Amara- Now
"Do we have to go?" I pout looking up at Gio.
"I wish we didn't have to." He kisses me.
"Then let's stay." I smile so widely I think I may have broke my face.
"Mon coeur, I've got work. They need me over there." He kisses me again.
I pull away from him and he just smoothes my hair.
"We'll be okay over there." He promises me. It's like he can read my mind.
It's not that I don't want to go home, I don't, but I'm scared of how we'll become when we go back to real life.
Gio doesn't let go of my hand, he leads me out of the apartment, someone else taking out luggage.
Once we're in my car, Gio lets me drive to the airport. I don't often get to drive anywhere.
Gio has his hand on my thigh the whole time which is slightly distracting.
I speed to the airport, a car following us all the way there. It's nothing to worry about it's just one of our French chauffeurs, he also happened to be the guy who grabbed our luggage.
I drive into the tarmac and kiss Gio's cheek, then kiss the steering wheel. I love this car.
"Adieu, le paradis sur terre."
I climb out of my car and head over to the plane.
I greet them in French as I head up the plane. They aren't French, they are out flight crew who are American.
Once I'm sat in my seat it take Gio, five minutes to sit down beside me.
Once we're debriefed and after take off I move into his lap and stay there.
He's the love of my life.
****
"Home." Gio says as he steps off of the plane, I'm behind him and slightly more reluctant.
I close my eyes and tilt my head upwards as though I'm praying.
Please let us stay as though we are now.
"You ready?" Gio asks.
I nod and slip my hand back into his and make the way over to his Jeep.
His eyes light up when he sees it. He's had this Jeep for years. I think he brought it when he was 21, he loves it so much.
He walks me over to the passenger seat and helps me in. He watches as I put my seatbelt on then kisses my forehead.
He closes the door and then heads over to talk to my security guard Dom and one of the flight workers who's unloading our luggage.
Dom heads over to me first and knocks on the window.
"Hi Dom, been up to much?" I ask unwinding my car window.
"I've been with my daughter." His daughter is so unbelievably cute, I've met her a few times and she's so sweet. Dom doesn't like to put her in harms away, by keeping her around me.
"How is she?" I ask smiling up at him.
"Bossy." He says and I smile.
"You should bring her to the house sometime." I tell him.
"Sure." He gives me a singular nod. He probably won't, he's just being polite.
"How was your holiday?" He asks.
"Well needed." I take a breath of relief.
He gives me a singular nod again.
"How we feeling about security? Everything safe here?" I ask trying to keep the conversation going , I'd rather not be in my own head right now.
"Secure and locked down." He tells me.
That confuses me because secure yes, that's normal. Locked down? There's something going on that I don't know about." I stick my head out the window and look around.
There's actually a lot of security here.
Dom pushes my head back inside and raises an eyebrow at me.
"What do you know that I don't?" I ask raising an eyebrow back at him.
Over the past couple of years I'd like to think Dom and I have become friends. He's been my body guard since I moved to the states, picked by Gio himself. Jax and Matteo thought he'd be more fit for the role as he knows all the potential body guards I would've had and he had a crush on me at the time.
"I can't tell you." He says with a singular shrug.
"Well Dom, how about you tell me or I'll cry?" I ask him. He hates when I cry, it makes him so uncomfortable.
"Ask your husband." Is all he says.
The likelihood of Gio telling me are very slim.
The car trunk opens and then slams shut.
"Be fucking careful!" Gio shouts.
When Gio slides into the car, Dom walks away to the car that will be behind us, Gio's bodyguard in a car in front of us.
Once Gio drives us out of the gates, I glance at him.
"What's going on?" I ask as he focuses on the road.
"Nothing." He tells me simply,
"Liar." I point out
"It's like a mid-level threat. Nothing to worry about." He tells me.
Bullshit.
I don't fight it, I don't really care to. I care about myself and I care about Gio and that's about it.
The drive home is long and I end up falling asleep leaning over the centre console on Gio's shoulder.
****
Gio wakes me just as the gates to our home starts to open.
I slowly sit up and blink into consciousness.
I kiss Gio's cheek and pay my attention to the road.
We get to the drive and that's when I see Matteo's car.
I don't wait for Gio to stop, I take my seat belt off and dive out of the car.
Gio immediately stops that car but before he can say anything I run into my house, looking for my big brother.
Technically he's not my older brother.
"Matteo?" I shout.
"Yeah?" He asks poking his head from the kitchen where he's shoving his face with food I didn't even know we had.
I rush towards him and wrap my arms around him.
"Aww did you miss me kiddo?" He asks and ruffles my hair. We're twins he's technically not even older than me. He's definitely not old enough to be calling me 'kiddo'.
"You weren't gone for that long." He scoffs.
"Amara!" Gio shouts.
"Uh oh." I pull back from Matteo.
"What did you do?" Matteo asks.
Gio appears in the kitchen with one hell of a glare.
"What the fuck was that?" He shouts.
Gio never really shouts at me.
"Oh you did something bad." Matteo says turning to me.
"You never jump out of a moving vehicle, unless you're being kidnapped but that's beside the point. I get you're excited to see your brother but all you had do to was wait two minutes!" He shouts.
I smile and make my way round to him.
I place a kiss to his lips and wrap my arms around him.
"Sorry." I smile.
"You good?" Dom asks from behind Gio.
"I'm good, thank you." I smile at him too.
Dom gives me a stiff nod. I squeeze Gio's arm and then make my way back over to Matteo.
"So you going to tell me what you've been up to?" I ask as Gio heads to his home office and Dom takes his permanent position, outside of the room.
And slowly everything starts to fall back into place.