Page 58 of Days Of Valentino

“She’s here?” Relief washes over me.She’s here. She’s safe.“What happened?”

“I’ll let your girl fill you in on that one. But wait!” Orlando laughs, jogging down the hall as he shouts, “Babe, quick! Get the popcorn.”

Josie glares at my cousin as she passes him, slowly making her way towards me with her head cast downwards.

“What happened? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” I rush over and cup her cheeks in my palms.

“Uh-huh, I… ah… have to tell you something,” she says.

“Okay?” I glance behind her and see Orlando coming back towards us with a literal bowl of popcorn in his hands.

“In the bedroom,” Josie says, walking past me. I follow her before slamming the door in my cousin’s face.

“Hey, no fair, dude! I’ve been waiting hours for this,” Orlando yells out from the other side.

“What’s going on?” I ask Josie, not moving from the door. I don’t trust my cousin not to kick it in. He’s a nosey bastard.

“First, before I tell you, I need you to promise not to get mad at me or overreact,” she says, pausing her pacing and finally looking up at me.

“Babe, when have I ever been mad at you? You know I’d never hurt you, right?” I ask her. Surely, she’s not scared of me.“You can tell me anything. I mean it.Anything.There is nothing in this world that can make me love you less.”

“You’re right. I know that. Of course I do. And it’s not really that bad. You’ll probably see the humour in it anyway, right?” she questions.

“Sure, why don’t you tell me what it is, Josie? Because the sooner you do, the sooner we can get to the part where I throw you down on that bed and ravage your body.” I smirk. I’m not ashamed to pull out the big guns to get her to spit out whatever has her so worked up. And I know this smile of mine always disarms her.

“Okay, so, I put a few sleeping pills in your drink, waited for you to fall asleep, and then I borrowed one of Theo’s guns and went to the park to meet the man who was messaging me. I, ah, I froze and… I don’t know. A lot happened. He got hold of the gun, shot Zio Luca, and Theo shot him. But I’m okay. Zio Luca is okay. So it all worked out in the end. See? Funny, right?” she says in one long sentence while squeezing her eyes shut.

I inhale a deep breath because I have never in my life wanted to yell at this girl. Until now. “You what?” I say louder than I intended. “You can’t be serious right now. You… what? Josie, what the actual fuck were you thinking?” I can’t control the volume of my voice. I want to. But fuck, she put the one thing I treasure the most in danger. Herself.

“I was thinking that I wasn’t okay with someone threatening you!” she yells back before adding in a much softer tone, “And I’m fine.”

“Are you kidding me? Fucking hell, Josie, you drugged me.” I run a hand through my hair. No wonder I feel like shit.

“You said you wouldn’t be mad,” she huffs.

“No, I said I wouldn’t love you any less. And I don’t. It’s because I love you that I’m furious right now. Do you have any idea what could have happened to you? All while I was curled upin your bed knocked off my ass?” I ask, finally managing to even out my voice a little.

“You wouldn’t have let me leave if you were conscious,” she huffs out while throwing her hands in the air.

“You’re damn right I wouldn’t have. I would have tied you to the fucking bed if I had to. Do you know why? Because I can’t bear the thought of something happening to you.”

“Yeah, well, I feel the same way, you know. I don’t want anything to happen to you. I was thinking about you, not me.” She plops down on the edge of the mattress.

I walk over and kneel in front of her. “Josie, babe. I can take care of myself. What I can’t do is live without you. I couldn’t imagine losing you. Please, don’t do anything that risks that happening again. I love you.”

“You still love me? Even though I drugged you?” she asks.

“Nothing will make me not love you. But don’t do that again,” I tell her.

“I love you, Dante,” she says.

“I love you too.” I gently press my lips against hers. “He’s dead? The guy?”

Josie nods her head. “He is.”

“Zio Luca? Where is he?” I ask her.

“Downstairs, in the basement. Zia Katy isn’t happy. I think she might hate me.” Josie’s eyes are tearing up. My girl is a few short seconds from full-on sobbing.

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