Page 73 of In My Blood
It hadn’t been new. I had been forced against my will many times in my younger years, but somehow the attack in the car park seemed to have hit me harder than any before. Maybe because I was older now, and because, deep down, I felt I should have been better at protecting myself. Maybe because I had thought I had escaped all of that hell when I started earning enough money to put a roof over my and my Mum’s heads, and had been proven wrong. Whatever it was, it was clear I needed to give myself time to heal. If only I knew how to do that.
“Are you okay, Cara?” Rafe’s hand landing over mine startled me badly, and I realized I had zoned out.
“Sorry,” I told him with a fake laugh, not wanting him to think I was scared of him again. “I was miles away.”
“Would you prefer if we didn’t drink too? We don’t want to upset you, and it would do us all some good to drink something other than wine and beer,” he offered kindly.
“No. It’s fine. I don’t mind you drinking. I just prefer not to. Just…vodka. I can’t stand the smell of vodka. People always say it has no smell, but it does, and Mum…she always reeked of it. I think that’s the only thing that might make me feel uncomfortable.”
“Ah, yer’ll be fine then. We’re more whiskey drinkers in this house,” Arran assured me.
“None of us drink like Mum did,Tesorino. I’d never subject you to that kind of drunkenness,” Rafe added.
“It’s fine,” I said again, dismissively. “You don’t need to tiptoe around me. You’re all young guys. I’m sure you get drunk occasionally. It’s not going to make me lose it if or when it happens, just as long as no one starts hurling their empties at me,” I tried for a laugh, but it fell flat as every face just stared at me.
“I will kill anyone who throws anything at you!” Dante roared as he got to his feet and seemed to spike with anger. “Who did that? Your Mum?”
“Easy there, Dante. I’m fine. I’m sure no one will throw anything at me now. I was just joking,” I told him in a rush, hoping to calm him down.
“You don’t joke about people hurting you!”
“I know! I’m sorry. Let’s just forget about it, okay? I’m here now and I’m safe, right?” I asked him a little nervously. I wasn’t scared of him, but it was certainly unnerving facing down six and a half feet of rage fuelled muscle.
“Absolutely fucking right. No one hurts you again,” he agreed a little more calmly.
“What’s going on?” Cal asked as he paused in the doorway with two glasses in his hands, and stared at the scene before him.
“Nothing. Dante is sitting back down and we’re all going to have a nice dinner together,” Rafe spoke up. Dante stared at me for several moments longer, then he finally sat. Only when he looked away from me to start filling a glass with wine, did I breathe again.
“Are you alright?” Cal whispered to me when he took his seat beside me again.
“Yeah. I think I upset the big guy though,” I admitted.
Cal handed me a glass of water and put the other down for himself, then Terza started bringing in huge serving dishes filled with delicious smelling food. Dio and Arran jumped up to help her, and in minutes the enormous table was dwarfed by the feast atop it.
“I don’t know where Gia is. I texted her three times to come down, but she’s not even reading the messages,” Terza told us as she set down the last dish, then sat with us. Dante handed her a glass of wine and she took a big gulp of it right away.
“I’ll go and get her,” Dio said, then he was gone.
“Let’s get started. I don’t want it to go cold. It smells amazing as always, Terza,” Rafe said, and I loved the way Terza still blushed slightly at the compliment. She had always done that, even when I was a kid and told her she was the best cook in the world.
“It’s nothing special. Just a roast,” she shrugged.
I couldn’t hold back anymore, so I reached for the closest thing to me and moaned a little when I saw it was cauliflower cheese, topped with bubbling gooey cheese, browned to perfection.
“You’re making those noises again,” Dante accused, and when I looked up, his gaze was locked on mine.
“Sorry,” I uttered, my cheeks flaming. “It just looks and smells really good. The noises just happen.”
“Ignore him, hen. Get yer dinner,” Arran told me, and when I glanced over to him, he was mouthing something, which I couldn’t quite catch, to Dante.
I had the enormous serving spoonful of cauliflower almost to my plate when Dio reappeared in the room.
“She’s not up there. Check the cameras Dante. See if she’s somewhere else in the house,” he barked urgently.
“You think she snuck out again?” I asked as I set down the dish and spoon, all food forgotten.
“She wouldn’t. I told her how much danger she would be in if she left this house unprotected,” Rafe said, but there was no hiding the panic on his face.
