“You make it sound so easy.” There is nothing but irritation in her tone. She stands up and straightens out her blouse.
“It is easy,” I reply, and it makes her freeze. Then, she curls her hands into fists.
“Nothing about this situation is easy, asshole. I have to leave Mamma with that man every single day because she’s stubborn and refuses to come live with me. It wouldn’t be ideal, but it’s a hell of a lot better than her living with Tim,” she starts, stepping toward me. “You just cost me one of my jobs, so I have no way of eating anything apart from dry toast for every meal. I even reduced the amount of toilet paper I use by half because that stuff is fucking expensive! Do you think that’s fun? Do you think it’s fun to have a dream and watch it slide further away because I have no money to even shower as much as I should?”
She shoves me backward out of frustration, but I set my feet firmly into the ground so it’s easier for her to let out her frustration.
“Tim is coming to the places I work now, and I’m scared he will show up at my flat any day. So don’t tell me any of this is easy. There is no easy answer to any of my problems, Leonard, none!”
Chiara hits my chest over and over with tears streaming down her face. Tears. Chiara is crying. She keeps hitting me too, but I let her, bringing my arms around her until her movements slow and sobs replace them. One of my hands moves to the back of her head while the other slips onto her back, caressing her tight muscles while she cries into my chest.
For the first time in over two decades, Chiara is letting herself cry, and I’m going to be here for her because I’m all she’s got.
And I will protect her, no matter the costs.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
chiara
It takes my brain a few moments until I realize what I’m doing. I’m crying. Leonard’s comforting me as one of his hands caresses the back of my head and the other glides up and down my spine. This is not natural. I shouldn’t be so comfortable in his arms, but I am. These past few months, everything’s been going to shit. I haven’t had a second to breathe, except for this very moment. It’s been a long time since anyone’s held me like this, which is probably why I don’t push off him at first.
“Relax, sweetheart, I’ve got you,” he says, and I realize how tense I was. His reassurance makes me melt into him, but I keep my hands covering my face instead of wrapping them around him.
“You’re not allowed to make fun of me for this afterward,” I say and poke his chest. His fingers slide under my hair until he’s cupping my head more firmly and able to tilt it backward so his eyes can meet my tear-stained ones. His face is hardened, but I know he’s trying to hide his concern.
“How about just a little?” he teases, and the pad of his thumb wipes away one of my tears.
“Two mean comments, take it or leave it,” I offer, and Leonard gives me a tiny smile that dies as soon as more tears stream down my face.
“Move in with me,” he blurts out, and the spell breaks. I push off him, letting out a laugh I don’t mean in the slightest.
“Are you okay? One hug and you forget that we hate each other?” I ask, but he crosses his arms in front of his chest and pulls his lips into a thin line.
“Come hate me here, where you’re safe and sound. I have security. No one, not even Tim, can get into my building. Yours isn’t safe.” I open my mouth to argue with him, but there is nothing to say. He’s right. And he’s offering to ease my mind of one of the fears that’s been plaguing it since I saw Tim at the bookstore.
“Living together would never work.” Except the couple of times I stayed here, we managed not to kill each other, a great accomplishment for us.
“Yeah, it would,” he challenges, and I groan at him.
“No, it wouldn’t.”
“Yes, it would.”
“No. It. Wouldn’t.”
“Yes. It. Would.”
Good God, I’m going to lose it. He’s so stubborn, and it doesn’t work when I already am stubborn as fuck. It’s one of the million reasons why we could never live together. We would never agree on anything. We would butt heads every single time we speak. We would make each other miserable.
“Listen, little demon, I don’t like spending time with you. I don’t seek it out voluntarily, but that doesn’t mean I want you to live alone when there is a guy potentially stalking you. Come live with me, fight with me all day long if you must, just move in with me,” he says, his full lips relaxing instead of stretching into a frown for once. The urge to trail my fingers over them briefly distracts me, but I refocus quickly.
“Why would you offer this?” I ask, a little too tempted to take him up on it.
“Because I owe you.”Because I cost you a job you really needed. “Speaking of which, I found a job that’ll pay you money and it comes with opportunities to find sponsors for your art gallery.” Now that makes me burst into laughter.
“And from what fantasyland did you get it?” I ask, and he takes a step toward me. I don’t back away. I stand my ground and look up at him, wishing for the millionth time in my life I wasn’t so short.
“Go shower, I will make something to eat. This is going to be a long conversation and I need you to have a full stomach so you’re too tired to argue,” he says with a small chuckle, and I slap his arm, ignoring the way the sound of his amusement goes straight into my bones.
