Chapter 21
CHAPTER 21
MAX
Y ou fucking reap what you sow.
I had my gun clutched in my right hand, finger pressed tightly on the trigger while I waited in the car. The door and dashboard had taken their beating already, but my anger was nowhere close to being appeased.
I saw the whole fucking show from the comfort of my SUV, right until she turned her head and saw me, too.
I wanted nothing more than to barge into that fucking apartment and redecorate the walls with Spanish blood. Some painting that would be.
But I had to remember my place. I had to remember who I fucking was and that Alison was out of my reach.
Staying away was a safety precaution I couldn't dare to break. Oblivious could be a graceful state when bad men were after information, and I would go above and beyond to keep her that way.
But fuck, it was hard. Too hard.
There was a time when I could ignore her pull, but not anymore. Walking away was getting harder every day, especially now that I had tasted her sweet lips again .
That first kiss was innocent, almost nothing but a peck on the lips, but that second time… If Jackson hadn’t called, I would have fucked her right on that kitchen counter. No amount of self-preservation would have stopped me then.
Just like I almost saw that dim-witted Spaniard do.
Serves me right!
My tongue still felt her response to my urgency in strokes of pure sublimation. What was a permanently blemishing fire had become an all-consuming raging flame. Alison was the gasoline that kept on pouring.
She was like my own brand of torture, carved specifically to poke at my weaknesses, and my strength was wearing paper-thin.
Violent fucking delights.
My life was an unbalanced scale of hazards and bad decisions. I couldn’t have it tipping onto someone as pure as her. My fate was impending. Waiting for me to stumble to catch up with me.
She wasn’t cut for the depravities of demons like me who wore sharp weapons under refined threads. A skin of deceit weaved to attract but still conceal the blood stains of the skin beneath.
Image was everything in this fucked up world, and ours was always pristine. Like barons and magnates of death and destruction.
I couldn’t drag her down. The only thing I could do was let go, but watching her slip away was as painful as a bullet to the gut.
I saw her leave his studio, my free hand tapping repeatedly on the steering wheel, waiting impatiently for her to exit the building, doubting if she had actually spotted me, too.
Who was this version of me? I’ve never lost my composure like I felt the need to. The thread I had been holding onto had vanished, and now all I saw was red. All I needed and craved was punishment.
I had drawn blood from my bottom lip as my teeth raged their war against it. The iron taste reminded me of where I belonged in the food chain. Biting that fucking bullet carved with my name, knowing it was coming sooner or later.
Delights… Delights with violent fucking ends.
I watched her cross the road in a tight jog, minding her step in those cock teasing heels before she got right into the passenger’s seat.
“You can always take the back seat if that one is too hot for you.” I was bitter. I couldn’t keep it from seeping into my words.
I watched her gaze flutter from mine to the gun in my hand, my finger still pressing lightly on the trigger.
Alison buckled her seat belt in silence, turning her gaze towards the road, not dignifying me with a reply.
“No? Suit yourself.” I had given her the chance to retreat to a safe distance before pulling away with tire-squealing force.
But I was feeling conflictive. I was out for blood. I couldn’t have Spanish, so apparently Italian would have to do. Mine or hers, it didn’t matter.
Several minutes passed in silence, Alison counting the street markings as I fought to keep my mouth shut. My gun was now safely resting on the center console while my nails dug deep holes into the steering wheel as I reeled in each and every word.
Traffic was scarce, and this ride would soon be over. But my sharp tongue was too cutting to control. I wouldn’t rest if I hadn’t given it its fair chance for a fight.
“I knew I was coming out for dinner, never expected a show to go with it.” I drew the first punch, and now I was waiting to see if she was in the ring with me or if I had to pull out bigger guns.
She left the road stripes to pass by unsupervised, turning to me instead, tucking a foot under her ass, such as a soldier positioning for battle.
Alison’s dress drove up her thighs, leaving nothing but an inch of a shadow to hide her pussy from my hungry eyes. But she was oblivious to her vulnerability or my hunger.
“I got one of those this morning, too. On an empty stomach, imagine that.” Swing and miss. She had no idea what she’d walked in on, and somehow, I thought it was best to leave her thinking that Zoe was my girlfriend. But she had succeeded in putting me on the defensive.
Was that trapped in there since this morning? I had seen the small tip, but was she willing to show me the whole iceberg?
