The Fire Within

Chapter 16

'Oh my god. I can't do this.'

"There you are! You had us so worried. Where were you?!" Romeo says. My father is no where to be found. "I was with a friend." I say in a small voice. I honestly don't have the energy for this. My head is pounding.

"A friend?! Who! I want a proper answer from you." Lorenzo yells. I can't do this right now. "Please let's talk later. I can't do this right now." I say feeling awful. "Are you okay?" Aurelio says.
"Yeah." I say and try to leave only for Romeo to step towards me. He puts his hand on my forehead then gives me a soft look.

"You have a fever. Come." He doesn't even give me a chance of say anything. He picks me up and puts me on his hip. I physically don't have the strength or mentality right now to fight with him so I just rest my head on his shoulder.

He brings me to the living room then sits down on the couch and puts me in his lap. Nico comes in with a thermometer and some other things. "Bambina I'm gonna take your temperature okay?" I nod my head slightly as he puts the thermometer in my mouth.

For a couple minutes he just holds me and rubs my back. Taking the thermometer he looks at it. "101 fever. Baby that really high. Lorenzo call dad." He gave the thermometer back to Nico and Lorenzo leaves the room pulling out his phone. "Here this will help." Nico gives me some medicines.

We just stay like this. Romeo holding me Nico sat in front of us while Dante, Lukas and Aurelio stand around looking nervously at me.

Soon Lorenzo comes back and says. "He won't be back for two weeks. He is gonna try get back as early as he can. He wants us to take care of her and if she get worse to tell him."

"Where did he go?" I ask in a weak voice. "He had to go on a business trip last minute. Don't worry we are gonna take good care of you. I promise." Romeo says into my hair as he kisses my head. I nod my head in response closing my eyes and falling asleep

The next morning comes around and I wake up in my bed, feeling worse than yesterday. I've a really bad cough that has developed over night. Every so often Romeo came into my room to take my temperature and give me medicine. If it wasn't him waking me up it was the fact I couldn't stop throwing up. It felt like I was in the bathroom every 5 minutes all night long.

Deciding I should probably shower and clean myself up a bit I get out of bed. After showering I put on one of Andrew t-shirts with another pair of black shorts and get back into bed.

After a little while there is a knock at the door and Lukas comes in with a try of food and drink. "Hey I brought this up just in case. I know you keep throwing everything up but I thought you may want something." He says softly. I'm still super pissed off with him even if I am sick.

I attempt to roll my eyes but my headache says other wise. So instead I just glare at him for a second and roll over so my back is facing him.

"Look, I'm really sorry love. I didn't mean to lose my temper like that." He says softly. "You don't understand Lukas, in that moment you reminded me of her. You scared me." I say and sit up. I can see his face visibly pale. "And then at dinner that look you all gave me. I just couldn't take it. I felt like I was back there, I felt like I didn't know what was gonna happen, if someone was gonna hurt me." Now looking at the bed sheets unable to meet his eyes.

As much as I am angry, he is the only one to understand my feelings about the subject because he was there right along with me. "How come you never told them about the abuse? I mean I know they know about the drugs and alcohol. But..." I trail off. "Because it's just as much your story to tell as it is mine and I felt like it was something we should do together, something we should agree on. I didn't think it was right for me to tell them with out you or with out you even knowing."