Chapter 70 - SEVENTY

Chapter 70: Chapter SEVENTY

ANGEL

Everywhere we went, Vincenzo’s eyes followed me.

Too close.

Dark and watchful.

It was almost like he was expecting me to do something crazy at any given moment.

Maybe I would.

I’d just wanted to get somewhere I could breathe without feeling his presence in every corner. But he wasn’t even allowing me that freedom.

He was everywhere. Inescapable.

There might as well be no difference between sitting in this car ride with him and my own bedroom. Except there was, at least back in my room I was left alone without those dark gazes following me like camera lenses.

Right now, his thigh was inches from mine, and every time the car turned, the distance shortened.

His cologne filled the enclosed space—masculine and intoxicating. It made me think of before when that scent used to mean safety. I pushed away the thought before it fully formed.

"Is there anywhere else you’d like to go?" Vincenzo’s voice cut through my thoughts.

The driver slowed slightly, waiting for my answer.

There was one place I wanted to visit, the whole reason I’d wanted to leave the house in the first place.

"Downtown," I said quietly. "The sweet shop on Marietta Street."

Vincenzo’s head turned toward me. Surprise flickered across his features before but he said nothing, but I knew what he was thinking. I could have gotten candy at any of the expensive boutiques or high-end shops we’d passed. Or even at the desert shop we were just coming out from where he’d ordered my favourite strawberry cake.

Little would he know that nowhere had sweets like this place.

The car engine cut off in front of a building that looked exactly as I remembered—decent enough on the outside, painted in cheerful colours while revealing nothing about what happened inside.

Kelvin had brought me here more than once.

They had all kinds of Candies here. The bad kinds that took one to heaven.

Vincenzo moved to follow me out of the car, and I stopped. I faced him properly for the first time with my hand on the door handle.

"Can I go in. Alone?"

"Angel, we talked about this," His tone was firm, his eyes absolute. There was no bulging.

"I’m just going to see some friends, You don’t need to follow me everywhere." I snapped.

His expression went impossibly harder. His dark eyes were piercing and determined which suggested something about my tone was making him even more protective.

"Even if it’s just your friends, I need to be there. It’s either this or we’re going home,"

I bit my lower lip, dropping my gaze to my hands as if the fight had gone out of me.

"Please," I whispered, and even my voice cooperated, losing all the sharp edges I’d been cutting him with for weeks.

"It’s going to be awkward with you hovering. They’re my friends, Vincenzo. I haven’t seen them in a long time. I just want five minutes to feel normal."

I watched the battle happening behind his eyes from beneath my lashes.

His urge to control everything I did versus the pull of my performance. I knew exactly which strings to tug.

Vincenzo wanted so badly to believe I was healing. That his attention was working and giving me small freedoms would earn him my trust.

I was right.

"Five minutes," he said reluctantly.

I didn’t let the satisfaction reach my face. I gave him a small, grateful nod and slipped out of the car before my docile mask could slip.

Inside, the shop smelled like sugar and everything sweet.

Gummie stood behind the counter, her purple hair even brighter than I remembered, with her numerous nose piercings which were catching the light.

"Holy shit, Angel!" Her face split into a wide smile. "It’s been forever. Where’ve you been?!"

"Around." I moved to the counter, lowering my voice. "I need candy. The sweetest kind you have."

The sweeter it was, the more potent. The stronger and more likely to make me forget.

"Sure thing." Gummie ducked below the counter, a few seconds later, she came back up with a small bag. "These are pricey though. Like, really pricey. But there’s nothing else like them on the market right now. Pure, clean, strong as hell."

"I can afford it," I said, my hands shook slightly as I reached for my wallet. Part of me knew this was wrong. Vincenzo wouldn’t approve of this...and maybe even Damien too.

But my body was desperately craving escape from the screaming inside my head, I needed this more than air.

"There, complete," I gave her the cash without counting, knowing it would be more than enough.

Gummie was looking at me strangely now. "You look different," she said. "Something about your eyes. You okay?"

"Fine."

I started to turn when her voice stopped me, "That reminds me, how’s Kevin doing now?"

My muscles turned stiff but I somehow managed to turn around. She was shaking her head.

"Shame what happened to him. We miss him a lot around here," She sighed.

I knew what Damien did to Kelvin.

I still remember the wet, awful crack of Kelvin’s throat collapsing under Damien’s boot.

I’d buried him in my mind. I hadn’t even been able to mourn him at all because Damien’s surveillance had been everywhere.

So, I had grief whole and let it rot somewhere inside of me.

"Yeah, it was tragic he died like that,"

I heard myself say.

Gummie stared at me like I’d grown a double head, her eyes flooded with horror.

"Dead? When did it happen?! Last I heard he was in the hospital after someone left him for dead in an alley, but I didn’t think—"

It was my turn to be shocked. Hospital? Did this mean... that there was a chance that he could be alive?!

I’d been so certain that Damien had killed him that night he’d taken me.

And now Gummie was telling me he wasn’t dead?

"Sorry, I need to go,"