Your Favourite Crime {Carvelli Series 1}

37

Adriana

"Damien."

"Damien, where are you going?"

"I have to... I have to get Flavia ready for school," Damien mumbles, getting up

"Baby..." I whisper

"I'll come back to bed after... she... she..." It's like he snaps back to reality when he sees the sad look on my face. "She can't be late," He whispers

"Come back to bed, please," I plead, softly

"I need to... I need to make sure Jamiah's alright. I'll be back," he says softly and turns around. I watch him leave the room and I turn over as tears spill out my eyes.

He does this every morning. It's been a week.

The first few days were the hardest. Jamiah didn't go to school. Damien and I barley got out of bed.

Jamiah and I made all our meals and even then, it was so hard to eat.

Some nights I wake up and find Damien gone. He'll either be sitting in Flavia's room or asleep in Ethan's bed.

He's taking it as bad as I thought. Maybe worse.

"You ok, dad?" I hear Jamiah ask

"Yeah... Just... Have a good day, ok?" I hear Damien say

"I will," Jamiah replies

"Love you," Damien clears his throat

"Love you too," Jamiah replies before I hear footsteps go downstairs.

I hear Damien come back into the room. I feel his arms wrap around me and pull me into him.

"I think I should go to therapy... This pain. It feels like I really lost them, like they're dead. But they're not and it still hurts," he cries

"I know. But you can't give up. We have to get them back. We're gonna get them back," I turn around and hold his face.

"I called Frankie a few days ago... Some decisions were made and some people might get hurt," he takes my hand and kisses it

"Ok," I nod.

He stares at me a bit confused but doesn't question. I'm still learning to be ok with... Damien's family. But if I really do love Damien— which I do— then I'll learn to love everything he comes with.

"I heard it's nice out, today. Maybe we can go for a walk and get coffee," I suggest, brushing his growing facial hair.

"Yeah, let's do that," he nods

"Ok. Let's take a shower and get ready."

___________

"I like this one."

"How many rooms do you think is in it?" Damien questions

We're walking around the neighbourhood, looking at houses. There's parts of the neighbourhood Damien's never seen and he thought it would be nice to walk around.

"7," I answer

"Could be more if its not an open space basement," he mumbles

We're walking by a big modern contemporary house. It's dark with big windows. The front lawn is well maintained and there's a basketball net in the driveway.

We continue to walk and look at the houses before Damien says something.

"I want you to move in with me... please," the grip his hand has on mine gets tighter with every word.