Page 24 of Ravage God
When we reached the table, Valentino looked up, his eyes narrowing as he took in his sister and me.
“Elio, man. Why are you holding my sister?” His tone was casual enough, but I could hear the tension in his voice.
I tightened my grip on her briefly before depositing her on the seat. I pointed at her when it looked like she was about to move out of it. “Don’t even think about it. Your ass is to be planted firmly in this chair, and you’re not moving until you get some water and food inside of you.” I turned to Valentino. “She was trying to climb up on the bar top. With encouragement from someveryenthusiastic fuckers.”
Valentino’s eyes widened as he turned from me to his sister. “What the fuck?”
Isa crossed her arms over her chest and pouted a little. “It was just a silly little bet.”
“A silly little bet?” Valentino repeated. “Who made the bet with you?”
Yeah, I would like to fucking know. I turned to Isa.
She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Something told me she knew and just didn’t want to tell us. She grabbed the beer bottle I had set on the table and was about to take a sip when I pulled it out of her hand.
“Hey, I was drinking that,” she said.
“Don’t fucking drink anything that’s been left unattended in a public place,” I gritted out.
Her bottom lip stuck out in a small pout before it started trembling, and a slight shimmer entered her eyes. Fuck. Me.
I turned to Valentino, but the fucker was no help. His eyes glinted with amusement.
I leaned over until Isa met my gaze. “What I mean is, you don’t know if someone put something in that while we were gone.”
Her brows lowered. “But you’re here. No one would dare do that to you. And besides, if that were the case, you’d take care of me, right?”
“Right,” I said softly. I would always take care of her. “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use caution.”
I shook my head when it looked like she was about to say something to that and stood up, flagging down the waitress.
“A bottle of water,” I said when the waitress got close.
She nodded and walked away, and I looked back at the table. Valentino had moved in closer to his sister, whispering something to her. I used this chance to take her in fully.
The feeling that something was wrong with her wouldn’t leave me alone. I just didn’t know what, and a part of me understood that we didn’t have the kind of relationship for her to just tell me. Would she tell Valentino if he pushed her for the answer? And how could he not see that there was obviously something bothering her?
And I didn’t fucking know what to do to help her.
Movement in my peripheral vision caught my attention, and I turned to see the waitress coming back with the water. I grabbed the bottle out of her hand, ignoring the not-so-subtle way she was looking at me, and turned back to Isa. I caught Isa’s eyes then, and I didn’t know what to make of her expression. She looked away quickly, and Valentino moved back to his side of the seat. I handed the water over to her.
“Thank you,” she said, not looking at me, her small voice barely audible with the loud music playing overhead.
I grabbed the seat facing the siblings. It wasn’t late, but it was late enough.
“We should go home,” I said. Valentino nodded while Isa looked up and frowned.
I shot her a look. She had already drunk more than she should have. She was going to feel the effects of the alcohol in the morning, and the crowd was getting too rowdy. I didn’t usually mind, but there was something about having Isa here that was making me feel antsy.
“Drink your water,” I said to her.
She acted like she was going to argue with me, but I didn’t look away from her. Finally, she let out a small sigh and took a few sips of her water.
“More,” I said, when she made a move to put the bottle down. She didn’t even drink half of it. She blew raspberries from her lips in annoyance, but thankfully did as I asked.
“Is this good enough?” she asked when she had drunk more than two-thirds of the bottle.
