Page 82 of Psycho

“Jesus Christ, Hadley. I already lost one parent. I’m not looking to give the other one a heart attack.”

She giggles softly, her breath fanning over my skin.

“What did you tell her? I’m trying to prepare myself mentally.”

“Just be yourself. You don’t need to rehearse your conversation with a woman that loves you.”

I spot the sadness in her eyes, before she tries to shutter it from me. It was the word ‘love’, and I know my inability to love her is going to be a problem. Is it not enough that I care about her? That I would fucking kill anybody that hurts her? Apparently not, but I don’t have it in me to argue with her tonight. So I change the subject.

“She knows I kidnapped you.”

Making the perfect ‘O’ with her lips, she stares at me in shock, and covers her mouth.

“Massimo!”

Hadley starts laughing like a maniac, the vibrating of her chest into mine, as I stare at her, does something to me I can’t quite figure out. I stare at her like an idiot, as if I’ve never seen someone laugh before.

“Do you remember when Kage locked me in a cage?”

I arch an eyebrow.

“You were such a brat, you know. You told him you wanted to go in the cage, and when you went in and he locked it, you fucking cried straight to Mama. And Kage got his ass beat with a wooden spoon.”

Hadley pops her head up and scowls at me once again.

“If you’re going to take a walk down memory lane, at least be honest about it, Massimo. Now tell me what urged me to want to get him in trouble.”

I shake my head, annoyed at the memory.

“Fucking Uno.”

“Right. You guys didn’t tell me you took all the plus fours, and plus twos from four other decks, and pummeled me with them. That was not fair.”

I chuckle at how serious she is, all these years later, about that stupid game.

“Uno is war, baby. There are no rules in a battle, you do what you have to, in order to win.”

She tilts her head to the side, and taps her finger on her head.

“And who won that battle, Massimo? I did. It wasn’t my ass getting a wooden spoon to it.”

‘Brat,’ I mouth, and I am rewarded with a beaming smile.

“You may want to lie down. You’re showing off your tits, and it’s making it difficult for me to control myself.”

She lies back down, and my eyes drop to her lips. I’ve wanted to fucking kiss her properly since I found her, but haven’t, because I am really trying to not be an asshole.

“Massimo,” she says in a breathy voice, as she places her hand to my face, dragging her fingers over my beard. No woman has ever touched my face; it’s a simple gesture, with something deeper behind it.

Tentatively, I press my lips to hers to see how she reacts, and when I slide my tongue into her mouth, she kisses me back with eagerness, as a whimper escapes from her mouth to mine. I hold the side of her face, careful not to touch any of the swollen areas. There’s a few, and I won’t be surprised if she has a black eye tomorrow.

I pull back and she flutters her eyelashes as she opens her eyes, and fixes her gaze on mine. So much affection is staring at me, and it physically makes my chest hurt.

“Go to sleep, beautiful little lamb.”

Settling into my arms, she closes her eyes, and she sleeps, while I lie awake watching her. I can’t take my eyes off her because, while I can’t predict the future, I have a feeling a dark cloud is following me, and something is going to happen, out of my control, and she’ll be gone.

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

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