Jason wasn’t dead. He was a warrior; more than a match for my stepfather, but he never came back. Doubt began to creep in, and it was the only explanation.

That was the day I lost all hope—forever.

Chapter Sixteen

Matteo

My brothers are antsy—hell, I’m antsy. What happened back there shook us to the core.

The whiskey bottle is the only sustenance we need right now, and as we knock back shots, like me they are struggling to understand what just happened.

“Just saying, I’m in love. I’m putting that out there before anyone makes a decision.”

Giorgio’s tone is teasing, but I detect the statement in his sentence.

Tommaso growls, “I told you this was a bad idea. We should never have got involved.”

“Why?” I shrug as I splash some more liquor into the glass.

“Because we don’t have time for this—for her.”

He shakes his head before downing a large shot and refilling his glass with another.

The flight attendant’s obviously off the hook becauseTommaso is more interested in the bottle than his usual inflight experience.

That tells me everything I need to know.