Page 4 of Tease

She handed the notebook to me with trepidation in her eyes. I turned it around and stared down at her neat handwriting.

Ari seems like the right kind of girl for Zayn. I’m glad he’s found someone. He deserves to be happy. I wanted to talk to her at the dinner, but Verona said mean things and it was awkward. I wish I found it easier to speak to people. Like right now with you, I’m frustrated and embarrassed. I want to be able to talk to you properly and I can’t. I hate that I’m like this.

Seeing her thoughts clear as day on that page had my heart in knots. She wanted to talk to me. I don’t know why that made me feel special, but it did.

I took a seat next to her, set her notebook down in my lap, and ran my fingers over the words.

“You hate the way you are?”

She nodded, fiddling with the drawstrings of her hoodie.

“O-o-other pe-people made me feel a-a-ashamed.”

Her words gutted me. I knew from Martina that her daughter had been made fun of for her stammer over the years. She’d had speech therapy when she was younger, but it hadn’t worked for Rina. She still struggled. I didn’t know how to tell her there was nothing wrong with her. She wasn’t broken, nor should she ever be ashamed of who she was.

“I know this might not mean much coming from me, but you’re perfect just the way you are, Rina. If you find it too hard to talk to me, then you can write it down like you did here. I’ll never think less of you because of it. I just want you to be comfortable, okay?”

She blinked and her cheeks went red again. The way she blushed was so fucking cute. My fingers itched to touch her heated cheeks. To kiss away the startled expression on her face.

Rina reached for the notebook. I let her take it and watched her scribble in it again before she showed me the page.

No one understands how hard it is when you want to say something, and you can’t get your words out.

“I want to understand. I’d like to get to know you better… if that’s okay?”

She nodded profusely.

“Yes, I-I’d like that t-t-too.”

The grateful expression she wore was so genuine and appreciative that I thought I might fucking die from the sight of it.

No woman had ever made me feel the need to protect them with everything I had. Not even my sister Alissa, and I was really fucking protective of her. Especially about that little shit, Enzo. I wished Zayn’s brother would stay the fuck away from her. Alissa refused to listen to me about him, even though he’d hurt her more times than I could fucking count. They might be friends, but it was clear as fucking day to me that my sister was in love with him. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to work it out. Not when she looked at him like the sun fucking shined out of his arse. Honestly, I was glad when he left the country, even if it caused her pain. Now he was back, and things were worse than ever.

“I appreciate you letting me stay in your room while I’m here. You didn’t have to do that.”

She shrugged before writing down a response.

If you’re going to be staying with us, I think you should get to sleep in a real bed. Besides, I don’t mind staying with Sofia. She doesn’t snore like Verona.

I snorted.

“Is that so?”

She’d kill me for telling you that.

“Your secret is safe with me. All of them are.”

Rina smiled and nudged my shoulder with hers.

As Zayn trusts you with his life, I think I should be able to as well.

“You think that highly of Zayn’s judgement?”

She bit her lip.

Yeah, I do. I’ve always thought Zayn should be head of the family. He’s level-headed and isn’t a sexist pig like Uncle Gennaro was.

I couldn’t help laughing at that.

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