Page 24 of Dark Breaker

Strong hands wrap around me and pull me to the surface. Wearing a black dress shirt, Fabio hauls me onto the tiles that surround the pool. He joins me there, sitting with his feet dangling over the edge and into the water.

He sheaths the knife he’s holding into a holster near his ankle. I instinctively loop my hand through the crook of his arm and grip his bicep. It’s like wrapping my fingers around iron. There’s something very comforting about the strength I sense inside those arms.

Carlo emerges, gripping his wounded arm. Nunzio surfaces just behind him, holding his bleeding cheek.

“Get the fuck out of here before I finish the job,” Fabio warns them in a steely tone.

The pair pull themselves out of the pool.

“I was trying to save her,” Carlo says.

“Get the fuck out!” Fabio seethes.

Carlo and Nunzio make themselves scarce. The other partygoers in the pool give Fabio a worried look, but when nothing further happens they return to their partying.

I’m panting, trying to catch my breath, and still holding onto Fabio’s iron arm as if for dear life. When I realize how hard I’m gripping him, I let go and look into his eyes instead.

I’m surprised when I see contempt there. I was expecting something else, anything else. Maybe concern or curiosity. But not that.

I shove away from him. “Don’t touch me.”

He smiles coldly. “I wasn’t. You’re the one who was touching me. And you’re welcome.” I can smell alcohol on his breath.

“Are you drunk?”

Before he can answer me, Michela is beside me. “Are you all right?”

“Fine,” I tell her. “This is why I typically avoid my exes.”

“Those were yourexes?” Fabio asks. A darkness clouds his eyes that I haven’t seen before.

“Yeah,” I tell him.

“I should have killed them,” he spits.

“Why do you care?” I ask.

He blinks once, twice, and when he looks at me the darkness is gone, replaced by contempt once more. “You’re right. I don’t.”

Fabio scrambles to his feet and towers over me. He seems unsteady, switching his balance from one foot to the other. He promptly keels over and vomits into the pool.

“Youaredrunk!” I say in astonishment. “And you were still able to do that to them? I’d hate to see what you’re capable of sober.” I realize I’ve already had a glimpse when he attacked my brother in the parking lot.

“I may have had a bit much to drink,” he admits.

Someone runs over to him and shoves a glass into his hands. “Drink up, Fabio!”

He downs it without a thought and slams the empty glass into the person’s hands. The dude immediately runs away, perhaps to fetch him another.

Fabio looks down on me. “I don’t want you here.”

“Why, so you can fuck some party girls one last time before you’re finally married, is that it?” I taunt.

“No,” he tells me. “It’s not like that. This is supposed to be part of my bachelor party.”

I cross my arms. “Aha! So I’m right.” That explains the friend giving him liquor.

His face reddens and a hint of that darkness returns. “I wasn’t going to fuck anyone. What I’m trying to say is, I don’t want a fucking bachelor party. But my brother made me have one. Family tradition.”