Page 34 of Keeping My Girl

I feel the blade of his knife slicing through my skin as he tackles me to the ground. “Ah, fuck!” I cry out as he comes down on me hard with all of his weight, effectively knocking the wind right out of my lungs.

“Oh, shit!” Renato yelps as he realizes what he’s done. He quickly scrambles off of me and stands up. “You looked ready, man. I thought you were ready!”

I can hear the panic in his voice. I don’t know if he’s more concerned that he might have seriously injured me or what my father will do to him if he finds out about it.

I’m still struggling to breathe when Selina comes running up to us. I can see the apprehension and fear in her eyes. “Are you okay?” her timid voice asks.

She looks…different. Not just her shorter hair, but everything. She’s in a short floral dress and cute sandals. And fuck, I can’t stop staring at her long legs as I try to recover from the hit. I’m such a sucker for long legs.

My sister runs up behind her, and I realize Aria must have made Selina her project today, giving her a complete makeover.

When my lungs are no longer on fire and I can finally speak, I tell them, “I’m fine.”

Renato offers me a hand up, and then looks down to my stomach and says, “Oh fuck.”

I glance down and see blood flowing out of the open wound. It’s already soaked through the waistband of my gray sweatpants. “It was my fault,” I tell him assuredly. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Selina, will you take Nico up to the nurse?” Aria asks.

Lina slowly nods, her wide eyes focused on my wound. Fuck. I know she hates the sight of blood based on what happened to her in the past.

“Please, hurry,” Aria says, gently shaking Lina’s shoulder.

The urgency in Aria’s voice seems to have its intended effect, and Lina finally snaps out of her odd trance. Grabbing my hand, Lina pulls me towards the house. I walk in a fog, staring down at our joined hands. Her hand feels so small and delicate in mine as she leads me upstairs to the nurse’s room.

She knocks on the door with her free hand, refusing to let me go, and I can’t help but smile. I know I shouldn’t be excited about holding hands with a girl like a prepubescent teen, but this is the most Lina has touched me since she arrived here. Every little step is a giant one with her, and I’m thankful for every single one.

Sarah opens the door and takes one look at me before she says with a heavy sigh, “Come in. Lay on the table.”

I do as she says as she walks over to the sink to wash her hands. I expect Lina to let go of my hand, but she grips it even tighter as she sits down on a chair next to the exam table.

“What happened this time?” Sarah asks with a frown as she puts on a pair of blue latex gloves.

“Knife fighting with Renato.”

“Hmm, usually he’s the one up here, not you,” she admits while she cleans my lower stomach with antiseptic.

“There’s a first time for everything,” I say with a heavy sigh.

Sarah fills a needle and comes to me. “I’m going to numb the area first, because it looks like you’re going to need a number of stitches.”

I grit my teeth and breathe out slowly as the needle enters my skin, and I hold Lina’s hand a little tighter. Fuck, it feels good to have her here with me.

Sarah walks over to the cabinets and begins opening and closing drawers, collecting what she’s going to use. “So, Renato is normally the one I’m stitching up after one of your knife fights.” She glances over her shoulder and flashes me a toothy grin. “Don’t tell me he finally got the better of you?”

I let out a soft laugh and shake my head. “I was…distracted.”

Lina grips my hand a little tighter, and I gently squeeze hers back for reassurance. None of this is her fault. She’s just so damn beautiful that I couldn’t look away from her. When her eyes meet mine, she whispers, “I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault, sweetheart,” I whisper back.

My term of endearment has her cheeks flushing with a pink blush, driving me crazy. Fuck, I love that she’s shy with me sometimes.

Sarah turns around with a metal tray full of what will ultimately mean pain for me. Having missed our whispered conversation, she asks, “So, what distracted you?”

“The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life,” I answer before glancing over at Selina. Her pink blush is slowly turning into a deep red.

Sarah grins, her eyes moving back and forth between Selina and me. “Ah,” she utters, her smile growing wider. “Selina, how about you distract Nico again while I stitch him up?”

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