Page 13 of Sins of Bliss

Sadness overpowers the unease and all I can feel is the need to hold her in my arms.

“Come here,” I rasp, pushing down my own emotion.

This time, she doesn’t hesitate and crosses the room to me. As she does, I pull the blanket from my body, holding it open. “Get in.”

Her eyes sweep over me. “You’re hooked up to several machines, Sly. I don’t want to hurt you.”

It’s too late for that, piccola ladra.

I almost say the words out loud. Instead, I say, “You won’t.”

She gives me a brisk nod before toeing off her shoes and climbing into the bed with me. Its plastic base groans from the extra body, but we both ignore it as I cover us with the blanket and press a kiss to the side of her head.

Her body hugs mine, curved tightly into my side. Her hand rests loosely on my bare stomach, head in the crook of my arm.

It feels as natural as breathing. As comforting as laying in the sun on a warm summer day.

“You don’t have to explain,” I murmur, though I wish she would.

Perhaps when I am healed, I will return to New York. It’s clearsomethingis amiss, and if I am in the city, at least I can be nearby if she needs me.

She won’t need you, you fool. She’s about to be a married woman.

But she isn’t marriedyet, and although I do not condone cheating, the desire to feel close to her in every way possible, one last time, overtakes me—August be damned.

He’s not a man I hold any respect for, anyway.

“What happened?” Vinnie asks, trying to keep a steady voice, but I can hear the unease in it.

Sighing, I know it is time to tell her the truth. Adjusting the blanket around her hips, my eyes catch on the simple gold heart necklace she wears, and I can’t help but to wonder if August gave that to her too. Pushing it from my head, I rest my hands on her thigh and attempt to adjust my upper body so it is easier to look down at her as I speak.

“When I arrived in Ridgewood, I met a man who introduced me to the president of the local motorcycle club.” Vinnie’s eyes widen, and I give her thigh a gentle squeeze. “They are not dangerous, piccola ladra. The Sinners Warlord is a vigilante club. They are passionate about the women and children of Ridgewood, and we work hard to keep them safe. The man who was here earlier—that’s Cain Michaels. The president. And the woman? His love, Rosie.”

At the mention of Rosie’s name, her eyes narrow the smallest amount. Anyone else may not have noticed the slight shift, but I would have been able to spot it a mile away. I can imagine the thoughts raging through her mind, and it sits like a weight in my stomach, knowing I will have to tell her about my relationship with her.

“She seemed protective of you,” Vinnie says hesitantly. “When I came into the room, she watched my every move. Her concern rolled off her in waves.”

“Sì, Vincenza. I will not lie to you, or try to hide my recent past. When you didn’t arrive at our meeting place, I left my heart laying on the gravel path amongst the dirt and the rocks. I boarded a plane and forced myself to leave everything I loved in New York. You chose August, and when I told you I would respect your choice, I meant it.”

Dipping my head for a moment to gather myself, I clear my throat. The words I am about to say taste like bile and betrayal despite me doing nothing wrong. “Rosie is my best friend in Ridgewood. She and I shared a mutual pain. I had just lost you, and she was fighting her own relationship demons. Through each other, we sought comfort, and an arrangement formed. It did nothing to diminish my love for you, but it helped dull the heartache. Once she found her way back to the man she is meant to spend this lifetime with, our relationship ceased immediately—prior to, actually. But I cannot deny that we did have a relationship, no matter how unemotional it may have been.”

Vinnie’s eyes shine with tears, and a few escape from the corners from my admission.

Reaching to her face, I use my thumb to wipe them away. “I love you, Vincenza. Nothing in the world can ever change the way I feel about you, which is why I needed to leave. I needed to give myself the opportunity to heal from the pain of losing you.”

Her eyes drop and she nods. Her voice is quiet as she lets out a deep breath and says, “I understand.”

She doesn’t say anything more, nor does she lift her head to meet my gaze. It makes me feel like there’s more I should say, but I no longer want to speak about my time with Rosie. Instead, I continue on with how I came to be in this hospital bed.

“With the weather warming, The Sinners held a barbecue outside of the bar Rosie owns. We’d recently put a stop to a man who had been drugging and raping women in Ridgewood and neighboring towns.”

Vinnie’s gaze snaps to mine. “I thought you sa?—”

“That it was not dangerous,” I finish for her. “Sì, I know, and typically it is not. But this particular man slipped something into Rosie’s drink, which Cain witnessed. He did not take lightly to that and reacted before any of us could stop him. Not to say the man would not have met the same ending, but it would have been handled differently.”

The way she gazes at me, so intensely listening to my words, makes me stop to stroke the side of her cheek with my knuckles.

“It turns out the man was involved with a neighboring city’s motorcycle club, and unfortunately, unlike the Sinners, that gang is a violent one. They began to target the club, then sought their revenge by retaliating against us the day of our barbeque. I was hit by gunfire when I shoved Rosie out of the way to protect her from being hit.”

---