Mafia Betrayal

Chapter Seventeen

Charlotte

By the time I got into the bathroom, Luca was leaning back against the bathtub with his head between his legs. He hardly looked up when I came in, mumbling some nonsense I couldn't understand.

"Would you like some water?" I asked. He mumbled something more I didn't understand in response.

I walked over to the sink and wet a washcloth underneath the water. Luca looked awful and for a second, I thought about just leaving him and letting him suffer. I knew I couldn't do that, though.

I knelt down beside him and pressed the cool washcloth to the back of his neck. He flinched at first, but moaned at the relief it gave him. Cupping his chin in my hand, I turned his face toward me.

His lip was swollen and bloody, and both of his eyes and his jaw were already turning black. Somebody beat the shit out of him.

"What happened?" I asked as I wiped some of the dried blood off of his nose with the washcloth.

He winced at the touch. "Your brother." He reeked of alcohol, but he was surprisingly sober.

"Gabe?" I frowned, continuing to wash his wounds. I thought Lily wasn't going to get involved.

"Seth." He corrected, adjusting his weight on the floor.

I arched an eyebrow at him. "Why?"

"Because I'm an asshole and I deserved it." Luca's angst-filled eyes met mine for the first time since we'd been sitting here. The pain in them destroyed me.

"I won't argue with you on that point." I mustered up a smile.

I brought the washcloth to his lip, and he winced again, reaching out for my hand and pulling it away from his face. His wounds weren't completely clean, but it would do. He clenched my hand in his, but not painfully.

Luca chuckled to himself. "Why are you being so nice to me after what I've done to you?"

I sucked in a sharp breath. I didn't really know the answer to that question.

"Because I know I hurt you." I said. "And it doesn't excuse the way you've been treating me, but I know you're hurting and I'm sorry."

This was the first honest conversation we'd had since he came back into my life.

"I hurt you, too, Charlotte. In worse ways than I ever wanted to. And in worse ways than you hurt me." Luca shook his head. "And you didn't deserve it."

"You didn't deserve what I did to you, either." I offered. It may be pointless to be having this conversation while he was drunk on the bathroom floor, but with the way things were going, I didn't know when we would have it again.

"We both fucked up." Luca laid his head down on my shoulder. "You know I love you, don't you?"

I ran my thumb gently across his forehead and let out a heavy sigh. "You can't say things like that to me, Luca."

"Why not? It's true."

"It's not true. You're only saying that because you're drunk and I'm taking care of you. I might start to believe you, and you won't even remember this in the morning."

"You're wrong." He tried to protest, nearly asleep on my shoulder.

"Let's finish this conversation when you're not drunk and concussed." I let out a sharp laugh.

He straightened up and turned towards me. "I'm not that drunk, Charlotte. Concussed, possibly," he smirked. "But I know what I'm saying."

"Why don't you let me help you get into bed?" I suggested, moving away from him. He grabbed my arm, refusing to let me get up.