"And where exactly are you headed to? Surely not to pick a fight with whoever hit your brother... right?"
I felt my face heat up from the accurate accusation and shook my head slowly.
"N-No-"
"Your first words to me are lies?" He clicked his tongue...
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"Hey, you okay?" A knock sounded from my door and I looked up from my pillow to see Benny leaning on the doorframe.
I nodded lightly, hugging my pillow closer to me as he walked in and shut the door behind him, sitting on the edge of the bed beside me. He sighed, rubbing his face in his hands, "It's going to work out, you know? Matteo is... he's just too stubborn to leave your side. He'll probably get locked up for a couple of days max before the charges drop and then he'll come back to you. It's going to be fine."
I nodded as a stray tear rolled down my face and I wiped it quickly, "He's getting accused of things that are my fault, Benny..."
"He's got it handled, Sammie. I swear it. He's literally downstairs with Flavio right now coming up with a plan."
I sighed and looked at the clock beside my bed, it's already one in the morning. Meaning either later today or tomorrow Willow should be receiving her results for her scans. She told me she wanted to be left alone today to think about how she's going to tell Stefan so I'm giving her the space she needs.
"I'm scared," I whispered as another tear rolled down my cheek, and Benny frowned slightly at me, "I know. I also wanna let you know that I deleted the video..."
My eyebrows met in confusion as I looked up at him, "Video?"
"The other night... when I walked in on you and Matteo?" He asked awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck and I guess I don't understand what he's talking about, "You did what?"
"Back at the Muraka. I was vlogging and the door was slightly open so I walked in and... you and Matteo were like... screwin'," he said and I groaned, my face heating up immensely as I stuffed my face in the pillow, "I'm so sorry, Benjamin."
"I should be the one to apologize. My excitement about the vlog got my better judgment. Either way, I should've knocked," he chuckled and I laughed into the pillow, "How are things with Gino?"
"He's perfect, Sammie. I know no one realized how we felt about each other until recently, but... it just works... you know?" He said distractedly with a grin on his face. His ears began to flush and I playfully hit him in the back of the head with a decorative pillow, "If you're going to fantasize about sex with your boyfriend, do it alone, Benny."
He laughed and ruffled my hair a bit before standing up.
"I should get back to the bedroom before Gino notices I'm still awake. If you need me you know where I'm at," he smiled and I nodded, "Same to you." He winked at me before quickly walking out of the room and shutting the door quietly.
I hugged the pillow to me, cuddling it in a fetal position as I stressed about everything that would take place tomorrow.
✈️
I felt the bed dip in behind me and I felt Matteo's arm wrap around my waist. I looked up at the clock to see it was four in the morning. Before I went back to sleep I felt him move my hair away and kiss the back of my shoulder gently, "I didn't mean to wake you."
I moved back a bit, cuddling into him, "It's okay. I was barely asleep anyway."
His arm that was wrapped around my waist lifted up and entwined with my hand. He squeezed softly and rubbed his thumb in circles across my skin in a comforting way. I turned on my back to look at him and the moon illuminated the room only slightly so that I seen his eyes shining.
"You're worried," he whispered with a slight frown and I nodded as I looked at our entwined hands, "I am."
"We've got it figured out, sweetheart," he said as he tore his hand from mine and placed it on my cheek. He propped himself up on his elbow so that his face was hovering over mine.
"I'm so sorry, Matteo... I'm sorry you're getting the blame," I whispered up at him and he smiled softly, "My job is to protect you. Since the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew I wanted to keep you safe. And if keeping you safe means taking the blame, I'll do it a hundred times."
I frowned slightly and looked at our entwined hands as he continued rubbing circles on my skin.
He really is the perfect man. But I feel so guilty. I know that if I turn myself in, Matteo would never forgive me. But I'll never forgive myself if he gets in a lot of trouble for the things I've done and things that neither of us did. He deserves so much better.
"I love you, Sam," he said and I looked back up at him, the corners of my lips tugging upwards slightly. I'll never get used to hearing him say that. It makes me feel like a better woman knowing that Matteo Salvatore loves me.
"I love you back," I said and he grinned, leaning down to kiss me before laying back on the pillow. I leaned over on my side facing him as he wrapped his arm around me and I began tracing his toned abdomen with the tip of my index finger.
He studied my face as I played with the skin of his belly and chills engulfed my arms by the way he watched me in close proximity. It was like if he tore his eyes away from me, he'd never be able to see me again.
Then my stomach dropped and everything seemingly made sense.
He's handling me with so much care because he knows he's never going to see me again. No, no, no. I stopped tracing his skin and he furrowed his eyebrows as I looked up at him. He's going to run. He's going to run because when people look in this deeper, they're going to try to pin it on me. And when he runs, it'll make him look guilty. Which is what he wants.
