Veiled Amor by V. Theia

EIGHT

“More than strangers. Less than family.” - Lucia

 

 

The dilemma with wanting something for so long, when it presented itself, Lucia had to decide if the pain was worth it.

Having Giancarlo in front of her, asking what happened with Santiago, was something she’d longed for, but the way he grit out his command through his tightly clenched teeth told her she probably wished too hard.

“That’s not relevant right now.”

“It’s relevant if you’re saying Nicholas pushed you into marrying my brother.”

The way he emphasized my brother put chills down her spine.

It would always be that way, wouldn’t it? Santiago was standing between them, along with their guilt.

She had a horrible feeling even if he knew it all, it wouldn’t matter.

Living in a world of her own, dining on memories like a starving fish, she’d been able to weave fanciful stories of why they weren’t together despite their explosive chemistry.

A man who wanted her wouldn’t have waited all this time to make his move, that much she knew.

Oh, damn.

Fucking ouch.

Lucia took in air and puffed it out as she let the truth in.

That was it, wasn’t it? While she thought he was suffering for what they did and perhaps waiting for a better time to get back into her life, the truth was looking at her with dark eyes and tight lips.

Okay. Okay. Okay. She would prefer a minute alone to digest the reality she’d been in this thing alone all this time, but she was a grown-up and a boring, sensible one at that. She could deal with it.

It didn’t stop her chest from hurting, though.

When the words came from her mouth, they sounded strangled even as she tried to smile away her embarrassment.

“It’s not worth talking about, but I thank you for coming, Giancarlo. Any advice would be welcome.”

His eyes narrowed another inch, and at that moment, as he stared across a small motel room at her, she understood how intimidated strangers must feel in front of a notorious motorcycle club member.

She’d become a bit of a fangirl where his Renegade Souls were concerned, all in the name of stalking his life, all stuff he didn’t share with her.

They were massive throughout the States. Like Kings.

A growling sound brought her back from her thoughts. “Why are you talking like that?”

“Like what?”

“As though we’re fucking strangers, Lucia.”

Aren’t we? She questioned.

She let his statement slide because what could be said? She’d wanted him in her life more than anything, and she realized if he’d wanted that too, he would have made it happen.

“I thought I would stick around for a while, get a job. But now I’m not so sure.”

Giancarlo sighed, watching her, a tick working in his firm jaw.

He looked entirely too masculine and beautiful.

Like a God had dropped to earth to play with the paltry humans for a while.

He’d always been big and imposing. It seemed natural he would join a club like the Renegade Souls because Giancarlo wasn’t made to follow any orders but his own. It made more sense why her father latched onto Santiago instead. She immediately felt guilty for putting Santiago in the weaker role, but it didn’t stop it from being the truth.

He was dead.

And Giancarlo wasn’t.

Even before she knew she had feelings for the dangerous man, she’d always loved sneaking glances at him. He’d filled out in recent years. Shoulders so broad he could be mistaken for a world-class swimmer. She was dying to know if he had slabs of muscle underneath the shirt and jacket. How polite would it be to ask him to strip off the top half of his clothes?

Having him in front of her, finally, had whipped her brain into a frenzy. She took two fortifying breaths, not stealing glances through her lashes. Not at all. She didn’t notice how much shorter his hair was today. Or how his jawline was sculpted in pure marble and coated in the richest brown skin. Beautiful men existed, but Giancarlo was something else. A hint of darkness in his eyes. She wondered if he ever smiled. His lips were full and lush, surrounded by clipped facial hair that only added sexiness to his bad-boy persona.

There was so much on her mind, important life things, but of course, all her thoughts were very female because she wanted to know if he had someone special in his life.

Lucia all but bit down on her tongue to stop from asking the question.

When he moved suddenly to pace across to the window, she caught her breath. The back of him was as imposing as the front. She streaked her eyes down his long legs, lingering on a firm ass encased in the denim jeans.

Giancarlo was gorgeous back then, painfully so, and he’d grown into a formidable man.

How was she going to cope knowing her feelings were one-sided? Ugh. Talk about jumping out of the fat directly into the fire. Good going, Lucia.

“We can stay here tonight, but we’ll move your location somewhere else tomorrow. I gotta make a few calls, sí?”

All she heard was stay here tonight. Did he mean him too?

“You’re… you’re staying in here with me?”

Was that her making that wheezing noise? A hand caressed around her throat, and sure enough, her pulse was galloping.

She’d read books like this. Forced proximity. Only one bed.

Only, those romances ended in a happily ever after for the couple. Not one half of the couple being pathetically in love with a man she couldn’t have, because he was indifferent to her like a lump of stale bread.

“Relax, Lucia. We’re family. I don’t wanna be in another room if something happens.”

She blinked. “Do you think something might happen?”

He turned from peering out of the window, just a hot snatch of a glance over his shoulder. “You’ve been on the run for three weeks. I’d be surprised if your father didn’t have eyes on you already.”

Oh.

It would be like her sadistic dad to still have her in shackles when she thought she was free. A vulture circling until it was time to pounce.

This would never end. Not until she fell into line with her father’s choices.

Was it better to give in and let it happen?

Or fight until the bitter end?

Popping to her feet, Giancarlo turned a quizzical eye on her, his brow high on a strong forehead. “I need… eh, excuse me for a second.” She all but wheezed as she headed to the bathroom like her ass was on fire.

Feeling as though her life was being whipped out of control, she took calming breaths on the bathroom floor while the faucet drip-dripped and her heart clattered in her chest.

Capone was here.

And that’s how she needed to think of him now. He was Capone. He laughed a lot more back then. Before her father took his family from him, she was a horrible person to ask him of all people for help.

But it wouldn’t stop her, would it?

She was in this dirty fucking obsession, knee-deep. It meant she was around Capone again, and some small part of her was happy about that.

Damn, she was sick and depraved to lap up any piece of his attention.

Off the floor, she went to the sink to splash water on her face as a knock sounded on the door. “Lucia?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m gonna step out to make a call.”

“Okay.” She replied, drying her hands.

She listened to his steps tracking across the carpeted floor. The door opened and closed quietly behind him. Lucia leaned into the basin, looking at herself in the mirror. “Oh, don’t look at me like that,” she whispered, “you’d do anything to be around him, you freaking addict.”

She married the wrong brother, and God only knows how badly that went, but it didn’t stop her from being in love with the other brother she couldn’t have.

Only three people knew the truth about her marriage.

Santiago was dead. And Nicholas wouldn’t confess to Capone.

Did secrets count if the person it was about was dead?

The etiquette for those kinds of things was unknown to her.

Married to one brother while in love with the other.

How fucking cliché she was.

“Stick around, folks.” She said to herself in the mirror. “Watch how I fuck this up.”

Capone was here to help get her life in order, not to climb into her panties. She had to remember that. No matter how gorgeous he was or how he made her stomach whip like an out of control washing machine, he was going to help her and then take off back to his badass life. Probably full of women falling all over themselves to get to him. Ugh.

Welcome to the real world, Lucia.

Maybe she preferred her cage, after all.

She opened the door and watched Capone through the window, talking on his phone.

One room, one bed.

Being around an irresistible man was about to test her inner strength.

She might need Jesus and his disciples before this was over.

But she had a feeling only Judas would rock up to her party.