Gio (5th Street)

  With a gulp she glanced at him as he concentrated on his footing. There was no way he was feeling what she was feeling from the simple touch of his hand. Gio was completely engrossed in making sure he didn’t fall. She squeezed his hand as his foot slipped slightly and he squeezed back, finally looking at her with a smile. Her heart rate had already sped up the second their fingers touched. It accelerated even more now. Jesus, could he be more beautiful?

  She remembered thinking this even back in high school. Was it possible someone could be just as beautiful on the inside? She would’ve never thought so, but after spending the evening with him, and the entire morning, that possibility was beginning to feel very real.

  CHAPTER 7

  Gio could’ve gone for a simple cheeseburger at the ski lodge but Bianca insisted the food there was overpriced and not worth it. She said there was some place he had to try while he was up here and they may as well try it today.

  They now sat at BJ’s, a dive off the main strip but Bianca swore they not only had the best cheeseburgers in Big Bear but also the best homemade chili. They also ordered two mugs of beer. Another thing Bianca said was great about this place—their prices. The mugs were under two dollars.

  “Now we’re talking.” Gio smirked, clinking her mug in the air before taking a swig.

  “I thought you’d like the cheap beer. You’re such an Angelino!” Bianca took a swig.

  Gio placed the mug down loving how her always-cheery demeanor was so damn contagious. He hadn’t stopped laughing or smiling all morning. Even when he was falling on his ass. “You calling me cheap?”

  Her bright eyes teased him. “I call them like I see them. Even Felix with all the money he has couldn’t hide his excitement about the cheap beer here.” She giggled. “You can take the guy out of the barrio but you’ll never take the barrio out of the guy.”

  Gio had to laugh. “This is so true. Felix will always be an Angelino. No matter what part of the world he’s in.”

  He thought about how loyal Felix had always been, not just to him but the gym—Jack—his roots. It almost made Gio feel guilty about how much he was enjoying spending time with the guy’s girl. He knew technically he wasn’t doing anything wrong but what he was starting to feel every time he looked into those eyes and what he’d felt when he held her hand earlier wasn’t exactly admirable.

  He took a harder swig of his beer as their food was set on the table. Bianca leaned her nose into the bowl of chili in front of her then did that orgasmic thing with her eyes again. Gio cleared his throat looking away. This wasn’t helping his already corrupt thoughts, damn it.

  “It smells so good,” Bianca said as he tried his best to concentrate on their food and not her facial expressions.

  “Yeah, looks good, too.”

  Bianca took a bite of her still steaming cornbread and Gio turned away quickly. Her eyes were already closing at the taste of the apparently delicious bread but there was no escape from hearing the near moaning sounds she made. He fisted his hand pressing his lips together and for an instant wondered if she could possibly be doing this on purpose.

  “You’re real expressive when you’re enjoying something, aren’t you?”

  The moment the question was out there, he was hit with the visual of her being expressive enjoying other things. As if that thought alone wasn’t bad enough he remembered something else. He’d be in the same cabin, just yards away from her and Felix’s bedroom for two months.

  “Something wrong?”

  Nudged out of his thoughts Gio glanced at Bianca who for the first time today wasn’t smiling. “No, why?”

  “I don’t know. You looked upset all of a sudden. Everything okay?”

  Her face was so concerned. Did he really look that upset? He played it off with a smirk. “Yeah, I was just thinking about…” He couldn’t come up with anything so he put a spoonful of chili in his mouth then nodded. It was damn good. He hoped the subject would go back to the food. Instead, she surprised him.

  “Were you thinking about that guy?”

  Gio tilted his head, confused. “What guy?”

  “The one that died in the ring?”

  For once since it had happened, he was actually relieved that the subject was brought up. Anything was better than admitting what he was really thinking. “Yeah, I guess.” It was a stretch. He had thought of the guy today. Not just now but he had on their way to snowboard that morning. He looked back down at his chili unwilling to look into her sympathetic eyes any longer. Gio was tired of people feeling bad for him. He wasn’t the one who lost his life. He didn’t leave a pregnant wife behind.

