Chapter 47
CHRISTIAN
L eon has a nice office with big glass windows that look out over the empty club.
He’s got bold artwork up on the wall, a palatial desk, and a small conference table that can seat a dozen.
There are also a couple of low couches and two single seaters with a coffee table in front of the windows and a door leading to a private bathroom.
When I arrived, Leon was here with Mateo, who in addition to being a kick-ass trainer had taken on the role of our head of security.
Leon’s sitting on the couch. Mateo is sat opposite.
Beyond the room, the club is crawling with soldiers.
I knew they had been quietly amassing them, but I didn’t realize just how many.
Out of necessity, they have largely kept me out of the loop—what I don’t know, I can’t offer up under duress.
If this goes south now, it won’t matter what I tell Ettore because we will already be at war.
I stare down at the club through the windowed wall. The lighting is basic and low-level but there’s enough to get an impression. I visited a couple of times when it used to belong to Jimmy, and once after Dante took over, but didn’t see anything of the club at that time.
They’ve refurbished it. I have to say, it’s looking sweet. “This is very fucking swanky.”
“Thank you, Christian,” Leon says dryly, “I’m delighted you approve.”
“Whatever.” I smirk.
Inside, I’m burning up, but I’m careful not to let it show.
“She was screaming my name and coming all over my dick right before she slapped me.”
I don’t know what pisses me off more: that she slapped him or that she came for him when I wasn’t there. My thoughts are not rational, even for me, so I keep them on lockdown.
But I’m restless and wired.
I mean, I was aware they were together unattended last night, but I didn’t know he’d fucked her at that point, and now I do.
“Jesus Christ, does he ever answer his fucking cell?” Leon mutters.
He’s been trying for a while, and his temper is rising.
“She was feeling feisty when I left. Expressed a preference to fucking me over him. So, you know, he’s probably got to prove himself.” I wish I hadn’t vocalized my opinion because now the ants are awake and marching up and down my spine.
I’m definitely not happy about him fucking her.
Leon tosses the cell down and shakes his head slowly. Mateo coughs to cover his laugh.
“Am I going to have a problem with the two of you over her?”
“You mean because I’ve also fucked her?” Strangely, the ants calm down. Maybe I’m subconsciously relieved to have my claim on Carmela out in the open.
He holds my steady gaze. “Yes.”
“I can’t speak for Dante, but it’s not like he doesn’t know what I was doing… Well, maybe not at first, but after I walked in on him fucking her in Ettore’s bed and the conversation that followed, I’d say he had a pretty good idea.”
“Too much information, Chris,” Leon mutters. “A simple yes or no to whether it was going to be a problem was what I was seeking. And yes, he told me about you two. I likewise asked him if it was going to be a problem. This is me asking you the same thing.”
“No,” I say.
He continues to stare at me, and it’s pretty unnerving. Leon is a big motherfucker, and when he drops his easygoing facade, I don’t mind admitting it’s a little disturbing.
“I’m waiting for the but, Christian. Is there a but?”
“Nope. Don’t think so.” I glance down at myself half expecting the ‘but’ to reveal itself. When I look up, Leon is wearing an amused expression.
“What about Dante? What did he say when you asked if it was going to be a problem?”
He smiles. “He said no. I didn’t believe him at the time.”
Well, fuck. “And now?”
“About as much as I believe you.”
Fucking great.
He taps the screen on his cell and lifts it to his ear. “Fucking finally,” he mutters—I’m guessing Dante answered.
Five minutes later, Dante enters the office. His eyes slide from Matteo to Leon and then land on me. They linger. I don’t look away. I don’t smile. I don’t offer him anything. I just stare at him.
He’s fucked her—again.
I can see it on his face.
“You guys okay?” Leon says.
“We’re good,” I say. I’m still staring at Dante and thinking about him fucking her.
I fucking hate the thought of him touching her if I’m not there.
It represents an invisible line. All the other times before I took her to his apartment, I was always close, just outside the door…
inside the door… events orchestrated under my control and planning.
We’re going to need to set some ground rules.
Now is not the time, so I clear my expression. Then blink a few times as the tension permeating the room reaches me. “What?”
“You were looking at your brother like you wanted to liberate his head from his shoulders,” Leon says dryly.
“Well, alright,” I mutter, scowling. “I might have been thinking about it. I didn’t realize I was projecting. I’m fine now.”
Leon raises his brows. “Sit the fuck down, both of you… No, not next to each other. We need some space to intervene if one of you loses your damn mind.”
Deeply offended, I stalk over and sit in the nearest easy chair.
Dante takes the one opposite, leaving a coffee table and Leon and Mateo between us.
“He’s my brother. I fucking love him, and I’d do anything for him,” I say.
“I watched out for Carmela as best I could the whole time he couldn’t.
Maybe I took that a little more literally than might have been advisable.
But you know, that’s just the way it goes.
I’ll always have his back and, by extension, that of anybody that he gives a fuck about.
Just so we’re clear. Just so that nobody’s confused. ”
Dante is smiling. “I love you too, baby brother. I promise not to fuck her again without your permission.”
“That’s great,” Leon cuts in. “I appreciate you two clearing that up. Now, down to business. What the fuck is Ettore up to?”