Page 35 of Cold

ChapterTwelve

VITO

Ramare clungto me as if his life depended on it. Every step he took was shaky and I finally gave up. I scooped him up into my arms and cradled him tightly. Seeing Amadeo lay into him about the fucking Russians had pushed me over the edge. Romare was small and tender. He didn’t deserve to be treated like shit when he was already raw.

I laid him in his bed and Romare sucked on his pacifier. The first time he’d shown me, I admit that I hadn’t been sure about it. The whole…baby thing. I still didn’t know what the hell was going on, but it calmed his panic and gave him peace. That was all I needed to know.

“Breathe,” I ordered. “You’re on the brink of hyperventilating.”

He nodded hard and suckled harder. I pushed my fingers into his hair and scratched at his scalp. Romare’s eyes fluttered and he sank against his pillow.

“You’re overwhelmed,” I said as I cared for him. “Why don’t you just rest and-”

Romare shot up and looked around wildly, his eyes the size of saucers. I followed his gaze, but even without him saying a word I knew what was wrong. I bounced off of his bed and trekked to my room before I returned to him with Mr. Whiskers in my arms.

He held his hands out the moment he saw his stuffed cat and flexed his fingers opened and closed. Gimme gimme. That was all I could hear him saying and a stupid smile came to my lips. I pressed Mr. Whiskers into his chest and patted his head before I erased the grin.

“Get some sleep. I’m going to talk to Amadeo.”

“Don’t leave me,” he squeaked out, the pacifier falling into his lap and his hand curling around my shirt. “I-I did a bad thing. A horrible thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“I betrayed him,” he whispered, his lips trembling. “All of them. I deserve what’s coming to me.”

My teeth ground together. “You don’t deserve to be hurt.”

“I do,” he pressed. “You don’t understand.”

“I understand more than you know,” I picked up the blanket and tucked him in tightly. “There’s a reason I do whatever my family tells me to. I made a bad decision once and it nearly cost someone I loved his life.”

“Who?” Romare whispered.

“My brother. At the last minute, I saved his life and in the process, I lost my sister and my other brother. And no one in my family ever forgave me. Not really. They all look at me differently. I betrayed someone who was good to me. You gave some information on a man that treated you like shit.” I pulled up the blanket and stroked his skin where there was still a bruise. “You don’t deserve shit like that from anyone.”

Romare stared up at me with his huge, wet eyes and I smiled back at him a little. I was never any good at the mushy stuff, but the boy was slowly working himself inside of my heart. He was soft, he was sweet, he was bold, and he was deadly. Romare Ashford was a conundrum and I wanted to figure out each and every part of him.

I cradled his cheek. “I have to go talk to Amadeo.”

“No.” He shook his head. “Stay okay?”

I sighed and glanced around. Amadeo can wait. Either he would stick around or I could catch up with him later. Right now I had to make sure that Romare was okay.

“Do you want me to lay down with you?” I asked.

His eyes lit up. “Please?”

“Fine, but you have to go to sleep. That’s the deal. You’ve had a lot of excitement and you’ll feel better once you rest.”

“Okay,” he said softly.

I stood up and pressed the pacifier to his lips before I thought better of it. Pulling it away I kissed him swiftly. Romare’s eyes widened before he sank against me. I pulled back and rubbed my thumb over his plump lower lip.

“Try not to tug at this anymore. You’ll hurt yourself,” I said as I pushed the pacifier into his mouth. I climbed into bed and pulled Romare into my arms. “Now close your eyes and go to sleep.”

Romare buried his face against my chest while I stroked his hair. I stared out the window, watching the clouds go by as his breathing slowly settled. But I didn’t leave him. I held onto Ro until I was sure he was asleep.

Poor boy. He’s had a rougher life than most. I still can’t figure out how he’s not more of a mess than he already is. At least he didn’t put a knife in Six.

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