Garden of Roses ✔️

Chapter 35

Zara

My eyes fly open at the sound of a gunshot. Through the glass balcony doors, I see that it's still dark outside. Who the hell would shoot at this hour? I think to myself as I rub my eyes off sleep. Next to me, Dante's body jerks out of sleep. The very next second, he is already standing up and approaching the balcony doors slowly.

"What are you doing?" I murmur, my voice coming out quiet and husky. I prop myself on my elbows to look at Dante. He puts his index finger over his lips to signal me to be quiet. With a loud sigh, I throw myself back on the pillow and he gives me an irritated look for not listening to him about being quiet.

As he slightly peeks through the curtains, the bright moonlight exposes his upper body, and now I can't peel my eyes off of him. I don't know when or where he lost his shirt, but the bare skin of his muscular torso leaves me feeling grateful that he did.

For the first time, I see where his tattoos start and where they end, not just bits and pieces that come out of his sleeves or shirt collar.

A black snake almost completely covers his left arm, wrapping itself around his forearm, elbow, and his bicep. Snake's head is placed on the front side of his left shoulder. The left side of his broad chest is inked with black, dead, leafless tree branches, while the right side is covered in rich branches that blossom with beautiful and colorful little flowers. From his right elbow, over the shoulder, and to the collar bone, dozens of little birds are inked into his skin, looking like they're flying towards the blossoming side of the tree.

The whole tree part of his body art is done in so much detail it almost looks like a photograph. The word beautiful just isn't enough to describe how it looks. I can't stop looking at him. My eyes go over every inch of his tattoo. From his shoulders and collarbone, across his chest, and abs. Every single inch of him looks perfect.

By the time my eyes find their way back to his, he is looking at me as if expecting something from me. Did he say something?

"Huh?"

"I said you can stop eye-fucking me now. There'll be plenty of time for you to do that later. Now I need you to get dressed. I think we have some company." I try to look unfazed by what he said, but I'm suddenly embarrassed and feel my cheeks burning in a matter of seconds.

"I wasn't doing that," I retort, but he just quietly laughs at me.

"Oh yeah, you did. And shamelessly, if I may add." He steps away from the balcony door and a few steps later, he is towering over where I'm lying on the bed. His knuckles brush my cheek as he smiles down at me.

"You don't have to be embarrassed, Amore. I like the fact that you appreciate my body." His cool fingers do nothing to soothe my burning cheeks. If anything, he's only making it worse.

"Now get your ass up, I'm not screwing around here." His tone is not playful anymore, but serious as he starts to dig through my closet and throw some clothing items out and over his shoulder.

I have no idea what is going on. The gunshots haven't bothered me the slightest as I just figured it wasn't anything serious. Back at home, Alex and Bianca would sometimes get a little too playful and there were shots fired on more than one occasion. Maybe that's why I wasn't bothered by this one. I wouldn't be surprised if it was them again.

Now that I've gotten out of bed and paid attention, I saw that Dante looked tense, and thought that maybe I shouldn't be so nonchalant after all.

"What's going on, did you see something out there?" I ask, looking through different clothing items on the floor and picking up black skinny jeans and a plain white t-shirt.