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“And the other situation?” another older man asks, breaking through the tension, looking bored. “We have a Russian running around our city causing problems. She is the cause.” He points at me. “This is an arrangement you should not have made, Heart. It brings trouble to the organization we don’t need. You should have consulted.”
“You getting too old for some entertainment, Vinny? I’m sure your son Leo doesn’t mind. He has found himself entertainment that involved a bit of trouble many times. Situations I have gotten him out of, may I remind you. Do not disrespect me as the boss of this family.” Mr. Heart puts the old man in his place.
“My boy has nothing to do with this.”
“Sitting right here, old man.” A very attractive thirty-ish guy voices in a humorous tone. I can only assume he is Leo, the son they speak of. I now realize he is the guy who came to our table the night Demetri took me to club Abyss. He must have been the one to bring the contract to the club that Demetri had to sign.
“Disrespect me again and I’ll splatter your fucking brains across Carbone’s floor, boy.”
His son sits back in his chair, his jaw ticking with frustration.
The tension in the room is getting thicker. I find myself stepping up and into Demetri’s side, seeking his warmth and protection in a room full of cold, ruthless men. He glances down at me, his gaze grazing over mine. “Nothing will happen to you,” he reassures me as he leans down and kisses my temple.
“How do you plan on handling this situation?” the older man they refer to as Vinny inquires while Ricci sits there, stewing.
“When the time comes, and if need be, that information will be fed to you. If it doesn’t concern you, then it won’t.”
“I think the information you so choose to hold is imperative. It was my club he trashed looking for her.” He nods in my direction.
“This meeting is over.” Mr. Heart cuts the man off. “Everyone except the underbosses from each family can leave. Rocco, Leo, Nico, and Cia wait for me in Demetri’s office. Antonio, Giovanni, show the rest out.”
“It’s like that, Heart?” Ricci snarls with venom, no longer able to hold his tongue. “Just hand the bitch over. I’ll make sure to take care of her. Then this will all be over.”
Demetri lunges, the broad muscles of his back expanding are the only thing I see as he charges forward with the intent to pulverize. Antonio jumps in his path. Demetri’s weight knocks Antonio back a few steps. Antonio’s back is to the room, to the men he is saving from Demetri’s wrath, but his eyes are peering at me from over Demetri’s shoulder. His whispered words are harsh when he growls, “Not fucking now. I get it. If it were Lilah, I would rip his fucking lungs out,” he snarls. “But we have to be fucking patient. And smart.” He slaps Demetri twice on his wounded shoulder, hard.
I gasp. The pain he must be feeling with the hit to his body holds my attention. I’m so focused on Demetri that I don’t realize Luca has stepped up next to me again.
“You disrespect my wife again and see what happens to you, Ricci,” he yells over Antonio’s shoulder as he holds him back. “You didn’t just disrespect a street runner. You just disrespected a made man.”
“And you just disrespected a senior boss. Watch yourself,” the old man threatens.
“Pop, let’s go,” Rocco urges with a tug on his arm.
“Get off me, boy.” He rips his arm away, shooting daggers at Demetri as Giovanni guides him past, showing him out of the room.
The room clears quickly as men disperse in all directions. I watch four underbosses walk down a hallway. I can only assume it’s where Demetri’s office is located. My heart is hammering in my chest, my ribs bruising with every hard thump. Luca grips my elbow with an assertive gentleness. He lifts his chin, telling me to follow him. I look to Demetri for reassurance. Antonio still has a hold of him, talking him off the ledge of no return. With a vicious twist of his head, like he knows I’m waiting for direction, he connects his eyes with mine. He nods, telling me it’s okay when he sees it’s Luca guiding me away. My nerves are so tightly wound I’m ready to throw up. Angry at the old man for being so vile and suggesting I die, and being in a room with men so ruthless had me at a disadvantage. Where was Cillian? Why wasn’t he there to protect me? Never in all my years would my brother and father allow me to stay within the same walls as these men. I can only wonder why Demetri didn’t send me back to his room once his statement was made.
It seemslike hours have passed, but with my mind reeling with crazy thoughts, it was probably only an hour before Demetri walks through the bedroom door. I shift on the bed and wait, for anything. My mind had been spinning as I lay here anticipating what to expect when he came back. What could they be talking about? Was it about me or someone else entirely? Was it about the old man who seemed to hit a nerve with everyone in the room, even his own son? Will Demetri still want to be in this marriage? A sad thought to think when you have been married less than a day.
