Break In My Heart

47. Control

I laid with my head in Tyler's lap as he gently ran his fingers through my hair. It had been a few weeks since Nonna had passed and though it was still hard to process that she was actually gone, I was making it through it.

Tyler had been amazing per usual. He was patient with me and allowed me to work through my grief in whatever ways I needed to, whether that meant spending time alone, silently holding each other as I cried my pain away, or if I simply wanted to make out with him until I couldn't breathe. No matter what form my process took, Tyler was there for me every step of the way.

He'd been giving me updates about his "mom" and the legal battle. He said that she was really serious and they were almost ready to go to court. "It could be any day now," he'd told me one night when we were laying in his room. "That's the scary thing. I don't know, it might sound weird, but the idea that one random day could be the day my dad and I have to pack up and go down to Louisiana oddly reminds me of what my mom did to me. It was random and unexpected and she was able to hurt me without a single change in emotion. I'm afraid that's what this will be like: her exercising her power just to hurt me without giving a damn. It doesn't help that she has enough money to actually afford a good lawyer whereas my dad...I don't even know."

Even with my constant consoling and words of reassurance, I couldn't soothe the raging storm within Tyler, and I was starting to accept the fact that I, a seventeen-year-old, couldn't shoulder Tyler's emotions all on my own. There were some thoughts I couldn't soothe, but he had his father for those times. Regardless, I would always try to listen and be a shoulder for him to cry on when he needed to.

"We should go soon, don't you think? School's been over for over an hour," Tyler said as he continued raking his fingers through my hair.

I shook my head. "No. I like just laying here with you. It's like all of our problems and worries get stuck behind that door and we can just exist here, you know? It's nice."

"That and you just like the fact that it's soundproof so you don't have to mind yourself," Tyler playfully added as he squeezed my cheeks. I swatted his hand away and said "Stai zitto (shut up)."

But he hadn't been wrong. Other than the fact that no one seemed to bother Ty and me when we were in the old recording studio, it was a nice perk that it was completely soundproof so that Tyler and I wouldn't have to worry about getting caught when we decided to have some fun with each other. And I was fairly sure that one of his teachers knew exactly what was going on between us in the room, but he didn't seem to care too much about it, which Tyler chalked up to his "charm and whit" and it came to teachers. Yeah, sure, okay.

His melodic laughter filled the air at my reaction. "Vieni a farmi (come make me)." His words caused a pang of something to hit me in my chest. As he'd cheekily stated the night he'd come had dinner with my family, I had become his Italian teacher. He was quickly picking up on little phrases I said around him, and though his accent still needed a lot of work, I was really proud of him and he sounded really sexy speaking it. He'd even asked me to teach him to talk dirty in Italian and even though he didn't catch on to all of the words, he definitely turned me on with the words he did catch.

This situation was no different.

"Tyler, you know better than to say stuff to me like that," I said as I shook my head up at him.

"Like what?" He innocently asked before a mischievous smile spread across his face and he kissed me. I easily melted into him and gently gripped the back of his neck to pull him as close to me as possible. After a few moments, I shifted my body so that I was sitting up and we were face to face.

No matter how many times I kissed him, he still managed to surprise me every time. We fought for dominance in the kiss like a game of tug of war. Every time I'd get even close to getting control, he'd touch me in a way that was just right and I fell back into him.