Page 88 of Fight Me Daddy

I looked at Amadeo and sighed. He was right. I had to be a rock for Calix or he was going to shatter to pieces. This is my fault. I never should have brought him into my world.

***

"Gabriele?"

I shushed him as I checked the cut on his knuckles. It wasn't as deep as I'd thought and it would heal quickly. But I wanted to make sure it didn't get infected. I laid his hand on my lap and glanced at him. I'd been by his side for hours, still caked in blood and soot. My skin crawled with the need to get clean, but I wouldn't move.

Not without Calix.

He looked up at me with big, sad eyes and I swiped hair off of his forehead. Calix looked half out of it.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Where are we?" His eyes darted around the room and he frowned.

"Amadeo's house. I would have taken you to my place, but we can't go there. Not right now." I frowned. "Are you okay?"

Calix gazed back at me and blinked. "I don't know."

Yeah, that was about what I'd expected. I couldn't blame him. Everything he'd worked so hard for was gone in one day and he was left with nothing. I couldn't even tell him about the gym. If he knew it was gone too, I knew he would go off the deep end.

"Can you stand?"

Calix shrugged. "I think so."

"I'm going to run us a bath and we'll get cleaned up. Together."

He nodded but laid his head back on the pillow. Calix stared straight ahead and my chest tightened. I didn't know how to fix people. I only knew how to take them apart.

I slipped away from Calix and padded to the bathroom. The garden tub was big enough for the both of us and I ran the water until it was steaming. When I returned to the bedroom Calix was still lying there and staring off into space.

"Come on," I said gently. "Let me get you into the tub."

Calix didn't move. My mouth went dry as I bent down and turned his face toward me. "You're scaring the shit out of me, Tesoro."

"Does my father know?" Calix asked. "That the house burnt down? I was going to ask when he would be coming back and then…" He waved a hand before he gazed up at me. "Does he know?"

I frowned and shook my head. "No."

Calix nodded and went back to staring straight ahead. I reached down, gripped him tightly and dragged him to his feet. He didn't protest, but he didn't help either. I shifted my weight and popped him over my shoulder before I stood up again.

"What are you doing?" Calix asked. "Put me down."

"We're having a bath," I answered. "And then you're going to eat and if you're still tired after that then we'll go to sleep in a bed. Not on the floor." I carried him into the bathroom and checked the water before I deposited him on the closed toilet seat. "You have to stop beating yourself up, Calix. What good is it going to do?"

He blinked at me as if he just noticed I was there. "What good is it going to do? Nothing." He laughed dryly. "I was an idiot. I got involved in shit I shouldn't have and look where it landed me. I'm a fucking killer. Everything I've worked for and sacrificed for is gone. What was the point of all those early nights? Not being around my friends because I was working hard? There's no good in anything."

I grabbed a fistful of Calix's hair and growled. "Stop fucking talking like that! If you want to be pissed at someone, be pissed off at me. I dragged you into this shit. And I'm the one that almost got us both killed."

Calix didn't deny what I'd said. Instead, he gazed away from me and my heart dropped. He does blame all of this on me. I released Calix's hair and took a step back. What had I expected? For him to say it wasn't my fault? The truth was that being a Bianchi meant the whole world wanted to watch you burn and I had dragged him into the fire.

I wanted to walk away and go in search of a stiff drink and a couple of smokes. Or better yet, I wanted to find the bastards who had broken the happiness that I'd finally found. Yeah, that was a better idea. I want to make people crawl in pools of their own blood until they drown in it.

But I couldn't leave Calix.

I started to take off his sweats and he smacked my hand away. "Leave me alone. I can do it myself."

Rage raced up my spine and I picked him up again. I ignored the yelling of his protests and walked him over to the tub before I dumped him inside. Calix sat up, water dripping off of his face as he spluttered and growled at me.

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