Page 49 of Bones

He chuckles softly. “Not exactly, Butterfly. Are you ready to go home now?”

Trembling in his arms, I admit, “I can’t go back there, Luca. Please don’t make me.”

“Why?” he asks, looking at me with confusion.

Placing his hand on my chin, he tilts my head back gently, and looking into my eyes with concern, he says, “Why, Butterfly? You need to talk to me.”

“Jimmy.”

He leans his head down and presses his lips to mine, and kisses me softly. “Nobody who has anything to do with my wife being hurt, lives. Including my own fucking men. Jimmy is gone.”

Rising to his feet, he lifts me into his arms. “We are going home, and having a doctor look at your injuries.”

Shaking my head, I say, “I’m fine.”

He groans slightly. “Beautiful wife, this is not open for discussion. There will be no argument. I will make sure you’re okay.”

I don’t fight him any further, because my entire face throbs with pain. Maybe the doctor can give me something to ease it. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I press my face to his chest and inhale his comforting scent.

“It’s a long walk to the car, but I’m carrying you.”

We walk out of the house and the cool fresh air hits me in the face. I breathe it in, and it’s so wonderful, I start to cry.

“What’s wrong?”

I laugh through my tears, because I know it’s ridiculous, but I tell him the truth, “When he brought me back here, I thought it was over, honestly, I never expected to see outside ever again.”

Luca kisses me on the top of the head. “Tomorrow, I’ll show you the outside of the house. I think you’re going to enjoy it, and you can spend as much time out there as you’d like.”

“Do you have a swimming pool? My mom used to tell me about this pool she went to as a teenager. It sounded like fun.”

He stops walking and stares at me. “Yeah, Butterfly, I have a pool. In fact I have two, but you need to learn to swim before using them alone. Jesus, baby, your life is going to change.”

Does he think I’ve never seen a pool before? I’ve never been in one, but there was one at the hotel Manny kept me at. I wasn’t allowed to go outside much unless I was doing a job, but I used to stare out the window during the day, and watch the children play in the water. To this day, I think about the one little girl I saw. Her hair was dark, almost the identical shade of mine, and she had the cutest smile when she laughed. She splashed her mother with water, and would break out into a fit of giggles. It was the way she looked at her mom, and the way her mother gazed at her in return. It wasn’t just love, but absolute adoration, and I wondered what that would be like. I bet that little girl’s mom would not have left her with a monster.

Reaper races up to us. “Here. I found this.”

Luca takes the blanket and covers me with it, before adjusting his hands around me, over the material I remember well. It was my mom’s, and I was always surprised she didn’t take her great grandmother’s blanket with her when she left.

He lowers me into the backseat of the car, and gets in beside me, before pulling me onto his lap. Psycho and Kage get into the front, while Reaper gets into the back beside Luca. Leaning his head down, Luca kisses the bruises on my face softly. “Butterfly.” His voice sounds strained and thick with emotion. He doesn’t say anything further, instead he holds me close like I’m precious cargo that he can’t bear to let go of.

I wake to soft kisses on my neck. “We’re home, baby.”

My eyes flutter open, as my heart pounds and I clutch his shirt, while the realization dawns on me that I’m in Luca’s arms.

“Shhh, it’s okay. I’m here, nothing bad is going to happen. It’s over.”

His deep voice calms me in an instant. I should laugh at myself, because there is no waythis manshould have this ability. This power over me. Instead of holding onto him, I should be running for the hills, but I won’t, because where the hell would I even go? The truth is even if I had somewhere to go, I’d miss him. My husband has forced his will over me more than once. The same man that breaks bones as a hobby. While it doesn’t make any sense, I hold him tighter and bury my face in his chest, inhaling that spicy orange scent that seems to chase everything bad away.

Luca slides out of the car, and leans in and lifts me into his arms again. “I can walk.”

He chuckles softly, as he holds me against his chest with my legs over one of his arms. “I think I like this, Butterfly. I might start carrying you everywhere.”

I attempt to roll my eyes at him and pain shoots through my right eye, causing me to close my eyes, and wince from pain.

“And you didn’t want to see the doctor. Stubborn girl.”

Wrapping my arms around his neck, I press my face against his chest, as the throbbing seems to keep getting worse.

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