Inferno (Blood for Blood #2) (23 page)

‘What is it, Luca?’

I was about to poke him when he returned his attention to me. Hesitantly, as if the idea was still forming, he said, ‘If you need help, you can ask for it.’ At my surprised silence, he splayed his hands. ‘I mean you can come to us, Sophie. If you need to.’

I almost fell off the bench with shock. ‘What?’ I asked, my eyes bugging out of my head. ‘Are you kidding?’

‘Why would I joke about something like this?’ His expression was stony. ‘I know what Donata Marino does to people who won’t bend to her will. You don’t.’

‘A month ago your family was actively trying to murder me.’

‘I know.’ He paused, his fingers drumming below his bottom lip. ‘But things are different now … We can protect you.’

‘Reluctantly,’ I pointed out, reading his obvious hesitance.

He shook his head. ‘The process will be difficult,’ he told me plainly. ‘I don’t offer our protection lightly. But I offer it nonetheless.’

My shock faded a little, bewilderment rising in its place. I didn’t know exactly what he meant by process, but I could plainly see his offer was real, and important.

‘Why?’ I asked. ‘Why would you want to protect us? It wasn’t that long ago that you hated me.’

‘We didn’t know you then,’ he said, before adding, almost begrudgingly, ‘We didn’t
care
about you then.’

I clamped my hands together on my lap and felt their clamminess. Something squirmed inside me. ‘So, you care about me now,’ I said, meaning to make a joke of it, but it came out soft and low and full of something guttural that made me embarrassed. ‘Why?’

We both knew what I was really asking.
What changed your mind?

Luca angled his body towards me, lost in quiet consideration. We were so close, if I edged forward I’d be right under
his chin. Why would I edge forward? What was up with me today? When he spoke I could feel his breath on my cheeks, the only moving air in our bubble of stifling humidity. ‘Because I don’t know anybody like you. You’re like … a rare artefact. And it would be a shame if you got broken.’

Amusement spluttered from me in the most unattractive way. ‘Are you really comparing me to an antique right now? Oh my God, you
nerd
.’

He started laughing, and the carefree melody of it swept me up until I was laughing too, and it was absurd because our families were being threatened and murdered and there we were squished together in a hundred-degree heat outside a maximum security prison, and we used to hate each other and now we were laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes.

He composed himself first, but it took a while and I was left choking my laughter into silence. ‘What I
meant
was,’ his face twisted into a quiet smile that felt secret and deadly, ‘you’re a bright spark, Sophie. And I don’t want anyone to snuff you out.’

‘Oh.’ Well I couldn’t make fun of that. Was I supposed to say something back? Wasn’t that how compliments worked? The silence was growing and suddenly his words felt heavy and important and he was so close to me and I was perspiring and panicking, and … and I said, ‘And you’re kind of like a snowflake.’

Oh, Jesus Christ
.

He masked his fleeting surprise with a quirked eyebrow. ‘Excuse me?’

‘Nothing,’ I said quickly. ‘I didn’t say anything.’

‘No, no,’ he said, rounding on me so his face was too close,
his eyes too searing, his smile too irritating. ‘I’m a
snowflake
, am I?’

‘Shut up. Seriously.’ I pulled wisps of loose hair around my cheeks. ‘Shut up.’

‘I think you were trying to tell me I was special.’

‘Icy,’ I said. ‘I meant you were icy.’

I could practically taste his glee. I was floundering, and he was relishing it.

‘And unique, in that you’re uniquely
annoying
,’ I added. ‘God, you’re annoying. That’s what I meant.’

‘If I’m annoying, then they haven’t yet invented a word to describe you.’

‘Shut up. I’m perfect.’ I stuck my tongue out.

‘I suppose you’re not the worst.’ He removed himself from my personal space and refixed his gaze to the sky. His arms stretched out behind him, his fingers brushing my shoulder, but he didn’t seem to notice. ‘But goddammit you are stubborn, Sophie Gracewell.’

‘I’m not stubborn. I’m persistent.’

