Paid In Full (Vitale Brothers Book 2)

Chapter 25

WatchingAsh take off with Chelsea made me grin. Besides my brother, she was one of the few people I trusted with him. She was as hopped up as I was sometimes, wanting to fight people if they fucked over anyone she gave a damn about. We’d connected the moment we met, and I liked hanging out with her. I never had to worry about her trying to hop on my dick or complicate things.

Gotta love lesbians.

They shot off into the dark, and my stomach clenched. Worry settled in the pit of my gut. I shoved a cigarette into my mouth, lighting it up as I stared into the distance. Bet he’s having fun. Ash always lit up when he saw cars he liked, just like the first time we met. I’d seen the way he looked at Baby. Maybe that was why I liked him from the start. Anyone who looked at such a piece of art with stars in their eyes was okay by me.

I blew out smoke as Chelsea passed by again, driving so fast her car was like a blur. When she stopped, she popped out with a grin on her face. Ash stumbled out of the passenger seat, his legs shaking like a newborn calf. I laughed under my breath as I walked over to them, tossing my smoke to the side.

“You okay?” I asked.

Ash blinked up at me. “I almost pissed my pants.”

Chelsea burst out laughing. “He did. I had to tell him not to do it, or he would ruin the goddamn seats.”

“He can’t help it. Poor little puppy,” I said, reaching out to caress his cheek. “You need more housebreaking?”

Ash glared at me. “I’ll piss on you.”

“Who says I’m not into that?”

As his eyes widened, Chelsea laughed so hard she choked. I grinned over at her. She waved a hand while car lovers came to check out the winning ride. Her phone rang, and I watched as she shooed everyone off to take it.

“Hey. You okay? What’s the matter?” she asked.

“Gin?”

I looked down at Ash. “Yeah?”

“You two are really just friends, right?”

I grinned. “Of course. You heard the woman. I’m not her type.” I wrapped an arm around him. “How about a beer?”

Ash blew out a breath. “Honestly, I could go for one.” I tightened my grip on him. “Do you ever race?”

“Sometimes,” I said. “Not in Baby, but I have a few cars I don’t mind bringing out every once in a while. They’re at my other house.”

Ash stopped to stare at me. “Your other house?”

I shrugged. “Apartment. I like the house better, but the apartment is further in the city; better for bar hopping, having fun, and you know,” I muttered the last part, not wanting to go into detail.

“You mean a place for you to hook up.”

“Something like that,” I shrugged.

Ash pulled away. “Oh.”

I grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back to my side. “Don’t be like that.”

“Like what?” he muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Jealous.”

”I’m not jealous,” he mumbled.

I grinned. “Come on. I haven’t even gone there since I met you. Who’s the one bending me over these days?”

Ash smiled a little. “Me.”

“Then what are you complaining for, huh?” I tilted his chin up sharply and smashed my lips against his. “Calm down. A couple of times in my ass, and you’re losing your mind.”

The smile on Ash’s face didn’t fade. He looked so sweet, grinning like a crazy man, all because I reassured him that I wasn’t going anywhere. We’d come to an agreement, after all. I didn’t break those. Ever. I wouldn’t fuck anyone who wasn’t Ash until our deal was done.

My stomach turned at the thought while I pulled out my wallet and passed some cash over to the vendor. Until the deal is done. Fuck. I don’t want it to be done. I glanced at Ash as he smiled, taking a beer and a bag of chips from the vendor. He smiled so easily with other people. Ash had a way of talking to anyone and making them feel like he was the happiest person in the world. But I could see the insincerity in his smile even now. It was only real when it was directed at me.

I like that it’s mine. That his real smile belongs to me.

Ash turned, holding up a beer. “Here you go, Gin.”

I took mine. “Thanks.”

Our beers tapped together before we each took a swig. Beer was never my thing. I preferred a good glass of wine or vodka, but every once in a while, I could take it. Especially because Ash looked so happy with something as simple as a race and a beer. It made me want to spend all my money on him, take him somewhere nice. Fiji, the Bahamas, Japan. Somewhere I could see that big, bright smile and keep it all to myself. I was a selfish fuck, but I didn’t care.

