Page 81 of Taboo Flames

I take a threatening step forward, but she remains unfazed.

“You have no right to come here and act like a jealous boyfriend. After all, it was just physical between us.”

I flinch at her words. “So you think little boys like Eddie can ever give you what you want? I’m the only one who knows what your body needs, Aurora. The sooner you accept that, the better it is for everyone.”

She scoffs. “I’m never accepting such a ridiculous notion. But when I’m in the market for another bed partner, I’ll let you know. For now, I think I’m going to take my chances with a real boyfriend. And not the kind I just make up in my wildest imaginations.”

My glare darkens. I don’t like or want to hear that Aurora is capable of giving her heart to someone else. I realize how hypocritical it sounds, but I don’t care.

She turns to walk to her car, but I immediately grab her and pull her to me.

“You’re not going anywhere,” I say with finality.

“Don’t touch me!” she screams. “You’re a possessive psycho, and I’m not going to be involved in your push-and-pull games. You can’t go from me not hearing from you this whole time to showing up the very second you see me with another guy. Didyou tell Carlos to also alert you if there’s another guy? Are you just going to continue showing up and holding me back from finding any kind of peace?”

“That guy was a jerk, and we both know it.”

“That’s not the point,” she growls at me. “The point is that you hurt me, Gio. Badly. And I don’t know what I was expecting, some kind of apology or something along those lines, but instead, you’re just here, trying to pull me back into your orbit.”

“God, princess,” I sigh and tell her softly. “Don’t you get it? I don’t know how to leave you alone. If I did, I would have.”

“So you didn’t mean those things you said?” she voices hopefully. “You care about me?”

I want to say the words that will put the adoring look back on her face, but I’ve never been all that good at expressing myself, and there’s suddenly a brick in my throat that won’t let the words come out.

“I—”

Any words I’m about to say are interrupted by a sudden loud bang. I don’t think. I just push her to the ground and cover her with my body as the flaming debris from her exploded car flies into the air.

She lets out a whimper at the explosion, peeking around my body to stare wide-eyed at the total ruin that is now her car.

My heart beats rapidly with the realization that if I hadn’t delayed Aurora from driving home, she would have been inside the car, and she would have been charred along with the rest of the car’s metal.

She almost died.

“Gio,” she whimpers in a small, terrified voice.

“I’m here, princess. I’m here,” I say soothingly.

She wraps herself around me, her body shaking with fright.

I have to find these bastards and end them once and for all because if I don’t, I’m going to lose Aurora.

I cannot lose her. I’ll die before I let that happen.

CHAPTER 22

Aurora

Ican still hear the loud booming sound resonating in my head minutes later. The chilling knowledge that I was so close to death keeps me in a suspended state of reality.

I can’t stop shaking.

Even after Gio is done screaming into his phone for minutes and I’m bundled safely into his car, it still feels like I can’t breathe.

If Gio hadn’t delayed me from getting into my car…

My brain refuses to complete the rest of the sentence. I don’t even want to imagine what would have happened, but it wouldn’t have been pretty.

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