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One day near Carla already put me on edge, and I had no clue why. Sure, she was attractive. Her warm skin was begging for my touch, and I had wanted nothing more this afternoon than to tangle my fingers in her long blonde hair.
But I’d been around a lot of pretty girls over the years, and none had ever made me forget myself the way Carla had. Something about the sadness in her eyes, and the fire of her tongue affected me like nothing ever had.
That and the fact that I abhorred everything she represented. Through no fault of her own, Carla was a living, breathing embodiment of my ties to the mob. Her very presence kept me from getting out.
Which is why she needed to go.
Carla’s story was a sad one. Really, I truly felt for her, but we all had our crosses to bear, and she needed to return back home to her father.
That’s what I continued to remind myself as I thought about the fear in her eyes when I touched her.
Closing my eyes, I tried to ignore how that fear also stirred something deep within me, something dark and primal. I started to lose control of my thoughts when the sound of my phone buzzing on my desk drew my attention.
Sighing, I got up and grabbed it. “What?” I asked Matteo.
“Hello to you too.”
It was nearly one in the morning, and I knew that Matteo was likely at one of the million end of year parties that were being thrown throughout the city. He would never miss a party even when he was supposed to be working on our little side project.
“What do you want? A condom?” I was being unnecessarily snarky, but I was in no mood. The gym had done little to quell the tension in my muscles, and I already knew I wasn’t going to sleep that night.
When Matteo released a world-weary sigh instead of the chuckle that I expected, I sat up quickly. “What’s wrong?” Matteo no longer got in the same trouble that he did when we were younger. He’d learned not to get too drunk, and that drugs didn’t agree with his countenance.
“You need to get down to Liza’s place.”
The knot in my stomach tightened. “What’s wrong?”
I was already getting dressed even as Matteo spoke. “I might have brought Carla out with me.”
I paused. “What do you mean, you might have?” Matteo made some off-handed jokes about Carla, but I’d chalked them up to his usual shit. He liked to fuck anything with legs, but even he wasn’t stupid enough to screw around with a girl under our father’s protection.
There was a moment of hesitation on his part. “She’s been holed up in her room for the last three days. I thought she could use some fun.”
The fingers gripping the phone tightened. “What happened?” Apparently, my brother was dumber than I thought. He wouldn’t be calling me unless something had gone wrong. Knowing the crowd that Luca and my brother liked to hang with, I knew that Carla could have gotten herself into any mode of trouble.
“Carla’s drunk as shit.”
I paused for a moment. The tightness in my chest released slightly. Being drunk was not necessarily a bad thing. It was what Carla could have gotten into while drinking.
“Get her home.”
Matteo paused. “I can’t,” he said.
“What do you mean, you can’t?” The frustration I felt was growing.
Matteo released a large breath, and I could hear the panic in it. Immediately, I knew that this was a big fucking deal. Pulling my shirt over my head, I grabbed my wallet and headed for the door. “Every time I try and touch her, she screams bloody freaking murder. Sophia and I managed to get her in a room, but…” Matteo trailed off, and I could hear his breathing heavily. “…whenever either of us come near her, she freaks the fuck out.”
“I’m on my way.”
* * *
The party was in full swing. I’d taken one of our many cars. Even though New York traffic was horrendous, it was the best way to get to Liza’s in a short period of time. Plus, if Carla was having some sort of meltdown, dragging her into a cab was not the way to keep it quiet.
“Fuck me,” I muttered, as I made my way through the party, pushing bodies out of my way.
I was familiar with Liza’s house. I’d hooked up with her older sister my freshman year, and we’d screwed on every spare surface of the apartment until she went to college. Not that Matteo knew that.
“There you are.” Ingrid’s tiny hand wrapped itself around my wrist. She came out of nowhere, surprising me with her light-footedness and her presence. A house party was not a place that I expected to find Ingrid. “We managed to get her into one of the back bedrooms.”
