Prince of Hearts Page 2

  “It doesn’t matter. I just need...”

  “What? What do you need?” He inched closer and I sucked in a sharp breath. I was one second from falling apart in front of two complete strangers; the weight of what happened—what almost happened—sinking into my bones, but something in his voice grounded me.

  And I clung to it.

  “I need to get out of here. Just until I can figure things out.”

  “Bailey, I need your car.”

  “Come on, Nicco, shouldn’t we at least call someone? She’s pretty messed up.”

  “Bailey,” he ground out and the younger guy relented, handing him his keys. “You good to ride my bike back?”

  “For real?” The kid’s eyes sparkled and Nicco smirked.

  “If there’s even so much as a scratch on her...” He let the warning hang in the air.

  “You have my word.” Bailey turned to me and offered me a weak smile. And then he was gone, swallowed by the shadows.

  “Are you sure there isn’t someone you want me to call?”

  My eyes went wide as realization dawned on me. “My purse,” I gasped. “It must have...” I swallowed the words, panic filling me.

  “Must have what?”

  “When I... ran... I must have dropped it somewhere. My cell phone was in there.” Tears began streaming down my face again.

  “Come on.” Nicco ran a hand down his face. “Let’s get you out of here and then we’ll figure out the rest.”

  Chapter 2

  Nicco

  “W hat’s your name?” I asked the girl curled up on Bailey’s seat. She hadn’t uttered a word since I led her to his Camaro. Or when I’d asked her if there was somewhere she wanted to go. She had completely closed down on me and I didn’t know what the fuck to do with that.

  The silence was deafening. Then, after what felt like an eternity, a whisper of a voice said, “Lina.”

  “I’m Nicco.” I gave her a sideways glance. “The young guy you met back there, he’s my cousin Bailey. Good kid.”

  “He seemed nice.” She shifted, rolling her scraped knees toward me. “Thank you, for doing this. I- I didn’t know what else to do.”

  I gave her a tight nod and settled my eyes back on the road, but I couldn’t fight the urge to keep glancing over at her. The rips in her hose. The grazes on her knees. It had taken everything in me not to grab her by the shoulders and demand she tell me who did this to her. But she’d been like a skittish animal. All wild eyes and uncontrollable sobs. I didn’t want to scare her any more than she already was.

  “Where are we going?” Lina stretched her legs out, hissing with pain, and sat straighter.

  “Is there somewhere I can take you?”

  “No, I just... I’m not ready to go back yet.”

  “You live on campus?”

  “Yes. I just moved into Donatello House. I’m a freshman.”

  Jesus. She’d been in MU less than a week. She didn’t look the type to draw unwanted attention, and my blood boiled at the idea of someone hurting her. But I couldn’t babysit her all night.

  “Are you sure there isn’t someone I can call?” My eyes slid to hers and she gave me a weak smile, shaking her head.

  “I just need a minute.” Her body was trembling, mascara streaked down her cheeks.

  Rapping my fingers gently against the wheel, I waited. Nervous energy rippled off her, filling the car. I knew I was in way over my head, but I couldn’t leave her now. “I can walk you back to your dorm, make sure—"

  “N- no,” she rushed out. “I can’t go back there... Not yet.”

  “Listen, I’ll make you a deal. I know a place we can get you cleaned up and then I’ll drive you to wherever you want to go, okay?”

  Her eyes grew wild, her whole demeanor jumpy, so I added, “No strings, I promise.”

  A beat passed.

  And another.

  Then eventually, she choked out, “Okay.”

  I BREATHED A SIGH OF relief when I finally pulled into the empty driveway. Even when I didn’t intend on going into the main house, Aunt Francesca liked to venture out to my apartment above the garage to fuss over me.

  “Where are we?” Lina sat forward, rubbing her eyes and I stole another quick glance at her. It was impossible not to.

  “My place.”

  The air shifted as she sucked in a sharp breath. “Your place? Just how old are you?”

  “Nineteen. Relax. I live in the apartment above my uncle’s garage.”

