Sweet Truths & Silent Lies ✔️

CHAPTER 20 - ❝Diablo's and unexpected punches❞

CHAPTER TWENTY
"DIABLO'S AND UNEXPECTED PUNCHES"

SCARLETT DEL GATO

My eyes drifted shut that night, but my brain wouldn't shut off.

Amelia's words and Eden's words both played like a record inside my mind and I didn't know who to listen to: Amelia who told me that not all monsters are bad or Eden who told me that my house might not be burnt down like the brothers said it were.

My brain was a battlefield and it didn't want to shut off.

I heard the sounds of crickets outside my room. The moon was out and its moonlight splintered through my window and blinds. It gave my room a beautiful glow, but I still couldn't use the peaceful sounds of the night to my advantage. I couldn't get my mind to shut off.

The three J's were still downstairs, laughing and cracking jokes with the brothers and I heard dishes clanking, indicating that Amelia was washing their dishes seeing that they ate hours after I did.

Amelia knows Giovanni better than I do, so maybe she was trying to tell me something without just saying it directly. She was trying to tell me that Giovanni does the thing he does with good reason: to protect us.

He killed Vincent in that clothing store because Vincent was a threat. He was afraid that not killing him might bite him in the ass in the future, but he can't just go shooting everyone who has ever wronged him. He needs to let karma do her job once in a while and sometimes that's better than doing something about it yourself.

I palm the comforter, pulling it over my body until it reached my chest. I close my eyes, and for the first time that night, I finally felt my mind starting to shut off.

• • •

"You're such an asshole!" I laughed when my brother threw me with another piece of popcorn, hardly missing my eyeball in the process.

I still felt a grain of salt burning my eye, letting my eye fill with water trying to rid it from the salt.

I picked the piece of popcorn up and threw it at him but he was faster that I was. He caught it swiftly with his mouth and he started chewing it.

I shook my head at him, turning my attention back to the movie we're supposed to be watching. He probably found it boring and now he's trying to divert his attention to annoying me so he could lessen the boredom.

Tonight was the first night he was home early so he decided to order pizza and make popcorn so we could spend half the night watching movies until we fell asleep.

I-who haven't had a decent fun time with my brother in a while-grasped the opportunity to spend time with him with my hands. I didn't want the night to end, so I endured him throwing me with popcorn pieces every now and then, biting my tongue before I lash out on him for being the annoying older brother he is.