“Can we look at a few more cars?” Ash asked, breaking me out of fantasies of late-night drives and luxury hotels.

“Whatever you want,” I said.

He smiled up at me. “Okay, but only if you buy me another beer. We might not make it back this way for a while.”

I moved back over to the vendor quickly. After buying two more, I stuck the beers into the pockets of my long coat. My arm went around Ash once more, pulling him as close as humanly possible. He loved the sports cars, the ones that were shiny and new, but everyone did. What really impressed me was the fact that he loved the classics even more.

“Man, look at this one,” Ash said. “They’ve done a lot of work. Look at that engine.”

I whistled. “She’s beautiful.”

“Yeah,” Ash whispered. “You never told me why you like these kinds of cars so much.”

I shrugged. “My dad was a whore, but he had a few good qualities, at least with me. With Enzo, he knocked up his mom, and she dropped him off like it was nothing. Dad was different with Benito and me, though. We did things. With Benito, it was mostly work, but I got to hang out, fix classic cars, and learn all about the finer shit in life. My mom taught me to cook, and my dad taught me classic cars.” I shrugged. “I had a pretty perfect life with my little family. For a while, it was just the four of us.”

Ash nodded. “I get that. For me, it was the fact that I had nothing better to do, so why not stare at cars all day?” He tilted his head. “Wait, the four of you? Benito was there too?”

I glanced away from him. “Something like that.”

Ash looked like he wanted to push more, but to my relief, he didn’t. Instead, he went back to staring at a beauty of a car in front of us. I pushed my hands into my pockets, the cool bottles of beer brushing against my hands as he admired it.

“Damn, this car is beautiful,” he groaned.

I frowned. “Not as beautiful as Baby.”

Ash waved a hand. “None of them are.”

I puffed out my chest and grinned. Even if he was lying out of his ass, I liked it when Ash said Baby was the best. He peered at the Talbot Lago Grand Sport, the fucking luxury edition at that, and even I was jealous. A man rounded the corner and grinned as he looked at me.

“Giancarlo!”

I froze. Shit.

“Gin? You don’t remember me?”

I smiled. “Marco, of course, I do,” I said with a nod. “How the hell are you?”

We embraced, hands slapping against each other’s backs hard as fuck. As we pulled apart, Marco looked me over before his eyes darted to Ash. Look too hard, and I’ll rip your eyes out and make you eat them. He turned around and gazed at me instead.

“Who’s this?”

“Ash,” I said, not giving him any more details.

Smiling, Ash held out a hand. “Hey. You have a great car.”

Marco shook his hand before he looked at his ride and chuckled. “Yeah, she’s a peach. I’ve put so much work into her. Want a ride?”

I laid a hand on Ash’s shoulder. The way Marco said that... My grip tightened as he glanced up at me, and an amused grin flitted on his face. Goddamn Fallacis. Our families knew each other, but his was full of jealous scum who couldn’t stand that Benito was running things. That they had to crawl on their hands and knees for scraps like the dogs they were.

“No, thank you,” Ash said, leaning back against me. “It’s really cool, though.”

“Thanks.” Marco turned and walked back over to us. “Gin, it’s good to see you out and about. It”s been what? A year or so?”

I tensed. “Something like that.”

“Where you been?”

“Around,” I said tightly. Ash hissed. I eased up the grip I had on his shoulder.

“Ah, around,” Marco said, nodding, rubbing his hand over his scraggly beard. “I heard you went upstate. You know, to the fucking looney bin or some shit. Heard you lost it after being locked up for a while. Some people can’t handle that shit.”

My eyes bored into his. I saw the way he shifted. We both knew he’d said too much, but I was sure he’d meant to say too damn much. His eyes darted around. There were way too many people around for me to do anything to him. He was safe. For now.

“We better get going,” I said shortly.

“I didn’t mean nothing by it,” Marco said quickly. “It’s just what I heard on the street, you know? Wanted to see if it was true that you’d gotten locked up twice.”

