Love by the Mile (Harbor Point Book 2)

by Heather Young-Nichols

  Finally, just before noon, there was a knock on my door.

  Ripping it open, there I found Sal, a sight for sore eyes, and a huge smile.

  I launched myself at him with the force of five of me. He had to take a step back to keep us from falling but he caught me.

  Of course, he caught me.

  “I missed you, too,” he said into my hair. He lifted me while walking forward into my apartment.

  “Are you hungry?” I asked.

  My feet touched the floor but I didn’t let go of him.

  “No.”

  “Good.”

  My lips finally touched his in a rush of emotions. Love, longing, desire, need all fought for attention while I pushed his jacket off his shoulders then his shirt up his body. A low chuckle bubbled up from deep in his chest as I continued to work on his clothes and mine while I walked us to my room. We fell back onto my bed naked and ready.

  One thrust and he was inside me making my entire body shudder. I closed my eyes and sighed so heavily, Sal tugged my hair so I’d look at him.

  “So you missed me then?” His hips continued to roll against mine driving my orgasm as easily as one would a car.

  “In so many ways.” I shivered then let it all go, allowing myself to burst apart and put myself back together. He followed right behind me.

  We laid there breathing as the sun cast rays across our nakedness.

  “I forgot to say hello,” I said tiredly.

  Sal turned onto his side trailing his fingers across my stomach ever so lightly.

  “I’m pretty sure you greeted me perfectly.” He kissed me again, softly this time. “Gio said Bianca wants us to come over for dinner but I said not tonight. I thought we’d have some catching up to do.”

  “Oh, you’re perfect.”

  We did actually get dressed and talk about nothing important. We decided to have dinner with Gio and Bianca Wednesday but we’d cook at Gio’s because they both had the early shift.

  The plan was that Sal had a key to Gio’s and would go there to start dinner after doing some shopping. Bianca and I wanted to do a little shopping of our own.

  We went to the nearest bigger city to hit the mall. Bianca insisted she needed some essentials.

  “So what are we doing here?” I asked once we were inside.

  “I want to splurge on a few things.”

  “Whips? Gio into that sort of thing?”

  Bianca snorted.

  “Or are you?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I totally am,” she said sarcastically. “Can you imagine Gio’s face if I told him I wanted him to whip me? I don’t think he’d even spank me if I asked him to.”

  “True. Those guys are careful aren’t they?”

  She didn’t need to answer me. We both knew the answer. They were careful now because of the hurt they caused before.

  “We should go on vacation,” she said as she fingered through a rack of tops.

  “Me and you?”

  “Sure. Or all four of us. I bet seeing them relaxed on a beach somewhere would be nice.”

  “We live on the beach.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  In total, we were gone most of the afternoon yet she bought nothing.

  “Why do I feel like this little shopping trip was a ruse?” I asked as she drove back to Harbor Point.

  “Because it was a ruse.”

  “Knew it. Spill.”

  “Sal asked me to have you out of the house because this is something he wanted to do for you. He didn’t want you to help and knew you would.”

  “That’s possibly sweet. But I’m not sure if I should resent him not wanting me around.”

  She laughed then said, “Remember, I told you. Awkward.”

  Before we left, Sal hadn’t even told us what he planned to prepare for dinner but when we walked into the house, I could smell the steak in the air. We went straight for the kitchen.

  “Oh, Sal you have to move in with us.” Bianca’s eyes rolled in her head when she smelled the inside of her house.

  “Sorry, I’m not into brother husbands especially with him,” Sal said pointing at Gio.

  Bianca and Gio disappeared upstairs saying they needed to shower leaving the two of us to finish up. I decided I could handle setting the table and Sal didn’t say a word when I reached for the plates.

  I was a decent cook out of necessity but nothing compared to what he was doing over on the stove. Gio had a perfectly nice formal dining room, still, I set the much smaller table in the kitchen. It would be more intimate and we wouldn’t feel like we needed to shout at each other just to have a conversation.

