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I enjoy every second of those last thirty minutes, even while my heart races in anticipation. I drink wine with Marialena, I chat with Starla and laugh with Eden. I love watching her sit on Sergio's lap, completely at ease, their fingers entwined with one another’s.
Mario tells us about racing in Italy with Sergio and the trouble they got into when they were teens.
I wonder about how Sergio met Adriano. They've been friends for a while, but it's only been recently that Adriano moved here from Tuscany. I'm guessing he did work for the Montavio family in Tuscany and then relocated here out of necessity.
Once again, leaving his home. Just like me.
My phone buzzes, and I look down to see a picture of Adriano. He's tapping his watch, as if warning me to take note of the time. I look at the screen and realize that he's coming in three minutes. Shit.
I get to my feet. "I gotta go." I smile and wink at Starla, then wave goodbye to Eden. "Thank you."
As soon as I leave I’m flanked by my security team. Bruce is every bit as intimidating as Flo said he would be. I notice that Adriano has even added a woman to our security group. She looks about twenty years old and even though she’s only about five and a half feet tall, her entire body is coiled muscle.
"Hi, are you new here?" I ask politely.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Don't call her ma’am,” one of the guys mutters.
"Adriano thought that it would be helpful if I could accompany you to places where men aren’t allowed." The women's restroom, for example.
Kinda badass, if you ask me.
When I'm back at the room, my mind teems with the details of what I found out tonight. I know a lot more about Adriano than I even suspected I would, more than he told me for sure. I wonder what he’d think about me knowing these things. Would he consider it “snooping?”
For tonight, I'm not thinking about that. I'm thinking about kneeling in the corner of the room, naked, with my hands on my legs as he told me to. I'm thinking of him coming back to me, of him touching me again. I'm thinking about that low, commanding voice of his that makes my body turn into a ball of putty. I'm thinking about kissing him back when he kisses me, to help him forget for a little while, because even though I can't change anything he's been through, I can help him enjoy the time he has with me. Just for a little while, maybe he can learn to lay his armor down on the ground. I think about that when the door opens.
I'm kneeling when he enters, but as soon as I see him, I leap to my feet. "Adriano, what happened to you?”
I pick up my phone, my hands shaking, and dial Sergio. He gave me a phone widget to dial him directly and it works like a charm.
"Sergio, send a medic to my private room. Now!"
* * *
CHAPTERNINETEEN
“VENGEANCE”
Adriano
"Lay down,"Quinn says, and even though her hands tremble, her voice doesn't.
I lay my body on the bed and groan out loud. I knew tonight wasn't going to be easy, but let's just say I didn't plan on getting the shit kicked out of me.
"How did you send me a picture?" she asks, frantically. "Just a minute ago, you sent me a perfectly good picture and both of your eyes were open, your lips looked fine, and you weren't all bloody." She starts taking my shirt off, undoing it one button at a time.
When someone knocks on the door, Quinn opens it. Sergio enters, followed by one of our medics. He keeps medics on hand in case of emergencies, not just at the club, but with our brotherhood.
"Motherfucker," Sergio mutters. "When were you gonna tell me what you were up to?"
"You know what I was up to,” I groan.
“Not in detail… for Christ’s sake.”
"What is going on here?" Quinn says.
Sergio grunts. "Let's get him fixed, first."
