Page 52 of Catching His Runaway

Growing all pretty in pink, I ignore the urge to taste the rest of her and opt to finish washing up before someone starts knocking on the door and urging us to hurry along.

Once we are drying off, her nose wrinkles at her ruined clothing. I’m happy to burn both of our outfits to help forget all about today’s events.

Opening the door with a towel around my waist, I leave her behind to find the others.

Lazaro doesn’t enjoy me standing in their living room where his wife can see, so he’s happy to lend me a shirt and sweats. The problem is, he’s a little smaller than I am, but I manage as best as I can. Abigail donates an outfit as well, one I can only assume she does not intend to get back.

I have no idea what my future looks like with the couple. If Valeria wants to stay in their lives, whether Lazaro wants her to or not, I won’t stand in her way. Rather, I’ll be at her side.

Thanking them both, I return to the bathroom and give her the clothing. Once we are dressed, we let Urzo do the same.

17

Valeria

Their home smells like those brown sugar candles I’d find in the store, the ones I stop and smell without buying. It smells so much better here than that cabin.

Abigail offers up food as soon as we settle at her table, and I don’t realize how hungry I am until she’s putting a sandwich in front of me. When I make the first one disappear in a minute, she’s happy to replace it with another.

While I chew, Tommy fiddles with the first aid kit. Watching him pull out a bandage, I fight the urge to snort.

Knowing what he does for a living, I find it hard to believe that he knows how to tend wounds since he’s usually the one causing them.

Other than the bruises on his body, did he get injured? I don’t believe so, but I didn’t exactly get a lot of time to look while we were in the shower. Not while he was numbing my senses.

Without warning, he grabs one of my hands. His mouth works with a frown as he looks at the matching rings around my wrists. Not speaking a word, not even warning me about sting from the alcohol wipes, he tends to my wounds.

Has his touch always been this warm? This gentle? For a few seconds, I get lost in the motion of his fingers as he wraps my wrist with the bandage. He then holds his hand out, silently demanding my other one. So, passing my sandwich from one hand to the other, I offer it up to him.

My brother watches me from the counter, his arms crossed over his chest, while his wife assembles another sandwich for Tommy, despite his reluctance to eat something.

He no longer has that baby face of his. Having more ink on his skin, and more piercings on his face, I’m just now noticing all the differences.

“I don’t know what they had to do to convince you to help out, to come back even for a short period, but thank you.” The words leave my lips, and I feel a lump growing in the back of my throat.

Past me wouldn’t have come back unless it was a life or death situation. As far as I can tell, Lazaro wouldn’t want to risk losing this life he has. To enter something so dangerous…

The corners of his eyes crinkle, and he smiles. He’s my only sibling who knows how to.

“They told me you needed help, and I wanted to see you with my own eyes,” he explains before his smile lessens. “It took me years to get over the thought of you dying. So, since you are alive, I didn’t want to relive it.”

My stomach tightens, and I nod. Chewing on my lip, I wince when Tommy dabs another wipe against my cheek. “Thanks to everyone, you will have to.”

I take a few more bites, struggling to swallow as I try to shove the unpleasant thoughts away.

“When Urzo told me you got away, I struggled to believe it. How did you do it?” I ask instead, hoping the story will be far lighter and pleasant.

Tommy shuffles around for a larger bandage, his brows furrowed.

Lazaro bites his lip to hide a grin as he looks over at Abigail. “I met this woman. At the time, she didn’t know who I was, but I knew if I wanted to make her mine, I had to get out. After striking a deal with Mom, and her pulling some strings beneath Santino’s nose, we made it happen.”

Our mother always wanted our happy endings. She was always more loose with my brothers, hoping they’d find the right woman to cross their path. She never breathed down their neck, never prepared them like she had me.

I’m jealous, in truth. To have the opportunity to fall in love naturally, with a partner who can return their love without batting an eye…

My gaze momentarily drifts toward Tommy as he tears into the bandage he’s found big enough to cover the mark on my face.

I’ve told him how life felt. However, he hasn’t done the same. Sure, I haven’t even given him enough time to soak in my confession, so I can’t be upset with him.

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