  Before he could say anything else, Bianca began to speak. “When my grandparents were first married they went on their honeymoon to Acapulco. On their drive back on a lonely road they were assaulted by a gang of thieves. They beat my grandpa with a horseshoe until he was unconscious but before they could rape my grandmother another car pulled up and they all ran off.”

  Gio stared at her, stunned by her story but she continued, “My grandmother said my grandfather was barely breathing. She was certain he wouldn’t make it to a hospital. It took them hours to get him there and by some miracle, he made it. Nana said it just wasn’t his time to go. Then just last summer everything was fine. They’d enjoyed a day out on the lake and that evening he fell asleep on his reclining chair and never woke up. His heart stopped in his sleep.” Gio didn’t think it possible but her eyes grew even darker as she continued to talk. “My dad had something similar happen to him too. When he was a little boy he nearly drowned in a neighbor’s pool. The doctors didn’t think he’d survive and if he did they said he’d have brain damage because of the amount of time they thought his brain had been without oxygen. Not only did he survive, he made a full recovery. Then like my grandpa, when I was in the fifth grade, very unexpectedly he stepped foot into the street and was hit by a bus. It killed him instantly. Because of his hearing impairment he relied heavily on his sight when doing something as simple as crossing the street but the bus driver said he’d just stepped foot onto the street right in front of the bus without looking up. Something he always did but for some reason that one time he didn’t.” She shrugged “It was their time.”

  Gio shook his head, not sure how to respond, then her already dark eyes got even more serious. “I’m sure you’ve heard this a million times, Giovanni. But you really can’t blame yourself. Even if it hadn’t happened under the circumstances that it did—an arranged fight that he completely agreed to—when it’s your time, it’s your time.” She reached across the table and touched his hand. “There’s only one higher power that decides these things. Believe it or not, you had nothing to do with his time being up.”

  Everyone including his mother, Jack and the guys had all tried to get him to see the situation for it was—a tragic event that couldn’t be helped. But hearing Bianca put it this way made him actually believe it for once. “I’m sorry about what happened to your grandparents and your dad. That really sucks. But I’m glad it wasn’t their time so early on.”

  “And see, that’s just the thing,” she said squeezing Gio’s hand now. “It sucks that this guy was so young, yes. But it was his time.”

  Gio glanced down at her delicate hand. Funny how such a simple gesture could go so far. Her touch was soothing—calming. “He had an untreated aneurism. He should’ve never been in the ring. The doctor that cleared him is actually under investigation right now.” Her hand stroked his now and the pent up emotion he’d held in for so long was back. “His wife is pregnant. She’s real young, too. I thought about her when I saw a few couples on the slopes today with their little kids. That’s what’s bothered me the most about all this. Losing my dad was the worst thing I’d ever gone through, but at least I had my dad for thirteen years. This kid is never even gonna know his dad.”

  He didn’t know why he was telling her all this but it felt good to finally let it out. For so long he’d refused to really tell anyone what he was thinki
ng—feeling. He’d hid away in that garage for weeks; barely speaking to anyone that came and sat with him.

  Without warning, Bianca stood up and came around the table, sliding in on his side. She took his hand and leaned her head against his shoulder, giving Gio a heavenly whiff of her hair. “It’s okay to feel sad for his child. As long as you’re not blaming yourself for it.” She lifted her head to face him. Gio refused to move. If he did he’d have to fight the urge to put his arm around her and then…instead he looked in her big concerned eyes. “If we believe my grandma’s theory, and I really do, as much as it sucks ass, that kid was never meant to meet his dad. It’s just how things were meant to be.”

  As heavy as what she just said was, Gio couldn’t help but chuckle. “Sucks ass? Really?”

  Her eyes brightened instantly and she pulled away from him, humor already dancing in her eyes. “My grandma says that all the time.”

