Forty
Levin
I finished my whiskey and stared at Dom. He looked like he’d been drawn and quartered. His face was pinched in quiet anger, more so than usual.
“Drink. You’re still an asshole,” I grunted, pushing the bottle toward him.
He stared at it before picking it up and sloshing some into his mouth.
We’d barely said two words to one another since he’d found me in bed with Bianca. When he’d knocked on my door earlier that evening, I’d opened it and let him in. He hadn’t said much since coming into my room, but the alcohol was good and that helped.
“I fucked up.” He slid the bottle back to me.
I picked it up and took another swig. He hadn’t said shit as far as I knew about what went down between him and Bianca after he stormed out of my room with her in his arms. Based on what I knew about Dom, it wasn’t anything good. The bruises on her neck only proved that.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out Dom had a nasty jealous streak.
On the other side of all this shit was me, bashing my head against the damn wall because I’d fucked up too.
I’d caved. I’d done what I said I wouldn’t do.
I’d let her grind her wet pussy against my bare cock.
That was on me. I hated I’d done it. Not because I blamed her.
Quite the opposite. I hated that I wanted it.
That I wanted her. She was a D’Angelou. The stepkid of some asshole I knew had a hand in my brother’s death.
If that didn’t stink of fucked up, then nothing did. The guilt was eating me alive. Then to see her looking all sad and casting worried glances at me when she didn’t think I was watching.
Yeah. I was a prick. It was a bear I was wrestling.
“Me too,” I muttered, passing the bottle back to him.
He drank again before running his fingers through his hair, his green eyes sad.
“I keep ignoring her. I don’t know what the fuck to say to her.”
“Why is it such a big deal?” I sank back in my seat and took a hit from my joint before handing it to Dom. “It’s not like you haven’t fucked her before. I’m assuming you fucked her after taking her from me.”
He sucked in a long drag and nodded, blowing the smoke out around him before coughing and passing the joint back.
“Yeah.”
I grunted, knowing damn well he’d put his cock inside her.
“She come for you?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
He scoffed and raked his hand over his face. “Why’d you do it?”
I shrugged and took another hit. “I fucked up too.”
He snorted at my answer. “Well, I guess we’ll wait for Vincent to get here to join our circle of jerks since it’s only a matter of time until he does too.”
“Vincent isn’t like us,” I pointed out. “You know that. He’ll have a ring on her finger and sweep her off on a honeymoon by graduation. Fill her with babies. He really likes her.”
I watched as Dom tightened his hand on the arm of the chair. A subtle tell, but I knew Dominic De Santis well enough to know he was getting pissed at the idea of someone else having her.
“She was for all of us,” I said.
“You didn’t want her,” he shot back.
“Still don’t.” Fucking liar.
I forced the thought out of my head. Truth of the matter was, she made me feel something, and it scared me. I hated the fear she brought with her. I wasn’t afraid of shit, but Bianca D’Angelou terrified me. I knew she’d fucking crush my soul if I let her in. So, I’d opted to crush hers instead.
I was an asshole.
“Think Vincent is fucking her?” Dom stared at me.
“Maybe. Vincent knows how to get what he wants.”
“He hasn’t been like that with her. He’s been taking his time. Getting close. He never does that with women.”
“Well, she has a way of changing a man.”
Dom snorted and took another pull from the bottle of whiskey before slamming it back down and wiping his mouth. “She sure fucking does.”
“What’s the plan? I know you didn’t come here to suck me off.”
Dom leveled his gaze on me. “Let’s be fair here. You’d be sucking me off.”
I scoffed. “Well, we might be stuck sucking one another’s cocks if we keep up the pace we’re going,” I said.
Dom sighed. “I think she was fucking Vasiliev.”
I froze, the joint suspended in midair. “What?”
“My father has his sister. Said he has someone within the lords who’s supposed take out Bianca.” He launched into what he knew from his old man.
My guts churned as each word spilled from his mouth. “You really think it’s Vasiliev?”
