𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 ( 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐎𝐧𝐞)

𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲 - 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫- 𝐈𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐉𝐞𝐭

                                     𝐌𝐚𝐱

When I get to my bedroom, I exhale loudly, leaning back into the door. My heart hasn't stopped racing, and my fingers tremble a little.

I keep thinking about Lia and Luc. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that the girl I wanted was dating the fastest driver in the world. Never. But I understood now why Lia never looked at me with any interest. I mean Luc was better than me in every way.

I was taller, but he had the body of an athlete because he was one. He stood out—like a man who understood himself and others. One who knew how to navigate the world and come out with what he wanted without necessarily or deliberately hurting the vulnerable. Unlike me. He commanded respect, even Lia's brothers respected him, Dino and his friends too. But the three of them called out the curiosity in us. How do you get the kind of confidence Nicolo had at that age? Who are their mothers? What kind of life do they lead?

I pulled out my small travelling bag from the top of the wardrobe and placed it on the bed. I packed one pair of blue jeans, two white T-shirts, a white shirt and a black suit, a jacket, underwear, sneakers and a tracksuit.

I was zipping it up when I heard a knock on the door. "Yes," I answered, waiting to see one of them, but I sighed with relief when I saw Dino.

"Do you mind if we come with you?"

Mind? I would love it. I was scared of being with those guys alone. They terrified me.

"I would love that. But I don't think I'm in any position to ask them." I told him in a low voice, finishing zipping it up.

"It was Zion's idea." My eyes shot up, wide looking at Dino. "It's true," he adds when I continued to stare at him, unconvinced and surprised.

"Do you need to borrow any of my stuff?" I never would have offered it in the past. I couldn't have thought of it. This was a new me, it felt, albeit scary, as if my whole being had shifted. I was quieter now, withdrawn into a shell that did not have an exit.

"No. Italy is home, remember. "

I nodded, "didn't you want to put a billion miles away from their family?" I asked, sitting up on the bed. I knew how afraid Dino was of them. He said he had avoided them all his life, this seemed like he was throwing himself in the lion's den instead of running in the opposite direction.

He shrugged. "Perhaps I can be of help to them someday." he mumbled, and that answer had me looking puzzled, " like business?" he shrugged again. "I don't know, but I would like to find out what kind of partnership they have with Carrie"

"Your cousin?"

He nodded.

"She has never mentioned anything about it to me. Not like we are close or anything, but still. A partnership of any kind with this family is huge, especially in our world."

I'm not sure I want to know what that means, so I didn't ask.

"So you have clothes in Italy?" I asked, bringing back the conversation to packing.

"Yap!"

When Dino left, I changed into black jeans, a black short-sleeved shirt tucked into the pants, and black shoes, and then carried a black hoodie in one hand while the other held the bag.

They got up when I returned, "you don't mind if I take another beer from your fridge, do you?"

I shook my head looking over at Zion. "You know, I've seen you once before when I visited Lia during your promo shoot." I never saw him, perhaps I had been busy at the time, I don't know.