Page 39 of Claimed By Him

While I cleaned the wound and wrapped a bandage around his arm, he fell into a deep sleep. I cleaned everything up, then carefully removed his boots and his pants, feeling entirely perverted about feasting my eyes on his ripped, colorful body while he was in so much pain. I quickly put the blankets over him.

I sat on the bed, staring down at him when my phone rang. It was Gio.

“Hey, is Tony alright?”

“Yes! What happened?” I wasn’t sure if Gio had seen Tony come up, or if I should have called him or not. They were obviously from different organizations so the rules around this were gray.

Gio told me recently that he knew about my apartment, that he had known for a while already, so there was no point in my wasting time by walking the block to get here when he would just drive around anyway. He promised he wouldn’t tell Antonio; he knew I needed my own space. I never felt like Gio truly supported me more than right then.

I quickly got up and walked over to the small kitchen area to talk.

“He was, ah, dealing with some business in the alleyways close to your building.” I heard him play the details down. “I told him to go up to you; I hope that’s alright.”

“Of course.” My voice sounded small even to me. Gio knew there was something between Tony and me, and as far as I knew, he’d never told anyone about that either.

“Just let him know that, um… the message has been received…”

I shook my head in confusion. “Gio, just give it to me straight; I’m not a little girl anymore.”

He sighed. “The body was picked up by the Colombians. I took pictures of the guys for further investigation. I’ve sent it all to Ace, and he’s handling everything on the Romano’s side.”

“Okay…” Even if I wasn’t a little girl, the details still made me feel light-headed.

“Look… Fi. I know you don’t approve of this kind of business. Antonio’s always kept out of the drug scene for a reason. But this is Tony’s job. It’s what his father and his family expect from him. Don’t give him a hard time, okay?”

I frowned, biting my lip. “Where is this coming from?”

He sighed again, thinking his answer over. “I guess I just see a lot more than you think. Tony is a good guy. Whether you like him or not.”

“Okay. Thanks, Gio.”

“I’ll be outside till morning.”

“Alright, goodnight.”

I ended the call and stared at Tony again. I’d never seen him asleep before. I only ever knew him as this harsh, grumpy, intimidating guy, but now… he looked peaceful and harmless.

I switched off all the lights again and crawled in next to him. This was weird. So weird. Tony Romano was in my bed—sleeping next to me. I snuggled a little closer, watching the profile of his face in the moonlight. I was almost scared to touch him, scared that he would wake up and tell me to fuck off again.

The last time I saw him was nothing like this. I’d spent time over the past three weeks trying to move on and forget that anything ever happened with Tony, but of course, that wasn’t possible. He changed something in me, and I couldn’t tell anymore if it was a good or a bad thing.

The bad side was obvious—he was hurting me every time he pushed me away. But the good side was there, too. He made my first time having sex a gentle, happy, passionate experience. He showed me how his controlling nature could be completely hot in the bedroom, that it wasn’t all that bad for him to know better than me and tell me what to do.

He also showed me what it felt like to really care for someone. Because here I was, feeling these amazing feelings about him. I’d never felt like this before, and it was significant.

I wasn’t an idiot; I knew that we couldn’t be together. And this time it had nothing to do with our families, but with my own life plan that I’d decided on. I wanted to travel and be free—Tony couldn’t give that to me. His destiny, as Gio had referred to, was to stay here and protect his family. It was his responsibility, and I didn’t fit into that picture.

But just for tonight, I would indulge myself. I shuffled closer to him and carefully put my leg over his, took his hand and put it on my thigh, then held his arm and kissed his shoulder before drifting off to sleep.

When I woke up again, I was in his arms. It must have been a few hours later because I could see the sky through my window, lighting up in an early-dawn orange color.

He had my body entirely against his, spooning me with his bandaged arm over my waist. His skin was so warm and his body so comforting around me. I’d never slept this comfortably before. I was about to drift back to sleep when I heard him whisper something.

“I don’t want to lose you, Fi…”

I didn’t move. I wanted to hear more, but he just kissed my head and settled down, falling asleep again within seconds. I lay awake, wondering what he meant by that.

Did he mean he didn’t want to lose me as a friend? Because you could say that's what we were before that night in his room. Like “frenemies.” Always arguing with each other, but always looking out as well. At least… he looked out for me. I guessed maybe what I’d done last night started to make up for that.

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