Luca’s POV
I blinked once, and pushed through the bodies of the men who were standing before me, rushing forward to the person who was calling my name, which i had thought I had imagined at first, and as soon as I got to where he was standing in, beside three other people– I shoved the man closer to him to the side and pulled him into my arms, feeling the whole war that had been going on inside of my head start to ease off in that same moment, as I pulled him against me even more.
I pulled out of the hug after a moment and held his shoulders, shaking him a little right before I started to speak.
“Where the fuck have you been, Armani?” I asked after shaking him for a few moments, staring into his eyes and taking my gaze over every part of his face to ensure that there wasn’t any kind of scratch on his face, and then I started to look him up and down, patting his arm down.
“Luca…?” I raised my head up after a few moments and pulled him into my arms, ignoring the man eco we’re still standing around us, and the rest of the five men who I was sure were standing behind me at the moment, as I felt oh so relieved in that particular moment. I pulled out of the hug after a little while and was back to shaking him with my hands on his shoulders.
“Where the hell were you?” I asked, glaring at him angrily and that was when I noticed a look which I still remember him showing me sometimes while we grew up together.
“Uh, I didn’t know I was going to be gone that long, I swear it,” He started to say, and I felt the scowl on my face get more outlined and intense in the next moment as I stared at him unbelievably at first.
“Where did you go?” I asked after some time, and I watched as he averted his gaze from my face at first and started to move his weight from foot to foot before finally starting to speak.
“Uh, first of all… I got lost.” He confessed and blinked at him, defending not expecting that. I shook him a little after a few moments, still feeling like my chest was still squeezed tight against my ribs. My heart was still beating really fast and I just knew that it was going to take a while for my heartbeat to calm down, and for my brain to accept the fact that he was indeed fine and alive and not in any kind of danger, like I had thought before.
I let go of him after a few moments, the whole explanation could wait, I said to myself as I turned around and like I had known, all eight men were all staring at me, and after a few seconds, James came forward and decided to start to speak before I could even start to think of something to say.
“Did you find him?” James asked almost immediately, referring to the three different men who had come with Armani.
“Actually, yes. He got lost and couldn’t find his way.” The first person who was an Asian responded and I shot Armani a look at that very moment, tsking a little under my breath when he instantly averted his gaze and focused them on his feet.
“Where?” James continued, moving a little in where he was currently standing, and before the men could start to speak, Armani was surprisingly speaking up this time, something he’d never attempted doing when he was still young.
“Actually, it was my fault. I didn’t know that the whole place looked so alike and so I got lost when trying to find my way.” Armani started to speak, and he shrugged a little after a few moments. I could still feel my heart pounding hard against the sides of my ribs, I had been worried about him so bad and at this point, I was starting to wonder how his mind works to begin with, because I wanted to understand how he came to the conclusion that walking around on his own was a good idea to begin with?
I stepped forward before James could start to speak, and I began to try to dismiss the men who had all turned up after James had made some calls and complaints. James then proceeded to apologize to them and after a while, they were all leaving for their different officers. I watched as Armani made sure to thank the supposed people who had found him, right before they all went their separate ways.
As soon as they were gone, Armani turned around towards me and made to start to speak but I silenced him with a raised hand and then I walked past him, and around a little as I started to make my way to the car. The driver jumped out of the car and pulled the passenger’s door open, and I slid into it the next moment. I leaned my head against the headrest of the seat and started to allow my eyes to slide close, just as I felt someone start to slide into the seat beside me.
Telling by the unfamiliar perfume fragrance faintly hitting my nose at the moment, I could tell that the person sliding into the seat beside me was no other person my brother. I popped my eyes open as soon as I felt the car start to move slowly, and that was when I realized that James had chosen to sit in the front of the seat, leaving me and Armani at the back.
The car slowly pulled out from the airport, and at this point, the cloud was really dark, and a quick glance at my wrist watch showed that the time was exactly eight p. m at the moment. I remained silent, choosing not to say a thing, and after some time, I started to move my fingers through my hair. All what had happened back at the airport was now feeling like I had completely experienced all what I did right from a different body entirely.
I could still recollect the whole feeling which I had felt back there, how intense the fear had been, and how it almost felt unreal to begin with. Perhaps, I wouldn’t have been that affected on a normal day to the extent of how I had been affected today, if I hadn’t first of all had this same fear when his plane hadn’t even landed yet. Perhaps, that was why it had affected me to the extent that it has, because it still felt almost crazy and unbelievable for all that had happened to have occurred in such a short amount of time.
I puffed out a deep breath and dragged it into my lungs, and after a few seconds, I started to slightly turn my head to the side, setting my eyes on Armani’s for the first time since we made our way into the car. His side profile was exactly like mine– sharply outlined jaw, same lip shapes and eyebrows patterns, we looked so alike like that. I puffed out a deep breath, letting it slowly ease out of my lungs as I raked my eyes over him, taking in that fact that he was grown up, and he was also fine, and doesn’t even have any sort of scratch on his body at this very moment.
It all happened really slowly, one moment I was sterimg at him and silently expressing how happy and relieved I was that nothing was wrong with him and that he was doing very fine as it seems, and in the next moment, he was turning his head around and it only took a fleeting moment more until our eyes were locking against each other’s.
He blinked once, and I watched as he swallowed emptily before averting his gaze, and I caught a wave of guilt cross his face as he completely averted his gaze
I averted my gaze as well and started to move my fingers through my hair after a couple or seconds had passed. I caught James’ gaze in the rear view mirror after some time, and I stared at him confusingly at first when he started to make weird eyes at me. I wasn’t in the mood for any of his games because I was still feeling really shaken up as it is, and so I averted my gaze from the mirror and lowered my gaze to stare at my hands. After a few moments had passed, I decided to take out my phone from my pocket, and I definitely wasn’t expecting James to start to text me almost immediately.
I clicked on his inbox and rolled my eyes a little as iI ghosted my eyes over his text.