Exhaustion is the first thing I notice about him. It resides in his eyes like a thick blanket. Then I notice his shoulders, how tight they are, and how his spine is ramrod straight. He looks ready to snap. Like any second he is going to lose control. Maybe he already has. I wouldn’t know, because the direction I saw all the men walking in is a fair distance from his bedroom so I don’t think I would hear the yelling or fighting.
He walks to his chest of drawers, his movements quick and harsh as he removes his watch. I shift to a sitting position and lean back against the headboard, observing him, the man I am married to. I notice his injured shoulder has been rewrapped with a clean bandage when he turns and walks right past the bed and into the bathroom. I hear the medicine cabinet door open and close. The sound of a pill bottle fills the room as I’m sure he is shaking a few into his palm. The sink water runs next. He exits the bathroom and walks right past the bed I’m still in and strides across the room to the closet with heavy steps. I can’t help but notice how low his jeans hang on his hips when he disappears inside. I hear shuffling then a quick zip from a zipper. Fabric and hangers groan at the way I assume he is pulling them down from the rod they were hanging on. I glance over at the clock and see that it’s just past four a.m. We should both be asleep after the day we had, but we’re not. We should have been making love until we couldn’t anymore in the privacy of his room. I guess I can refer to it as our room now. This should have happened after spending a few hours of celebration with family and friends.
I’ve laid here, alone, thinking about how Finn snatched me up, dragging me into a room as I was running away from seeing Demetri and Tegan, after facing the nightmare of my new reality. How Finn was there as he has always been. I thought about Finn’s lips on mine and how they felt nothing like Demetri’s demanding, sensual ones. I thought about how a few years back, Finn would have been my dream man and now, even though the two men move in the same ruthless circle, they are the complete opposite of each other. I may have not been happy, feeling unfulfilled sexually now that I know I like more than the norm. Had I not met Demetri, I would have never experienced that type of sex. Maybe I would have just continued with life with my head in a bubble had Finn and I been married. But then I think about how much I love being under Demetri’s thumb and I don’t know if I would have found Finn boring after some time had passed. Demetri now makes me feel safe and cherished after feeling unsettled and unsure in the beginning. That night he brought me down to his dungeon, he broke me, but he also healed a part of me. It was as if he knew me more than I knew myself. I’ll never know, but I don’t think Finn could ever do that for me. Demetri pushed me where I know Finn wouldn’t have. But then I think maybe he could. I don’t know. My life, whether in the direction I wanted it to go or not, is right where I want it to be.
I slide out from under the covers, remove all my clothes, and ignore my inner thoughts about how I don’t like my thighs or my stomach or the way my chest isn’t as perky as I think it should be, and I wait as a distraction in the middle of the room for my new husband to exit the closet.
He didn’t spare me a glance as I lay in his bed and watched him walk past me twice. So now I’ll stand here and wait. A few minutes pass. I fidget in my spot, holding my ground. I want to go see what he is doing and if everything is okay, but I stop myself before taking the steps. Just as my thoughts are getting the best of me about how my body looks standing here, he exits the closet with a black bag. I can’t help but admire his body. It’s hard, solid with muscle, and every ripple in his stomach contracts with each breath he inhales and exhales. It takes a moment for him to notice me standing in the middle of the room, totally naked and ready to jump out of my skin, but when he does, he stops on a dime, drops his packed bag, and scans my body before meeting my gaze.
His pupils dilate as he says, “You need to get some rest.” He leans over without breaking eye contact and flicks off the light closest to him. I watch him with a critical eye as he shifts and moves around the room to the freestanding light. My heart wants to plummet at what feels like a dismissal, but I stand my ground as the room goes dark. He walks closer to me. It’s sexy and slow like a sauntering black leopard. I can’t help but drop my gaze to see if seeing me like this, waiting for him, had any effect on him. Even soft, his cock is a sight to see. It hangs heavy with a thick girth and a pinkish virility to the skin that is drool worthy. But if he is hard from seeing me, I will definitely be able to see the outline.
He stops in front of me. “We fly out first thing. Keep staring at my dick like that and you won’t be getting any sleep.”
Excuse me?
“Make sure you pack enough for three days.” He draws in a deep breath as he runs his knuckles down my cheek.
His actions are soft, but his tone is clipped with a sharpness I don’t understand. I ignore his statement. “Are you in pain?”