  The entire meal was arranged on the table, though Sal served up the steak individually to meet each of our tastes as far as meat temperature was concerned.

  “How close to moving are you?” Gio asked but my ears perked up.

  “Getting there. I’m paring down how much time I’m in the office. Soledad is fantastic so I know she’ll get me everything I need. I just have to decide who will be the go-to person in Chicago if I’m here.”

  “Who is it now?”

  “Kira.”

  “Yeah, she’s good. Dad would’ve promoted her eventually.”

  Bianca and I stared at each other and continued to chew.

  “I know,” Sal finally said. “I need to start looking for a house.

  Bianca’s eyebrow shot up. I widened my eyes and shrugged my shoulders. I didn’t have an answer to the question she was asking. She wanted to know if I would be moving in with Sal when he finally made Harbor Point his permanent home.

  Did I want to? Were we even there yet? I knew I’d want to stay with him as much as possible. But live together?

  The surge of panic as these questions crossed my mind made her laugh.

  Someone’s phone beeped about a million times until I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Whose is that?” I asked. It wasn’t mine.

  “I think it’s mine.” Sal pushed back from the table where we’d just finished eating.

  Right after he pulled his phone from his pocket the entire room stilled. I don’t know how we knew something was wrong outside of Sal’s much stiffer posture but we did. The entire atmosphere changed and my heart rate kicked up. Bianca sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and I could see her chest rising and falling faster as well.

  Something was very, very wrong.

  “Fuck,” he muttered.

  I don’t think he meant for us to hear.

  “Something wrong, big guy?” I stayed in my seat because I had no idea what the fuck to do. His body language was scaring me. Not in a way where I worried for my safety. I worried for him.

  He moved across the room further away from us but didn’t answer me.

  The next moment his phone shattered against the wall.

  Gio, Bianca, and I jumped from our seats. There’s no way any of us had been expecting that.

  “Sal?” I was the first one to him. “What’s going on?” I laid my hand on his arm but he snapped back as soon as my fingers made contact then stormed out of the room.

  “What’s that about?” Bianca looked from me to Gio.

  “I don’t know.” But I was going to find out even if Gio’s face was strained and tense and made me not want to go out into that living room.

  I went anyway and found Sal just about crushing the back of the couch with his hands.

  “Sal, are you OK?” I asked. Again he didn’t answer. “Talk to me.”

  “Talk to you?” That wasn’t his voice that came out.

  At least not one that I’d grown to love. That was the voice of the guy I first met. The one that made horrible comments about me, and it was the face he used when being an asshole. I took a deep breath to steel myself for what was about to come out of his mouth.

  “I can’t talk to you. I shouldn’t even be with you.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “There are things, Bailey. Things I’ve done that yo
u don’t know about. Things that make me the bad guy. You deserve someone great.”

  “Woah, wait a minute. What are you saying?”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw both Bianca and Gio hovering just inside the kitchen. Ready to come out to defend me if necessary. Or shut things down if it got out of hand. I was grateful that they were there but chose to stand back for now.

  This was about me and Sal.

  “Back when I was working for my parents, one of my assignments involved a married couple and I broke them up.” He took a breath in and started to pace. “They’d been married twelve years and had a kid and I made that all go away,” he yelled. “That’s not the kind of guy you should be with.”

  “I already knew about that.” I snapped without thinking. “But what’s changed? What was on your phone?”

  “You knew about that? How would you… fucking Gio.” Sal’s temper flared making all the muscles in his body harden and ready for a fight.

  I wasn’t going to let him take his anger out on Gio when Gio was just trying to help me.

  “Don’t get mad at him. But what the fuck was on that phone?”

  He folded his arms over his chest, those brown eyes turned to granite, hard and cold, and when they landed on me, I felt it. Almost as if his gaze had reached out and physically touch me.

  And I knew. Knew what he was going to say before he uttered a word.

  My heart broke before he had a chance to break it.

