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As interesting as this conversation is, I’m becoming very mindful of the smell of blood in the room, and the state of all of our clothes.
“May I suggest we all head upstairs to the bedroom?” I say, motioning toward the stairs. “We all deserve a little break for all our hard work today.”
“What if someone heard the gunshot? Shouldn’t we get out of here?” Lucia asks. She winces. “I really should’ve just let him bleed out.” She sounds so woeful that I can’t help but smile briefly at her.
“It was down here, and we’re in suburbia. None of the neighbors would know what a gunshot sounds like, if they even heard it.” I give Pavone’s corpse one last glance and shake my head. “I’ll call somebody to help deal with things while we celebrate his demise.”
She glances back at his corpse, studying it for a long moment with what I can only describe as vicious satisfaction. She kisses Santino again, a little longer this time, and Angelo grabs her to turn her toward him instead as he greedily demands his own kisses from her.
“Upstairs,” I say firmly. “Leave your shoes at the base of the stairs. Angelo, carry Lucia so her dress doesn’t leave a trail.”
Angelo grins at me. “Sure thing,Boss,” he says, and he grabs Lucia. She squeaks but lets him pick her up in a bridal carry as he heads toward the stairs. He kicks his shoes off and starts up them. Santino and I follow as Angelo leads us into the bedroom then the bathroom.
It’s bigger than I expected, with a shower with two showerheads and a good bit of space inside. We should all be able to fit in there to properly clean up Lucia—and Angelo—though their clothes are unsalvageable.
It’s a good thing I predicted this and brought extra clothing for all of us, just in case. Things were always going to get bloody.
Angelo sets Lucia down in the shower itself, then he kisses her as he says, “You can’t shower with the gun.”
She bites her lip, looking directly at me, but she reluctantly puts it in his outstretched hand. He passes it off to Santino, who sets it down on the bathroom counter.
“Let’s get you out of the dress,” Santino says. “We can burn it later.”
Lucia looks ready to agree, but I say, “No.”
All three of them turn to stare at me.
“We should frame it,” I clarify. “A memento of Lucia’s very resounding victory over Pavone.”
“My victory?” Lucia echoes, looking down at the dress. “These are very poor spoils though.”
Angelo laughs and presses another kiss to her temple. “Your spoils areus, Princess. Well, us and all of your father and Pavone’s remaining operations in the city.”
I don’t tell them all about Giulio Pavone’s promises of—not vengeance, but war. Now isn’t the time to worry about the future.
“Are we getting naked or not?” Santino complains. “Because if you aren’t doing anything, Angel, then I want to shower with Lucia.”
“Let’s get this thing off you,” Angelo says, starting to work at the bodice of the gown. “Damn, who designed this thing?” He pulls a knife out of his pocket. “Mind if I cut it open? Or will that mess with the framing?” he asks dryly.
“I don’t know if I want a knife that close to my skin,” Lucia says quickly.
“I’ll be careful,” Angelo promises. “It’s easier than dealing with these strings.”
“There’s a zipper!” Lucia turns around and gestures at her back. “We aren’t playing with knives today.”
“Oh, nottoday? But maybe some other time?” Angelo kisses the back of her neck before unzipping the dress. Lucia pushes it down, revealing a strapless white bra and matching panties, both with lace trim. Her long, silk stockings both have a run in them, probably owing to all the action they’d seen.
“Don’t get any ideas,” Lucia warns him, but even I can see it’s too late. He’s gotten the idea into his head, and he’ll figure out a way to get her to agree. I have to admit that the idea of watching blood drip down her body and pool against her skin is very alluring, though Santino doesn’t look like he agrees.
I begin stripping my own clothes off, and Santino takes that as his cue to do the same. It amuses me that he has no problem stripping now, although he’d balked when directly ordered to do it. The incentive of naked Lucia has made him forget that he’s getting naked with two other men as well.
Once naked, Santino crowds into the shower stall and kisses Lucia. Angelo pushes the dress the rest of the way down, smearing the shower tiles with blood from the bottom hem of the dress. It’s positively saturated with blood, which is a good look for her.
Angelo sighs and folds up the dress so that it doesn’t drip and carries it to the bathroom sink. “It’d be safer to burn it, but it would be a very nice memento,” Angelo says wistfully. Then he starts undressing himself, adding his own blood-stained clothes to the pile.
In the meantime, I step inside the shower and unclasp her bra, tossing it in Angelo’s general direction. I cup her breasts in my hands. She lets out a breathy little moan, and she almost looks like she’s going to protest when she relaxes into my touch instead.
Santino helps with the stockings, kneeling down in front of her to kiss her stomach as he pulls them and her underwear off.
