Page 22 of The Sicilian's Obsession
Arturo
I was ashamed to admit that I ran. Like a fucking coward, I ran away from Katima, my princess—a virgin. I callously ripped through her barrier without even realizing she was innocent. Like, I knew she was innocent, I just didn't know she wasthatinnocent. I figured with her being under her father's thumb, she'd had only a few sexual partners, like maybe two. I couldn't go back. I couldn't go back to that house and look her in the eyes and see what I'd destroyed. She was probably crying.
I refused to check in with Jake to see if she was all right. He was only allowed to update me if there was an emergency. I was drowning. She was on my mind every minute of every day. I could still smell her on my skin. Her claws were so deep in me. She was mine. Never anyone else's, but I couldn't have her. I threw her away. I was an asshole. I didn't treat her right, and instead of facing my mistakes, I ran. I was a coward. I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror. It had been weeks now, and I'm sure she hated me. I hated me. When I was living with her, my nightmares were getting better. Now they were back every night. I needed her to breathe. But I couldn't. The pressure of keeping her safe was pressing down on my shoulders. Gifts were starting to appear at the house. Jake would take them to some guards we had stationed in the area. They brought them to me. The gifts were always expensive jewelry, but we couldn't track down the buyer. I was frustrated. Nothing was working the way I wanted it to. I needed to see Katima, just for a second. Maybe I could make a trip there tonight, under the guise of checking in. I shook my head. No. It would only make things worse. My phone rang and I saw Jake was calling.
I barked, "What?"
"Arturo, we have a problem." He sounded winded.
"What's wrong?" I tried not to yell at him again. It wasn't his fault I'd screwed up and ruined my chances with Katima.
"Little birdie has cracked." Jake gave her the codename birdie and I let him, because there was no way I was allowing the guys to call her princess.
"What's she doing?" I had already grabbed my jacket and my keys, heading his way.
"She came downstairs in a fog, muttering nonsensical shit to herself. She's cleaning the entire kitchen, top to bottom. Repeatedly." Jake sounded panicked.
"That's just her ritual; it's fine." I tried to reassure him. I debated heading back to the office. He didn't need me for this.
"You're not getting it, man. She's been cleaning for hours. Her hands are red and bleeding. Every time I try to get her to stop, she flips and attacks herself. I have never seen anything like this." I started speeding faster, my heart in my throat. Something was terribly wrong.
"I'm on my way." I hung up on Jake so I could concentrate on the road. She wasn't fine. She wasn't fine at all, and I knew it was my fault. I shouldn't have left her. I shouldn't have run away. I probably broke her. Why didn't I look at this from her perspective? I'm such an idiot.
I shaved forty minutes off the drive because I broke every traffic rule known to man. I couldn't believe I didn't get pulled over. I threw the truck into park and rushed into Katima's house. I blew past Jake when he tried to stop me. I needed to see her. When I entered the kitchen, I almost fell to my knees. Katima was on her hands and knees scrubbing between the tiles on the floor. Her curly hair was out and wild. It struck me that I had never seen her hair down. What I wouldn't give to grab her coils in my hands and fist them. Now was not the time for those kinds of thoughts. She was scrubbing with a toothbrush and muttering to herself.
"Dirty. Dirty. It's all dirty. Need to clean it. Dirty. Dirty." Her face was close to the floor, like she was inspecting every inch. In my opinion, the kitchen floor always looked good enough to eat off it. I knelt on the floor, keeping my feet off the ground, knowing it would set her off if I got the floor dirty at all. While I tried to process how to snap her out of this, I just watched. Jake kept to the living room and out of the way. I didn't bother to call her father. The piece of shit probably wouldn't pick up.
"Katima?" I called her name softly. My face was basically on the ground next to hers. I couldn't care less if anyone looking thought it was disgusting, she needed me to get down to her level. She stopped scrubbing so vigorously but didn't look at me. I knew that she knew I was here, so I pulled out the big guns.
"Princess?" I paused, and her wide eyes looked at me. She still didn't say anything, but at least I had her attention. "I'm sorry I left you. Do you think we can talk?" Her glazed eyes started to clear.
"Arturo?" She blinked rapidly, like she was confused. "Why are you here?"
"Holy shit, you're not stuttering," Jake exclaimed from the entryway into the kitchen.
"Fuck off, Jake," I growled at him. Then I looked back at Katima. "I came to check on you, princess. I didn't mean to be gone so long and leave you with this numbskull." I shot my thumb back at Jake, who scoffed like he was offended, but I could feel the relief rolling off his body.
"It's all right, I know you were busy, Arturo."
I felt a pang of guilt hit my chest. Of course, she wasn't obsessing about what happened in her bedroom a few weeks back. She had way more on her plate than to think about me. Even though she was a virgin, she was still in danger, running a company by herself, and probably trying to find her MIA father. I sat back on my heels, noting that her favorite cleaning shirt had bleach stains and other miscellaneous stains on it. Her jeans were covered in a layer of dirt. She had to have been cleaning for a long time to get this dirty.
I murmured, "Princess, why don't you grab a shower and I'll clean up. Sound good?" She nodded her head and scurried upstairs. That was surprisingly easier than I thought it was going to be. Less than the first time.
Jake came and slumped in a chair. "Thank goodness. I was going crazy. Can I go back to the company?" he whined.
"Yeah, call one of the guys to bring my bag. I'll take back over." I quickly agreed because no way in fuck was I was leaving her, ever again. Now I just needed to get her to forgive me.
"I never asked you why you left in the first place?" Jake was fishing. He wasn't getting anything out of me, though. He should know that by now.
"I needed to take a break and check in with Ma. Nothing more to it." Jake sent me a knowing look. I'd never broken the rules before, never gotten close to a client like this, but it was Katima. There was no way I could just stay away from her. Not only was she gorgeous, but she was innocent and sweet. I normally didn't meet many people like that, who were so genuine.
"All right. I'm going to fuck off." Jake shot me the middle finger, and then he was gone.
I sighed and started to put away all the cleaning products. As soon as I was done, I headed upstairs to check on Katima. I knocked on her door. No answer. I knocked harder. Still no answer. I couldn't hear the shower. So, I panicked and burst through the door just in time to see Katima slipping a new tee on over her loose tits. Her back was facing me, but I could still see the side boob before the shirt slipped down.
"Sorry. I knocked, but you didn't answer." I shuffled my feet, trying not to look as embarrassed as I felt. What did I think she was doing in here anyway?
"Someone else would have taken the hint that I didn't want to talk."
