Page 50 of Skin Deep

A one-night stand.

Something I’d never done before.

Because I always had to be all in or nothing.

That look was mine, though, and I’d be damned if I shared it.

The lights from an oncoming car broke the moment between us. It must have been coming up fast, because when it turned into the driveway, the driver had to hit the brakes hard to stop. The car was still on when two men—giants—jumped out of the front seats. When the back door opened and the third man stepped out, so did I.

“Harri—”

Gigi calling my name sounded like it was coming from a distance. All I could hear was my heart pumping. Miles had stepped out, smoking a cigarette. His shirt was stained red from the tomato soup. The shit-eating grin had been wiped from his face, though.

Before I could get to him, one of the men tried to stop me. His meaty fist flew, aiming at my face. I moved just in time to hear the whistle of it close to my ear. The other one stepped in front of me, another block. We circled each other, like two boxers. He was bigger, but I wasn’t small, and I was raised with three brothers and a sister who could kill with an arrow.

“I guess you must have put on your pity act, Gigi?” I could hear Miles saying. “But this one is like a rabid dog. Maybe once he calms down, we can discuss…inviting him to watch what I do to you in the bedroom? Maybe he would even pay to watch the famous Gigi come with tears streaming down her face.” He started to laugh. “You always hated that part. That is why you decided to jump—but at least I had one of my men save you.”

Giant One almost caught me with another whistling punch, but this time to the mouth. His knuckle grazed my lip and split it open. If he would have hit me with full contact, he would have broken my jaw. I had only a second to retaliate—I hit him with a right hook. It stunned him for a second, but I didn’t give him a second to recover. I hit him again. And again. Until his buddy came from behind me and put me in a choke hold.

He was dragging me backward. He let go a second later but took me by the hair. He had my head in a position to smash into the house. My eyes were close enough to see the details of it, but Miles screamed for his guy to stop right before my head met rock, or whatever the place was made of.

“Let him go!”

The guy still had me by the hair. He started to turn us. “You sure—”

“Let him go!”

Gigi was standing behind Miles, a small gun pressed to his head. His hands were up in a surrender position.

“Do as he says,” she said, “or I will have someone here early tomorrow morning cleaning brains off my driveway.”

The other guy was staggering, looking between us and Miles and Gigi. All eyes turned to us as the guy who still had me by the hair screamed out in pain. I had taken as many of his fingers as I could and bent them back. He let go. My palms hit the cement and I jumped back up.

“Don’t touch him!” Miles screamed before the guy came at me again. “You know how unstable this bitc—”

Before the word was fully out, I punched Miles as hard as I could in his mouth. His eyes went wonky, and Gigi moved out of the way right as he stumbled back and went down.

A black car with tinted windows came flying down the street. The car came to a stop at the edge of the driveway, and a muscular guy stepped out. He was dressed all in black. As he leaned against his car, he surveyed the scene with a bright white smile on his face.

“Your cousin would be proud,” he said with a heavy Italian accent. “And I see your man didn’t do too bad for himself.”

“Nicodemo,” Gigi said, keeping the gun at her side. “Always a pleasure.”

The man named Nicodemo looked me over, nodded once, then back to Gigi. “I was the closest.”

She nodded, then looked at the two guys. “Take your boss and get off my property.”

The two giants each took a side of him—under the arms and by the ankles—and put him in the back of the SUV. They would have taken off, but the guy named Nicodemo was blocking them. Gigi’s car was on the other side.

“We are good here?” Nicodemo said.

“All good,” Gigi said, coming to stand next to me.

Nicodemo nodded and then got back in his car. He pulled forward, letting them out, and then turned around and followed them.

Gigi and I stood next to each other, staring at the street. Her hand slipped into mine, and she turned to face me. She gently wiped the blood from my lip, closed her eyes, and kissed me on the side of the mouth.

“Grazie,” she whispered. We turned the car off and went inside.

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