  That made Gio laugh even more and just like that she was laughing with him. “She sounds like my grandma then. Whenever she caught us playing with her things—things we weren’t supposed to be touching, like her expensive china, she’d tell us to ‘Go play with your culo!’” Bianca burst out laughing now and even though Gio had heard his grandmother say that so many times, it sounded hilarious now to him, too. Between laughing he explained. “My mom used to get pissed. She hated the way it sounded. But that didn’t stop my grandma.” Gio smiled remembering something else. “My mom’s always been big on not ruining your appetite between meals with junk but my grandma didn’t care what of time a day or how close our next mealtime was. If I or any of my sisters were ever sad about anything she’d load us up with ice cream.”

  Bianca smiled big. “That’s so cool. So you totally get why we women go running to good ‘ole Häagan-Dazs with a giant spoon when we’re down instead of crying into our beer like you guys supposedly do when you’re down.”

  “Absolutely,” Gio agreed, lifting his mug. “Beer’s for the good times. But ain’t nothing like a big ass bowl of ice cream with all the trimmings to chase the blues away for me.”

  He told her a little more about his grandma and he was so close to pulling her food over to his side so she wouldn’t go back to sitting on the other side. He liked her right where she was. As disappointing as it was when she did move back to sit across from him he knew it was for the best.

  Gio had never really been much of a talker, especially with girls. It was rare for him to open up to anyone else but his close friends but Bianca made it so easy. The conversation just flowed so comfortably as if it hadn’t been years since they’d last seen each other.

  When they were finished with lunch Bianca suddenly looked up at him; her excitement was irrefutable. Instantly, Gio felt the big goofy smile he’d worn all day on his face again. “What?”

  “You wanna meet my grandma?”

  This was completely unexpected. “When?”

  “Today. My mom too, actually.” She stood up and he stood with her. “If we take the back way to the resort we’ll pass right by the shop. I don’t usually go even a day without seeing them and I was planning on going straight back to the cabin after we boarded but since it’s on the way, maybe we can stop by?”

  The thought of meeting her mom and grandmother made him a little uneasy. Especially knowing her grandmother was the type of woman that said ‘sucks ass’ all the time. Gio had never met any parents of the girls he’d gone out with. Of course, he wasn’t the one seeing Bianca. Still, it made him nervous, but after seeing her excitement about such a simple request there was no way he’d refuse. “Sure, we can do that.”

  Seeing how happy that made her was totally worth the nerves. On the way there, Bianca got a call from Felix. The girl wore her heart on her sleeve and Gio saw it the moment Felix had given her the news. Felix wasn’t making it up to the cabin again.

  Gio glanced out the window not wanting to be too intrusive of her conversation but with her sitting right next to him, there was no way of not hearing it all.

  “It’s all clear up here. I thought you said you’d charter a helicopter if you had to?”

  The speaker on her phone was so loud Gio could hear Felix tell her he’d tried everything. Ironically, just as he said it Gio saw not only a plane fly overhead but a helicopter as well. It could be that they were just allowing local touring helicopters but Gio’s mind went back to the photos of Felix and that other girl in a hotel and he wondered if Felix was even in California like he claimed to be.

  Felix was a player. He’d never denied that and with his celebrity of course he had girls throwing themselves at him everywhere he went. But why lead someone like Bianca on? He had plenty of girls who would gladly agree to a non-exclusive relationship. Why break such a sweet girl’s heart? It was totally unnecessary, and completely selfish. It’s not like there was a shortage of girls in Big Bear. Even up here in this quaint little town, Felix seemed confident that there’d be plenty of snow bunnies for them.

  That made Gio wonder if Felix planned on joining him with the snow bunnies or if he planned on bringing Bianca along.

  Gio glanced back at Bianca. There was no hiding the disappointment she now wore so heavily. She sighed deeply. “Okay. Well, keep me posted.” A sudden smile illuminated her face. “I love you, too.”

