Page 28 of Bite Marks

“Let's stop pretending and make it official.”

FOURTEEN

VANESSA

Panic. Pain. Confusion.

Images of her mother falling onto her father’s coffin flicked through her mind.

Pictures of her listening to her mother wail as she received the call that her father was dead.

Memories of Vanessa sliding down a wall in her hallway, the hallway of her home where her father would come in every night and pick her up or hug her, washed away the words Nunzio had just said.

Emotions crashed into Vanessa as she lay on the bed, staring up at him. His beautiful body, smile, and soul were looking at her in earnest. He wanted to be with her. He’d given her his heart, and now she would have to watch it crumble.

Her mother’s words reverberated and echoed in her ears.You know better…He is only going to leave…way or another…it is going to be heartache and heartbreak. The moment any man steps into that association is when they sign their death warrant.

Her mother. Her words. Her father … gone.

The agony of losing her father filled her in a way that hadn’t come since the day she learned she would never see him again.

She blinked. Everything sank underwater. Short, tight breaths started to stab at her chest. “N-n-no,” she said. “No. No. No.” She wiggled from underneath him and started to look for her clothes.

“Nessa,” Nunzio said, rolling over the bed and standing before her. He loomed over Vanessa and took up a lot of space. Nunzio’s supreme nudity was more than just beautiful. He was raw and true. It was all too much for her to take in. It was too hard, she was ready to break, and she didn’t … wouldn’t … break in front of him. Her eyes continued to dart around the room. The torment was too threatening.

Nunzio stood over her and refused to move. He stopped her from going anywhere.

She refused to let this moment tear her to pieces.

Vanessa poured all the emotions she was feeling into a bucket of rage. She would lose it on Nunzio … he brought this out in her. She released the anger into her eyes and set her stare ablaze at him. She looked up at him with a fire that dared him to say something.

Nunzio stepped back, and Vanessa took a step toward him. “Why did you have to ruin everything?” she snarled. Her fingers clenched into fists. Her teeth ground into each other. Her jaw tensed.

Nunzio didn’t know what to say. Confusion and hurt crossed his face. Vanessa did not feel bad for him as he stood motionless, voiceless. He had expected this reaction … at least, he should have. Vanessa began searching for her clothes again. Frustrated that they always had to tear them off of each other.

Vanessa grunted. She got on her hands and knees and looked for her underwear under the bed. She did it because she didn’t want to jump back onto his naked body. She knew that if she looked at him right now, she would cry like a child. She wanted him to hold her. She wanted him to tell her that everything was going to be okay.

But these thoughts only added more fuel to her fury.

“Fuck it,” she grunted as she found her skirt. She didn’t need her underwear. She could buy new ones. She stood and whipped herself around. She didn’t want to see Nunzio’s face. She wiggled into her skirt and saw her shirt, grabbed it, and stormed out of the bedroom.

“Vanessa, come on!” Nunzio called. He took two steps toward her. His legs were so long he didn’t even have to hurry. He grabbed her arm. She turned around with anger flickering in her eyes.

“What? What could you possibly say?” she snapped and shook loose from his grip. If he touched her for much longer, she wasn’t sure what to do. But it was sex. Just sex. That was all it could be.

“I am sorry. You’re in pain. I get it, but you stopped pretending a long time ago. So did I.” Nunzio took a step forward with his hands out. Vanessa saw that he meant to pull her into an embrace with his long, thick arms, and she didn’t think she could turn away from him if he did. What he said sapped her of her power.

And if she didn’t have that, she wouldn’t have anything left to protect herself.

“It was sex, Nunzio. It was fun.” Her voice quivered, “That was all. We agreed.”

“No. We agreed it would be for show, and then you started to let your guard down. You feel it. I see it. I can feel you want me. Even right now.” There were things he left unsaid, but she didn’t need to know that he could smell how she sent out her scent to him. Vanessa was calling him, and she didn’t even know it … or wouldn’t admit it, so neither would he. “Everything I have done in the last few weeks has been for you. You!” Nunzio exclaimed. “We fit. We mix. We are right for each other. Admit it, please. We can stop all the bullshit. We can just be together.”

He took another step toward Vanessa. She didn’t want to pull away, and this time, she did not. Her anger was boiling, but underneath it, she wanted him. She wanted them to work. As he reached out to stroke her cheek, she closed her eyes. She let herself pretend it could work. She let her guard down, if only to say goodbye.

Vanessa let herself feel his touch for those last moments. The stroke of his thumb across her skin. How softly he caressed it. Even now, even as tall and large as he was, Nunzio was still so gentle.

Vanessa inhaled his scent … pine and spice, like drinking mulled wine on a snowy day in the woods. She took it in and let it infuse her heart, head, and body. She opened her eyes and stared at his face. She traced every line of it. She put his image in her memory to keep in her heart forever. She would not break that barrier. But she could enjoy it for a few seconds longer.

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