Page 106 of Driftwood Daffodil 2

I marched into Gio’s room and threw the door shut with as much force as my little body could muster.

The sound vibrated through the walls, causing a picture on the left to clatter onto the floor. Then, to add insult to injury, I clicked the lock in place. Because why not?

The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on me. I was trying to escape Gio by going into his space. But it wasn’t like I had another option. I wasn’t given my own room in this hell house. No, I was forced to share one with him. Asshole.

“Nova.” I ignored the fist banging on the other side of the door. “Open this door.”

Yeah, that wasn’t happening. But…

My eyes locked onto a clock sitting on the corner of his dresser. That looked breakable.

“I’m not fucking around!”

Neither was I.

I walked across the room and picked up the clock. It had a decent amount of weight for something so small. Meaning it should pack a nice punch.

“You have three seconds to open this door.”

I could do a lot in three seconds.

“One…”

“Two, three.” I finished for him.

Next thing I knew, a bang rang through my ears as the door burst open and slammed against the wall.

The man standing on the other side would’ve scared most people. The scowl etching a line in Gio’s forehead was deeper than I’d ever seen, and there was a coldness in his eyes that I could feel from across the room. He was ready to tear someone’s head off, and all I could think was, good.

“There’s nowhere for you to run now,Gattina.”

“What makes you think I want to run?”

His eyes dropped down to the clock in my hands. “So that’s how it’s gonna be?”

“Yup.” Was he expecting something else?

“Alright.” He rolled his neck and kicked the door shut. “Let’s do this.”

The clock was sailing through the air before he could take a single step.

I let go after that.

Screaming, I rained my fury in a hail of random objects. Shoes, watches, pictures, and anything else I could grab were thrown at Gio as he charged across the room. Some hit him, some didn’t, and a lot broke.

It was mayhem. In a matter of seconds I’d covered this room in a mess that would horrify someone like Maw Maw. And not even that could stop Gio.

He rushed forward, pushing past every hit, and scooped me over his shoulder like I weighed nothing.

That’s when I resorted to clawing and slapping. I flailed like a wild animal, striking him anyplace I could.

I’m not sure which one of us fell first, but we both wound up on the floor in a tangled ball. He was trying to contain me and I was releasing all the anger I’d repressed over the years.

Gio got everything. The pain of seeing Veda broken in that hospital room, watching my brother get drug away in handcuffs, the wrongness of our justice system, and finally him.

That was the worst one. Gio Mancini was thing that angered me the most. Not because of who he was, but because of the storm of confusion he made cloud my mind.

I tried telling myself that I didn’t miss him when he wasn’t around. I didn’t like his smell, or the the stupid snide comments he threw my way. I hated how it felt when he touched me, and that I didn’t want him to do it again. And I didn’t care that he gave his attention to Cindy, because I hated him.

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