  Gio jerked his face away and stared out his window, afraid Bianca might see the shock and disgust he was feeling with Felix at that moment. Was he really throwing it out there like that? Telling her he loved her while he was still messing around? He couldn’t think of anything more fucked up.

  Knowing it would only piss him off but he had to know now, he pulled his own phone out and googled Big Bear Airport. Within seconds, he got what he wanted.

  Conditions: Clear

  Felix was full of shit. Being a selfish asshole with the girls he dated was one thing but why the hell should Gio get involved in this shit? He didn’t mind the time he got to spend with Bianca. In fact, he was enjoying it more than he’d ever admit to anyone. But he just didn’t want to be part of or witness to any heartache Felix’s heartless ass might put her through.

  He didn’t even realize Bianca was off the phone and staring out her window now. Her cheery mood was long gone. “So he’s not making it up tonight?”

  She shook her head but continued to stare out the window. Since she didn’t actually answer, Gio pursed his lips wondering if maybe she was choked up. She had been visibly upset the night before when she first got the news he wasn’t going to make it up.

  “You okay?”

  She finally turned and met his eyes. Eyes like hers weren’t meant to be sad and at that moment he hated Felix. “You don’t think he’s just making excuses do you?”

  “No,” Gio was quick to answer but he’d say anything to make her feel better. “I really don’t think he would’ve had me come up if he hadn’t planned on being here.”

  There was a flicker of hope in her eyes now, as if she hadn’t thought of that. “The main highway is still down but this morning he sounded sure that worst case scenario he could charter a helicopter. Now he says that’s not looking like it’s gonna happen either.”

  “But it’s still a possibility, right?” Gio tried to sound hopeful but the more he thought of the clear conditions at the airport the harder it was to hide the disdain he was feeling for Felix.

  The car pulled up in front of a quaint shop. “He didn’t sound too optimistic,” she said as she reached for the door handle. “More than likely he won’t be up until tomorrow.”

  A very small part of him was glad he’d have another night alone with her. But the bigger part, the important part, the one that was beginning to understand why Noah was worried about him stressing out, had to fight the urge to call Felix and tell his ass off.

  Of course, he couldn’t. Not just because he was with her at the moment but because even if he walked away to make the call, the way he was feeling he’d probably get loudly worked up and she’d know something was up.

&n
bsp; Felix was blowing her off… again. That wasn’t something Gio wanted to break to her. What sucked is that she’d eventually find out and Gio hoped to hell he wasn’t around to see it. He wouldn’t be able to bear seeing her cry.

  They got out and walked silently up to the front door of the shop. The contrast of the warmth inside the shop compared to the freezing cold outside felt heavenly. Gio was glad he walked in behind Bianca and didn’t have the ability to seeing the crotch-tightening expression she was probably making because it felt that good.

  A short older woman wearing glasses on a chain that hung around her neck looked up and smiled big. “Bianca!” Another woman, younger than the first, walked out of the door behind the counter engrossed in a figurine she was holding. The first woman tapped her gently on the arm and motioned to Bianca.

  The woman smiled and used sign language to communicate with her. Bianca responded with her own effortless hand signs as she approached them. “I’m snowboarding today.”

  Both women smiled as she hugged and kissed them. Bianca turned to Gio who stood behind her trying not to look as nervous as he felt. This was an absolute first for him and he had no idea how unnerving it could be. “This is Gio, one of Felix’s trainers and old friend from high school.” She smiled then addressed Gio. “This is my grandmother, Nana, and my mother, Lupe.”

  After the introductions Bianca’s mother signed something to Bianca pointing at her own eyes then at Gio. A shy smile spread across Bianca’s face. “She says you have beautiful eyes.”

  “Thank you,” Gio nodded toward her mom. She smiled brightly and though her eyes weren’t nearly as big as Bianca’s, Gio could see where Bianca got her happy demeanor.

  “So, where’s Felix?” her grandmother asked.