chapter FORTY-FOUR
When I woke, I walked across the hall to the room Kevin was in and found him still sleeping. Vittorio’s and Julian’s voices echoed down the hall. I did not want to interrupt, so sat in Kevin’s room, waiting for him to wake.
When he did, I wanted to hug him, but restrained myself, not wanting to hurt him.
He stood and hugged me instead.
“I’m so glad you’re okay, Kevin. I was so worried about you. When I saw you in that chair, I almost lost my mind.”
“Calm down, Elena. I’ll be fine. It’s not like I haven’t had a broken bone before.” He sat back down and fumbled with his good arm to pull the blanket around his shoulders.
“You might want to take some time off work and get out of town for a while. I don’t want you to get caught up in this again.” I remained standing, hoping I could intimidate him into leaving.
“Fat chance of that. You think I’m leaving you alone in the middle of all this?” He continued fumbling with the blanket.
“I wouldn’t be alone. Vittorio will be with me.” I helped wrap the blanket around him.
“You know what I mean. I’m not leaving you. I may not be much help against those wackos, but I’ll do whatever I can to help protect you.”
“Thanks, Kevin.” I sat down.
“What are you going to do now? You can’t go back home since they know where you live.”
“We haven’t talked about it yet. I guess we can book a couple hotel rooms.”
“A couple?”
“I’m not letting you go back home, either, not until this is over with.”
“Just get a place with a hot tub, okay? And a gym would be nice.”
“What are you going to do with a broken arm?”
“Watch the girls without broken arms.” Kevin grinned, and I knew he’d be okay.
“How are you, really, Elena?”
“Hanging in there. The fire thing really freaked me out, but I’ll be okay. Julian said he can help me erase that fear from my mind. Once this is all over, I’m going to take him up on the offer.”
Vittorio’s power called to mine as he entered the room. I jumped up to greet him, feeling very clingy. Part of me hated it, but the other part was accepting, especially since he gave me the comfort I needed.
“Do you feel strong enough to try removing the amulet, mio amore?”
I nodded.
“I would like Kevin to be elsewhere, just in case you are unable to control your power. He has no defense against it, and is already weak. I think he will be alright if he just goes to the other end of the building.”
Kevin happily agreed.
I took a deep breath and concentrated, then slowly lifted the amulet over my head. My power pushed at me, wanting to be free, but I was able to keep it under control. I handed the amulet to Vittorio. “I want to see what happens if I kiss you. Do you mind?”
“I never mind when you kiss me.” Mischief glinted in his eyes.
“You know what I mean. I want to make sure I can control my power, and that’s when I’m most likely to lose control.”
“I understand, mio amore. No, I do not mind.” He leaned down and gently kissed me.
My power pulsed, but it was nothing more than normal for when we kissed.
“Guess everything is back to normal then, huh? Whatever normal is.”
Vittorio knew the manager at a nice hotel in downtown St. Louis. He could book rooms for us under fake names so Samuel couldn’t track us down.
“We should leave Samuel’s Range Rover in a parking lot somewhere,” Vittorio said.
“But how will we get to the hotel?” I asked.
“I can follow you, then drive you the rest of the way once you dump the car,” Julian said.
“Thank you very much, my friend. We really appreciate this. I am eternally in your debt.”