Chapter 14
Chapter
Fourteen
MATTEO
I t’s not hard for Wren to figure out which car is mine in this shithole. And when she does, she stops dead in her tracks.
Sighing, “Come on, tesoro . I want to go home.”
“I can’t get into that. I’m filthy. You can’t have only taken a whore’s bath and then get into a Rolls Royce!” She starts to rant.
“Wren,” I cut her off. “Get in the fucking car.”
I don’t wait for her to respond before I climb into the driver's seat. She only keeps me waiting a few moments.
Good girl.
My gaze doesn’t leave her as I start up the car, watching her buckle in. I can’t help but think she looks good beside me. Perfect, actually.
She doesn’t say a word as I pull out of the parking lot. I didn’t mean to get so carried away back there. I can’t remember the last time I lost control like that. As soon as I heard that piece of shit assume she sold her body for money, I saw red. Gio and Enzo are never going to let me forget this, considering I’m constantly reeming them for what is considered an acceptable form of punishment. In this line of work, I obviously understand that cleaning up messes just comes with the territory, but some of them are just fucking unnecessary.
I can’t tell if she’s silent because she’s mad at me or just overwhelmed from the night before. It’s just a hunch, but I don’t think it’s from what just happened. I’ve been with a lot of women in my life to know the difference between a horrified gasp and a horny gasp. And that one was the latter. The gasp alone made my dick twitch.
“Aren’t you going to ask for Delaney’s address?” Wren breaks me out of my thoughts.
“No.”
“No?” she asks, a slight edge in her tone.
“No,” I repeat.
“And why the fuck not?”
“Because you’re coming home with me.”
Wren turns her body so she’s facing me. “Are you high again?”
“No.” My lip twitches.
“Look, I’ve had a very long night, and all I want to do is go somewhere where I know I’m going to feel comfortable. That’s all I want. You can at least give me that, can’t you?”
I swallow down the lump that forms in my throat from a mix of the guilt I’m feeling from some piece of shit getting his hands on her, and the vulnerability in her voice. She seems so sad, and that’s not the Wren I’ve come to know.
“I’m going to make sure you’re comfortable and taken care of, tesoro . You have my word.”
“Because that means so much,” Wren mumbles as she slouches back in her seat before resting her head against the window, closing her eyes, the fight leaving her.
She’ll never know how much what she just said cut me. In my family, your word is everything. It’s sacred. If you can’t keep your word, you’re worthless. You aren’t a man.
I shoot off a quick text to Aldo, letting him know that I need him at the house before I turn her seat warmer on in hopes the heat will help ease some of the soreness I know she's feeling. We ride the rest of the way home in silence.
Every single member of the family raises their eyebrows at me as I quietly walk by with a sleeping Wren in my arms. They all look equally ready to murder someone as they take in her busted-up face. She looks so worn out that I didn’t have it in me to wake her up.
I make the short trek to my room, crouching slightly to pull back the covers before placing her down on the side that I don’t sleep on. The one farthest from the door.
I should just tuck her in and leave, but I can’t. I don’t know what it is about this woman, but she makes me lose all sense of control. So, instead of tucking her in and leaving, I’m tucking her in and lightly kissing her forehead as I brush the wild, raven-colored locks out of her face.
“You’re safe now,” I whisper against her forehead before leaving the room as quietly as I entered.
The guys are silent as I enter the living room, all of them waiting for me to start talking, but I don’t. I honestly don’t even know where to start. This whole situation is so fucked.
“Well, that was unexpected,” Alessio says, breaking the silence.
Every single one of them knows what it means for me to bring Wren into my home. You don’t just bring anyone in. That’s where your secrets and vulnerabilities are. And those are things a person can use to destroy you. Especially a person like me.
“Yup,” I agree, not saying anything else about it. I don’t even know what there is to say when I don’t know what the fuck is going on. “Gio, I need you to go to the motel on 8th Street and make sure the piece of shit working the front doesn’t talk.”
“And what happened with the piece of shit working the front desk, boss?” Gio asks with a knowing smile.
“He implied Wren was a prostitute, so I stabbed his hand.” I shrug.
“Oh, so it’s like that, huh?” Gio’s smirk is so fucking big right now as his eyes dance.
“Yeah, it’s like that,” I answer.
“Does she know?” Alessio asks, knowing that she probably has no fucking clue what she just got herself into.
“Not yet, but she will.”
Alessio inclines his head as he studies me. “She brings out the old you. I like it.”
I grunt in response because he isn’t wrong. Since taking over as head of the family, there has been a lot more behind-the-scenes work and not as much action as, say, Gio and Enzo get.
“Did you find him?” I ask them.
“I can confirm it was the same guy who stalked her home the first night. We pulled some footage from the other buildings on her street.” Alessio sighs. “But that’s all I got. Gio went with me over to her place right after you called, but the place was empty.”
Figures. “Was her place wrecked?”
Gio snorts as Alessio answers. “It was fucking trashed. ”
“You can tell she fought him off. Your girl has some balls because that dude wasn’t small, based on his profile. Blood was all over her kitchen floor.” Gio pauses as a dark look takes over his face. “Got some guys over there right now cleaning the place up and replacing the busted front door.”
“Aldo will be here in an hour,” Alessio adds.
My gut clenches again at the reminder I even needed to call Aldo. I should have fucking been there. “I appreciate you taking care of that for me.” I nod my head at Gio. “I don’t know anything more yet. Cain called me back with her location, she was already asleep by the time I got into her room, and I didn’t want to wake her.”
“And I’m sure when she did wake up, it was a free ticket to pet the new kitty.” Gio wags his eyebrows at me as I smack him on the back of the head. “Hey!”
“Don’t talk about Wren’s pussy, jackass. She reamed my ass when she woke up and tried to kick my ass out. Then we had a little hiccup with reception.” I glare at Gio.
“I’m liking this girl more and more.” Enzo laughs. “It’s about time someone has the balls to stand up to your old, grouchy ass.”
“I’m not grouchy,” I grumble. And 40 isn’t old.
“Boss, if the Wikipedia picture of The Grinch ever changes, your face is next in line.”
“Ain’t that the fucking truth,” Gio agrees.
“Don’t you all have work to be doing? Like maybe figuring out why I crashed into a fucking tree?” I ask them, as they all shrug.
“And miss Wren trying to kick you out of your own house when she wakes up? No way, Boss,” Enzo says as Gio and Alessio snicker.
These men are worse than a bunch of high school girls. Fuckers.