Guarded (Calavera Hotels #3)

15. Nero

Chapter 15

Nero

12 YEARS OLD

“ G et the fuck up Pedazo de mierda!” Evangeline shouts.

I try to stand, but my legs wobble beneath me. Holding my breath, I wait for Evangeline to strike again. Her foot flying straight to my stomach.

“You vomited all over the playground, you fucking pig.”

Another kick and pain erupts in my abdomen. I cry out and stay there, glued to the bathroom floor.

“I’m sorry, Mommy. My tummy hurts. I told them not to call you,” I cry.

This is why I begged them not to call her.

“Oh, honey, your mother isn’t mad. She sounds really worried. Mommies always worry about their babies.” The school nurse said, but I knew better.

Evangeline was the best of actresses. She knew in a regular world that mothers worried about their children. Saw them as extensions of themselves. Not Evangeline. She hates me, and when I cause her any inconvenience, I pay the price.

“Get up, Nero!” Evangeline screams again. I vomit again, unable to control myself.

“You fucking pig!”

Another swift kick to my stomach, and the pain leaves me motionless. I want to run. Hide. But I can’t move.

I close my eyes as her footsteps fade into the distance. I think I’m dreaming when I feel her pick me up. Maybe I finally went to some place beyond where all mothers love their children. Where I’m free from the harsh words and the pain. Then I feel the ice-cold water, and I scream as my head is shoved under.

“Nero! Wake up!”

It takes me a minute to register the soft voice. My body shakes, and the little boy in my nightmare struggles to get out. I open my eyes and gasp, my arms reaching to the arms around my shoulders.

What the-

I wake up and see Ariella’s green eyes staring down above me. I think it’s another dream, but I can feel her skin and smell her floral scent. She’s sitting with her back against the headboard of my bed, her legs at my sides, and my head resting on her left thigh. I grab her hand, resting on my chest.

“Hey. It’s okay. You were having a nightmare. You’ve been out for two days,” she whispers, running her other hand through my hair. I let out a small sigh.

The last thing I remember was the ride home from the hospital. One of the brothers had caught something, which trickled down to everyone. I couldn’t hold anything down and just crashed on the bathroom floor. My eyes roam to the balcony, where the yellow rays barely make their appearance.

Ari lifts her hand from my chest and places the back of her hand to my forehead. The touch is light, but it feels good. So good my dick twitches in response once again, uncaring about the time or situation. I look down to make sure he hasn’t made a public appearance and find that I’m only wearing a pair of grey boxer briefs.

And my dick has made an appearance. I reach for a blanket and throw it on me.

“What’s wrong? Are you cold?” Ari asks, concerned.

She untangles herself from under me and sits on her knees next to me. Her hands reaches out and she feels my forehead. Her lips purse to the side.

“I think your fever went down. How do you feel?” she asks.

She scoots closer to me to check my eyes. Her tits literally in my face and doing nothing for my aching cock.

“I’m fine. What happened?” I ask.

“I don’t know. Lucia was going to stay the night, and she started vomiting. I called Thalia to come get her, but then Thalia started throwing up on the way home, and then I heard you in here and found you on the bathroom floor. It’s like vomitgeddon, everyone in your club—” she continues to ramble on about every single person who contracted the stomach flu.

I look around the room and see empty bottles of Pedialyte, medicine, a thermometer, and empty soup bowls.

She looks exhausted. Her hair is up in a bun, and she’s wearing a matching pink silk camisole and short set. Had she been taking care of me? This fucking woman was taking care of me ?

“Wait, two days?” I interrupt Ari’s rambling and sit up quickly.

“Yeah. You were running a really high fever. That’s why I stripped you down.” She says, looking at my chest and then to the side, a faint blush rising to her cheeks.

Fucking adorable.

“Um. I mean, I kept your boxers on. Te lo juro. I just needed to get you in the shower.” She says, biting on her bottom lip.

“You got me into the shower, Princess?” I ask her skeptically.

