Page 33 of Unhinged Little Angel

He starts to offer me his hand and then seems to think better of it and tucks it into his pocket instead. I don’t bother to fight the grin spreading across my face or the warm feeling in my chest.

“Salvatore said I might injure you?” Oh god, I sound like a middle schooler right now, on the verge of asking what else my crush said about me. Not that I have a crush on Sal. Ugh, I need coffee.

I pick up the mug off of the table and one of the flaky, fruit filled pastries and plop down on the couch next to Sparrow.

“That man isobsessedwith you,” Sparrow says in a sing-song voice while scrolling through his phone.

I take a sip of my coffee and roll my eyes. “Please, he only thinks he likes me because I’m a challenge and because watching me dance makes his dick hard.”

Luca frowns again, standing next to the couch like he’s taking this whole guardian thing extremely seriously, and sips his own coffee.

“He’s your husband,” he points out, glancing at the ring on my finger.

“Oh, you sweet summer child. Marriage is just a contract, and in this case it’s a very practical way to let certain people know that I’m protected and can’t be fucked with.”

Sparrow grabs one of the pastries off the plate and bites into it, crust flaking onto his jacket as he chews. Once he’s done, he gives me another shit-eating kind of look and cocks his head.

“Why’d you choose Sal? Alessio would have done it. It sounds like you’re just being practical, so you must have had a reason, right?”

I glare at him as I take a bite of my own pastry, surprised to find that it’s pineapple, which is my favorite.

“I did have a reason. I had many reasons, and they were all extremely well thought out. But I don’t see why I would need to justify them to you.” I’m sure I come off as haughty rather than defensive. And I’m pretty sure I did have reasons, I just can’t remember them right this second with both of them staring at me. “Shut up and let me drink my coffee in peace.”

Sparrow chuckles again but at least he stops taunting me. I turn my attention to Luca with another glare.

“And you, sit the hell down, you’re making me nervous with your hovering.”

He immediately sinks down to sit on the arm of the couch. Strangely, it catches my attention that his obedience satisfies me, but it doesn’t thrill me or turn me on. Is this how I’ve always felt or is Salvatore getting in my head about this whole Dom-brat thing? I contemplate that while I drink my coffee in silence, and once I’m finished, Luca gives me the new key Salvatore left for me and sets the alarm as we all head out to my apartment.

It’s only a few blocks, and it’s a beautiful morning, so I’m assuming we’re going to walk, but Luca catches my arm and steers me towards his car.

“Dude, no touching.” I shrug his hand off. “Only one warning, next time I’ll break something.”

He holds his hands up in surrender and opens the car door for me.

“A bunch of mafiosos scared of a couple of twinks. It’s the kind of thing I never thought to aspire to.” Sparrow sighs happily as he slides into the back seat next to me.

“I did,” I murmur, settling into my seat. “I wanted to be the thing that gives monsters nightmares.”

I swallow down the sting of realizing that when my monster peeked his head back out, the first thing I did was run to Salvatore to protect me.

I give Luca directions to my apartment, and he pulls away from the curb. It’s a short drive and as soon as we get inside, I feel like I’m having the worst kind of Déjà vu.

“Mother fucker,” I growl. My door is ajar again. I haven’t been home in days; who knows how long it’s been sitting open.

Luca puts his arm out to block me from getting any closer and pulls out his gun.

“Wait here,” he says, cocking it and slipping inside.

“Think someone robbed you or is this about that Don asshole?” Sparrow asks, leaning his shoulder casually against the wall next to the door and picking at one of his fingernails.

“How…?” I shake my head. Sal must have mentioned Don. Fucking hell. “This is a nice neighborhood, no one robbed me.”

He nods and then looks up when Luca comes back out.

“All clear, but they did a number on it,” he says with a grimace.

“Fucking fantastic,” I grumble, shoving past him to step inside.

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