Page 18 of Protecting Charity

“It means, the last time someone called me in for a meeting, my car got vandalized, and another Moreno became pissed at me. I’m not liking my odds today, so I’ll wait for the reset at midnight.”

He sighed in my ear. “Okay.”

I cocked my head and narrowed my eyes as if he could see me through the phone. “That’s it? You aren’t going to demand I be there or pay with my skin?” I sounded unconvinced.

He chuckled. “Not tonight. Maybe next time.”

“Well, now you have me thoroughly confused and slightly disappointed.”

I placed my phone on my shoulder and continued hacking the basil while my tomatoes did their thing in the pot. Did I mention I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing?

“It’s calling it quits while you’re ahead, by the way.”

“Oh, I’m well aware of that one. However, I’m definitely behind and not even close to winning.”

“So you pissed Nico off today?”

“You heard about that? Yeah, apparently, he wasn’t too keen with my lack of transparency during…” How do I talk to Luca about sex with his brother? Oh, right, I don’t.

“Sex?”

I choked from his candid, detached comment. My knife slipped and sliced right across my finger, causing blood to flow freely and a fit of curses to assault Luca’s ear until I dropped my phone on the counter.

“Shit. Shit. Shit.” I hissed through my teeth and held pressure to the wound while holding it under the running water. I could hear Luca yelling at me through my phone. “Hang…” I turned off the water so he could listen to me holler at him, “hang on a minute. I’m okay.” I wrapped a paper towel around my finger and squeezed it tight. Then, I put the phone back to my ear and shoulder and held pressure. “Sorry, I’m back.”

“What happened?” His voice dripped with worry.

“I tried chopping off my finger to see what it would feel like.”

His voice was like silk between my thighs. “Results?”

“It’s no wonder they scream,” I said through clenched teeth. Dammit.

I liked this. A normal, for me, conversation with Luca. No business talk, mostly, and him speaking to me like a human being and not one of his employees he can boss around. It was dangerous for me to become used to this. I’d never want to leave his side just so I could hear his sultry voice rouse my senses.

He chuckled, and I clenched my legs together. “Do I need to have the doctor come by?”

“No. I’ll glue it. It’ll be fine. Thanks.” My belly flipped from his concern and made me forget it was just this morning he pulled a gun on me. How could he go from one extreme to the next?

“I’ll see you in the morning then.”

The phone clicked, and I dropped it back to the counter. It landed upside down, too close to the droplets of blood dirtying my counter. The pain seemed to flood in with the lack of his seductive voice to distract me, and I hissed again from the sting. I rushed to my bathroom to grab the liquid wound sealer and some alcohol prep-pads. This was going to hurt, and no one was here to do it for me.

Fun.

My phone shrilled from the kitchen, and I jogged back to it with an arm full of supplies while clenching my fist to staunch the river of blood that didn’t want to stop. I dropped it to the counter when my stove’s timer went off, signaling my tomatoes were done.

Answering the phone, I said, “Luca, I’m fine.” I hit the cancel button for the timer and waited for his response that never came. “Luca?” Did he butt dial me? That would be awkward. I turned the fire off for the stove, listened to the silence on the other line, and then looked at my phone to see if I was still connected to find it wasn’t Luca’s name that sat across my caller ID but, in fact, it was Josh’s.

My heart slammed against my chest and my temples throbbed from the sudden pressure. “Josh? Josh, are you there?”

Nothing.

“Josh, answer me, you son of a bitch! What is going on? Where are you?” My voice shook with the anxiety I held suppressed for the duration of his disappearance. Fear ripped from my skin in tears and adrenaline. “Josh, please answer me.”

Faint breathing crackled the speaker in my ear, so I knew someone was listening. What if this wasn’t Josh? What if someone had him and they were calling me for ransom or worse? “Listen to me and listen well.” My hands trembled with a swell of rage that frightened even me. “If you hurt my brother, I’m going to skin you alive and watch the ravens pick at your skull while you scream.” The phone clicked, and I screamed, seeking release from the fury that built in my blood. “Motherfucker.”

I plopped on my couch with my supplies, trying to steady my shaking hands. How was I going to sit still now with that phone call bursting through my thoughts? I pulled the paper towel off my finger to find it still welling with the all too familiar crimson liquid. Wrapping it back up, I squeezed until the pain caused me to grit my teeth and tore my mind away from the bane of my existence.

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