by Penelope Sky
He took a deep breath, his eyes filling with sorrow. “I’m sorry, Griffin. I didn’t mean what I said. I was just angry. I was trying to get you away from my daughter. We all say things we don’t mean.”
“Yeah…maybe.” I turned my gaze back to him.
He stared at me for a long time, his hands still on his hips.
I didn’t know what else to say. The rest of his family was inside, wondering about this conversation as we had it.
“I know you love my daughter.” He dropped his hands before he crossed his arms over his chest. “I see it written all over your face now. I see it in the way you cried when you got her back, a man like you moved to tears. But I want you to prove it to me one last time.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me…”
“I’m not,” he said seriously. “I need you to do this for me.”
I moved my hands into my pockets, unable to believe this asshole was actually asking me for something.
“Griffin?”
I stared at the vineyards in the background for a second, doing my best to lower the rage in my blood. I needed to concentrate on the breeze, to clear my mind, before I looked at him again.
“I want you to come to the winery three times a week. I want you to help me run the place.”
That was the last thing I’d expected him to say. “Free labor?”
“No. Not free labor. I’ll pay you.”
I was so disgusted I spat on the ground at his feet. “I don’t want or need your money, Crow.”
“Fine. Then just come. Three days a week.”
“Why?”
“No questions asked. Do that for her.”
“What does this have to do with Vanessa?”
He took a long time to articulate his next response, his jaw clenching hard before he finally gave me an answer. “Because it would mean the world to her if you gave me a chance. Please give me a chance.”
“I just told you it was too soon. It was less than a month ago when you threatened to kill me.”
“I’m not asking for our relationship to change, Griffin. I’m only asking for a bit of your time.”
If I couldn’t sit inside that house and eat dinner, then I couldn’t go to the winery and pretend that would be okay. “All I want is to not see you or hear from you for a long time. You want a chance to make this right?” I got closer to his face. “Then disappear. Fucking disappear.”
Four
Vanessa
I sat on the couch in the living room with a glass of wine in my hand. My mom rubbed my back and consoled me, handing me tissues so I could wipe away the tears and fix my makeup.
I wasn’t the kind of person who cried, but seeing Bones in that much pain killed me inside.
It killed me that we would never overcome this.
He would always be an outsider. He would never be part of my family.
The worst part was, I didn’t blame him.
My father came back inside, whispered something to my mother, and then took the seat beside me when she left. It was just the two of us in the large living room with the vaulted ceilings and the fireplace. It was the same room where we put up our Christmas tree, where we opened gifts on Christmas morning.
Something Bones would never experience.
My father sat beside me, his knee almost touching mine.
I didn’t ask how his conversation went. Based on Bones’s hostility, he wouldn’t listen to anyone, not even me.
“Tesoro.” He placed his hand on my back, resting it between my shoulder blades. “I’ll find a way to make this work.” He peered into my face, his cologne surrounding me. He held a glass of scotch in his hand and placed it on the table.
“I’m sorry…about all of this.” I stared at the coffee table, avoiding my father’s look of pity.
“You don’t need to apologize, tesoro.”
“He didn’t mean to be rude and ruin dinner. He’s just—”
“Really, it’s fine. I understand. This is hard for him…I don’t blame him.” He lowered his hand from my back and rested it on his thigh. His black wedding ring sat on his left hand, where it remained always. I’d never seen him without it, not when he worked or when he was in the pool.
“I know you wanted me to be with someone who could be a son to you… I don’t think that’s possible with Griffin.”
“Vanessa, that doesn’t matter.” He rested his hand on mine. “He’s the man you want, and we’ll make this work. I don’t care how difficult or complicated he is. You love him…so we love him.”
I turned my gaze on my father, my eyes soft. “Thank you…that means a lot to me.”
He squeezed my hand before he pulled away.
“He never told me what you guys talked about last week. He said a few things…but not much.”
He gave a slight nod. “He’s a man of few words.”
“What did you talk about?”
He shrugged. “In a nutshell…he doesn’t like me.”
I sighed in disappointment, but I wasn’t surprised.
He rubbed his palms together, his callused skin chafing together. His eyes were on his movements. “I didn’t realize this until your mother pointed it out to me, and now that I’ve spent some alone time with him, it’s all I can see. All he’s ever wanted is somewhere he belongs…a family. He doesn’t have anyone but you, and when I took you away, it was like losing his mom all over again. Your absence hurt him…but I was the one who killed him. I’m not better than the man who murdered his mother. He resents me for the power I have over him. And he’s hurt by the things I said about his mother. He’s a powerful man who’s perfectly capable of taking care of himself and you…but he needs more. He needs a family.”
I nodded, knowing he was right. “He’s always resented me for everything that I have, for the beautiful childhood home and the wonderful family that loves me. He says that life should have been his…but you took it away from him.”