  “You promised once that if this,” he waved his finger between us, “became too much, you’d walk away.” His Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed. “It’s too much.” His jaw tightened and his voice cracked as he said it.

  My blood ran cold. Tears pooled at the backs of my eyes.

  I never honestly thought he’d make me keep that particular promise.

  “It’s all just too much,” he said quietly.

  I did the only thing I could do when he said that.

  I looked away and quickly wiped away the tear that had fallen. I wasn’t the one in control of any of this.

  Bianca came out of the kitchen whether I wanted her to or not.

  “Are you sure?” I looked him dead in the eye. I needed to know he understood the weight of his words.

  “Yes.” That was his voice. The one I’d grown attached to.

  He was back yet still sending me away.

  A lump formed in my throat as all I could do was blink and try to keep breathing.

  “You’re really, really sure?”

  Bianca came closer looking like she had no idea what was going on. Because she didn’t. I never told her that I had promised to walk away if things ever got too much for him.

  Yet here I was having to do the absolute hardest thing anyone has ever asked of me.

  “Yes.” He confirmed.

  I nodded quickly and grabbed my coat.

  I’d driven to the house so I could leave because that’s exactly what I needed to do. Bianca’s hand clamped down on my arm and squeezed.

  “Bailey, you’re not just going to leave, right?” she whispered even though we both knew the guys could hear us. “What are you doing?”

  I looked from her to her hand, to Sal then back to her. I pried her fingers off me.

  “Keeping a promise. I’ll just… I’ll talk to you later.” I was out the door but it hadn’t shut when I heard Gio.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Gio yelled. The sound of skin slapping against skin echoed out to me followed by footsteps.

  I turned and saw Gio, with his hand wrapped around the back of Sal’s neck, pulling him toward the truck. “Get the fuck in.”

  His truck squealed out of the driveway and still, I forced myself to keep walking to my car.

  In the real world, the drive back to my house only took maybe ten minutes even with as slow as I drove.

  Still, it felt like it took forever. I just wanted to be home.

  My apartment felt emptier than it ever had. I was used to being there alone yet now it felt utterly empty. Because I knew he wasn’t coming back to it.

  We’d had one night. Only one night there together and yet that memory was smeared across my walls in every corner I looked.

  Sal wasn’t coming back.

  No matter what Gio said to him, or how much convincing Gio tried to do, my relationship with Sal wasn’t something Gio could fix. Gio told me long ago that when Sal wanted something done, it happened.

  I thought he’d just tell me when things were moving too quickly so we could slow down not completely end our relationship.

  But no. He said it was all too much.

  Basically, I was too much.

  The confusing part was why. Just that morning he seemed OK with attaching feelings to sex. More than OK.

  There was even a point where I thought he might actually tell me he loved me. I hadn’t said it to him again because I didn’t want to overwhelm him.

  Yet somehow I did anyway.

  My heart told me it wasn’t me, had nothing to do with me. My only hope was that Sal would open up to Gio and let him in on whatever changed. Because Sal deserved to have someone to talk to.

  Someone to love him.

  A couple of hours later, I sat on my couch staring into space. I’d never had a real heartbreak before and I was there waiting for it to hit me.

  When someone knocked at my door, my heart went right to it being Sal on the other side but my head gave my heart a quick shake of reality.

  Sal wouldn’t be on the other side of that door.

  Instead, it was Gio standing there, his eyes cast down.

  “Hey.” He shoved his hands all the way into his jeans pockets and shifted his weight. An uncomfortable Gio couldn’t mean anything good.

  “Gio,” I said to get him to look at me. Instead, he looked up at the ceiling and blew out a puff of air.

  “I need to get Sal’s stuff,” he said sadly.

  “Oh, right. Come in.” He stepped past me then stopped and looked at me with those sad, dark eyes. I could see why Bianca couldn’t resist the man. “Oh, um, his things are in my bedroom.”

