Slow burn PART 2

Chapter 15

        I had just ended a call with my family. It's not our usual day to talk, but in the spur of the moment they gave me a ring and I'm glad they did. I miss them so much. My mother was already asking me all about what I'm going to do for my birthday and telling me I better make my boyfriend take me somewhere nice. 

Renzo had told my family he was my 'boyfriend', back when I ran away to New Orleans after finding out who Renzo actually was, and what his actual job is. He'd come to collect me by day 2 and when playing Mr. Good guy with my parents, he told them he was my boyfriend, and he was 'keeping an eye out for me.'

They ate that up, but none of it had been true. I remember it saddened me that it wasn't true. I had gotten a glimpse of a life I could've had, but probably never will.

        Sure, Renzo and I's relationship has progressed since then, but he isn't some cigar shop owner with good intentions. He wasn't the guy who played surprised with my niece when calling her a princess. 

Ever since the meet and greet with Vittoria I've had this bitter taste in my mouth that won't go away. I know a portion of it is jealousy. I won't deny that. But having seen Renzo having eyes completely for her that night...it shifted something inside me that's had me withdrawing from him. 

I saw how comfortable Vittoria was in his home, and I realized I know nothing about Renzo's own personal space. He's just always in mine. I give him all of me, all the time, and he's happy to take it. But what has he given back?

       I don't know enough about him. I didn't even know where the damn broom was to clean the glass that had shattered when some of the stacked plates had fallen to the ground. Maybe I would have called myself dramatic if not for Dante and Rocco both agreeing with me about the vibe at the meet and greet.

I think Renzo has been denying it enough that he actually believes it himself, but I think with only a minor shove from Vittoria she could get him to cheat. I hate that feeling, but I know it to be true, and I can't go there again. 

        I've been the girl that walks into a room and sees her boyfriend engaged in a sexual act with someone that isn't her. Actually, I already lived that with Renzo when I walked into my office at work to see Renzo with his dick down Rebel's throat. 

He didn't owe me anything back then, but  I remember the sting in my heart that I knew shouldn't be there.

With Vittoria and Renzo I think they could actually get away with it and have me not find out. Why? Because Renzo never tells me what he's doing or where he goes. What he's thinking or feeling. So, something inside me is pulling away. Call it self preservation.

        My thoughts were interrupted when there was a rapid knocking on my front door. When I answered it, it was a 6'2 mobster with a tattoo on his neck. But then I saw it. Dante held a hand against his right side, and his fingers and the material of the t-short beneath them was all soaked through with blood. 

"Kitten...got a first aid kit?" He tried giving me a chuckle, but my eyes were as wide as saucers with fright. When he coughed he flinched. "Oh my god!! Dante, we need to go to a hospital!! What happened?!" I rushed forward and tried removing his red painted hand. 

I tried lifting his shirt to see. The shirt was already slick against his flesh with fresh blood. "I'm alright. Just a poke" he promised me.

       "Dante! You could have perforated something! You could be bleeding internally!! It's not a gun shot wound, so don't you dare tell me you 'can't'. Please. Let me take you" I was fussing over him, but that's because my heart was beating a mile a minute, and in a frenzy trying to think of what to do. It seemed like a lot of blood.