Page 43 of Salvatore

Chapter Twelve

Salvatore

Aedry shocks the hell out of me by following us back. As I stretch out against my white leather couch, the same couch I slept on after giving Donnie my bed, I watch her zip around my apartment, tending to my brothers.

Donnie was a hot mess last night, worse than I’ve ever seen her, and crying over Vin cancelling their plans to go see a play with his wife. Whatever she’d taken before she arrived hit her hard. I spent an hour talking to her in my room and away from my brothers until she passed out. They know her and like her, but this isn’t a side of Donnie I want them to see. I’d rather they know her for the good person hidden beneath all that pain than the one who stumbled in at three in the morning.

Except I don’t want to focus on Donnie now. Not with Aedry here taking care of my family.

Gianno and Apollo . . . damn. They barely flinched on the ride back, acting hard like nothing could hurt them. Now that we’re home, they’re acting like a bunch of wounded vets. Can’t say I blame them. Every grimace, every groan, earns them more attention from Aedry.

“I don’t like peas,” Apollo says when he sees Aedry smashing the stuffed frozen bag against the counter.

She wraps a dishtowel around them as she nears. “They’re not to eat. They’re for your face.” She places the bag on his head, stroking his hair when he holds the bag in place. “I’m glad you’re okay,” she says quietly. “But you shouldn’t have been there.”

“I had to have my brother’s back,” he says.

“You should have told me, instead,” she insists, stepping away. “I would have handled it. Now, you’re risking suspension.” She shoots her reprimanding look at Gianno. “And so are you.”

“Sorry, Miss Aedry,” they mumble.

“Does the school have to know what went down?” I ask.

Hell, and doesn’t that earn me the glare of death. “I’m not lying to my employer.”

“I’m not asking you to. I’m just saying you don’t have to come clean about everything.”

“Actually, I do,” she answers with smile that’s none too friendly. “Gianno,” she says, hurrying back to him. “Don’t scratch your face.” She lifts the bottle of Witch Hazel, or whatever that shit she found is called, and dabs another cotton ball.

“Is that going to sting? —Ouch.”

“A little,” she tells him quietly. “But for a tough guy like you who took on an entire gang, this should be nothing.”

Gianno grins at her. “Yeah, I did kick some ass, didn’t I? That bitch Keon went down like a pussy.”

“Language,” she reprimands, dabbing his skin a little harder.

He and Apollo start going off on how hard they fought. I won’t tell them I’m proud of them. At least not in front of Aedry. But I am. Gianno stood up for a girl getting beaten, and he and Apollo watched out for each other.

They even watched out for Aedry. Christ. When I saw that guy dragging her off, it took all I had not to pull my piece out. Somehow, I kept my head.

Not an easy task around this woman.

“When are you making us dinner?” Apollo asks her.

Aedry straightens, her cheeks turning pink when she’s realizes I’m watching her. “You’re making us dinner?” I ask.

“No. I’m making them dinner. You’re welcome to have some if there’s any left over.” Her voice is shaky like it always gets when she’s nervous. She fumbles with the bottle of Witch Hazel, as if she can’t close the tiny plastic lid tight enough.

A smile eases across my face. “Why are you making us dinner?” I ask, ignoring the fact that she said it was for my brothers, and that I was only welcome to their scraps.

Apollo speaks up when Aedry takes too long to answer. “I aced my algebra midterm and Gianno aced history.” His grin locks on Aedry. “Ms. Aedry promised us homemade fried chicken and biscuits if we both got A’s.”

“No, shit,” I say. “When are you coming over to cook?”

“I never said I’d come and cook here,” she says, her voice continuing to tremble. She hurries to clean up the cotton balls and Band-Aid supplies she used on my brothers. “I’ll go home first and bring it by later, if it’s okay with you.”

“If I didn’t want you here, I wouldn’t have asked you to come,” I tell her. Something in my gravelly voice slows her movements. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Gianno levelling his gaze on Apollo.

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