Making the Rent the Hard Way - 39

 

 

 I felt someone shaking me. My eyes flew open and I saw Luca watching me.

"Damn," he said. "I thought you'd never wake up."

"Me?" I sat up, looking him over. His shoulder still showed the damage from his battle with Farnham, but it was healing—slowly. The rest of him? Perfect. Not a wound to be seen.

"Yeah, you. I've been up for hours."

"Don't believe him," Gino said from the doorway. "He woke up ten minutes ago, all worried that there was something wrong with you because you were here, not at home."

"Of course I'm here," I told Luca. "Where else would I be, until I knew you survived?"

"And now that you know I did, you're going to leave?" Luca asked, his lips turning up in a grin.

"Not hardly." I didn't care that Gino was there. I wrapped my arms around Luca and kissed him, pouring all my love into it. He responded the way I hoped he would, on all levels. Not that we could do much about the physical part at the moment, with Gino here. But… "When he's gone…" I whispered to Luca.

Gino laughed. "I will be soon enough, but I'll be back. We have things we need to do, now that Farnham's dead."

That put a damper on my happiness and Luca's, as well, from the look on his face.

"Taking care of his stooges," Luca said, sitting up.

"Exactly," Gino replied. "I've talked with Rocky, who, by the way, is fine now. We're meeting this evening. All of us."

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Three-fifteen, give or take. In the afternoon," Gino added.

"Where's the meeting?" Luca asked.

"Here. I hope you don't mind but I figured it was better than having you out and about until you're totally healed."

"Bossy brother," Luca grumbled. He looked at me and grinned. "Next, he'll be telling me no sex for a week, just to be sure I'm okay first."

Gino snorted. "I know better than that. Right now, though, you'd better shower, get dressed, and eat something, both of you. I'll be back in an hour." He started toward the living room, turned back waggling his finger at us. "And no sex."

Luca flipped him off, even though Gino couldn't see it since he was gone.

We did shower, separately, in deference to the fact that if we'd been together we'd have been hard put to keep our hands to ourselves. I got out and found Luca was already in jeans and a T-shirt—and holding clean clothes for me. When I asked, he said, "I dropped by your place to get these. I didn't think you'd want to wear what you had on last night. They're kind of blood-covered."

"Your blood." I shivered at the thought of how close he'd come to dying.

"Yeah. Well"—he wrapped his arm around me—"I'm here. I'm alive. And"—he winked—"starving, so let's order supper. I've got the feeling what's in my fridge should be thrown out."

I remembered the sour milk and agreed. While I got dressed, he called for pizza. We'd barely started eating it when Gino appeared, so we shared. By the time we'd finished it was almost five and the troops began to arrive. When I say troops, I mean half a dozen shifters, plus Rocky and Orchid.