She wasn’t tiny for a woman, but I still had a good foot on her, not to mention I was well over 200 pounds. Smiling proudly, she flexes her muscles.

“I mean, I have been making gains.” She boasts, and a laugh escapes me.

Her eyes twinkle, and I have to fight the urge to flip her onto her back. Temptation lingers in the air between us. The mere thought of her wrapping her smooth legs around my back is too much.

I remove the blanket I used to cover myself and stand up. Her eyes roam over my body, dropping to the hardness in my briefs before she looks away again.

Fuck, I want her.

I want her so bad, and I needed to stop myself. Stop whatever was developing between the two of us. It wasn’t right.

I walk to the bathroom and run my fingers through my hair. I place some toothpaste on my toothbrush and lean into the doorframe, watching her as I brush my teeth. My dick is still as hard as a rock as I watch her clean up the dishes. She starts making the bed, bending down to fold the sheet into the mattress, and the fabric of her shorts lifts.

I can see the outline of her folds through the tight fabric. The under part of her ass cheek is on full display.

Malditas Tentaciones .

When I see her leave the room, I hear that good guy on my shoulder telling me to take an ice-cold shower. I tell him to fuck off per usual and follow after her. She stands at the sink washing the dishes, and I take light steps until I’m right behind her. She startles when I press the tip of my erection into her ass. I reach over her inert body and shut off the running water.

“What time do you have to be at work?” I whisper into her ear. I listen as she swallows before turning to face me.

“I called in since I wasn’t sure if you’d be better or not today.”

“You called in from work to take care of me?”

I push a loose strand of her hair behind her ear and lift her jaw. When her eyes find mine, I lower my lips to hers.

“Thank you.”

Her lips tremble before mine. The beauty that radiates around her goes far beyond just her physical features. I can’t explain what I do next because Nero Dizon never, under any circumstances, kisses a woman. But she doesn’t feel like any woman.

That desperate feeling to keep her never falters. My chest tightens, and it’s not me reaching for her. It’s years of feeling insufficient and unloved. It’s the gratitude for how she’s made me feel the complete opposite of all those things.

I pick her up and set her ass on the counter. My lips crash into hers, and she doesn’t fight me. She pushes her lips into mine, and I use my tongue to pry her mouth open wide. Her tongue finds mine, and the taste is much sweeter than I expected it to be.

It’s dangerously intoxicating.

Our tongues swirl, fighting to ravage one another. Her hands fly up and cradle my neck. In desperation, she wraps her legs around my lower back and pulls me in closer so she can grind her pussy onto my erection. A low growl escapes me before I pick her up and take her back into the bedroom.

“I’m warning you right now, Ari. I’m not gentle. It won’t be the sweet first time you’ve imagined in your head. How I feel for you, I can’t suppress who I am. I can’t hold back.”

She searches my eyes and nods her head. Crawling backward onto the bed, she opens her legs. An invitation for me to destroy her very innocence. And the words that fall out of her pouty lips unravel me.

“Then don’t.”

I lunge on top of her and kiss her. She moans in my mouth, and just like that, the impulsive, hungry parts of me are all that exist.

I don’t have time to convince her or myself of any logical reason why this shouldn’t happen. There are no thoughts outside my carnal need to claim her.

I bite her lips and savor in the sweet flavor. I grab her hands and shove them over her head before I rip the straps of her camisole. My mouth devours her hard pink nipples. Marking and claiming them. Sucking and biting them as she cries out.

I take my time kissing every inch of her body. My mouth devours her neck, her tits, and her navel. I want it all. I gently bite down on her skin, sucking it into my mouth while her moans fill the room.

My dick strains against my briefs, eager to be inside her. Our bodies grind into each other. The heat of her pussy meeting the thrusts of my erection through the fabric.

I pull away one last time to look at her. She catches her breath, and when she opens her eyes, I let her know with one look that this time is the last time I will give her to say no. Her last chance to reject me. Tell me this was a mistake. But all I see in her eyes is begging. A plea for me to take her very last shred of innocence.