“And then I did it again…when I took you away.” He kept staring at his hands. “I’m trying to make this right, tesoro. I’m trying to connect with him, to move forward on a different foot. I’ve never apologized for protecting you. I still stand by my decision. But I want things to be different as we move into the future. But he’s not willing to meet me halfway, not anymore.”
“He’s very stubborn…” He was the most stubborn man I’d ever known.
“And angry.”
“Yes…that too.”
“It would be easy for me to let it go. Griffin has said that’s what he wants, to put on a show for you and pretend everything is fine. We can pretend to like each other when we see each other, but we don’t need to stand in the same room together longer than we have to. That would save me time and work. But after what he did for us…I can’t settle for that kind of relationship. He didn’t have to join the fight and save all of us. He could have easily looked the other way and let us all die…and then took you when we were gone.” He rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes still on the table. “So I have to make this right.”
I moved my hand to his shoulder and rubbed my palm across the cotton of his shirt. “Thank you…I want him to be part of us. I want him to be happy.”
“Me too, tesoro. So I need you to help me.”
“How?”
“You need to ask him to meet me halfway. You need to ask him to come to the winery three days a week. We’ll work together, spend time together, and maybe in time, some kind of relationship will form.”
I had a lot of power over Griffin, the power to make him do almost anything. He was ruthless and bossy, but I could get my way if I asked for it.
“He wouldn’t agree when I asked. But he will if you do.” He turned back to me, his hands coming together.
It would be the easiest solution to the problem. Even if Griffin didn’t want to do it, he would do it because I asked. He loved me, would give me the world if I asked for it. “As much as I want to do that…I can’t.”
His eyebro
ws furrowed.
“He’s done so much for me. He told me he needed time, and I can’t rush him. After everything he’s done for me, how loyal he’s been to me, I can’t ask him to keep trying. I understand his pain. I understand his anger. It would be selfish of me to ask for anything more. I’m sorry…but I can’t.” I’d asked him to try to win my family over in the beginning, and he put up with my father’s and uncle’s bullshit every single day. He handed a loaded weapon to his enemy while he agreed to be chained to a chair. He worked at the winery every day, moving heavy crates and being insulted at the same time, just for a little bit of my father’s attention. And then he took a bullet for my father…almost died because of it. “You have to do this on your own. I can’t choose sides. I have to respect what he wants. I won’t use my power over him, even if I could get what I want.”
My father didn’t hide his disappointment, but he didn’t argue with me either. “I understand, tesoro.”
I wrapped my arm through his and rested my cheek against his shoulder. “Please don’t stop trying. I know you—you can do anything. If anyone can make this happen, it’s you.” I wanted my father and Bones to get along. I wanted them to like each other, to trust each other. I wanted us all to be one family…more than anything else.
“In most respects, that’s true,” he whispered. “But I’ve never been in this kind of situation before. You know I’m not good with words. Even having deep conversations with your mother is a challenge for me.”
“I know you can do it, Father.”
“You have a high opinion of me…”
“Yes. But I also know how much you love me…and you’ll do anything to make me happy.”
He sighed before he looked at me, his eyes soft in a special way. It was a look he only gave me, his only daughter. I had a special hold on his heart, a grip that even my mother didn’t have. “Yes…anything.”
Father drove me home and parked on the street. Despite my insistence that I could make it inside on my own, he walked me up the stairs to the door.
“Thanks for driving me back.”
“I didn’t mind in the least.” He pulled me into his chest and hugged me, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “Good night.”
“Good night, Father.”
He gave me another soft look before he walked down the stairs and got into his car. He waited there, not turning on the engine until he saw me go into my apartment.
I unlocked the door and stepped inside.
I set my purse on the entryway table and walked into the living room. It was almost ten o’clock, the time we usually went to bed. The TV was off, and Bones lay on the couch, wearing nothing but his boxers. The size of a horse, he took up every inch of the cushions, his feet dangling over the edge. He’d taken a few pillows from the bedroom and rested on them now.
I stopped near the coffee table, spotting the open bottle of scotch and the empty glass beside it. There were a few drops at the bottom of the glass, amber liquid from the alcohol he’d downed for the last few hours.
I knew he wasn’t asleep, so I stood there and waited for him to say something.
He kept looking at the ceiling, comfortable with the never-ending silence.
I walked to the couch and stood over him, seeing all his muscles and tattoos. When I looked down into his face, I saw his eyes meet mine in the darkness. Light from the streetlamp outside flooded the apartment, casting shadows in the corners.
He held my gaze, his look unresponsive. He was far too stubborn to utter a single word.
So I folded. “What are you doing?”
“Sleeping.”
“You look wide awake to me.”
“Well, this couch isn’t made for a man like me.”
“Then why aren’t you sleeping in the bedroom?” I assumed he’d drunk until he passed out in front of the TV. But now that I noticed the pillows and his sobriety, I knew this choice had been purposeful.
