Gio

Chapter 9 - Part 2

No matter how much Gio had been warned, he did not expect to be in this much pain. The walk from the bathroom back to his bed was excruciating. There was no way he was leaving this cabin today or even tonight. He'd be lucky if he left the bed for anything but to use the bathroom.

Bianca had promised sore. He'd been dealing with sore for years. As a boxer, it came with the territory, but this was ridiculous. This wasn't sore. This was all out pain. He sat down slowly, wincing, as the pain shot down his upper thighs.

There was a knock on the door and Gio grunted in response. The door opened and Felix peeked his head in then laughed at Gio's pained expression. Gio inched his way back onto the bed with a frown. "Laugh it up, asshole. You should've given me a Vicodin, not an aspirin."

Felix walked all the way in now, still chuckling. "I told you it was gonna be bad. Are you gonna eat? Breakfast is ready."

"Hell no. I can barely make it to the bathroom."

"That bad?" Felix stopped and appeared to ponder something for a second. "Yeah, it was that bad now that I remember." He laughed again. "Go sit in the hot tub again. That shit will fix you right up."

Gio couldn't even imagine trying to climb in that thing with as much pain as he was in. "Listen, I'm out of here, and Bianca has to work today, so she'll be gone all morning, but we both should be back by lunchtime. And you're going tonight, by the way, so get your ass in the tub." Felix glanced out the door then closed it softly. Gio looked up at him wondering what he was doing. "So, what do you think?"

"About what?"

"About Bianca. She's something else, isn't she?"

Gio glanced away, unable to look Felix in the eye anymore. "Yeah, she's real sweet."

"She's incredible. She's the one who has me considering leaving the whole bachelor life behind."

That should've made Gio feel better. Instead, it irritated him to no end. Considering? "What's there not to be sure about? You said it yourself. She's incredible."

"Well, yeah," Felix said, leaning against the dresser. "But my life is too crazy right now to get into anything serious. There's always something going on. I just don't know if I can be there for her like she needs—deserves. You know?"

Gio hadn't planned on having this conversation with him just yet. He was in so much pain that all he wanted to do today was relax. Now every muscle on his body had gone taut. Bianca's words in the car came to him suddenly: I love you too. "Seems to me she's already under the impression you guys are serious." He was trying his damnedest to not sound as irritated as he felt. So he didn't know if he could give her what she deserved, but he was going to have her think he was in love with her? What the fuck was that about? Unable to hold back, he had to ask. "What's up with you and the chick in Chicago?"

To Gio's surprise, he didn't get the sly smirk he was expecting. Felix actually looked troubled by this. "You saw that?"

"It's a syndicated show, dude. Anyone in the nation who tuned in last night saw it. Does Bianca know about it?"

"No way." Felix shook his head then lowered his voice. "She doesn't follow the gossip shows, not since last year and that mocked up photo all over the tabloids. She gets that most of the stories on those shows are for ratings and mostly all are a distant version of the truth." He frowned, pulling himself away from the dresser. "But I will have to talk to her about this one."

Gio was just pulling his legs on the bed and leaning against the headboard when Felix's last comment made him stop and stare at him waiting for more. In Felix's case, he was photographed walking into his hotel with another girl. What could the distant version of truth be there?

There was a soft knock on the door followed by Bianca's voice. "Felix? You still in there?"

Felix looked at Gio stretching his lips. He was no doubt having the same thoughts Gio was—had she heard anything? "Yeah, come in, babe."

The door opened and fresh-faced Bianca smiled. "Morning Gio." Then her eyes went all sympathetic. "Are you in a lot of pain?"

Unwilling to admit just how much pain he was really in, Gio bobbled his head just slightly. It was as much as he could move without creating anymore pain for himself. "A little." He frowned as Felix chuckled.

"You should sit in the tub again. It'll feel even better than last night. I promise." Gio smiled. There she went promising things again. She then turned to Felix. "I just wanted to let you know I'm leaving now."

"I'm leaving too. We can go together." Bringing his attention back to Gio, he smiled. "I'm not kidding, dude. Get your ass out of bed and in that tub because you're going tonight. No excuses. There's nothing a little tequila and some nice company won't fix." He winked at Gio as he walked toward the doorway.

"Feel better, Gio." Bianca did a little wave, and Gio thought for a moment maybe she was feeling guilty that she hadn't warned him earlier yesterday about how sore he'd be today, because there was something off about her usually bright smile.

"Thanks. I'll be fine."

They closed the door behind them, and Gio leaned back, letting his muscles relax and closed his eyes. He thought of what Felix had said. Would he be telling Bianca about the girl at the hotel with him? Gio didn't even like the thought of Bianca being sad, not after knowing what a cheery person she was by nature.

His eyes flew open at the knock at the door. "Yeah?"

"Ms. Bianca asked me to bring you something, sir," Amparo explained from the other side of the door.

"C'mon in." Gio sat up a little straighter, wondering what it could be.

Amparo opened the door with one hand and held a tray in the other. Breakfast with all the trimmings. There were even slices of banana on the side for his waffles and a couple of aspirins next to his juice. Gio smiled as Amparo placed the tray across his lap. "Oh, wow. This looks real good. Thank you, Amparo."

Amparo smiled. "Is there anything else you'd like?"

He was still taking in everything on the tray when he spotted a folded piece of writing paper with his name on it tucked under his juice glass. Turning to Amparo suddenly anxious for her to leave, he smiled. "No, I've got everything I need. Thanks."

As soon as she closed the door, he reached for the note, his heart doing that same weird thing it kept doing off and on all day yesterday. He unfolded the paper and read:

I figured you wouldn't be up to even walking to the kitchen, so I had Amparo fix this to your liking. I hope I got it right. I left instructions for your lunch, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you're feeling better by tonight. I hate these sorts of things, but don't tell Felix I said that! See you tonight hopefully. XO, B.

Gio reread it two more times, each time fixating on the "keeping her fingers crossed" and the "don't tell Felix" parts. She wanted him there tonight. He felt oddly excited about that which made no sense because Felix would be there too. Still, she was keeping her fingers crossed?

Did she not want him to mention the note to Felix either? For too long his eyes were glued to the XO. He knew it meant nothing, but like one of those ridiculous teenage fans reading a response letter from their idol, he touched the X and the O with his fingers. Then feeling like a dumb ass, he chuckled before sticking the note in his shirt pocket and dug in.

STILL more to come!