Page 74 of Petrichor

I raise my arms parallel to my shoulders, palms up, letting the drops wash over me. I can’t see him clearly, and that helps a little to get the declaration out of my chest.

“Because being with you makes me feel safe. Because I saw it in your eyes, the need to feel another soul. Because I felt the urge to be that soul, to nestle in near your heart and never leave. Because I love you, Marco.” My voice breaks on the last part. I’ve never said it before, but somehow, the words flow easily off my tongue.

My heart is about to beat out of my chest as we look at each other. Just a few steps between us, but he couldn’t be more distant from me.

Then he lets out an angry roar, so powerful I feel it in my bones. Even through the rain, I can see how his expression hardens evendeeper as he takes a step back, fists trembling. Like he’s fighting an inner battle.

He tends to put family first, Don Sebastiano’s words come back to me.

“I can’t. Fuck! Leave before…leave!” His harsh voice cuts through the rain, his words pierce my chest reaching deep inside me where it hurts the most. He then turns and walks away, disappearing inside the warehouse.

I wish I could melt away under the heavy drops and vanishing into the hard earth.

The slam of the heavy door is like a bullet right through my heart. “A bullet would have been more merciful,” I murmur.

Marco has been the sweetest pain I’ve ever suffered and the most excruciating pleasure.

I lift the wet bag from the ground and search for my phone as I start walking like a zombie. I need to leave before I do something stupid like barge inside the warehouse, punch him in the nuts, and then kneel at his feet and beg him to believe me. He’d really kill me then.

God, I’m fucked up.

The rain usually has the power to wash all my stray thoughts away, but not this time. I need more. I call Art.

“Are you crying? Who do I need to tell the assassin I have on speed dial to kill?” he asks as he hears my sobs.

“Can I stay with you, please?” I cry even louder, hearing his voice.

“I—”

“Art, please. Everything is going down the drain.” I wipe the rain from my face as I turn on the street and walk toward the entranceof the docks. “Marco thinks I’m working with your family because he saw us together.”

“What? Fuck! I… Fuck!” he keeps cussing. “That’s why I wanted to stop seeing you for a while.”

“You could have told me, Art!” I clip. “I need someone on my side.”

“I am, Fly. Always. You’re the only person who’s friends with me because of me, not my family, not my money,” he confesses. How can Marco think he’s the bad guy? “Hell. Ok. I’ll text you an address. Can you come?”

“I’ll take a taxi.”

“Great. I’ll be waiting for you with booze. And Fly?”

“Yeah?” I’m barely able to push out the word.

“Maybe everything is falling apart to come together in a better way.” Should I believe that? If I don’t, I may never be able to reattach all the broken pieces of my heart together ever again. “We can still kidnap him and force him to like you. Just saying.” If I didn’t feel so broken, his words would’ve made me smile.

I hang up and slide my phone inside my bra to avoid it getting wet, when I hear from behind, “Gotcha!”

“Jerry.” I gasp out his name as his arms lock around me, and he lifts me off my feet. I’m terrified, remembering what he did to me last time. Jerry is bigger and stronger. But I had a really shitty day and I won’t let this fuckhead get me without a fight. I need to try to run. If I go to Marco, would he help me?

I twist and kick, scratch and pull, but the dickhead doesn’t let me go. In a last-ditch attempt, I headbutt him, hitting his nose with the back of my skull as hard as I can and throw the entirety of my weight back. God, it hurts.

Jerry loses his footing on the wet ground, stumbles back, then to the right. I elbow him and claw at his eyes, but I end up being tackled—gravity is a heartless bitch—I land on my hands and stomach. His massive weight slams against my back like a brick wall. The back of my head throbs and my cheek is pressed on the wet ground as rain keeps drizzling down. My deep inhales force dirty water inside my nose, making me cough.

I feel his lips near my ear as he disgustingly whispers, “Love when you fight.” He presses his stiff dick against my ass.

“Eat shit!” I raise one hand and blindly punch his face. He moans as I get his broken nose, then his eye.

“You fucking bitch!”

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