My chest tightened. Thinking about being locked away sent the same cold, sharp ripple down my spine as it always did. I felt the wave of panic shoot its way through my body, the shakes coming on, and the sweat gathering at my back.

Fuck, not now!

“What’s it matter?” I asked, staring at Marco.

“Don’t matter,” he muttered. “Lighten up, Gin.”

I lunged forward, grabbing his shirt as I dragged him forward. “You don’t call me Gin. I don’t know you like that,” I said, a growl echoing from my throat. “You want to see what I was locked away for? Huh?”

“Jesus Christ. Back off,” he snapped.

“Gin, come on. I’m ready to go now. Gin!”

I glanced at Ash. The look on his face made me release the asshole’s shirt as I stepped back. Ash pushed his hand into mine, leading me away without a word. He didn’t have to say anything. We wove through the crowds disappearing into them until we came out on the other side. It was quiet in the shadows, better. I could almost think away from all the lights and sounds.

“Breathe.”

My eyes darted around. I knew that voice, that sweet, almost timid, grounding voice. I sank against the brick of a building as the pounding of my blood filled my ears. For a moment, Ash’s voice wavered away. I wish Gianpaolo was here.

A sharp sting struck my cheek. My eyes fluttered open as I stared at Ash. His hand was raised, poised to strike me again. Instead, he reached out and cradled my cheeks in his palms when I finally focused on him. More panic was on his face than in my chest.

“You scared me!” he said, his eyes watering. “That look on your face...” He shook his head. “Breathe for me, please.”

I sucked in a deep breath. The smell of trash, exhaust, and the beer on his breath brought me back to reality. It wasn’t good or pretty, but it was the real world just the same. The warmth of Ash’s hands pressed against my face soothed me. My pounding heart slowed as he guided me through breathing as if it was something I had to learn and not what everyone else did naturally. Fuck. Why do I have to be like this?

“I’m right here.” Ash drew my attention to him. “It’s okay. I promise.”

Blinking, I sucked in another breath, and the heat in my lungs burned away. I pulled him close, wrapping my arms around him tightly as I buried my nose in his hair. I never realized that his hair smelled like coconut. He’d picked this shampoo up by himself, and he no longer smelled like me. I both loved and hated it. I wanted him to be so close he couldn’t distinguish me from himself. At the same time, I liked that he was... himself. That he had turned from a timid, scared thing into the person that held me so tightly that it felt like he was clinging to a buoy at sea.

“What was all that about?” Ash whispered. “What was he talking about?”

I shook my head. “Smoke?”

Ash patted my pockets as he went in search of my cigarettes. He pulled one out, slipped it into my mouth, and lit it. Once I inhaled, he rubbed his hand over my chest as he gazed up at me, waiting patiently for me to answer.

I grunted. Talking about shit made me insane. I wanted to go back to the show, look at cars, maybe smash Marco’s face into the windshield of his fucking Talbot Lago Grand Sport, Luxury edition, until he spat a few teeth out and begged my forgiveness. Prick. It was his damn fault Ash was seeing me freak out anyway.

“Benito and Enzo both fell for this asshole like six years ago. They didn’t know he was with either of them, but it all came out eventually. He was ratting on us, too, giving information to the fucking cops. One day I go out, I’m doing my job and get picked up for intent to distribute. The prosecutor wanted to give me the max, nine years behind bars.”

“Shit,” Ash whispered.

I shrugged. “We had a good attorney. Several of them. It’s the only reason I was able to only get two years. That seems like nothing—”

“It’s two years!” Ash said, his eyes wide. “I can’t imagine being locked up that long!”

