Page 57 of Blinded By The Sun
“I know you’re not hitting on my girl,” Ciro says as I feel his body heat right in back of me.
Alex scoffs. “Yeah, so Kenna could put me in a casket when we get home? No thanks, but I can admit she is a beauty. Much more than I imagined. Your taste has improved.”
Ciro scoffs while Matteo and Paris start a conversation. “My taste has always been impeccable, the hell? Where’s Tank? You’re annoying.”
Alex laughs and I swear he’s like a magnet. What is wrong with me? “Tank will meet us at the house. He’s busy being a son-in-law for once in his life.”
Ciro laughs and shakes his head.
* * *
I love Vegas already, and I’ve only been here for a couple of hours. I finally get to be in the presence of another female outside of Reign and it doesn’t feel weird. I watch as McKenna scolds her baby girl while being pregnant. She doesn’t look ready to pop, so I’m sure she still has time.
“Mommy!” the little girl named Pandora cries out. “I’m sowwy. I won’t do it again.”
McKenna folds her arms. “Are you sure, little missy? Didn’t I tell you not to go in there and what did you do? You went into the pantry and stole cookies.”
Pandora whimpers. “Mommy…”
“Don’t you dare, mommy me, little girl. I know all your tricks.”
Pandora sniffles. “Ris! Ris!” she cries out and out of nowhere, Paris pops up out of nowhere.
“Yes, munchkin? Why are you crying? Is Mommy being mean again?” Paris scoops her up in his arms. The little girl wraps her arms around him. The one thing that Alex and his kids have in common is the eyes. The weird two unique eye colors but it is beautiful. I can’t seem to look away. The little girl looks at me and it’s like she’s trapped me in her eyes. She’s so beautiful. She looks like Alex, like a spitting image of him but also like her mother. She’s so pretty. Her bright, big eyes, her little button nose, her rosy cheeks and lips. She sniffles and stretches her arms out to me.
My eyes go wide because I don’t understand what’s going on. “Um, what does that mean?” I ask.
McKenna chuckles. “It means she’s chosen her next victim, you. She wants you to hold her.”
I shake my head and take a step back. Paris walks over to me. “Don’t be shy, she’s harmless. Look at those beautiful eyes of hers. She sucks you in, doesn’t she?”
I nod. “Yes.” I whisper. I stand there frozen as Paris passes Pandora over to me.
“Hi, I’m Dori.” she says, and she wraps her arms around my neck. Out of instinct, I hold on to her so she doesn’t fall. “You’re pwetty.”
I blink as I watch Dori, and she watches me. She caresses my face; my hair and she just looks at me as if I have all the answers in the world. Is this what my child would’ve looked like if he or she hadn’t passed away? It’s like the realization of it all drops on top of me like a ton of bricks. Ciro’s words pop up in my head.
I’m so sorry for your loss and what you went through. You didn’t deserve that. Jones was a disgusting piece of garbage that took advantage of a woman with a kind heart in a misguided predicament. You were in a tough position and he knew that, but he was a sick fuck. He was a predator, and baby, I can’t be what you want me to be. I can’t be a predator. That’s not me. I like the chase just like any other man, but only if you want to be chased. I don’t chase to kill; I chase to capture and enjoy along with you. I’ll replace every single touch of Jones’s, but you have to work with me here and let me do it my way.
I don’t know why, but I hold on to Dori and I cry again. I know that maybe this isn’t the place for it nor the time, but it just seems like everywhere that I go, I keep crying. Like Ciro broke the dam and now I don’t know how to stop myself from crying. “Don’t cry, pwetty lady, don’t cry.” I hear Dori pleading with me. I feel her small hands as she brushes my hair. She holds on tight and the next thing I know she’s crying with me. Crying so loud that I hear footsteps. I don’t know what I started, but I feel as a pregnant Kenna hugs me and cries too.
“What the?” I hear Paris.
“What’s wrong? Kenna, why are you crying, My Dori, don’t cry and King too, stop crying.” I hear as Paris’s fiancée, Emmi, sniffles. “Guys, I can’t watch this and not cry.” I can hear by the sound of her voice that she’s already crying. She joins us in the hug.
“Holy shit.” Paris says and more footsteps approach.
I should really stop crying, but I can’t. I cry not just for me but for myself, no, our baby. Ciro’s and mine that never got a chance because Jones decided he could play God. Why did he do this to me? How could he take something from me and here I was, acting like it meant nothing, but Ciro told me it was something? That it was big, and I ignored it. I told him I didn’t know what it felt like to lose a baby. Yet, as I hold Dori and receive love from more than one stranger who didn’t know me or care about my past, it feels like it’s too much. Like my life needs to be re-assessed. What has Ciro done to me? How can he make me feel like this? I don’t deserve this. I seriously don’t.
I feel a hand on my face and I know who it belongs to. I open my eyes and there Ciro is, wiping my tears. He doesn’t say a word, he just watches and it’s like he knows what I know.Demetrius…I call his name in my head. I don’t think I have the courage to say it out loud, but I swear I love this man. God, I love him more than I’ve ever loved him before. I love him more than before. The second I say this, my eyes shut and it’s like the world is spinning as I see myself chasing this man into the forest. The man that I’ve always loved and will always love because he matters to me more than the world itself.
Demetrius… Demetrius, my love… He’s found me and I have found happiness. I have found joy, peace, strength and most of all… I’ve found him.I open my eyes again and Ciro knows. He knows I remember him. He knows that my past has met up with my present to bring me to my future. The only one that matters is right in front of me. The man that I fought for. The one that I will always fight for and the one who has brought me back from the dead.
I wasn’t physically dead, but mentally, spiritually and emotionally, I was dead. I was a walking corpse; I had nothing going for me and I didn’t look forward to anything but to the day that my life would be over. I thought how I grew up ruined my life, but that was all a lie. I didn’t understand what being ruined was before yet now, now I get it. Ciro has ruined me. Not just for others, but for the world. He has taken what was once an empty shell and filled it with his love. My devotion is his. He is everything. He is what his name represents; My sun and I am his,Helena… His King. The storm that walked into his life to rip it apart until he acknowledged me. I have no regrets and I never will.
“I’ll give you everything, my sun. Everything.” I mouth to him.
Ciro smirks, eyeing me up and down as if I just told him he could fuck my brains out right this instant. There is a look in his eyes that says he knows I will because he’s already given it to me. He winks and I blush, hiccupping because I will always be nervous around the love of my life.
* * *