“Isn’t this what couples do? The man does something wrong, so he gets stuck on the couch?” He sat up then ran his hand through his hair, his eyes sleepy even though he hadn’t slept for even a minute. His hair was messy from fingering it for the last few hours. He leaned back against the couch, a man comprised of endless power. He glanced at the bottle of scotch on the table but didn’t pour himself another glass. He stared straight ahead, not looking at me.
I stared at his hard outline, from the broad shape of his shoulders to his enormous chest. He was a beast more than a man, his tattoos only heightening his intimidating presence. The black ink hid some of his beautiful skin, but it also hid the battle scars he’d been carrying for the last ten years. His jawline was hard, casting a shadow down his neck from the gentle light coming through the window. He hadn’t shaved in a few days, so his beard was starting to get thick. His blue eyes were the only gentle feature he possessed. The rest of him was all man.
I gripped his shoulder then straddled his hips, sitting on him as he leaned against the couch. My arms hooked around his neck, and I looked him in the eye, seeing him slowly soften now that I was on top of him.
He glanced at my lips before he looked me in the eye. His hands automatically moved to my waist, his fingers sliding underneath my shirt so he could feel my soft skin with his fingertips.
I pressed my mouth to his and gave him a soft kiss, just our lips touching together. It was long, our breaths coming in deeper the second we touched. I felt the same electric shock as I did when he was inside me. A simple touch from this man was all I needed. I pulled away and looked into his eyes. “For as long as we live, you’re never sleeping on this couch.” I pulled my shirt over my head then unclasped my bra. The bra fell to the cushion, revealing my bare tits.
His eyes moved to my rack, the arousal instantly coming into his gaze. Within the snap of a finger, his cock hardened underneath my shorts, pressing right against my clit. His fingers dug into me tighter before he moved his face into my neck. Like an animal, he kissed me hard, dragging his lips against my warm skin as he rose from the couch and carried me with him. “Baby.” His mouth moved over mine, and he crushed me with his embrace, whisking me down the hallway and into our bedroom. “I love you so damn much.”
The following day, I got up early and headed to the gallery. I hadn’t been working much over the last few weeks. Sometimes my gallery wasn’t open for days at a time. I purposely left the front door wide open, that way pedestrians would know I was open for business.
I had a pile of emails to catch up on. My regular clients were inquiring about new work, especially after recommending me to their friends and family. I took several photos of the artwork I had in stock, uploaded it, and sent it to each client I thought would like it. It took up most of the morning, and by the time I finished up, it was past noon.
I hadn’t even gotten to paint.
Heavy footsteps sounded from the entryway, and I looked up to see Bones walk in. In jeans and a t-shirt that fit snugly over his chest and arms, he was a behemoth of a man. He was so hard in comparison to the softness of my artwork. His eyes scanned the pictures as he stepped inside, every footstep a loud echo because of his immense weight.
Then he turned his gaze on me.
And just like that, everything stopped. No man had ever looked at me the way he did, to make my lungs stop needing air, to make my heart stop needing blood. He was all I ever needed.
I rose from behind the white desk. This was the first time he’d ever been in my space, at least with me at the same time. I’d left the apartment early that morning, so I hadn’t shared our regular routine of me eating cereal while he worked on his laptop. “Hey.”
He didn’t speak, regarding me with his stare instead of with words.
I came around the desk and moved into his chest. I rose on my tiptoes and kissed him on the mouth.
He kissed me back, gripping the deep curve in my back with his large hands. “Baby.”
My hands slid down his chest as I pulled away, loving the way he called me that. No ot
her man could pull it off the way he did.
He dropped his hands then took a look around the gallery, examining my pieces with obvious interest. He stopped in front of each one, taking his time as he took in the colors and lines.
I stared at his back, watching the strength of his body as he moved. Dinner at my parents’ place had been terrible, and we hadn’t spoken of that incident since yesterday. I came home, and we went straight to bed.
There might not be much to say anyway.
My father told me he wouldn’t give up, that he would keep trying until he and Bones could have a new start. All I wanted was for everyone I loved to be under one roof. I wanted Bones to spend time with my brother and father, to become another Barsetti with a different last name. I wanted him to see my father as a father figure, and if not that, at least a friend. But those things took time. And with Bones, it would take a very long time.
He finished looking at the paintings before he came back toward me. “I like them.”
“Thanks.”
His hand moved to the back of my neck, and he kissed me on the forehead.
I closed my eyes, treasuring his affection. I could never get enough of it, get enough love from this man.
“I’ll let you get back to work. Just wanted to see you for a bit.”
“What are you doing?” My hands moved up and down his muscular arms.
“Just working on a few things.”
I knew he would be leaving for a hit soon. Whenever he worked on his laptop, it meant he was doing research. His departure was usually shortly after that. I was dreading it, dreading it before he even mentioned it. I had to remind myself it would be over soon, that he would be retiring to live a quiet life with me. He would marry me and start a family with me. I would love to have a son who looked like him to inherit those pretty blue eyes and his natural power. “Alright.”
