Page 23 of Luca

She never could stand up to him even when he was being an unreasonable Neanderthal.

“We’ll walk you out,” Luca tells her and holds his arm out, signaling for us to walk in front of him to the exit.

I give him a hard glare before turning my head toward where he came from and see the guy I was dancing with tumbling into the crowd with blood all over his crisp white button-down, holding his bloody nose.

My head whips to my asshole bodyguard. “Seriously, Luca?”

“Let’s go, Giada. Now.” His tone leaves no room for argument and since Bianca is already on her way out, I decide to follow rather than cause a scene.

When we get outside, the chilly night air cools my heated skin. Luca takes one look at me and takes his jacket off to cover me.

“I’m fine,” I grit out as he hands the valet his ticket.

He walks back over and leans in close, his lips nearly brushing my ear when he whispers, “That may be, but I’d rather not every person in downtown Boston see the shape of your hard nipples in that dress.”

I quickly look down and see my nipples poking through the dress that I’m not wearing a bra with before closing the jacket around myself.

“Thank you,” I reply with a tight voice.

Bianca’s car pulls up to the curb just before the valet returns with ours.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” I tell my friend and unwitting partner in this little scheme to make Luca’s time guarding me as painful as possible before leaning in for a hug.

“I’m so glad you’re back,” she says, returning the embrace. “It’ll be like old times with both of us home.” When she pulls away, I give her a grateful smile. It will be nice to have someone to hang out with now that I’m back in the States for the next several months.

With Bianca safely in the car and on the way to her parents’ house, Luca directs me to ours and opens the door for me.

“Such a gentleman,” I say with a sarcastic bite.

“Get in the damn car.”

The second my feet are inside, he slams the door and stalks to the other side, opening his door and getting in. He puts the car in drive with an angry tug on the gear shifter and pulls out in traffic to take us back to my house. With his hands on the wheel, it’s then I notice the slightly swollen red knuckles across his fist and my anger spikes.

“What the hell is with you punching that guy? Just because he was dancing with me? That’s taking it a little far, even for you.” Honestly, I don’t know what would be considered too far for him since I haven’t been around him in years.

Luca shakes his head and lets out an exasperated sigh. “I swear to Christ, Giada. I don’t know how you do it, but you manage to find yourself surrounded by the worst possible men.”

“Present company included.”

Luca tilts his head side to side and cracks his neck but doesn’t comment.

“We were just dancing.” I let out a very mature huff of annoyance.

“What you think you were doing and what those assholes thought you were doing were two entirely different things.”

“Did you ask them before you decided to act like a caveman and break that guy’s nose?”

“I didn’t have to ask him shit, Giada. When they were in the bathroom, they were practically high-fiving each other, convinced that they were going to take you and Bianca home, regardless of whether or not you came consciously. At least that's what it sounded like they were saying. It was hard to tell between the lines of coke they were snorting up their noses off the fucking bathroom counter.”

I take a breath and stare out the window. It was a dumb idea to go to that club. The place is notorious for assholes like that hanging out and girls getting way more fucked up than the couple of drinks they remember consuming would be responsible for. But I knew Luca would be miserable standing there all night among the sweaty gym rats looking for a quick lay.

There isn’t anything for me to say. He’s right, but I’m far too stubborn to admit that to him.

The next twenty minutes are spent in silence on the way back to my house. When we pull into the long driveway, we’re confronted by a sea of police cruisers, some unmarked but all with their bright red and blue lights flashing.

“Luca,” I choke out, my panicked gaze colliding with his.

He parks behind one of the unmarked cars and turns to me. “Stay here.”

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