25. Raven

25

RAVEN

I jump out of the car and run into the hospital, leaving Jared. He’ll follow me, I’m sure, but at the moment all I can think about is Vinnie. How he needs me.

“May I help you?” the volunteer manning the reception desk asks.

“Caroline Gallo? She’s having bypass surgery.”

“Are you family?”

Am I? Technically, I guess so. “Yes. She’s my brother’s mother-in-law.” Or she will be, once Falcon and Savannah get married.

That must be good enough, because she looks at her computer screen. “She’s out of surgery but still in recovery. Your brother is probably in the waiting area on the second floor. You can?—”

I stop listening and race toward the elevators. I’ve been to this hospital before. It’s not where I had most of my leukemia treatment, but I had some tests done here. I know my way around.

By the time I reach the elevators, Jared has caught up to me.

Of course he has. He’s being paid handsomely to be my bodyguard.

I don’t speak.

He doesn’t speak.

He knows why I’m here, and God bless him, he’s not asking questions.

Good. His only job is to follow me and ensure my safety. Knowing the inner workings of my heart isn’t part of his contracted obligations.

We get to the floor, and I read the signs that show me to the waiting area.

And there he is.

Vinnie.

His eyes are sunken and sad, his hair mussed, his suit rumpled. He’s probably been here all night. Falcon and Savannah are there as well.

“Vinnie!” I rush toward him.

He widens his eyes slowly as he sees me. At first he doesn’t move, but then he snaps to his feet, grabbing onto me. “Raven, my God. You shouldn’t be here.”

“Where else would I be? Your mother is having surgery.”

“But—”

I take his face in my hands. “I know all the ‘buts,’ Vinnie. Why we can’t be together. Why you’re no good for me. Right now I don’t care. I love you, and my place is here at your side in this time of crisis. Is your mother okay? I heard she’s out of surgery.”

He blinks. “She’s stable. Yeah.”

“What can I do for you? A drink? Coffee?”

He grabs my hand and ushers me out of earshot of Falcon and Savannah. “You need to go, Raven.” Then he looks up at Jared—my bodyguard the size of a tank—and raises his eyebrows.

“Falcon hired him,” I say.

“Good. I need you to go. You’re not safe with me.”

“We’re in a hospital, Vinnie. Nothing will happen to me here.” I sigh as I realize what I just said. “That’s a lie if I ever heard one. A hospital is where I found out I was sick. Where they pumped poison into my veins, and it didn’t even kill the cancer raging inside me. God, I hate hospitals.”

“Which is another reason why you shouldn’t be here.” He gives me a gentle push away from him. “Live your life, Raven. Please. I need you safe. I need to know you’re happy.”

“I’ll be happy,” I whisper, “as long as I’m with you.”

“Fuck.” He rubs his forehead. “You’re killing me here.” He grabs my hand and leads me down a hallway, checking doors.

We end up in a janitorial closet, the smell of cleaning products sharp in the air. He closes the door behind us and flips on the light. It feels cramped, but in this moment, I welcome the closeness.

“Raven,” he starts, his voice rough. “I can’t do that to you. I can’t let you suffer because of me.”

“But I am suffering, Vinnie,” I say, my voice breaking. “Every day away from you is agony.”

He runs a hand through his hair. “It’s not about just you and me anymore,” he says quietly. “You know that. It’s about something so much bigger.”

“I—”

But I stop talking when his mouth comes down on mine.

The kiss is raw and passionate, and I return it with all the love I feel for him.

I know what he’s doing.

It’s an escape mechanism. He was faced with his mother’s mortality, and now he wants to feel his own life. His own heart beating.

After a moment, he pulls back, looking into my eyes, his own dark orbs overflowing with a million unspoken words. He cups my face, the rough pads of his thumbs catching on my cheeks. “I don’t want you to get hurt, Raven. I can’t bear the thought.”

“But Vinnie,” I plead. “We need each other. More than ever.”

He lets out a long sigh and then his face softens. He pulls me against him, wrapping his arms tightly around me.

