Another thing he’d never done.
He turned down the music and whistled. “Party’s over, we have…” His eyes locked on mine. “Business.”
The surrounding people nodded their heads and started cursing in Italian as if they knew exactly what type of business he was talking about.
Still confused, I watched as every last person left our house.
“Dante…” I swallowed back the fear in my throat. “What’s going on?”
“War,” he whispered.
“America’s at war!” I screamed. “Oh my gosh, do we even have a bomb shelter?” I started running around in circles, I needed to grab a book or something, or my notes. Crap! I needed my letters!
“Val!” Dante yelled.
“I need—“ I was hyperventilating, but I couldn’t stop “—to go to my room and get—”
“Val!” Dante roared, gripping me by the arms so that I was forced to look into his icy blue eyes. “Not that kind of war. It’s… business.”
“Business,” I said dumbstruck. “Is war?” I shook my head. “You’re not making sense. None of this is making sense!”
“Good.” He looked relieved. “That’s… good.”
“Dante?”
“Val,” Gio barked my name as he limped into the room; his lip was bleeding. Sergio wasn’t far behind.
I charged toward Sergio. “You hurt my uncle! You bastard!” Sal and Papi followed, all of them bloody.
They were the least violent men I knew.
And Sergio, well, he screamed violence! It was in the very air he breathed, the way he carried himself.
Dante tried to pull me back, but Sergio lifted up his hand. “It’s okay, let her. It will make her feel better.”
So for the first time in my life.
I hit another human being.
Because I was afraid.
I hit him in the chest, and when he didn’t move or even make a noise, I hit him again and again and again as the confusion of the night washed over me, and when I was done, I realized, he was hugging me.
“Where is her room?” he asked, not seeming to address anyone in particular.
Someone must have pointed because nobody answered, and he picked me up in his arms and carried me up the stairs and into my bedroom where he gently placed me on my bed and sighed. “You’re young.”
“Yeah, you keep saying that,” I said as tears streamed down my face. “Why did you hurt my uncles?”
“Would you believe me if I said they hit me first?”
“No.”
He chuckled. “They may seem old — they can pack a punch.”
“My uncles would never hit a person.” The idea was almost laughable. I probably would have laughed if I wasn’t so scared.
“Okay.” He sounded like he didn’t believe me. “Val.” He used the name I’d told him to. “Sleep.”
Yeah, right, because sleep was going to come so easily. A snort of disbelief escaped as I glared. “And things will look better in the morning?”
He hesitated, those gorgeous lips pressed into a firm line. “No.”
“That wasn’t very encouraging.”
“Would you rather I lie?”
I swallowed the thickness in my throat; it felt like I’d swallowed a golf ball and was trying to cough it back up. “I’m not sure.”
Sighing, he reached out and touched my cheek, then jerked back as if he couldn’t believe he’d just touched me. Abruptly, he stood and turned his back to me.
It was a nice back.
Muscular in all the right places.
I just bet that shirt had a hard time staying on.
I had a sudden image of him ripping it over his head then mentally scolded myself. He was the enemy, he was the reason something had happened — was happening — tonight. Everything in me screamed danger.
And yet, I was stripping him in my head.
Yeah, I was losing my mind.
“I used to believe it.” His voice was barely above a whisper. “The lie, the one that says all you need is a good night’s sleep, and things will look better in the morning, feel better, be better.” He hung his head. “Now I know the truth.”
I swallowed. “And what’s that?”
He turned, just enough for me to see his striking profile, the tick in his jaw as he clenched his teeth into an almost grimace. “Regardless of what surrounds you, the blanket of darkness at night, or the warmth of the sun during the day, circumstances remain. Sadness… remains, anger… remains. Sleep promises rest — I haven’t rested in a very long time.”
I leaned forward. “If the next word out of your mouth is that you’re a five thousand year old vampire, I’m probably going to jump out my window.”
His lips broke into a tense smile. “Sorry to disappoint. I’m human. So very human.” He frowned as if the thought actually upset him. “I bleed just like everyone else.”
“Clearly.” I pointed to his knuckles. “Sergio?”
He crossed his arms and faced me again. “Val?”
“Who are you?”
“Don’t worry about who I am, worry about what I’m not.”
“A vampire?”
“That.” He grabbed the blanket from the foot of my bed and placed it over me. “And… I’m not your friend, Val.”
The comment stung.