“It wasn’t the time that broke me. I never liked small spaces, but it was more than that. Everything that happened during that time just fucked me up,” I blew out smoke. “I sat there for two years, kept my mouth shut, and served my time. When I came out, things were different. Benito and Enzo were weird. My friends who weren’t really my fucking friends had all forgotten about me.” I laughed dryly. “My mom died while I was inside. She couldn’t stand to see me in there. Every time she did, she’d just sob. So I told them not to let anyone see me at all. No visitors, no phone calls.” My voice broke as I sucked in another lungful of smoke. “They let me out for one day to see her buried. That’s it. I hadn’t talked to her face to face in a year and a half.” I ran a hand down my face. “I don’t know. I really lost my shit after that. Some guy kept talking and talking to me. I don’t remember what happened, just the smell of blood. I kept blacking out. After it happened once, it didn’t stop. Benito put me away in one of those grippy sock places.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.”

The silence between us made my skin feel tight, like I wanted to peel it off with a flensing knife. Ash reached out, entwining his fingers with mine. I knew what he had to think, that I was some pathetic, fucking loser who couldn’t handle being locked up and had to be shipped off to the crazy house because of it. That was how my brothers looked at me sometimes, with pity in their eyes. The same way Ash was looking at me now.

I tried to pull away.

“No,” Ash whispered. “Please, don’t. Just let me hold your hand.” His grip tightened. “Sorry I didn’t know all this about you earlier. I should have asked. I never realized you were hurting so much.”

I scoffed. “Let’s go back to the show.”

“Don’t do that. Don’t run,” he said, grabbing my chin roughly. “Not from me, okay? You got to see me in that place, ugly and terrified. Let me see you too.”

Fuck, how was I supposed to tell him that my heart couldn’t take that? No one was supposed to see me. I’d opened up just once, and it was enough to make me want to rip my heart out of my chest, stomp on it, and never look back. Why the hell did Ash have to do this to me?

“I lost my girl when I was in too,” I muttered, unable to hold the words back. “Went in, Sarah-Lynn was there. Came out, and she’d packed her shit and gone. I never even saw her again.”

“Fuck her,” Ash growled, fire in his eyes as he shook his head. “If she couldn’t handle it, that’s on her.”

“Who could handle that?” I shot back. “Could you? Do you think this shit ends in picket fences and rainbows? It doesn’t. More than likely, I’m going to wind up dead or back in prison, and that might be sooner than later. Do you really want to deal with that?”

Determination bled into Ash’s eyes. “We all die, and shit happens. I’m not going anywhere.”

Ash pushed up on the tips of his toes. His mouth pressed against mine, and I kissed him back. Everything in me screamed to shove him away, to keep some small amount of distance, but I didn’t want to. When I was with Ash, the loneliness faded away, and I could breathe. Damn, did it feel good to just breathe.

When we pulled away from each other, his cheeks were wet. I kissed each one, tasting the saltiness of his tears. He pushed his hand back into mine. This time I held on tight.

“Come on, everyone’s pretty much leaving,” Ash said. “Want to check out a few more and then go home?”

Home. He said it so casually, as if it meant nothing when it meant everything to me.

“Yeah,” I said. “I want to.”

“Come on then,” he tugged my hand, smiling as he led the way. “I saw this hot as hell Subaru Impreza that I’ve been eyeing all night.”

I chuckled, the weight on my chest lifting as Ash went right back to normal. I needed that. I couldn’t delve into any more of the pain that I struggled with every day. The endless deluge of ache that I ignored. I was no better than Ash. Whenever I hurt, I slapped on a smile, cracked a joke, and kept on marching.

That was who I had to be.

Ash and I wandered back over to the cars together. We took our time, going over them while he asked questions. Never once did he leave my side. I stole glances the whole time, admiring the easy-going way he talked to people, his smile, and the warmth of his hand.

I’m going to marry you, Ash. You don’t know that yet, but I sure as fuck do.

The numbers began to thin as people focused more on the booze and drugs as the night wore on. I grabbed Ash’s arm, dragging him to the cars off to the side. Pushing him up against the Talbot Lago Grand Sport, I slipped my tongue into his mouth. He moaned, writhing against the car as I bit his bottom lip. Ash groaned and bit right back, even harder than me. I wanted nothing more than for him to shove me over the back of the car and fuck me, but he was too short, and I knew we didn’t have time.

A blowjob will have to do.