“I know,” he says quietly after a few moments. “But I have to protect you…even from myself.”

“We’ll figure this out.” I nestle closer to his chest, inhaling the familiar scent of him—a mixture of fresh air and spice.

Jared is likely listening right outside the door, but I don’t care.

Honestly, it wouldn’t kill us to have someone keeping a lookout for janitors or other hospital staff that might come into this closet.

Vinnie slides his fingers over my fuzzy head. “It can’t be figured out. Don’t you get it? I’ve done things. Terrible things. Things I can’t ever take back. Hell, I don’t even want to take them back. My life is going to get volatile. It’s already volatile. I have a duty to Savannah, to my mother, to the memory of my brother. I have to?—”

I place my fingers over his lips. “Right now, Vinnie, all you have to do is fuck me. Use me. Right here in this closet. Take me like we’re animals. Do it. I need it as much as you do.”

Vinnie’s eyes darken. Without a word, he yanks me toward him, pressing his body against mine, and he kisses me. I return the kiss and tangle my fingers in his gorgeous hair.

He breaks the kiss and pulls away. I whimper at the loss.

“Raven… Are you sure?”

Instead of answering, I reach up to pull him back down to me. Our lips connect in another hard kiss and I feel his hesitation melt away. A low growl escapes him as he tightens his grip around my waist.

The world outside blurs away as we lose ourselves in each other. The cold linoleum floor beneath us, the smell of bleach and soap—none of it matters. All that matters is him and me. This moment. Here, the chaos from the outside world can’t touch us, can’t interfere with what we have.

Vinnie runs his hands up my back, his touch electrifying as he grinds against me, his need evident even through the layers of clothing between us. He pulls at my shirt, breaking away from our kiss just long enough to slide it over my head.

I let out a loud moan and arch into him, clutching at his hair. His hands are everywhere, making me feel alive. Tangled with each other amidst brooms and buckets seems symbolic of our lives—chaotic and messy.

Yet it feels so right.

“Raven,” he whispers again, his voice low and husky.

The sound of my name on his lips strikes me somewhere deep within.

Without further words, he helps me out of my sweats and then he unbuckles his belt and unzips his fly. He lifts me onto a metal shelf, and I wrap my legs around him.

In a moment, we’re lost in each other. He’s inside me, thrusting, thrusting, thrusting…

Completing me in the way only he can.

Finding solace and escape in the midst of the storm brewing outside.

With each movement of him inside me, I come close to the peak, and when he releases inside me, I join him in climax. When the pulsing subsides, our bodies are intertwined, my head resting on his chest as I listen to the steady rhythm of his heart.

He trails his fingers lightly over my scalp, sending shivers down my spine.

“I wish things were different,” he murmurs, his voice barely above a whisper as he traces my cheekbone.

“I know,” I reply softly.

A sigh ripples through him, and he pulls me tighter. He doesn’t speak again for a while, the silence broken only by the steady thrumming of his heartbeat and the distant hum of hospital life outside the door.

Eventually, I shift in his arms, reluctantly beginning to pull away. But he tightens his grip on me, his gaze intense. “Stay,” he says simply. It’s not a command, but a desperate plea.

“Vinnie—”

“I need you here, Raven. Just for a little while longer.”

His voice is laced with an emotion so raw and real that it nearly shatters my heart. I can’t refuse him. Not when he looks at me like that—as if I’m his lifeline.

I nestle back into the warmth of his embrace, letting the rhythmic beating of his heart lull me into a sense of peace and comfort. We stay huddled together in the small closet for what feels like hours, sharing in each other’s warmth and stealing moments of tranquility amidst the chaos outside.

“We should probably get back,” I finally whisper.

Vinnie’s grip tightens momentarily before he releases me, his fingers lingering on my skin.

“Let’s fight this together,” I say. “Let me help you.”

He looks to the ground and sighs. “No one can help me, Raven.”

Those are his last words to me. He turns and opens the door to the closet.

And he runs right into Jared.