Slowburn

Chapter 28

        My life has turned strange since moving to Boston. I've never had such an eventful life, but I don't know if that's a good thing seeing as everything that's gone on here has been surrounding negative events. It was a seemingly random Thursday, but here I was in the emergency room with my boss's cousin waiting for my ex boyfriend who got beat to a pulp by that same boss of mine. 

"So why did Renzo actually hurt him? You can't say it's because he's a lunatic again" Dante nudged me playfully. I kinda laughed because my nerves were shot. 

"I guess because he was causing a disturbance at his place of business. Val showed up drunk demanding to see me, and I know that isn't a good look for his club, or for me as his employee. I'm mortified" I rubbed my temples. "Mhm" he didn't seem to believe me. Or maybe he didn't know what else to say. 

        "Well...why'd your boyfriend show up at your job drunk and demanding to see you?" He asked the better question. Dante was sitting here in a dark pinstripe suit and white shirt. His dark hair was a little longer in the back than Renzo's is, but just as full of dark waves. He has deep brown eyes and they were darting around my face trying to read me. 

For some reason I told him the truth. Maybe it was the way he leaned back in this plastic hospital chair with his left ankle on top of his right knee, hands folded in his lap while he twiddled his thumbs. He looked like he didn't have a care in the world, and suddenly my mouth started moving.

"If I tell you, can we keep it between us please?" I asked him, hoping he's honorable.

        I don't know his character well enough. He nodded okay and so I told him. I told him about how I lied about where I worked because I was ashamed, and how I ended up fessing up to Val, and how that upset him and caused our fight. I told him how I went to visit him at his apartment and caught him with another woman. 

I didn't tell him the details of that. I was already blushing just saying, "I found him with a woman in bed." Dante sucked his teeth and shook his head. "Boys are silly" he nudged me. 

I nudged him back, "You should know" I teased him but then went wide eyed. "Oh gosh I didn't mean that" I wanted to slap myself in the head. He laughed, "It's okay, Kitty Kat, it's called joking around. People do it."

        After a second he glanced down at me, seated in my own plastic chair beside him, and shrugged. "His loss. There aren't very many genuine people left in the world, and he let one get away" he kindly commented to make me feel better. I thanked him. 

"Excuse me?" A woman's voice interrupted us from the corner we sat in. It was your standard ER room with a bunch of chairs and sick or injured people scattered around in them. Someone is always yelling somewhere in the background and there is coughing, which makes you wanna cover your mouth and nose in fear of catching it. 

There was a green potted plant almost as tall as I was with elephant ears for leaves. The tips were browning like maybe it wasn't getting enough water or maybe too much sun from the glass window pane it was directly in front of. 

        The woman wore white scrubs and was looking at Dante, not me. She was blushing slightly so I think she just found him attractive and was maybe nervous by the way she fidgeted with a clipboard. 

"What's up, gorgeous" Dante nodded his head in acknowledgment of the young nurse. She blushed even harder for the little pet name he called her. He sounded so Italian too, which women probably like. "Are you here with Valenzio Burrow?" she asked the both of us now. I said yes so she walked closer to us and handed me a form, asking if I could fill it out. 

"Is he okay?" I asked her. I hadn't heard anything in over an hour. 

"He's fine, he seemed...inebriated so they have him sleeping it off in one of the rooms. He required stitches through his lip and on his eyebrow. His face and ribs show signs of bruising, but it's nothing crucial. He'll just be very sore tomorrow. Oh...and he probably needs a dentist" she was referring to his broken front tooth.