Chapter 35

NOVALEE

M emphis slept for two days. I tried to get him out of bed but he said he was happier in his dreams because Chuck was there. When I woke up this morning, he was gone. I don’t know where he went, or when he would come back. All I had to go on was a note.

Nova,

I can’t stay here anymore. Everything is so empty without him. My father is acting like Chuck was a casual acquaintance. He’ll never accept me. I need to go away and clear my head, figure things out. I’m not running away from you. I would never run away from you, but you don’t need me. You have Gio. I know he could never replace me, that’s not what I mean. You love him, Nova. Don’t take that for granted. Find him, be with him, and never let him go.

There’s a blue box on my dresser. Take it to Chuck’s funeral. I want it buried with him. Tell his parents I’m sorry I couldn’t be there and give them my love. Tell them that I’m going to find the end of the rainbow. They’ll know what it means.

I love you Nova. I will always love you. You are the other half of my soul. But please, don’t try and find me. Call and text all you want. Just leave me alone for a couple of weeks so I can heal.

Love always,

Memphis.

For my entire life Memphis was there. We’d never spent more than a week apart. I didn’t know what to do without him, until I realized that he was right. I did have Gio. Memphis lost the man he loved, but the man I loved was still here. For the first time in my life, I wanted to fight for something. Not because I was protecting someone, or because I was helping someone. But because I wanted it.

I wanted Gio.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t heard from him in days, which was why I was here, sitting in the middle of a bunch of daffodils. I didn’t know if he would come, or if he was even getting my texts, but I had to try.

So, there I was, waiting for a Mancini of all people, while watching the sun set on a cursed voodoo island, in the middle of the swamp, that animals avoided. Talk about your romantic rendezvous.

I didn’t know how much I missed his voice, until I heard it.

“Nova.”

“Gio?” I spun around and stopped.

Holy hell. The man looked like he took a bath in blood. It was on his shirt, in his hair, staining his clothes, and on his feet. My first thought was that he was hurt. Panic surged through me as I shot onto my feet and rushed up to him.

“Oh my God.”

Did a gator get him? Was he run over by a lawn mower? Cause that’s what he looked like. I suddenly understood the need Atlee had to paw at me, because that was exactly what I was doing. I ran my hands all over his body searching for where the blood was coming from.

“What the hell happened to you?”

“It’s not my blood.”

The bleeding had to be coming from somewhere. I had to find it and stop it. This would not be another Chuck.

“Nova,” Gio grabbed my wrists, “it’s not my blood.”

Oh, if it wasn’t his then who was it?

I rolled my eyes up to Gio’s. “Simon?”

“He won’t survive long, if he’s not dead already.”

That’s when I knew why he came here like this. Gio wanted me to see the darkness inside him. Because if I couldn’t accept this, then I couldn’t accept him. Could I do it? Could I be with him knowing he was a killer?

Gio tipped his head. “Are you scared of me?”

That was the funny part.

I stared right in his eyes and said, “no.”

After all the things we’d been through. The times he tried to strangle me, the deal I made to keep my brother safe, even the things I knew his family could do, I wasn’t afraid of him. One look at the longing in his eyes and I knew he would never hurt me. Not really.

“If I let you out of our deal right now, would you leave?”

“The deal’s not why I came here, Gio.”

“I’ll never forgive your brother.” Gio said. “I’ll always want him dead.”

“I know. But you won’t kill him.”

He shook his head. “No, I won’t.”

I believed him. He may have killed Simon and I was sure he would kill again, but Kato would live because Gio loved me.

The breeze wisped around us as we stood there staring at each other. The sun fading in the distance caused this ironic angelic glow to surround Gio. There was nothing angelic about him. He was cruel, and unforgiving, and stared at me like he wanted to devour my souls. And God help me, I wanted him to.

“Just so you know,” I playfully tapped my finger on his chest. “I still hate your brother.”

“That’s okay, I kind of hate him right now too.”

“But…” I lifted up on my tip toes and angled my chin back, welcoming him in for a kiss, “do you hate me?”

He smirked and bent down, bringing his mouth a breath away from mine. “I hate you more than anyone else on the planet.”

We were both fucked up and flawed, and this thing between us shouldn’t work. But it did. We fit together like cracked petals on the broken stem of a daffodil.