‘No. You’re stubborn.’ His smile turned rueful. ‘And you make terrible decisions. Especially in life-or-death situations. It’s like you always choose to do that one thing you’re definitely
not
supposed to do.’

‘I do not!’ I protested.

‘You know that saying, “If everyone was jumping off a cliff, would you jump too?” Well, I seriously think you would.’

‘So you are basically telling me I’m stupid, is that it?’

‘No,’ he said in a measured voice, like he was actually trying not to offend me. ‘I’m saying you are ruled by your emotions. And I’m afraid there’ll come a time when the smart
thing will be to walk away from a dangerous situation, and you won’t do it, because your emotions will stop you.’

I rolled my eyes. ‘Well,
excusez-moi
for having emotions. It’s not my fault you’re lacking in that department.’

He stared at me, his expression suddenly unreadable. ‘I have emotions, Sophie, but I don’t let them rule me.’

‘Whatever,’ I said haughtily. ‘I am very capable of making smart decisions, I’ll have you know.’

He frowned at me. ‘Why did you come to Eden, then?’

‘Why did
you
, Mr Double Standards?’

‘It’s different for me.’

He was beginning to annoy me – this holier-than-thou thing he had going on. He turned his attention from me, lost in his own world. For the first time that week I wasn’t thinking about all the danger swirling around me, or all the things I still didn’t know. Instead, I was thinking about how annoying Luca was. I was thinking about his superior attitude. That smug smile he had. The weird musicality in his laugh. I was thinking about how his hair swooped behind his ears in that stupid careless way. I was wondering about his eyes and whether their intense blueness ever caught him off guard when he looked in the mirror. I wondered if he was vain. He didn’t seem vain, but I never did have a proper handle on his character. It always seemed to change just when I thought I had figured him out.

He was looking at me again, his lips stretched wide so his smile was all teeth.

I slow-blinked. ‘What?’

‘You realize you’ve been staring at me for the past five minutes?’

‘No, I haven’t,’ I said. ‘I was staring into space. I was thinking about stuff.’

‘If I didn’t know better I’d say you were getting lost in my eyes.’

I sprang to my feet. ‘Oh my God, I was not. You are so full of yourself.’

In the distance the bus was rolling to a stop and I thanked the universe for small mercies. I was going crazy. He was making me crazy and I had to get out of there.

He eyed the bus with unconcealed disgust. It was really old, and even from outside you could just tell it smelt of sweat and broken dreams. ‘Do you want a ride back to Cedar Hill?’

I was already carrying myself away, hiding the pink in my cheeks. I waved over my shoulder. ‘No thank you, Zoolander. I’ll leave you to your vanity.’

‘You’ll melt on that thing. It’s from the Stone Age.’

I twirled my fingers in a queenly goodbye as I got on the bus.

My face fell. The driver was wearing a wife-beater. A half-smoked cigarette lolled from his mouth and he was tapping a sign that read ‘
Air conditioning on board this bus is temporarily out of service. We apologize for any inconvenience
.’

I backed down the steps, swallowing my pride as sweat beaded on my forehead. I whirled around to find Luca leaning against the bus stop, smirking, in his award-winning role as the actual personification of
smugness
.

I skipped over to him. ‘Sooo … about that ride you offered …’

‘I knew you’d come crawling back.’ He turned on his heel,
his amusement flying over his shoulder. ‘How do your words taste, Sophie?’

I stuck my tongue out at the back of his head as I followed him to his car. ‘The air conditioner was broken.’

‘So your pride is worth the price of having cool air on your face?’

I wiped a stray bead of sweat from my brow. ‘Hey, Luca?’ He glanced over his shoulder, an eyebrow hiked up. ‘Shut up.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

BLUE VIOLETS

L
uca’s car was spacious and cushy, and the air conditioning was heavenly. I lay back and sighed happily as a cold breeze feathered my face. For an instant there was nothing else but that feeling of welcome relief, dissolving the sticky hotness that had been crawling up my back all day.

‘This is amazing,’ I groaned. ‘I can’t believe I was going to take that bus.’

