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ChapterNine
I’d gotten out of English class without at least one of the Valentino boys cornering me. In fact, I’d made it all the way through lunch.
I was beginning to believe the day was going to pass by without any incident. The moment that thought crossed my mind; I should’ve known something was going to happen to fuck with my day.
Thick muscled arms wrapped around my body from behind and my feet were lifted off the ground. With my arms trapped at my sides, I kicked and swung my legs to strike whoever was holding me in their arms. A heavy hand clamped down over my mouth trapping the sounds behind my lips. All I could do was grunt out my anger at being dragged out of the hallway.
The thick scent of dust lingered in the air of whatever room they pulled me into. The room was dark, but I could see light streaming in through the windows. It wasn’t a closet, but what seemed to be an unused classroom.
I could only hear one set of footsteps, so there was only the person who dragged me into the room. That worked in my favor. I was pretty damn scrapy when I needed to be, so I could handle more than one guy if the situation called for it. Having only one to handle right now was a blessing though. I still wasn’t at one hundred percent after being shot, and that was going to limit my movements.
The second my feet touched the ground, I slammed my hands backwards into the pelvis of whoever was holding me with all the force I could muster in the position I was in. My foot stomped down on the instep of their foot, the heel of my ankle boot doing as much damage as I could.
His arms dropped away from my body, and I moved away from him as quickly as I could. I wouldn’t be able to fight back if he got his arms around me again. Turning on the ball of my foot, I got into the most stable stance I could while facing him. Ready for whatever he was going to through my way.
“Calm down. I’m not going to hurt you,” Enzo’s voice crossed the space separating us.
He leaned back against the long wooden desk behind him, crossing his arms over his wide chest. I could see he was attempting to make himself seem less intimidating. That only put me on my guard more. What the fuck was he up to? The Valentino boys weren’t the type of people to make themselves seem less than what they were for anyone, and they were all fucking intimidating without even trying.
“You’ll have to forgive my gut reaction. It’s hard to believe you just wanted to sit down for a cup of tea and talk about the weather when you snatch me up like that and drag me into an abandoned classroom all alone.” Now that I knew who I was up against, I felt my heart slow down for a moment. That moment didn’t last long, because looking at him as he lounged across from me it picked right back up.
“I didn’t think you would come with me if I asked nicely. You’ve been actively avoiding us here lately.” Supporting himself with his palms on the edge of the desk, he lifted himself into a seated position on the top.
“That tends to be what happens when a person gets shot by someone. They generally don’t want to sit down and shoot the shit with them.” Most of that statement was true. I was still in the process of getting all my crazy, haphazard ducks in a fucking row, and didn’t really have time to sit down and have a nice little chat with them. There was way too much shit on my plate right now since everything had gone sideways the way it did. That didn’t mean they were far from my thoughts at any given moment.
Nico was supposed to be my way in with Gio. This whole thing should’ve gone easier than it had, but I’d gotten distracted by something that had been all fucked up from the start. They say hindsight is twenty twenty, so I probably should’ve listened to Uncle Tony when it came to the mobster’s son. If I’d come at him from the angle of a slutty schoolgirl needing to get her rocks off, I might’ve already accomplished what I’d set out to do.
Of course, since my uncle was the one that relayed all the bad information about the kidnapped girls to me, I was a little less inclined to agree with any of his plans. Fuck, I hadn’t even really spoken to him since that meeting with him and Santiago after Jasper rescued me from that warehouse.
I still wasn’t sure if I was pissed or grateful to my best friend for that little intervention. There’s no telling what kind of information I might’ve gotten out of them if I’d stayed for just a little while longer. Of course, I might also be dead and buried in some shallow unmarked grave in the woods somewhere if I stayed tied to that fucking chair.
There are too many possible outcomes to any given scenario right now, and it was fucking with my head. It had been a long time since I’d felt overwhelmed by a situation I'd found myself in, but right now that’s all I seem to be feeling lately.
“You can’t blame Nico for shooting you. After all, you were going around killing off our men. We didn’t know who was doing it, and we needed to put a stop to it before we lost all credibility without our syndicate. We’ve been over this same conversation enough times for you to understand how it was.” He hopped off the desk, the sound of the rubber soles of his tennis shoes squeaking on the linoleum as he moved a few steps towards me. My feet stayed planted where I was. He might be intimidating as fuck, but the little slut in my head wanted him as close as possible.
I couldn’t say I disagreed with the little whore. I could remember what it felt like to be pressed up against his hard body. The way he moved between my thighs. How close he’d come to getting me off even over my clothes in the middle of the school hallway. He felt damn fucking good, and I wasn’t opposed to feeling that again.
I might’ve come into this school with the thought of keeping sex off the table. Wanting to make sure I was close enough to them to get what I wanted but staying far enough away that things wouldn’t get clouded by teenage hormones. That thought process hadn’t worked in the least.
Thinking back, I knew there were plenty of missed opportunities I could’ve used to my advantage, but I didn’t take them because my feelings for Nico, Enzo, Cole, and Dante weren’t what they were supposed to be.
That realization was one of the things that was causing me to feel so damn overwhelmed. I might be able to admit to myself that I was feeling all kinds of things for them, but I wasn’t about to let anyone else know about them. Jasper would have a damn field day with that information. I could just see the glee on Alicen’s face if she knew. My uncle would flip his fucking lid.
It would be best if I stayed away from them and forgot all about it. Except that I still needed them. I couldn’t just walk into the leader of the largest crime syndicate office and request a meeting. I’d be dead not long after clearing the doorway. Since I wanted to come out of this whole thing as relatively unscathed as possible, I needed to stick with using Nico as my in.
Putting distance between us wasn’t an option, which meant that the feelings that were clouding my judgment were only going to get worse.
Perhaps fucking them out of my system wasn’t as bad of an idea as I was making it out to be. I was a grown fucking woman who could control myself. One little trip to pound town wouldn’t derail all my plans. That’s what I was going to keep telling myself.
“I don’t blame him. I would’ve done the same thing. Fuck I would’ve finished him off after finding him bleeding out if it had been me in his position.” That was a fucking lie. I knew it, and from the smirk that Enzo was sending me he knew it too.
I might be a cold blooded psychopath, but we both knew there was something going on between all five of us. I couldn’t put a name to it, and I really didn’t want to, but whatever it was had me rethinking all my thoughts on the Valentino boys.
Enzo closed more of the distance between us. It wouldn’t take more than him reaching his hand out to touch me. I was a little perturbed at how much I wanted him to do just that. I wanted to feel his hands on my body now that I wasn’t wondering who I would have to fight off.
“I don’t think you would’ve done that any more than he was able to do it to you. I’ve seen what you’re capable of, but I also think you believed those men had done some horrible things that needed vengeance for.”
“I have no doubt in my mind that you and your boys have done just as many terrible things in your lives. I’m even willing to bet you’ve done worse things.” Unconsciously my body moved towards him. It was as if I didn’t have any control over myself and the need I felt to be closer to him overrode everything else. The edges of my leather jacket brushed up against the soft cotton fabric of his T-shirt. The slightest movement of my leg pushed my thigh against his. I could feel my breathing begin to pick up into a slight anticipated pant.
