“Right. Okay,” I said, trying to keep my tone light and casual. Even if, on the inside, I was all sorts of, well, worked up.
From the sex, yes.
But also his reaction to my bruises.
And what the hell this meant moving forward.
I didn’t have to wonder for long, though.
Because after tending to all my tables who genuinely didn’t seem like they’d noticed my absence, I made my way back over toward Salvatore’s booth with a fresh coffee since his other had to have gone cold.
“Hey,” he said when I went to turn away.
“Yeah?” I asked, schooling my face into careful, unaffected lines.
“You’re coming home with me tonight.”
“I’m… what?” I asked, shaking my head, sure I’d misheard him.
“I’m going to hang here. And when you’re done with your shift, I’m taking you back to my place.”
“For, like, more sex?” I asked.
To that, a devilish little smirk tugged at his lips.
“Well, I damn sure wouldn’t turn that down, but no. You’re not going back to that apartment alone where that fuckhead has access to you.”
“Oh,” I said, the air rushing out of me. I didn’t want to be as charmed as I was by that, but there seemed to be no helping it. “That’s really not, you know, necessary.”
“It is.”
“I am picking up new locks. And I have the, you know what, from my neighbor.”
“First, you either have the locks on that door already, or it’s too late.
“Second, even if you did, I doubt that shit is gonna stop him, not if he’s willing to do what he’s already done to you.
“Third, guns are good. If you’re willing enough to use them. Can I see you using one to defend your baby sister? Yeah. Yourself? I dunno. And that uncertainty, that shit won’t fly.
“So, you are going to come back to my place where, even if he does track you down, you’re with someone who won’t fucking hesitate.”
“I… but…”
“Got something you can sleep in tonight. After you get some rest, we can head back to your place to pack a bag to last you a while. Know this is probably starting to sound like you don’t have a choice. And that’s because you don’t. You’re coming back with me.”
“But… why?” I asked, since it was the one dominant thought in my head right after how much I liked his desire to protect me.
“Why what?”
“Why would you do that?”
“What? Not wanting to see a woman get the shit kicked out of her by some shithead isn’t a good enough reason?” he asked, but I got the feeling there was something he wasn’t sharing with me.
“I mean… for most men, not really.”
“Then those aren’t men, babe,” he said, shaking his head. “Want to see you safe. So you’re coming back with me. If that leads to us touring the sheets until we’re too dehydrated and exhausted to move? Then so be it. You got a table looking around for you.”
“Right. Okay,” I said, a little too frazzled to manage anything else as I went to check on my table.