Page 85 of Driftwood Daffodil
Considering he decided to stick around and for some reason help out, it was a fantastic way to burn off some anger. And it wouldn’t end with a flying boomerang slipper.
I even managed to ignore him for the last twenty minutes. Mind you, I was working in the back where no one else was. So it made it easy to pretend he wasn’t there. Until Gio came waltzing around the side of the building.
Regular Gio Mancini was easy to ignore. He was another asshole student. When the uniform was taken away and replaced with sweaty, shirtless Gio Mancini… the asshole part didn’t register in my brain. The wall of flesh and five o’clock shadow darkening his chin sure did though.
I literally felt my jaw drop as my hormones slammed to the surface.
Apparently Gio’s arms weren’t the only thing that could make a girl stupid. His entire torso was all hard ridges and firmness, covered by smooth skin. The man had a literal eight pack. I’d seen four, and one or two sixes, but eight? I didn’t know they came in that size. Simon didn’t even have a pack.
“You’re staring again.”
“I am not staring,” I jabbed my stick down. “I’m stabbing you in the balls.”
Seriously, who photoshopped him? And where the hell was his shirt. He needed to put that back on right now.
Gio dipped his gaze down the end of my stick, “I think you missed.”
I looked down at the cup and sighed.Damnit, that was a head, not nuts.
“It was a metaphorical stab. Unlike you…” I shook the cup off in my bag. “I couldn’t actually kill someone.”
“You sure about that?” Gio braced his shoulder on the wooden wall beside him. “Your brother didn’t have a problem.”
My grip tightened around the stick. He did not get to talk about Kato. “My brother is a good man.”
“Who beat mine to death with a tire iron.” The tone in his voice matched the way his jaw clenched. “Pretty sure that negates the good part of your claim.”
“Oh and I’m sure you’ve never done anything like that.” I shot back, not really expecting an answer. I got one though.
Gio’s shoulder lifted in a shrug, “I never claimed to be a good man.”
Did that mean he killed someone? All confrontations we’d had where he wrapped his hands around my neck or threatened me, I never gave much thought about if he would actually do it. Would Gio Mancini end my life? Could he? Hatred and anger made people do a lot of things. But death? That was an entirely different beast. It changed people. Like my dad. There was a void in his stare, as if something inside of him had died. Trauma survivors had the same look.
And so did Gio.
I tipped my head and looked at him. Like really looked at him. It was like I was seeing him for the first time. The arrogant way he carried himself. How he didn’t seem to care what anyone thought, or worry when someone called the cops.
There were rumors about the Mancini’s and their ‘family’ business. Words like mob, mafia, and gangster were used. And as much as I would like to pass it off as mere speculation, I couldn’t help but think about that day in court. How the three of them walked in and the room went silent. Not even the judge said anything when Gio started harassing me. In fact, I couldn’t think of a single time where I’d even heard about someone crossing Cesare Mancini.
Who exactly was Gio Mancini?
“Go ahead,” a shiver ran up my spine as his voice dropped an octave. “Ask.”
“I don’t want to ask you anything.” I did, but I pushed down that curiosity and moved to walk away. Some things were better off not known.
Gio stopped me before I could round the corner. He grabbed my arm and pushed me back against the building. “Ask your question, Nova.”
“I don’t have a question, Gio.” I spat back and darted to the left.
His hand shot out, flattening his palm against the building and stopping me from leaving. When I moved in the other direction he did the same thing with his other hand, effectively caging me in his arms.
“Let me go Gio!”
“I will,” he stepped in and growled, “after you ask your question.”
“I don’t have a question.”
I did have a problem with this situation though, which I attempted to solve by shoving him back. Not only did I fail epically at that, but now my hands were splayed out on his chest. His very hard and warm chest.