Grabbing the door handle of the car, I opened it. I grinned when no alarm went off. Either the car was too damn old, it never had one, or Marco was too fucking egotistical to think anyone would steal from him and his shitty family. I didn’t mind proving him wrong.

“What are you doing?” Ash hissed.

I shoved him into the car. “Shut up and take your dick out.”

Ash blinked. “I don’t think this is a good way to work out your frustration.”

“You’re wrong, but I don’t have time to explain that to you right now.”

“What are you— Hey!”

I yanked Ash’s clothes down and swallowed his cock in one go. He stretched my mouth in just the right way. The salty taste of pre-cum stained my tongue. I lapped at the head of his dick desperately, starving for more. My hand tightened around his shaft, stroking him as I twisted my head, tongued his slit, and then stuffed him back down my throat once more.

“Fuck,” Ash moaned, his back arching from the seat.

The car was so small that I had to support his body. Not that I minded. As long as I had Ash’s dick in my mouth, I was a happy man. All of the panic from earlier began to fade away. It would still be there, waiting, just like it always fucking was. But Ash was a good distraction. Even after we’d been together for so long, I still wasn’t sick of him. That said a lot.

Ash’s fingers pushed through my hair. He grabbed it, nails scraping against my scalp as he rolled his hips. I ate up every desperate, panting moan. Hearing him, feeling him, it was like my own personal brand of medicine. It wouldn’t heal my fucking head, but it sure as fuck felt good.

“Right there,” Ash moaned. “Fuck, I’m gonna cum!”

I reached into my pants and tugged my cock out. My hand wrapped around my heated flesh. I stroked while I bobbed my head, taking in every inch of Ash as his dick twitched in my mouth. As his moans crescendoed, I pulled back just enough so that I could catch every drop on my tongue. He cried out, tossing an arm over his mouth as he filled mine with his load. I pulled back as he panted, looking at me with that dazed look in his eyes. Slowly, I opened my mouth, showing him what he’d done.

“Shit,” he groaned. “That’s so fucking hot. Swallow it, please.”

I did just that, swallowing him down in one gulp. Standing up, I jerked off harder, faster. The sight of him cumming and the taste of him on my tongue was all I needed. My hips stuttered forward, and a feral growl escaped me as I barreled toward my impending nut.

“Hey, what the fuck are you doing?”

I ignored Marco’s voice as I came so hard my breath was stolen. My seed splattered all over his car, soaking into the pristine material while I continued to jerk off. Spurt after spurt ruined his interior, all while Ash stared at me with wide eyes, catching strays of my cum on his face, chest, and torso. By the time I was done, I felt better than I had earlier.

“What the fuck, Giancarlo?” Marco snapped as he marched over to me. “My goddamn car!”

I slipped out of the backseat and stepped closer to him. Marco tried to get away, but I wasn’t about to let that happen. Instead, I wiped the tip of my cock off, smeared the leftover remnants of cum onto his shirt, and grinned. His eyes were huge, staring at me like I’d lost my damn mind.

“Next time—” I said as I stuffed my dick back in my pants. “you should keep your fucking mouth shut.”

His eyes narrowed. “I’ll kill you.”

“Want to try it?” I asked. “I guarantee I’m faster than you, and I’ll put that stupid fucking face right through the windshield.” I tapped his cheek affectionately, much harder than I had to. “If I catch you in a dark alley, you’ll be praying I was back upstate.”

Marco gaped at me, but I didn’t care. I was done with him. Reaching out, I grabbed Ash’s hand and pulled him out of the car. He’d redressed himself, and a light dusting of pink was on his cheeks.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

“Hey, whose side are you on?” I barked.

“Yours.” He wrapped his arms around mine and gave me a sheepish look. “Let’s go home.”

“Hungry? We’ll pick up some burgers on the way.”

“Burgers sound good,” he said, lighting up and completely forgetting about Marco and his dumbass car.

We strolled away, Ash talking a mile a minute about the cars he’d seen tonight. Even after everything that went down, I had to admit; this was a damn good date.