Gio (5th Street) (26 page)

Bianca walked around her side cautiously, her mind still swimming in a blissful daze as her heart continued to attack her rib cage with each wallop. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she was certain it was Felix looking for her but it was a text—from
Lala
. With her body still reveling the euphoria of having finally quenched her aching need to be near Gio again—feel his touch—kiss his lips, she stared at the screen elated. Just seeing the envelope with the code-name for him now like she had so much in the past few days made her want to do a little dance but she refrained and clicked on the envelope instead.

God I missed your lips.

She smiled, inhaling deeply as she touched her fingers to her lips, still warm from his kisses. “Wow. Now there’s a smile I haven’t seen in a while. Where’s that coming from?”

The phone nearly slipped out of her hands at the sound of Felix’s voice. He stared down at her phone, his eyes full of curiosity—or suspicion.

“I, uh.” Unable to put even one coherent sentence together, Bianca slipped her phone in her pocket. She cleared her throat. “Toni… she…” Bianca glanced up at Felix but unable to look him in the eye too long she glanced away quickly. “She was just being silly.”

Beginning to walk and pulling a strand of hair behind her ear, she snuck a peek in Felix’s direction. His brows had pulled together. “Yeah? What’s she up to?”

“She’s seeing some new guy.” Gio was up ahead waiting for them and smiled when his eyes met hers, making her already wild insides go even wilder. As anxious as the feel of this conversation was making her, she couldn’t help smiling back. “Some indie film maker from Los Angeles.”

Felix nodded, looking up at Gio who stood waiting for them a few feet ahead. “I meant to tell you earlier this week but things have been kind of weird. I’m having the guys up from 5
^th
Street for the weekend. We’ll probably all go out. Maybe you can invite Toni since it’ll be a group thing.”

Bianca turned to him. The pulled together brows and any sign of suspicion were now gone. “I’ll ask her.” She smiled softly, and nodded. “That would probably be fun.”

Of course, that meant letting Toni in on her situation which she now absolutely had to tell her anyway. There was only so much longer they could keep this up without something going horribly wrong and Bianca would have to make a decision soon. Toni would no doubt be helpful in that decision making. Although the idea of walking away from Gio was one that became harder to even consider with each passing day.

There were no further moments the rest of the evening and for the next few days Bianca spent her days dodging Felix’s advances and melting over Gio’s texts.

Determined to not only keep her promise to Gio about not sleeping with Felix but to keep the touching to a minimum, Bianca upped the hurt act every time a new story about Felix and his other women was aired. It helped that the media was relentless and she was more than thankful that her feelings for Gio were so overwhelming they’d completely purged any feelings she’d previously had for Felix. Otherwise she would’ve been going crazy with all the stories. Her grandmother had asked her several times already without mentioning the gossip about Felix if she was okay. Bianca reassured her that she was.

Her impetuous feelings for Gio were a bit alarming. Especially given the fact that she still had no idea how this would ever work. She wondered at times if it was their circumstances that created such an urgency to be with each other. The need was profound—the willingness to take risks becoming greater.

With Felix and Gio’s friends coming up early for the weekend Bianca took the weekend off, including Friday, but left the cabin Friday morning before any of them got there to get her hair done and have a much needed talk with Toni. Toni had already agreed to come with them later that evening when they went night boarding. With Roni being pregnant Bianca planned on hanging out with her at the resort while the guys snow boarded so getting her hair done wouldn’t be a waste. Toni had been excited about meeting them and since Felix’s previous visits had been limited up until now, this was only the second time she’d be around him. She was still a little star struck.

Knowing Toni’s salon got busy Friday mornings Bianca ran a few errands first. Toni was still busy when she got there but told Bianca the wait wouldn’t be long. Bianca sat down in Toni’s tiny little waiting room and began sifting through all of Toni’s tabloids. She stopped when her phone pinged with a text. It was from Felix. The whole week she’d calculated leaving when he was already in the gym so there’d be no danger of him attempting more than the goodbye peck—the only affection she’d given him since his admission of having gone out with Shelley. And she made sure that happened only in the privacy of the bedroom. The master bed in his room was so freakishly big it was easy enough to steer clear of his side and so far he’d respected the boundaries. When she’d left that morning she barely stuck her head in the gym to let him know where she’d be.

Will you be home before noon? The guys will be here in a couple of hours and we were thinking of going out for lunch.

She’d just finished reading his text when she got another one from Gio.

This weekend should be interesting. We might even get some time alone. How long till you get back today? I miss you already.

They’d probably just finished their morning workout and Gio was back in his room. Felix said today’s workout would be a short one. As usual, her insides were already mush. And like she always did, she reread the text smiling brightly before responding.

I miss you, too! I shouldn’t be too long. Just getting my hair done then I’ll head back. I hope you’re right about this weekend. This is torture!

She hit send and waited flipping through the magazine again until she heard the ping again. She smiled hitting the envelope again.

I know it is and something’s gotta give. SOON. Things can’t stay this way much longer. I’ve been giving it some thought. But I’m not sure if this is what you want. We’ll have to talk as soon as we get a chance.

Bianca reread and stopped at the most intriguing part.
If this is what you want
? She hadn’t put much thought into what she wanted. All she’d allowed herself to do was to be grateful for what little he could give her under the circumstances. Up until that moment, she didn’t think anything more could come of their relationship except a forbidden one even after she and Felix broke things off, which she knew was inevitable and barreling down on her.

Is was only a matter a time before Felix would question the point of having a girlfriend he wasn’t allowed to touch. Especially since there were a million girls out there who’d be more than willing to oblige.

“I’ll be with you next, Bianca,” Toni informed her as she walked her previous customer to the register.

