Book 1
Gia Salvatore does not like to feel tied down. Tired of answering to her controlling father, she ran away the night of her high school graduation and moved in with a secret older boyfriend, glad to cut ties with her toxic family.
But four...
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Gia knew if she was going to spend any time with him, it would have to be outside of the casino walls. She couldn't risk being recognized by anyone and neither, she realized, could her famous companion.
Evan wasn't surprised in the least when she mentioned wearing a disguise to him. In fact, he was glad for the suggestion. He disappeared back inside in the dressing room, leaving Gia holding a bottle of red wine and stem glasses. He returned with a sharp pair of sunglasses and a baseball cap shoved over his head. He handed her an EGO t-shirt to hide the top half of her uniform and Gia pulled her hair down out of its ponytail to help shield her face.
They exited out the backstage area one at a time, Gia leading the way out of Curfew. She knew the layout of the hotel well enough and got them out of the venue and onto the boardwalk in a few strategic moves, walking through the casino halls at an accelerated pace.
She checked every so often behind them to see if they were being followed. Part of her deal with Carmine was that he would agree to stop tailing her and, although she hadn't seen him all evening, did not mean he didn't have eyes on her.
But no one suspicious stood out to Gia and it looked as though Carmine had kept his promise.
They burst out of the exit doors that lead directly to the boardwalk, a fresh gust of the saltwater air hitting Gia in the face and tension she had been feeling released itself with the sound of crashing ocean waves. She inhaled deeply, leaving Evan behind and walking straight across the boardwalk toward the beach entrance.
"I love the ocean," she called behind her, realizing this was her first time back to the shore since high school. Her favorite place of escape, she could always come to the waterfront to get away and be alone with her thoughts. She hadn't noticed how much peace it brought her until it was no longer in her life.
She stopped at the concrete barricade between the boardwalk and the sand. Evan walked up beside her, shoving the wine and glasses at her so he could pull off his boots. Gia perked up, hopeful that he would want to join her on the beach, away from the crowd and the lights of all the shops.
"You love the ocean," he asked, laying his sunglasses and ball cap on an empty bench beside them.
Evan pulled his shirt above his head and slung it over his shoulder and Gia, unsuspecting, felt heat rise up in her cheeks as she found herself eye level with his tattooed chest. A greyscale dragon snarled menacingly at her from his left pec, it's body wrapping itself over Evan's shoulder blade and down his forearm. She wondered how large the design was as she shoved the booze back into his grasp.
"You love the ocean?" Evan repeated his question placing the glasses on the stone barrier to the beach and beginning to pour. "Like a mermaid?" He smiled down at the drinks. "I was thinking maybe you were an angel but really you're a mermaid?" He looked at her, handing over a half filled glass as his eyes twinkled with amusement.
