Hidden Love

movie room

He carefully used his thumb to move my lip from my teeth. He got up and stood in front of me. “I think that’s enough for tonight. Should we go to the movie room? Your soup is gone, and you need to rest.”

“Are you going to watch some sappy girly movie with me?” I ask with a giggle.

“Just this once. I think I can get through one of your sappy girly movies.” Adonis kisses my head ever so carefully. “You can tell me the rest later. Oh, and baby sister, I’m not mad at you. Never you. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m proud of you. I love you.”

I simply nodded as we made our way to the big movie room on the first floor. It was just beyond the kitchen. I didn’t pick a very girly movie. I wanted to watch Fast and Furious. I figured if I started the series then the boys would watch it with me. Adonis grabbed my big soft comfy blanket. He carefully put it around me. The sofa there was huge, Adonis laid on one side using the arm as a pillow and I carefully arranged myself so that I was lying on him. Actually, I was lying between his legs. We both had room to sprawl out and still be comfy. Within the first 30 minutes, I think I may have fallen asleep.

ADONIS POV

My sister thinks she’s a disappointment. The f**k she is. I know grown men who couldn’t survive what she’s been through. I was worried about her popped stitches. I put gauze on them and taped them carefully so they wouldn’t bleed too much when she fell asleep on me upstairs. The boys were sleeping soundly when we came down here. She started to tell me her horror story. That is some f****d up s**t. Red shoes with silver tips. That would have to be a customary job. I mean we live in Miami, but that still has to be a custom job. I cut her off from the rest of her story. She looked so tired and was trying so hard. When she bit her bottom lip, I just wanted to kiss her senseless. My thoughts are not right about this woman. I’ve dated around, but nothing serious. When we have our special events and fundraisers, Nicolette is my date. She is all of our dates for every little thing. She can make a fancy dinner seem fun and not so boring. She knows how to steer a conversation so that it’s not all about my and my brother’s money.

This woman is everything. I carefully dug out my phone from my pocket. I sent a quick text in the group chat with my brothers. We are downstairs in the movie room. She picked the Fast and Furious series. I know the beginning of what happened. She’s already fallen asleep.

Sebastian responded: Any idea where to start looking?

Adonis : Red shoes with silver tips…that’s what kicked her and fractured her ribs. A van that would smell like strong onions and garbage all rolled into one, obviously transportation. I made her stop talking after a bit. She looked so defeated and sad.

Sebastian: I will get one of the guys working on that soon. How’s her mind doing?

Adonis: Not great. She thinks she is a disappointment because she got taken and wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings as well as she should have.

Sebastian: WTF?? Hell no. Baby girl made me proud of how she got out. She’s a survivor. I am going to kill the motherfuckers who did this. No Mercy Adonis. Do you hear me? NO MERCY!!!!

Adonis: I’m good with it. Mikey can do what he needs. No rules. Also, I’m going to call her college on Monday. She is out of commission for a while. She can take the semester off. Now I’m going to try and get some sleep. Lights out.

Sebastian: I will be in her room if you all need me. Lights out.

I looked down at Nicolette one more time before falling asleep.

THE NEXT DAY–SEBASTIAN

I woke up around 8 am. I called Rose, who was Adonis’s personal assistant, and sent a message letting her know that all three of us would be out of the office for the week due to a family emergency. If there were any meetings that couldn’t wait, then send an email with day and time and I would be there.

I shut my work app off and called Tony, “Are you up?”

“Yes boss. How is the quello piccolo?” Tony asked.

“Finally asleep. So are Adonis and Mikey. She gave us some stuff to go off of. A van that smells like strong onions and garbage is one thing. The other which I think is going to be easier to trace, red shoes with silver wings. The asshole who wore those kicked her. I think it’s a custom job, but I'm not sure. Just see what you can dig up. Oh, and Adonis has green lit this so you don’t have to operate in the dark. Kick in doors and get names, no matter the cost. These assholes went after my angelo (angel). They marked her for life.” I gave a few more directions to Tony and went into the sitting room with a cup of coffee.

I looked over at Adonis and Nicolette. She was just starting to wake up. She went to stretch and was met with a pang in her shoulder. She did a sharp inhale and slow exhale. “You OK?” I whispered with concern on my face.

“Yeah, I just forgot for a moment that there was an issue with moving.” Nicolette said in a sad voice. “Seb?”

“Yeah?” I asked her, ready to do whatever she needed.

“I really need to pee. I need to be carried to the bathroom though. Can you please help me?” She asked timidly.

“Of course principessa (princess). No trouble at all.” I carefully moved Adonis’s arms and legs from around her and helped her sit. I scooped her up and took her into the bathroom. She called me when she was done. When we went back out to the sitting room, Adonis had rolled into her blanket and had taken up all the room on the couch. I laughed a little. I grabbed my blanket and sat in the oversize king chair with her sitting sideways on my lap so that she was comfortable. She reached for my watch to check the time and little section where the date was. All three of us had the same watch. The only difference was the engraving on the back. She had given us these watches as a gag gift one year. It wasn't a fancy watch, but it collectively became all our favorites. We had rows of various other watches, Rolexes, and Cariter, but this..this was all of our favorites.

“Aren’t you supposed to have back-to-back meetings all this week? Shouldn’t you be in the office right now?” She looked at me worriedly.

I couldn’t help myself. I laughed a little. Here she was, my baby sister beaten up and hanging on by a thread, and she was worried about screwing up my schedule. I kissed the side of her head and gently pushed it onto my chest. “ Little one we all canceled this week. If there is an emergency meeting that can’t be redone, I will go and handle it. Rose is canceling and redoing all of our meetings.”

“Oh, what about Hailey?” She looked at me with those bright green eyes. I got lost in them. If only she knew what she did to me when she looked at me like that. Adonis has already got to kiss her. She just didn’t realize it. I wonder if she would let me.