Bianca clicked back to the main screen of her phone to check the time. It wasn’t even ten yet. She had plenty of time. “That’s fine,” she said, getting back to her text screen and responding to Gio. Afraid to ask and agreeing with his final comment, she’d wait until they could speak in person to find out what he meant by what she wanted. So she kept her response simple but sweet.

I can hardly wait. Xoxo

She stood slipping her phone in the front pocket of her jeans. As she made her way to the salon chair, still thinking about Gio’s text, her phone pinged again and she pulled it out. How something so simple could excite her was beyond any reason. She smiled big then quickly frowned when she saw the text was from Felix. Her stomach dropped when she saw she’d sent that last text to him, not to Gio. His response was nothing more than a question mark.

“Oh my God.” She brought her hand over her mouth.

“What?” Toni asked as she walked back toward her.

The salon was empty now that her last customer had walked out. Bianca couldn’t be happier about that because she had so much to tell her. Things she didn’t want others hearing. But right now she had to figure out how to explain this.

She was still standing there her hand over her mouth trying to calm herself. This could’ve been so much worse. Some of the responses she’d written to Gio’s texts this past week would’ve completely buried her. Especially since she’d been so cold and indifferent toward Felix. Even sending x’s and o’s to him now might be questionable. And it obviously was, judging by his response. “Shit,” she muttered as any suitable response eluded her.

With her mind still racing she gasped when her phone rang. It was Felix. Not only did she have to lie, she wouldn’t be able to hide behind a text to do it.
Damn it!

Toni must’ve seen the panic in her eyes because Bianca saw the worry in hers when she asked, “What’s wrong?”

Bianca lifted a finger to her lips then answered her phone bringing her hand to her forehead. “Felix, Toni was about to wash my hair. Can I call you back?”

He was quiet for a moment then spoke slowly and a bit cautiously. “Bianca, was that last text you sent meant for me?”

She laughed nervously. “No, actually. I meant to send that one to my mom. She’s making my favorite
empanadas
this week.”

More silence then. “Oh, okay. I thought that was weird. I’m glad it was for your mom and not anyone else.” Bianca couldn’t be sure but his laugh sounded as forced as the one she responded with. “So, you’ll be back in time for lunch?”

“Yeah.” Her hand was now firmly over her closed eyes. He suspected something. She could hear it in his voice—his strained laugh. This was bad. How could she be so careless? “I should be out of here in under an hour.”

She knew that’s not the response he was going for but she didn’t care. She was finally off the call and walked over to the salon chair, plopping her emotionally drained body into it while Toni stood there and stared at her.

“What in the world?”

“God, Toni. Where do I start?”

Jack, Abel and Hector arrived first. Gio and Felix walked out to meet them. Felix had offered to send a car for them but Abel insisted on driving his newly purchased Gran Torino. Gio and Felix laughed when Abel revved the heavy engine as they pulled in.

“Hey,” Gio said tapping the hood as he walked around the car. “You should paint it red and white. Then we could call you and Hector Starsky and Hutch.”

Abel laughed getting out of the car grabbing Gio’s outstretched hand for a quick handshake and a pat on the back. “This shit is badass,” Abel said turning back to the car. “I hardly had to do anything to it.”

“And it’s
fast,
” Hector added from across the car.

It hit Gio suddenly. Both Abel and Jack were sticklers about Hector missing school for
any
reason. “You actually let this guy miss school today to come up here?”

Before Abel responded, Hector announced almost proudly. “I got suspended yesterday.”

Gio brought his fist to his mouth with a smirk but was surprised neither Abel nor Jack seemed too pissed about this. Usually Abel had a fit if Hector, who lately had been getting into a lot of trouble, even got written up for anything. He turned back to Abel. “And you still brought his ass up here?”

Felix walked over to hug Jack then teased. “Yeah, what’s this world coming to? If that had been me back in the days I’d be spending the weekend scrubbing floors at the gym not snowboarding.” He pulled back smiling at Jack. “You gettin’ soft old man?”

“Nah,” Jack waved his hand in the air. “He got in a fight. But he had good reason. I’ve always told all of you. Fighting is not the answer to everything but sometimes it can’t be helped. In this case I probably would have been more pissed if he hadn’t fought the asshole.”

“I’d say kicked his ass is more accurate,” Hector smirked, leaning against the car. “But I guess you could call it a fight.”

Gio laughed going from Hector’s amused face to Abel who shook his head. “Why? What happened?”

Hector shrugged. “I’ve been listening to the drama go on all week from this chick whose locker is right next to mine. She wasn’t telling me but she and her friends stand there talking so much it’s hard not to overhear things. Her ex-boyfriend posted some crap on his Facebook about her. Stupid shit. And,” he put his hand up looking at Abel, “I couldn’t care less. I don’t get involved. But his stupid ass came up to her yesterday and started talking shit to her in front of everyone making her cry. Even then, I kept my cool. Trying to stay out of it. But he took it too far getting in her face like she was a dude, all big man and shit, calling her a skank.”

“Oh, hell no,” Gio said.

“Yeah,” Hector nodded. “So I slammed his face into the lockers.”

“Luckily, the narcs stepped in quickly,” Abel added. “But he still broke the guy’s nose. We’re waiting to hear if we’re gonna have to pay for any medical bills.”

“I hate fucking pussies like that.” Felix reached out and shook Hector’s hand. “Good for you, man. I would’ve cracked him too.” He turned and pointed at Abel. “Let me know if you need help with that. I’ll donate to the cause. We’ll call it ‘Cracking Down on Future Fucking Douchebag Wife Beaters of the World.’ Can’t think of a better charity.”

Laughing and catching up about everything, they made their way into the cabin after Jack announced he was freezing his ass off. As expected they were all blown away by the cabin and the rest of the compound.