Sway Me (book 1)

Chapter Thirteen- Steering wheel

13. Steering Wheel
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After Giovanni had called Stefano over to attend to his business, I finished my drink and went back up to the flying bridge. Giulia had just woken up from her nap and was stretching her limbs. Then Giovanni showed up. His eyes were on me for a second or two, staring at me as if I had offended him before shifting his attention to his sister. What was his problem?

"We will be going back to the shore. That's enough fun for today," he said swiftly and stiffly.

"But I literally didn't do anything fun," Giulia whined, while I just stared at him in confusion. His frown was gone, but there was a certain coldness in his appearance. Was he upset about something? He certainly had something going on with him at the moment.

"You spent your time sleeping," he pointed out blankly and walked away before Giulia could even respond, causing her to grumble like a child.

"There was no need to come in the first place. What a waste of time. Millie, I should have just let you sleep in instead of dragging you out here for nothing," Giulia snickered as she began arranging our bag.

"It's no big deal," I gave her a weak smile.

It wasn't long before we got back to the shore, but I never saw Stefano again. Laura chose to drive with us back to the house, and that definitely didn't sit well with Giulia. But that wasn't the issue. It was confusing why Giovanni was gripping the steering wheel tightly as he drove. Surely, I wasn't the only one who noticed that something was going on. But neither Laura nor Giulia were saying a thing. Giulia was silently fuming while Laura was in her own world, chattering on about something I couldn't understand. She would giggle occasionally at Giovanni as though it was a two-way conversation between them, but Giovanni acted like she wasn't really there and he did not bother to even stop her. I never knew that people could be that oblivious, or maybe she was pretending to be oblivious. Even a five-year-old would know when things were getting weird.

It wasn't long until we got back to the house, and Giulia literally jumped out of the car the moment it came to a halt. I gathered our bags, and Laura got out as well.

"Are you done?" Giovanni asked. I raised my head to see that he was staring at me through the rearview mirror. And there was that frown on his face again.

"Y-yeah. I am," I stuttered as I took the bag in my hand and got out of the car. Giovanni got out as well and locked the car.

"It was a wonderful time with you today, Emily," Laura gushed happily as I was about to enter the house. When did we really have these wonderful times? The only moment we had that was beyond the ordinary was when I walked in on her, fully naked and ready to have sex.

"Thank you," I simply said, gave her a small smile, and walked away. And I thought I was the weird one. I never knew that very attractive girls could be weird at any time. Well..., with the exception of Giulia. She was one of a kind, a different kind. The Queen Bee kind of girl always seems to have her life figured out.

Maybe Laura really did have everything figured out. For freaking sake!, she would be getting married to one of the world's richest men, a cheating man, my mind pointed out, but I waved it away. It was not my business or problem to deal with. After this holiday, I would most likely not see these people again. Hopefully no more wet dreams of Giovanni. Well..., maybe I will see them again when Giulia eventually finds the one and decides to get married.

The shower was running when I got to the room. Giulia must be taking her bath. I began arranging our stuff back when my phone rang. I stared at the number. It was an unknown number. I felt skeptical for a bit before I finally picked up the call.

"Hello! Who is this, please?" I said as I placed the phone against my ear. There was a pause from the other end. "Hello?" I asked again.

"Hey, Emily from America!" It was Stefano's voice, but he sounded a bit deeper than he did on the yacht. How did he get my number? I don't remember giving it to him.

"Stefano?" I answered, still in a daze. "How did you get my number? You're not some sort of hacker, are you?" I was completely curious.

He chuckled from the other end. "I'm not, I promise. A friend of yours gave it to me."

"A friend of mine? My friend? Giulia?" I asked, stunned. When did that even happen?

"I asked her for it. I hope that wouldn't be a problem," he responded.

"Oh! No, no. It's not," it might be a little problem, but he doesn't have to know that, that would be between Giulia and I.

I heard him chuckle on the other side. "Well, this might be fast, but I was hoping to see you sometime, like maybe tonight if you don't mind," he said.

I was about to respond and politely turn him down when Giulia emerged from the bathroom. She immediately snatched the phone from me. "Of course, Stefano. How about 9 p.m.? You can come pick her up," Giulia quickly responded. I frowned while she gave me a big smile. "Bye, Stefano. See you soon," she said and ended the call.

"Why would you do that, Giulia!" I whined.

"What?" She raised her hand in surrender. "He likes you. Why would he ask for your number if he didn't?"

"He might be a serial killer. You don't know that," I pointed out.

"Maybe, but I've known Stefano for a while now. He's Matteo and Alessandro's cousin," she said, and my jaw dropped.

"What? Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"

"Laura ruined my mood, and it slipped my mind," she defended. "You need this, Millie," she said, giving a sad smile as though this date would be like a salvation or redemption of a kind.

"You make it seem like my love life is pathetic," I rolled my eyes. Is it not? my brain taunted.

"Millie, it is. You know, someday you're going to look back at this day and thank me. You literally have no story to tell your children about your time in university."

"Of course I do," I defended.

"Tell me," she said with a challenging look on her face, and she folded her hands against her chest. I was silent. Dead silent. She was right. There was nothing. "Unless you want to tell them about how you almost had sex with Cole. That has to count for something, I think," she added with a smirk.

"Giulia!" I cried out in frustration. She just had to go there.

"Okay, fine," she waved her hands in the air. "I will finally let it go if you go out with Stefano."

I smacked my lips shut for a second or two before gritting out, "Fine. You already said yes."