Page 95 of Dirty Hearts

Was it them?

Dante and Gio dispersed to search. I stayed where I was.

I didn’t know what affected me more. The knowledge of what was going on or my fears about what would happen next.

* * *

Ava

* * *

I straightened on the bed the minute Claudius walked into the room.

He looked awful and… there was blood on his face.

Blood, more blood, just like at the restaurant.

He didn’t say anything to me. He just looked at me, then walked into the ensuite bathroom.

I slid off the bed and made my way to him.

I’d worried myself sick the whole night. Worried about what he was doing, worried that something could happen to him, worried about what I was getting myself into.

Now he was back, with blood on his face.

“Claudius,” I spoke in a soft, hushed voice.

He’d taken off his jacket and shirt and stood shirtless in front of the mirror. He turned on the tap and splashed water on his face, splashing it so hard it went all over the floor.

I moved closer seeing his distress and pressed my hand to his back. He turned to face me, and through the water I could see one single tear run from his brown eye, down his cheek, staining the inky black of the cross.

“What happened?”

He shook his head.

“Did you kill someone?” I was afraid of the answer.

“No. Not yet.”

I pressed down hard on my lip.

“I need you to go to Luc’s tomorrow and stay there. I know you have plans Friday and it’s a busy week for you, but I need to make sure you’re safe.”

“I want to stay with you.” Earlier, I’d been a mess. I’d been so shaken up by what happened at the restaurant. But I wanted to stay with him. The same way he protected me, I wanted to make sure he didn’t go out and get himself killed.

“You can’t. Not at all.”

It was the way he said it and what he said that stung my heart.

“What does that mean, Claudius?Not at all?”

“Ten years ago, Luc and I were walking down the street near Delizioso. He wanted Mexican for lunch, and I wanted Italian. I wanted to go back to Delizioso. The place we’d discovered a few weeks back and kept going back to dinner, and I wanted to try the lunch special. Luc tossed a coin. Heads, we go to the Mexican place, tails, we go to Delizioso. Landed on tails, and in we went to Delizioso. I must have just picked up the menu when I saw you and decided you had to be mine.”

A tear ran down my cheek. That was a day I’d never forget because of the magic and the chemistry we shared. I’d wanted him to be mine too.

“Claudius…” I hated the helpless feeling that coursed through me. That helpless feeling that reminded me that there was nothing I could do. Nothing to fix the situation, nothing to make things the way they should have been. And… love wasn’t enough.

He cupped my face. “There are some things in this world that are so precious they should be left alone. I should have gone to the Mexican place. I should have left you alone.”