Page 59 of The Ache That Stayed

Watching the family I had no right to miss.

I had to. I needed to. It was the only thing that kept me sane, and the monster satiated.

But if anything ever happened to her because of me…

I wouldn’t survive that.

“Still with me?” I asked.

“Just make sure I don’t die,” she said, breath uneven in the comms.

Always dramatic. Another gasp slipped through when we cut through the next turn. My jaw clenched. Hearing every sound she made was going to kill me before any bullet could.

The city lights of Dublin flickered in the distance.

Behind us, the SUV engine roared again. They weren’t giving up and neither was I. My only priority was getting Roxanne safe and then I’d deal with their loser of a boss.

Her hand left me for a second as she tried to turn to see if we were still being chased. I grabbed it and pressed my hand over hers.

“Eyes forward, Volpi,” I said, voice turning stern.

Call me selfish, but I wanted this to last for as long as possible. Her pressed against me, holding me. Her breath in my ear.

The city lights blurred as we tore down the road, weaving through traffic that moved too slow for my liking. A sedan drifted into our lane. I leaned the bike hard, threading the gap beside it and the delivery van with barely a foot to spare.

Roxanne’s breath hitched in my ear.

“Jeez—”

The SUV pushed through traffic behind us, headlights slicing between cars like a predator’s eyes. The road ahead split into two lanes as the traffic thickened.

The light turned yellow. I didn’t slow; instead, I leaned forward and twisted the throttle. She leaned in closer to me.

“Santino.” She yelped.

“Hold on, baby.”

Then the word slipped out before I could stop it. Her arms cinched around my waist. Not pulling away. Not correcting me.

Just… tighter, making my chest constricted.

The bike shot through the intersection just as the light turned red. Cars honked. We slipped between two lanes of traffic like a blade sliding through cloth. Her nails almost dug into my stomach.

Good. At least I knew she wasn’t letting go.

“Are they still—”

“Yes,” I cut in.

The wind tore the rest of the sentence away. Then a sharp crack split through the air. Instinct took over before thought.

I leaned the bike hard just as the side mirror of the car beside us shattered, glass exploding across the road.

Another shot rang out behind us. The sound ricocheted through traffic. My pulse went cold. Not warning shots. Not intimidation. These idiots were actually shooting.

Fuck.

Fuck.