“It was hardly the same thing.”
“I could agree with you, but then we would both be wrong. Did you enjoy it?” If I was fuming before, she got me close to exploding now. I bit my lip again, more blood seeping onto my tongue.
“I feel fucking honored! I keep getting front-row seats.” She rested her hand on her thigh, nervously rubbing her skin as I parked the car in front of her apartment.
I didn’t even let the words settle before I was out of the car, her green eyes following me as I made my way around to open the door for her.
“Always a gentleman.” Her dry sarcasm mocked my peace gesture in the midst of war. “That wasn’t an answer, and you agreed on honesty.” Someone else was blood-lusting tonight, too. This was a bad, bad idea.
“You wanna play? Now?” I asked, locking her against the side of the Mercedes, my arm caging her on one side while my gaze pinned her in place.
“You started it, and timing wasn’t an issue. So… did you?” She insisted, defiantly crossing her arms in front of her chest, head held high, gauging my reaction to every word she dropped.
I leaned in slowly, spitting fire straight into her ear, “As much as eating blades for breakfast.” I pulled back to watch her fucking beautiful face as I thought of my own question, aiming for destruction, “My turn. Is Jackson not scratching that itch as he should? Is that why you need Victor?”
“Careful, Max!” She warned, my words dangling on the cliff of a poor judgment that wasn’t even mine but suited my craving for pain.
“Or what? You can ask me whatever you want, but I have to be tame? Fuck that.”
“I’m not looking for itches to be scratched. I can do that myself. With my hands or toys.” Fuck me. My cock twitched in my pants at the thought of her taking care of herself, only to have that mirage pissed all over by the most recent events I had witnessed.
“That’s quite an image. Pity my corneas got burned today.”
“Are you jealous?” That word tumbled out of her mouth like a fucking prize. The half smile on her face was made of gloating, and something told me that what happened tonight was in my honor.
“No.” I wasn’t. I was far beyond that. I could burn the fucking world down to make sure no one would ever touch her again, but that wasn’t my place. I couldn’t claim what could never be mine. She held my stare while I felt the pulse of my jaw giving my half-truth away .
“Again, we had agreed on honesty. Is that your final answer?”
“I am being honest. I’m not jealous. That line was crossed long ago. I’m fucking murderous, Alison, do you understand? I feel nothing but the need to sink my teeth in retributive punishment.”
“In who, Max?” I was nodding in denial, low chuckles of acidic sarcasm being huffed through my nose. I couldn’t answer because that truth would unleash too much that I already struggled to keep hidden. “In me? You want to punish me?”
I fell silent. Immobile. Expectant.
“That’s quite an image.” She spat my words back at me. “But you can’t. Don’t blame me for that. Honor and a five-foot-four redhead are binding your wrists, not mine.”
“Are you sure about that?” I saw the flicker of doubt glow across her emerald eyes. “And it’s not about honor. I told you, it’s about preservation.” Fuck conventions. My intentions were as honorable as they were dirty if I had the luxury to have any.
“So watching me tonight was about preservation? Going by your tone, I’d say you got some of that pickle juice in your eyes.”
“Not mine. My seat in Hell is reserved. But I’ll be attending alone. It’s about keeping you safe, can’t you see that?” She had no fucking idea how feeling anything for me could destroy her. I couldn’t let the reasons see the light of day, but she was making it damn hard to keep myself in check.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you like me, Maxy Max.” She curled her fingers through my tie and yanked me closer until I was breathing the air she expelled.
“Not today. Definitely not today. ”
“Oh yeah, of course. Today you want to punish me.” She paused, her eyes averting to my lips before they came back up. “How would you have me?” I tasted every syllable, my eyes tracing the movement of her lips, too.
“Stop it, Alison.” I tried to pull back, but my determination was shattered by the battering of long, lush lashes.
“It’s a question, Max. I’m cashing in.”
“Forcing my hand off of the gentleman status?” My mind was twisted beyond good manners. This game was taking me for a ride on the dark side of depravity. The thoughts of Alison being punished for her bad behavior were too much to handle, too raw not to stain.
“No answering a question with another question, I recall those were the rules we set earlier together with no boundaries.”
“You’re not playing it fair, ragazza .”
“I’m in the Mafia, hotshot. What in the world ever gave you the thought that I played fair?” Her weapon was me. My words turned against me. I was both the poison and the antidote.