We were on the highway and Luca had one arm lolling easily on the armrest between us and the other resting atop the wheel of the car. We were going fast but it didn’t feel like it. It felt … safe.

Luca side-glanced at me. ‘You are easily pleased, Sophie Gracewell.’

I shrugged. ‘I’m trying to concentrate on the small things
right now, and this small thing is nice.’

He nodded, his attention refocusing on the rear-view mirror. ‘That’s a good philosophy.’

‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘I just came up with it.’

He frowned, adjusting the mirror and dropping his speed. He muttered something, but I couldn’t catch it.

‘What is it?’ I sat up.

A horn sounded behind us. I turned to find a car weaving erratically three vehicles back. It was black, but other than that, I couldn’t make anything out. One thought pounded out all the others, as the word
Marino
rang in my head.

Luca sped up again and I was flung against the seat. ‘
Cazzo
,’ he said. ‘Sophie, get down.’

He grabbed the wheel with one hand and reached under his seat with the other, pulling out a handgun. My eyes grew to twice their size. ‘Luca …’

‘I said get down!’ he shouted.

He weaved towards the side of the street.

The strange car was two cars back now, swerving from one side of the highway to the other. Oncoming vehicles were honking as it veered into their lane.

I slunk to the ground, resting my head just above the seat. Luca kept the gun cocked in his hand, his eyes narrowed at the rear-view mirror. He opened the window, and the sound of hollering filled up the car.

My knees were shaking against the floor, my hands gripping the seats so tight my fingers had turned white.

‘Don’t get up,’ he warned. ‘Whatever happens, don’t get up.’

The erratic car overtook the one directly behind us. I could
hear it even though I couldn’t see it. The shouting got louder. Luca pulled towards the side of the road, his jaw clenched tight. He was watching the side-view mirror, then over his shoulder, gun outstretched as he pulled the window down, and then … and then it was over.

The car behind us backfired, chugged and sped up, leaving the sound of five frat boys laughing and shouting in its wake as it passed us.

Luca pulled his firing arm back. ‘
Dio
.’ He stowed his gun down the side of his seat and fell back against the headrest as he eased us into the middle of the highway again. I crawled back up, one hand clutched over my heart, the other dug firmly into the armrest between us.

‘Oh my God,’ I gasped. ‘I really thought we were dead.’

Luca’s knuckles were marble-white against the steering wheel. ‘I thought it was …’ His words caught in his throat, and he cleared it, shaking his head so that his hair fell across his eyes. He swept it back, leaving his hand on his face, and sliding it down across his lips. ‘I thought it was the Marinos,’ he said, his voice muffled by his fingers.

‘So did I,’ I breathed.

This was the first time I had seen concern etched so freely across his face, and it made my stomach twist with fear for what was to come, not just for me but for all of us. That was a test run – a false alarm – but it was a very real reminder of the kind of world now moving around me. His world. His fate.

‘In an alternative universe, we could both be dead right now,’ I realized.

‘Don’t say things like that.’

I looked at my hands, feeling the weight of everything
pressing down on me again.

Luca eased off the highway at the next exit and pulled into the parking lot of a Dunkin’ Donuts. ‘Coffee,’ he said, scrubbing his hand across his forehead. ‘I need a gallon.’

Adrenalin had surged through every part of me, and now it was seeping away, making me shake as I tried to centre myself. It was strange. We almost died. And yet, there was no danger, not really, in the end. I felt stupid for overreacting, and yet at the same time I felt lucky to be alive.

‘Sophie?’ We were in the drive-through line and Luca was staring at me.

‘Hmm?’ My smile felt watery.

‘What do you want?’

Oh, I dunno. To live a life where I’m not constantly expecting the untimely deaths of those around me
. ‘Nothing,’ I said, half scanning the menu outside without reading it. ‘I’m fine.’

Luca’s voice darkened. ‘You’re not fine.’

I pinched my fingers to give myself something to do. My heart was still ramming against my ribcage. I was still thinking about the gun Luca had pulled out, about the car that had sped by us. ‘I’m just having a moment.’