Page 41 of Stolen Kisses
“It’s okay to talk about her Maria. Sometimes I wish you would. You and me, we found her and then it was like we severed that connection, because neither of us would talk about it.” He gave my hand a gentle squeeze and a gamut of emotion surged through me. I appreciated him.
I was so grateful to hear him say that, but …
There was something that had always been on my mind. A name. A name I’d left out because I wasn’t sure. Christina had been with many guys, but thinking of this one guy I’d spotted her with just before she died always made my soul shiver. Just for what I saw him do.
When you were investigating a murder like hers you looked at everyone. Dante looked at everyone he could. Having an extra name could have opened up another path. It would, however, be a path he shouldn’t go down. Not when the name I had was just speculation in my mind.
Just speculation.
When you grew up the way I did, you knew if you weren’t certain about something you should shut up about it until you were. I grew up around the mafia and all manner of criminals. Bad people you didn’t want to fuck with just because youspeculated.
The thing was if I could do more than speculate, I’d get that guy myself. Dante wouldn’t have to do it. I would, even now I’d do it, and that was saying a lot because I had Flynn to think about.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “It’s hard. It feels like every time I say it, makes it real. It really happened.” I didn’t like opening up to anyone. With him though it felt okay to do it a little bit. Not a lot to wear me down, just enough to ease the pain I’d carried around for years. “It means the years passed and my best friend really wasn’t in my life and she won’t be coming back to my house to see me and we can’t make fun of her overprotective brother on his old bike.Vintagebike.”
“I wasn’t protective enough. Or, maybe she’d still be here.”
I shook my head. “No Dante, you know that’s not true. Definitely not. You were a good brother. Still are.”
Better to stay focused and not dwell on it.
“I’m glad you think so.” He straightened up. “Means I at least fulfilled some sort of promise to her.”
“What kind of promise was that?” I asked.
“She made me promise to look after you.” He replied and stole my breath away.
“She did that?” It touched my heart to hear that.
“Yeah, you know her. She was thinking of going to Europe to study art at one point. I thought she was working to save up for that, even though I would have paid for it. She wanted to do it on her own though, because I took over everything after our father died. When she spoke to me about it, she made me promise I’d look out for you.”
Christina was definitely working to save for art school that was a fact. Then things changed, she changed. She changed and stopped talking about art.
“She always took care of me.” I nodded.
“She was. Always taking care of me too. She didn’t need to make me promise to look out for you though. I would have done it anyway.”
“Yes. I believe that you would have.”
“I did. Or as best as I could. I guess looks can be deceiving. You looked happy when last I saw you.”
I narrowed my eyes not sure what he meant. “I don’t know if I was happy. Things were always up and down here. You know what it’s like.”
“I know, but I wasn’t talking about here. I was talking about Florida.”
I fixed my gaze on him and looked at him long and hard.
Florida?
“What do you mean?”
“Remember that conversation we had once? You asked me if I’d follow you to make sure you were safe. I did.” The corners of his lips turned up into a smile.
“You went to Florida to see me?” I couldn’t believe it.
“I heard you got there safe, but I had to go make sure and see you for myself. I found you and saw you walking down the beach with a guy who looked like he was into you. You looked happy. You looked happy so I stayed away. You didn’t need the reminder of Chicago. It was bad for you, too many bad things happened here. I felt Florida would be good for you and give you a fresh start. You looked happy, so I left, satisfied you were safe.”
I’d assumed no one bothered with me. Shame on me again. I should have known I’d have him.