“Fine, suit yourself.” I pressed her against the car, grabbing her hand and placing it on my crotch so that she could feel how hard my cock was. If it caught her by surprise, she didn’t show it. She didn’t even try to move her hand away. Both of my hands grabbed the nape of her neck to steady her from the naked truth I was about to whisper straight into her thoughts. “How would I have you? Bending over my knee, ass red with my handprint, and your pussy dripping onto my fingers. I’d see about that mouth after. You couldn’t sass back if it was full of cock. There would be tears running down your face, that pretty little mascara of yours ruined. How much can you take, Alison? How far down your throat would I be?” I paused, waiting for a reply, “Your mouth is free now, Princess. You can talk. Or are you imagining it? Umm?”
I felt her swallow hard, uncut words slashing deep into her mind.
“Tell me, Alison. Is that enough damn honesty for you? Or do you need more?”
“What else is there?” Her voice was just above a broken whisper, speaking straight to the part of me that was close to losing that last ounce of self-control. And then she squeezed my dick, and I was a goner.
My fingers laced into her hair, yanking her head back while my other hand rode up her dress, two fingers swiping up her drenched underwear.
“What else is there?” She has no fucking idea!
This was such a bad idea!
“You’re soaked. Who’s this pussy gushing for? Huh?”
Pushing her underwear aside, and before I could even think about what I was doing, two fingers were buried inside her. The half gasp, half moan that left Alison’s mouth was the best damn sound I’d ever heard.
Fuck, I missed this.
“Was this for Victor?”
“Yes.” She lied. It was weak and lacking conviction.
“Maybe I should stop and take you back.”
“Don’t stop.” Alison was grinding into my hand, taking as much as I was giving.
“You like that? What a slutty little princess I have here. She likes to get finger-fucked out in public.”
Jesus fuck, she was so damn wet for me that my fingers glided in and out of her without resistance. My tongue had forgotten her taste, and God how I craved a reminder.
I wanted to tell her to stop seeing other men, but I knew that would only back me into a corner without the possibility of escape. I couldn’t take her for myself, but I was selfish enough to not want anyone else to have her.
How could I ever explain that without giving her false hope? My fingers being buried inside her was already an enlightening sign that shouldn’t have happened.
But none of those fuckers were good enough for her.
“Jackson didn’t make you come.” I plunged my fingers deep inside her in anger. “Victor didn’t make you come.” Another harsh thrust that she received with an open mouth and a trapped moan in her chest. “Am I the only one who knows how?”
“You did it once. Could have been beginner’s luck.”
“I don’t think so,” I said, curling my fingers and hitting that special spot that brought stars to her eyes. Alison’s mouth fell open in ecstasy, her eyes fluttering closed as I fucked her against the car. “How starved have those fuckers left you?”
“No more than you have.”
With that, my lips crashed onto hers, eating up the moans that Alison couldn’t hold back anymore as my fingers fucked her pussy right here on the sidewalk. Her hand had slipped into my pants, but my damn briefs were in the way of feeling her touch on my skin. Her fingers wrapped around my hard erection as well as she could, pumping in slow movements.
Jesus, she felt so fucking good!
My fingers were unrelenting while my palm pressed harsh circles on her clit. I pulled back from her lips, needing to see just how bothered she was before I gave her the worst punishment of all. Her pussy convulsed around my fingers, showing me just how close she was, and I knew I had only a few more pumps before she came all over my hand.
Was I strong enough to do this? Hopefully she’d hate me after, keep her damn distance and stop playing these little games with me.
As soon as Alison’s hand stilled in my pants, I knew it was time.
“I am the only one who knows how,” I whispered in a proud statement that did more harm than good, even to me. It was supposed to be a proud moment, and yet, the realization of what that meant was much more destroying than I’d anticipated. Alison had feelings for me, and I had allowed that to happen.
Harshly, I let go of her hair and pulled my fingers out of her pussy with all the strength I had left inside of me. I stepped back, releasing her from my casted shadow, her eyes wide as she rattled her mind for words to counter. But there were none.
“Now… Good night, Miss Battaglia.”
I watched her peel herself off the car, heading straight to the glass doors of her royal ivory tower while I would sink straight back into hell, fighting against the urge to lick my fingers clean.
If I did, could I fight off the addiction?
Probably not.