  “When you said you knew a place, I assumed you meant a Wendy’s or something.” She flashed me an uncertain smile and my chest tightened.

  “We don’t have to...” My eyes flicked to the stairs around the side of the building.

  “I could really use a drink and somewhere to clean up.” My pinched brows must have said it all because she quickly added, “Water, I could use a glass of water.”

  Quiet laughter rumbled in my chest. “Come on.” I climbed out and went around to the passenger side, opening the door for her. She mistook my action for an offer of chivalry and reached out for me, her slim fingers finding my hand.

  Fuck.

  What the fuck was I doing?

  “I... uh...” Jerking away, I thrust my hands in my pocket. “We should go inside.” My eyes darted around the place, met with nothing but the shadowy figures of the surrounding red leaf Maple trees. Lina hesitated, folding in on herself. I hadn’t noticed how small she was before, but now we stood here, me looming over her, my six-foot-one stature seemed almost giant like.

  Lina stuck close behind me as we walked to my apartment. Last year, I’d had a place on campus but it was bad enough being in class, let alone being in dorms. And since my family’s place was across the river, it had been the excuse I needed to move into the apartment above my uncle’s shop.

  “It isn’t much,” I said, pushing the door open and flipping the switch. The dim lighting cast shadows off the walls as we stepped inside. “There’s a bathroom back there,” I flicked my head to the hall toward the rear of the apartment, “if you want to clean up?”

  Lina’s eyes swept around the place. It wasn’t much: an open-plan kitchen and living area with a small hall off it, leading to the bathroom and bedroom. There was a charcoal sectional pushed up against one wall, facing a modest flat screen. The refrigerator usually housed an assortment of leftovers, courtesy of my aunt. It wasn’t a warm and inviting space, but it was mine, which was more than enough.

  “Thank you,” her soft voice cut through the silence like a blade, and Lina took off toward the hall.

  The vibration of my cell startled me, and I dug it out of my pocket.

  Is she okay?

  I smiled. Bailey was too fucking good for this life.

  I’m way out of my league here.

  I should have never brought her here. But the desperation in her eyes had called to something deep inside me—something I thought I’d buried a long time ago.

  Want me to come over?

  No, I don’t think we should crowd her.

  What do you think happened to her?

  My fist clenched until my knuckles whitened.

  Nothing good.

  I wasn’t a saint. I’d done some god-awful things in my short lifetime. Things no kid should ever see. But if my less than conventional upbringing had taught me one thing, it was that even in the bowels of hell there still existed a thin line of what a person was or wasn’t willing to do.

  And I’d promised myself a long time ago, never to lay an unwanted hand on a woman.

  Movement caught my attention and I turned to find Lina standing there, arms still wrapped around herself like a protective shield. My gaze immediately went to her legs. She’d taken off her hose and cleaned up her scraped knees, but I barely saw the cuts; all I saw was inches upon inches of smooth olive skin.

  Get a grip, Marchetti. She isn’t a plaything, she’s a damsel.

  “Want to talk about it?” I found myself asking. Mainly because if I
knew who was responsible for the skittish look in her eyes, I could make the piece of shit pay.

  “N- no,” she croaked out.

  “If someone hurt you, Lina, I—” I stopped myself. This wasn’t my mess to fix, not this time. I had enough problems circling me, like piranhas waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

  “I’m fine. I just needed to get away.”

  “Here.” Grabbing a bottle of water from the refrigerator, I slowly approached her. Lina took it from me, our fingers brushing. My brows drew together as sparks shot up my arm.

  What the fuck?

  I inched back, dragging a hand through my hair. My blood boiled and my skin itched, and I knew sleep wouldn’t come easy tonight.

  It rarely did.

  Not unless I found a way to expend some of the tension currently radiating through me.

  “Are you okay?” Lina stared up at me and I fought a chuckle. As I suspected, she had no idea, no fucking clue who I was and what I was capable of. It was probably a good thing too. She’d already suffered enough trauma for one night without discovering her knight-in-shining-armor was in fact nothing more than the devil in sheep’s clothing.