“I do. It makes sense. He’s always watching. I’ve caught her staring at him sometimes too. He’s playing her. Hard. She won’t know what hit her when he attacks. He’s gotten under her skin, made her trust him, fall for him.” He shook his head in disgust.
“And we’re just the assholes breaking her heart and pushing her toward him.”
“If it’s true,” Dom said softly.
“Let’s hope it’s not.” I swallowed, trying to remain calm. All I really wanted to do was go to Vasiliev and beat him until he stopped breathing. I wanted to take his ass out before he had a chance to hurt Bianca.
He was a dead man if suspicions were confirmed.
“You think you’ll have to kill her?” I asked, trying to push the image of Vasiliev with his shitty lord hands all over Bianca out of my head.
He nodded. “Eventually, yeah. D’Angelou clearly doesn’t know she and Ivanov broke up. Ivanov doesn’t want to piss off his daddy by saying anything. As far as any of the cocksuckers know, they’re together and will marry.”
“There’s a way out,” I said, locking my eyes on him. I had to be way too fucking drunk and high for this, but I said it anyway, my guts rolling with the implications.
“Let’s hear it.” Dom gave me a measured look.
“You marry her. Make her your queen. Kill D’Angelou. Get the keys to the kingdom. It’s not like she’d miss his ass.”
Dom’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he stared at me. “I can’t fucking marry her.”
“Why not? You’re the prince to a fucking kingdom of sin and sorrow. She’s untouchable as your wife. Do you hate her that much?”
“Quite the fucking opposite,” he muttered.
I stilled, frowning at him. “What the fuck aren’t you saying, De Santis?”
“She told me she loves me.” He sounded bitter as he stared down at his hands. “ What the fuck ?”
I ground my teeth together at his words.
“That’s why she’s mad. I fucked her until she could barely breathe.
I wanted her to hate me, I wanted her to scream it at me.
I ordered her to. Instead, she took the punishment and said she loves me.
I told her it was the wrong answer and walked away from her.
She left. I can’t even look at her now. The entire idea of it disgusts me. ”
“A beautiful woman lets you punish her and tells you she loves you, and somehow you’re the one disgusted? Fuck, I’m sick just looking at your pathetic ass.”
“Fuck off, Seeley,” he snapped back at me. “What would you have done if she’d said it to you?”
“She didn’t,” I snarled at him, my anger emerging. Apparently, I was a jealous prick too. What would I have done? Would I quit my evil ways and sweep her off her feet? Tell her I loved her too? Marry her?
Fuck, Chill, Seeley.
“She doesn’t have to love me or say it. She knows she belongs to all of us.” He rubbed his eyes, his elbows on his knees.
“Well, with the way you behave, you’d think she only belongs to you.”
He glared at me but said nothing.
“Which is it? She yours or ours?”
He was quiet for a moment before he spoke. “Ours.”
“Her life is on the line.”
“Always has been.”
“You know how serious this is, Dom. You know what could happen if you disobey your father though. Are you willing to do that? He’d probably have you killed and then just go fuck someone else to replace you. Or hell, he’d probably make you watch while he gutted her himself.”
A muscle thrummed along his jaw.
I sighed in frustration. “We need to act. We going to save her or what?”
“I don’t know how.” He looked at me and for the first time in all the years I’d known him, I saw some deep emotions I’d never seen on him before. Fear. Worry. Desperation.
“Yes you do. Vincent won’t be happy about it. I’m not either, but if you can save her, don’t you want to?”
He didn’t say anything again, opting to drink once more. After swallowing, he spoke. “If she’s with Vasiliev, or has been, it’s off. I won’t be able to. Not after a lord.”
I nodded. “Fair. Except you love her.”
“So do you,” he shot back, glaring at me.
I swallowed. “That’s why I’d kill her to save her from them.”
“How fucked up are we?” he asked, his voice soft.
“We wouldn’t be taking her life at that point,” I said softly. “We’d be saving her soul. Those fuckers are Satan and his minions.”
Dom nodded. “I guess we’d better get some answers before we pull the trigger.”
“Sounds like you do have a plan,” I said, taking another hit from my joint.
Dom nodded. “Maybe.”
Fuck. What a mess.