  Gio followed me, mimicking my actions of shoving whatever looked like Sal’s into the bag sitting on the bed. It didn’t take us long.

  When he grabbed the shirt I’d stolen from Sal in Chicago, I yelled, “No.”

  Gio jumped. We’d been quiet as church mice.

  “Sorry. It’s just… that shirt I’m keeping.” He raised an eyebrow. “Shut up. I took it from him in Chicago. He doesn’t get it back.”

  When we were done, Gio carried the bag back into the living room.

  “Is he OK?” I told myself not to ask but couldn’t help it. Most of the time my impulse control was pretty poor.

  “No.”

  “Did he tell you about the email or whatever?”

  “Yeah,” he said softly. “But Bailey, I can’t tell you.”

  “Right. Yeah, I’m sorry if I caused you any trouble. I didn’t mean to tell him I knew stuff you’d told me he was freaking out so I was freaking out—”

  “Fuck that, Bailey, it doesn’t matter.” He stopped again, looking at me with pity and I hated it. Hated that Sal wasn’t in my apartment with me, hated that Gio had pity in his eyes because it meant there was something to pity. I’d broken up before but it never felt like this. “Sal’s in my truck waiting for me. I should go.”

  “Sure. Hey, Gio, just make sure he’s OK. I know you know this but he hates himself enough already. I just… ” I sighed. “I just wanted him to know he’s a person worth loving. I don’t think I succeeded.”

  “That’s on him, Bailey, not you.” Gio turned to leave but didn’t actually move.

  Before I could ask if something else was wrong, he spun around and wrapped his arms around me tightly.

  That’s when I knew I was completely fucked.

  It was when I started to cry. Gio wasn’t great with female emotion but he held on to me, letting me soak his coat until I was ready to l
et go.

  The minute my door shut and I knew Gio was on his way to the main entrance, I literally ran to the window so I could peek out to get a glimpse, possibly for the last time, of the man I loved.

  Sal was in Gio’s truck, under the street light, slouched down with his head resting on one hand. He looked so beaten down.

  As Gio approached the truck, he turned and waved as if he’d known the whole time I’d be watching out the window. Sal’s head snapped my way.

  I couldn’t move. My legs wouldn’t obey my command to move before Sal could focus in on me. Instead, I stood firm staring right at him as he stared back at me. An unspoken goodbye passed between the two of us.

  Then Gio’s truck roared into the night.

  Chapter Twenty

  After a completely shitty night without sleeping, I had very few choices as to what I could do. Sitting in my apartment alone to wallow wasn’t all that appealing. I’d have tons of time to do that.

  More than I could ever want.

  But for now, I needed to get out. Coffee seemed like a good first step. The text to Bianca asking if she’d meet me got a response immediately saying she’d meet me at the diner.

  I sat by the window at the diner. The smart thing would’ve been to tuck myself away in the back in case Sal walked by. He had a flight out that night original because he wanted us to have every minute together we could.

  Whatever was in that email changed that.

  “Holy crap it’s cold out there. Bianca plopped across from me.

  “February is the coldest month of the year. It was colder than this in Chicago last month.” Her gaze snapped up to me as if she actually thought I wouldn’t bring Sal or anything to do with him. “So, what’s new?” I pushed a nonexistent strand of hair back into the tiny ponytail at the nape of my neck.

  “Oh my god, you’re so weird.”

  “How so?” I smiled.

  “You were at my house last night, right?” She took a tentative sip of the hot coffee Margie brought us. We had literally been burned before. “And you’re asking me what’s new? How are you? What the hell happened?”

  “I’m… all right. I guess. And I have no idea what happened. What’d Gio say?”

  “Nothing and that’s pissing me off. I’ll be surprised if Sal doesn’t have a bruise on the back of his neck the way Gio manhandled him. My man was pissed.” She took another drink this time a full one. “They disappeared for a few hours then came back and Sal’s sleeping in one of the spare rooms. Gio is tight-lipped on this one.”