“Hey, look at me.” Lance levels with me. “Don’t blame yourself for something you can’t control. You weren’t the bystander; I imagine you put him in his place. There’s nothing more you could have done. Nothing at all. It’s okay, Giulio. Valencia needs you right now. She needs your comfort and strength. Be there for her. Be the real man that you are.”
A long breath escapes me. “You’re right. I needed that. Thank you.”
“You’ll both get through this.” Lance nods, squeezing my tense shoulder. “It’ll all be okay. Oh, and the twins were good. Slonne was having trouble sleeping. I hope you don’t mind I made her a hot chocolate.”
It draws a smile to my lips. “No, I don’t mind you practicing your fathering skills.”
Lance chuckles softly, careful not to disturb Valencia. “The more practice, the better. Right? If my future children are anything like Slonne or Oscar, then life will be a breeze.”
“Don’t speak too fast,” I advise him when we make our way to the front door. “I still have a few years to determine that. Elementary can be a breeze but Valencia’s taught the older years and they say high school is when you truly understand your children’s demons.”
“Well, in that case, how about this…” He slides on his work boots and bites back a smirk. Ladies and Gents, here comes the real Lance. “Whenever I have children, I’ll grow them up until the end of middle school, give them to you during the demon stage, and you hand them back a week before graduation. You know, just to show I actually was a part of their lives.”
“Ahem…sorry, do I know you? Who are you again?”
“Wow. I see how it is. Thanks for helping a brother out.”
It feels incredible to laugh in the middle of this unrest. “Anytime.”
“In all seriousness, I’m at your disposal if you want me to get a hold of Bryce.”
My lips twitch upwards. “I appreciate it, but I should be the one to do it.”
“All good. Night, man.”
“Goodnight, and thank you for everything tonight.”
I’m back in the bedroom the moment Lance’s car fades into the night. Soundlessly, I lie beside Valencia who’s still passed out on top of the sheets and pull her head to my chest. My fingers weave through her soft hair. It’s something I always used to do that calmed her.
It isn’t until after one o’clock in the morning, after checking on the twins numerous times and updating Helena, that I return to find her awake. Valencia sits at the end of the bed, head bowed with her fists gripping the hem of her dress.
I stop at the doorframe. “How are you feeling?”
“Like a winery.”
“I should have been there.”
“It’s okay. I feel sick. I think I’m going to…faint.” She launches up to stand, only to lose her balance and tumble back. Stabilizing her fall on the bed, I aid her hands and create a small divide between our bodies with my propped up forearms, laying all my weight off her.
Those flawless hazel eyes blink up at me, the ones I promised to devote my entire life to. Now they brim with tears, while the rest of her sinks into my touch.
“You’re not alone in this, okay? I’m here.”
“I know you are.”
“Then trust me when I say Bryce isn’t worth it.”
A sense of desperation consumes me. I don’t know if she can see or feel it in her drunken state, but it’s there. This isn’t Valencia. I can count on one hand the number of times she drank this much since the day I met her.
Did he put something in her drink?
There’s a darkness in my heart. A seeping wound. It eases a fraction when she tells me she saw every one of her drinks hit the table and Bryce didn’t spike anything. His name slipping from her tongue ruins me. He ruins me. Hell, this entire situation does.
“I’m su-such a—” she hiccups, struggling to find the words to say, “—an idiot.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I am. You sa-said in the billboard that I’m enough, but I’m no-not. I can’t be.”
I draw her hands to mine and kiss them. Slowly. There’s a weight in me. One so strong I don’t even have in me to correct her on the fact she said billboard instead of letter. I only hope she’s been reading the handbook I sent her.
The weight has me lowering her hands away and warming the coldness by the small of her back with my touch. “You are enough. Being you is enough.”
Valencia stares up at me, biting her lip. Her eyes are dull and tired. Although she slept for a few hours, it’s not enough to restore her. When she cups my jaw and brushes her thumb over my rough stubble, I swear all the air is sucked out of me.
How can I breathe when this is the first time she’s voluntarily touched me in months?
I can’t act as if it doesn’t affect me when it’s so obvious it does.
Her delicate touch is potent. The way her hand slips away to the nape of my neck and teases its way down to my dress shirt…Holy hell. When she struggles to undo the third button, I snap back to reality. It’s as far as I’ll let it go and I clasp her wrist to stop her movement.
“Please…” she softly whispers, “I don’t want to feel him.”
I know you don’t, darling.
“We can go about this another way.”
I have to admit I’m relieved to breathe in her sweet scent, it’s the same perfume on my dresser. It reels me in deeper, urging me to protect her from anybody who plans to hurt me by going through her.
I help Valencia to her feet and we stand there in the middle of the bedroom in the middle of this sexual tension. The way she’s looking at me…the way I’m feeling…shit.
“Giulio.”
“Yes, darling?”
In her drunken state, Valencia steps closer to me until our bodies are flush. So