  “I’m good. Are you sure I can’t take you somewhere?”

  “I don’t have anywhere else to go.” There was something so fucking sad about the way she said the words, I found myself wanting to know more.

  Who was she?

  What had happened tonight?

  Why did she come with me, a stranger, instead of seeking help elsewhere?

  “Then you should call someone. A friend? Roommate?”

  “I lost my cell, remember.” Sadness edged into her dark-brown eyes. “When he...” Lina trembled as she pressed her lips together.

  Anger zipped up my spine. Some fucker had done this to her. Hurt her. Put his hands on her. Scared her enough to run.

  It seemed fucking ironic that she’d ended up where me and Bailey just happened to be meeting.

  “Here, you can borrow mine.” I held it out, but she just stared at it like it was contagious.

  “I’m fine, really. Besides, it’s late.” She stood taller, letting one hand glide to her neck. “If it’s not too much trouble, I should be getting back. My roommate will be worried about me.”

  Lina wasn’t looking at me. In fact, she was looking anywhere but at me.

  “Reality finally crashing down around you?”

  “Excuse me?” Her eyes flashed to mine.

  “It’s sinking in?” I asked. “Whatever happened to make you run? The fact you agreed to get in a car with a total stranger and are now standing in his apartment with no cell phone or no way out.” I was being a dick, but her sudden change of heart had caught me off guard.

  “You’re right, I’m being rude.” She pulled herself taller, eyes fierce on mine. “I really do appreciate everything you’ve done for me, Nicco. It’s just late and I’m tired. I want to go back to my dorm and forget this whole night ever happened.”

  She was too calm, too fucking composed for someone who was almost nearly... shit. I didn’t have any idea about what had gone down. I’d just taken one look at the girl with holes in her hose and tears in her eyes and acted.

  But Lina was giving me a get out of jail free card, and I needed to take it. I wasn’t the savior she wanted or needed. Even if I did want to find whoever was responsible for hurting her and make him bleed.

  “Come on,” I grabbed my keys, “I’ll take you back.”

  “Thank you, Nicco, truly.” She smiled, a real honest-to-God smile that hit me right in the chest. Jesus, I needed to get laid. Or fight.

  Maybe even both.

  BY THE TIME WE PULLED up outside Donatello House, it was almost one thirty. I cut the engine and ran my hands around the wheel. I didn’t mind driving Bailey’s car, but I preferred my bike. The feel of the wind whipping around my face, the rumble of the engine beneath me.

  The freedom.

  Lina had been quiet on the ride over, her head pressed against the glass, the rise and fall of her chest gentle. Not that I’d been watching her or anything. At one point, I’d even wondered if she had fallen asleep, but the second we turned into campus, her body tensed, her hands wringing in her lap.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  “I will be.” She gave a little sigh, hesitating.

  “I can walk you to the door, make sure you get in okay?”

  “No, really, it’s fine. I just... I didn’t ever imagine the night would end up here.”

  “You should talk to someone.”

  “It’s complicated,” she whispered, her gaze darting away from me. Silence crackled between us. The urge to demand she tell me what happened burning through me.

  “Lina, look at me.” My tone was hard; harder than I meant it to be. But she responded, lifting her face slowly to mine. “No one has the right to put their hands on you, not if you don’t want it. Remember that.”

  “You’re a good guy, Nicco.” She leaned over, pressing a soft kiss to my cheek. I went rigid.

  I didn’t move.

  Didn’t breathe as her lips lingered there, just for a second.

  “I, uh...” Lina finally pulled away, “I should go. Thanks again.”

  Nodding, I watched her climb out of the car. I could still feel her lips on my skin, the warmth of her breath. There was either something very wrong with me or she had magical voodoo powers because I wanted nothing more than to run from the car, pull her into my arms, and kiss her the way a girl like her deserved to be kissed.

