Limitless Love: A Polyamorous Charity Anthology

Chapter 1

EIGHT WEEKS LATER…

Pauli stepped out of his Maserati and stared up at the front door of his childhood home. He tugged at the cuffs of his shirt and brushed his hands down the front of his suit jacket, collecting all the stray bits of lint that might have gathered on it while on the floor for the last two hours. There’d be enough shit coming his way from his family for missing Sunday Mass for the third time this month, Pauli also didn’t need to receive a lecture regarding the state of his clothing, nor on the company he kept. Though honestly, this morning he’d planned on attending church until last night’s conquest had offered him a better deal. Hell, he’d even gotten dressed in his favourite suit before the blonde had slipped from beneath his sheets and crossed the floor to kneel at his feet. The smile on her lips, the promise in her eyes, wasn’t something Paul would turn down. Ever.

And if he was going to be late for Mass…then he may as well skip it.

He suppressed a grin at the memory barely thirty minutes old, closed the door of his Maserati, and strode up the steps. Walking through the front door, Pauli went in search of his best friend. Samuel wouldn’t want to know about the blonde who’d spent the night with Pauli…wouldn’t want to know that her hair colour didn’t match the drapes, or that her tits were more silicon than real, but his best friend status meant Samuel would suffer though it all the same.

But what Pauli wouldn’t admit to, or even acknowledge, was the sense of satisfaction that came with seeing Samuel trying to hide his anger over the way Pauli spoke of his nightly conquests. Getting a rise out of the man, who’d barely left his side since they were toddlers, was a game Pauli didn’t wish to stop… didn’t want to explore why that was either.

First, though, Pauli needed to find the bastard.

And the fastest way for Pauli to forget about the blonde who’d choked on his dick less than an hour ago was to get fired up over Samuel’s non-appearance at lunch. Again. There was no escaping the family obligation unless one was dying, out of the country, or lived too far away to make it every weekend. Except Samuel had missed the last five lunches, and the excuses he’d given had sounded weak to Pauli. Yet, as weak as those excuses were, he might’ve accepted them if Samuel hadn’t disappeared from Pauli’s fucking life as well. He’d begun to believe Samuel wasn’t currently in Melbourne… except they weren’t supposed to go anywhere without each other, doubly so if it involved the family business.

They didn’t have secrets.

Not one.

At least until now…

Worst still were everyone’s pitying glances as though the rest of his family were party to a secret Pauli hadn’t yet heard. Aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, and parents… They all knew something about Samuel’s disappearance that Pauli didn’t, and it was fucking irritating. He wished one of them had the balls to tell him what he was missing, or even better, where Samuel had fucked off to. But none of them dared to utter a word to him and wouldn’t…not when their gazes all drifted in the direction of Everett Bolton, the Tomasi Capo Bastone, and Samuel’s older brother.

Stepping onto the lawn where the tables were already laid out with half empty dishes of food, Pauli scrubbed at his jaw and sighed. He wasn’t afraid of approaching his cousin, not even knowing that his remaining older brother, Ryland, was often found at Everett’s side. No, what he feared was the rejection that would come when he asked where Samuel was, knowing that Everett would be hesitant to break his brother’s trust.

Except Pauli didn’t understand why Samuel didn’t want him to know where he was, because it didn’t make sense for his friend to be hiding. Not from him. Not when their new roles in the family demanded that Pauli was never far from Samuel’s side, ready to protect and offer advice when needed. They mightn’t have been roles either had expected to fill…hadn’t wanted to fill, he and Samuel had been the spares to the spare heirs… But Everett and Ryland had been forced to take up the mantle of heirs when Albie and Gio had died. Pauli had never planned on burying his brother either until well after silver had begun to colour his hair. A childish expectation, Pauli knew, when their world was often bathed in the blood of others.

And begging Everett for Samuel’s location was the last thing Pauli had wanted to do, especially not in front of the entire family. But as the weeks passed without his best friend at his side, Pauli had grown desperate. More than desperate, if he was willing to debase himself to get the answers he wanted.

Locating Everett amongst the rest of the family, Pauli strode across the lawn with hurried steps, dodging groups of cousins until he reached Everett. He glanced at his brother briefly before shifting his gaze back to Everett who pressed a kiss to Aliya’s temple before sending his fiancée on her way. The love in his cousin’s eyes quickly faded as Everett focused his attention on Pauli, an eyebrow arched and a seriousness in his eyes that had Pauli questioning his decision.

“Well?” Everett asked, sliding his hands into the pockets of his suit pants. “What are you after today, Pauli… No point bothering with niceties when you’ve taken the time to search me out.”

“Samuel. I want to know where he is.”

“No.” Everett’s gaze darkened further.

“No? Are you serious?” he hissed. “How the fuck am I supposed to do my job of protecting him… advising him… if I don’t know where the fuck he is?”

“Protecting Samuel is no longer your concern.”

“What? It doesn’t work like that. Not unless he’s dead. He’s not dead, right?”

Pauli’s mind whirred with all the possibilities of why Samuel no longer needed him, coming back to the one answer, that he was dead. There couldn’t be any other reason. Samuel wouldn’t leave him like that. They were best mates…

“He’s not dead,” Everett hissed while Ryland turned away shoulders shaking as he buried his head in the crook of his fiancé’s neck though Pauli doubted his brother was crying. “Why the fuck would you go there?”

“How else do you expect me to take that statement? Samuel and me, we’re supposed to be a packaged deal… and now you’re saying we’re not.”

“Samuel isn’t dead. Isn’t even fucking dying.” Everett sighed, shaking his head. “But have you ever considered that Samuel wanted to get away from you?”

“Ah…no. Why would he? We’re best friends, mates who’ve done everything together… I was his protector!”

“And you’re not now. At his request, I might add.”

“Who then… who’s watching out for him?” Pauli asked, hoping he could discern where Samuel had fucked off to without him with the dropping of a name.

“Another Beltrame… and that’s all you need to know.”

He took a deep breath and let Everett’s words percolate through his mind. To an outsider, it might look as though Everett hadn’t told Pauli anything at all, except he had said enough that it wouldn’t take Pauli long to figure where Samuel was…and with whom. And yeah, Pauli fully intended to drag Samuel back to Melbourne where he fucking belonged.

“Okay, yeah, I got it.”

Everett arched an eyebrow in disbelief. “Don’t break him, Pauli. He’s already suffered enough.”

“Don’t worry, I’m rooting for you, Pauli…so, don’t fuck it up,” Ryland said, shoving at his shoulder. “And go get your man.”

Okay, what? He had no idea what Ryland and Everett meant by any of it. Samuel was his friend, not his man… not in the sense the tone of their words was conveying. Pauli liked tits, not dick. One hundred percent. Okay, so maybe not a hundred percent… but ninety-nine-point nine percent was close enough to a hundred and that point one percent Pauli didn’t even want to acknowledge it existed.