Chasing Stars - A Midnight Mafia Novel

Chapter Fifty-Three

                When I opened my eyes to the darkened room there was something I could tell immediately. I was home again.

The hospital trip had been, well, not so great. It was essentially like every other hospital trip I made. You know how it is, trying to take the doctors out, trying to climb my way up Alessio for protection.

"Sedate her." Alessio had said in shocking calmness as I had tried to scour him like a rock climbing wall.

"We can't just sedate a patient for no reason, I'm afraid-"

He'd sighed, loudly, over dramatically in a way that stopped the doctor in his tracks. He pulled his gun out and waved it carelessly through the air. "Are you going to sedate her, or do I have to find someone who will?"

The doctor stared for a moment with wide eyes and then had proclaimed he'd be right back.

"So fȕcking hard to find good help these days." Alessio had muttered. After a few minutes we heard security being paged over the intercom. "Great. Now I have two problems, I have to kill this doctor and find someone else to sedate you." He scoffed and detangled my grip from him. Moments later the intercom announced a cancel call to security and Alessio returned with the same doctor. "Honestly, I expected more from you. Aren't you doctors supposed to be smart? I swear, they'll give anyone one of these white jackets!" Alessio scolded and then came back to me. He wrapped his arms around me and when he had kissed my forehead I had melted into him. "Goodnight Katherine." He'd said calmly just before I was sedated.

Waking up at home was a relief. A large relief if I was being honest. I rolled over in bed and sat up. My whole body ached, I felt stiff, my throat was even so rough that my groan was silent, but nothing hurt worse than my head.

I was in Alessio's shirt and nothing else. Across the room Alessio was slouched halfway down in a chair, it was clear he had once had his chin propped up on his fist and his elbow on the arm of the chair but now the hand was nearly at his hair line, at his feet Donato was laying.

When he saw me sit up Donato raised his head. He watched me expectantly for a few moments before raising to all for feet and barking loudly. Alessio jerked awake and gave Donato a nudge with his foot. "Lousy mutt!" He scolded and then looked up to me. "You're awake. Did he?"

I shook my head.

Donato paced beside the bed, I could tell her was itching to jump up but his instincts told him not to as I was injured. He was a good dog.

In a scratchy and weak voice I muttered my first of what I had intended to be many, many apologies. "I'm sorry."

He frowned and stood up. With painful slowness he crossed the room until he could sit on the bed beside me. "Shut up."

"I saw Matteo, but only to-"

"I said shut up." I snapped my mouth shut. Anxiety swelled around me. I had no idea what Alessio was going to do or say. He had been very firm on his distaste for Matteo, very. My seeing Nash last night had been purely business. I was trying to help clean up the mess that I had started so long ago with the Bonnano and Genovese, Alessio would never believe Nash was on my side, a secret little informant. He was and would always be the man working for the man who wanted me dead, and the man I had cheated on him with. "Don't you ever fȕcking apologize for this again. You understand me?" I nodded and he cupped my face in his hands and kissed me. He breathed heavily into the kiss from his nose and I could feel the tenseness in his hands lingering a little too close to my neck for comfort.