  But what the fuck did I know about girls like her? Girls so sweet and pure and innocent that when they looked at you, you wanted to drown in their light.

  Nothing.

  I knew nothing.

  It’s why I didn’t get out of the car. Why I watched, like a creeper in the shadows, as she slipped into her dorm building.

  It’s why five minutes later, when she had disappeared and everything had gone quiet again, I was still sitting there.

  A strangled laugh spilled from my lips, yanking me back to reality with an almighty thud. I was losing my fucking mind, and all over some girl. A girl who didn’t belong with a guy like me.

  Putting the car into reverse, I spun a U-turn and took off. It was late but the night was still young.

  And I needed to burn off some energy.

  “DIDN’T EXPECT TO SEE you here tonight.” My cousin and one of my best friends, Enzo, stalked toward me.

  “It’s been a weird-ass night. Figured I’d drop by and see who’s on the roster.” My eyes flicked to the ring where two guys were pounding the crap out of each other. People hollered and whooped with every crunch of bone, every grunt of pain. The smell of blood and sweat lingered heavy in the air, calling to the restlessness inside me.

  Enzo’s brows knitted. “Bailey causing you shit again?”

  “Bailey’s a good kid.”

  “He’s a fucking liability.” My cousin took a pull on his beer, staring out at the crowd.

  “He’s family.”

  “I’m fucking family, and yet I don’t see you running to fix my problems every five seconds.”

  “You know I’ve got your back.” My eyes slid to his, narrowing.

  “So what’s his issue this time?”

  “It wasn’t Bailey, it was...”

  Enzo inclined his head, studying me in that cold, calculated way of his. “What the fuck is up with you?”

  “There was this girl.” I blew out a long breath, scrubbing a hand over my jaw.

  “A girl? What girl?” he hissed the words.

  “Hey, Nicco, you weren’t—”

  Enzo cut off our other cousin, Matteo, who wore an easy just-got-fucked smile as he breezed up to us. “Nicco was just telling me all about the girl that has him twisted up in knots.”

  “She doesn’t...” I glowered at Enzo. “It wasn’t like that. She was running from someone. Me and Bailey just happened to be there.”

  “Running from someone?” Matteo c
larified.

  “Fuck, I don’t know. Her hose were all ripped and her knees were scraped.”

  “Didn’t you call campus security?”

  “She didn’t want us to, asked us to get her out of there.”

  “Don’t tell me you did it?” Enzo clucked his tongue.

  “What was I supposed to do, leave her there? She was terrified. She’s a freshman.”

  “Not your fucking problem.” He shrugged.

  “You’re a heartless bastard, E,” Matteo said, his lips thinned with disapproval. “Where d’you take her?”

  “To my place.”

  Matteo nodded. He was the best of us. Enzo was cold and cruel. He used girls for sex and then cast them aside like they were nothing. Sometimes I wondered if the guy even had a heart. But he was loyal. So fucking loyal. The kind of guy you wanted by your side when things went to shit. Matteo was different. There was still some good left inside him. Maybe it was his mother and sister’s influence. He had people to remind him how to be kind and compassionate. He had people who loved him.

  Enzo was dark as night and Matteo was a hint of sunshine on a rainy day.

  And me?

  I was fucking numb.

  Stuck in purgatory, awaiting the day fate finally claimed my soul.

  “Have you lost your fucking mind?” Enzo glared over at me. “You took a complete stranger back to your apartment?”

  “I didn’t know what else to do.” The lie soured on my tongue. The truth a huge knot in my stomach.

  Because my cousin was right.

  There were a hundred other things I could have done with Lina. I could have dragged her ass to campus security or let Bailey take her somewhere. I could have taken her to to a late-night drive thru and gotten her a soda and something to eat and then washed my hands of her.

  But I hadn’t.

  I’d taken one look into those terrified pools of dark honey and wanted to comfort her.

  It was disarming, the way she had completely bewitched me.

  Not to mention completely out of character.

  “Nicco, my man.” Jimmy, the owner of L’Anello’s, strolled over to us.