Forty-Four
Levin
I felt unwell.
We hadn’t heard from Dom. And I’d fucked up.
Again . Now, I couldn’t stop staring at Bianca.
These emotions welling up within me had been clawing to get out from the moment I first saw her.
I’d fought them so hard too. The fact Dom was still missing made those feelings run wild with fear.
I knew wherever Dom was, it wasn’t good.
His old man wasn’t the doting, loving sort of parent, and the horrors Dom was probably going through only meant more bad shit coming our way.
Making me feel. Want. Desire. Lo—
Fuck.
“I like your hair wet.” Bianca giggled, pushing Vincent’s damp hair away from his forehead.
His lips quirked up slightly. I knew Vincent. He was wrestling with his feelings too. Namely the ones concerning with what the hell we were going to do when Dom got back and delivered whatever news he had.
“I like you wet,” he retorted, dragging her closer to him before he shoved her towel off, leaving her naked again.
I rubbed my forehead. I needed some air. After our shower, we’d dressed, or tried to in Bianca’s case. If I stayed, nothing good would come of it considering I’d been a breath away from burying my cock deeply inside her with Vincent.
“Where are you going?” Bianca called out, pushing away from Vincent.
My gaze raked up her gorgeous body, making my cock twitch to life in my pants again.
“I need some air.”
“Everything OK?” She took a step toward me.
My gaze darted to Vincent. He looked how I felt. His lips were turned down into a deep frown, and he seemed tired, despite how much of a good time he was having with Bianca. He gave me a nod, letting me know he understood.
“Yeah. I’m just going to go call Dom and see where he’s at. You should get dressed. Wear red. It’s Dom’s favorite color.”
“What’s yours?” she asked as I spun away from her, my hand on the doorknob.
I swallowed thickly before answering, “Blue.” I didn’t wait for her to say anything else. I simply slipped out the door and closed it behind me.
* * *
I leaned against the wall outside of Bianca’s building, watching as students came and went. Many were dressed to the teeth for the dance already. Those on the football team were in uniform and dashing off to the field.
I took a hit of my joint and let my head rest against the brick wall, my body coiled with tension. I hated feeling so lost. Usually, I knew exactly what the plan was. I never had to second guess myself. I never had to pause. We took what we wanted, when we wanted it. But now? Everything was fucked.
Dom rounded the sidewalk and headed in my direction, his black hair slicked back and his suit on. He carried a large white package beneath his arm.
“Where have you been?” I grunted as he approached.
He stopped in front of me and snagged the joint out of my hand, taking a deep hit and holding it in before blowing it out and handing the joint back to me.
“Nowhere good,” he muttered.
I nodded. Figured.
“What’s the plan?”
“If my father’s inside man doesn’t deliver Bianca to him by midnight, we take care of her .” He launched into telling me the bullshit about a sex club his father wanted her to be tortured in.
Bile burned my throat. I bit my cheek so hard I drew blood. “So she’s fucking dead then? Either way. The pigs in that place will kill her or we will.”
Dom’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “You knew it would eventually come to this. We all did. She belongs to Ivanov, and you know how we punish—”
“She belongs to us,” I snapped.
Dom lifted an eyebrow at me. “ Does she? For sure? No going back when you feel like you can’t take her shit or the fucked-up feelings?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. This is so messed up.”
Dom nodded.
“I just had my dick in her mouth. I almost gave in and fucked her.”
I locked gazes with Dom to check his reaction. He stood staring back at me, his nostrils flared slightly, but he wore no sign he was going to punch me in the face. Maybe he’d figured out how to get his jealousy in check.
“With Vincent?”
I licked my lips, remembering how I’d definitely kissed more than just Bianca during our make out session.
And it had definitely been Vincent taking the lead and stroking my cock to near completion.
Fuck, it felt so good too. That was a first for us.
I just wanted Bianca to have what she wanted before shit hit the fan though.
If she wanted to see me kiss my best friend, so be it.
“Yeah, with Vincent,” I confirmed.
“That changes things a bit. Are you sure you want this mess we’re about to get into?”
“I think so.”
“You can’t fucking think so . You need to know it.”
“Then I fucking know it .” And I did. I was giving in despite every reason I had not to.
“I stand by what I said. If Vasiliev turns out to be the guy she was fucking, she’s dead.
Him with her. I don’t like traitors. She swore nothing happened with the lords past what was forced of her.
” His hands shook as he adjusted the box he carried.
“Her life will be a nightmare if the lords get her and Ivanov marries her. We’d be doing her a favor. ”
“And if we keep her? How are we going to win against your old man? We’re on a bit of a time crunch here.”
“Remember what you said to me in my room when we talked?”
I nodded, recalling our heart-to-heart.
“I think. . .” He raked a hand through his hair, mussing it.
“It’s a good idea. She’s eighteen. We won’t need anyone’s permission.
I can marry her and make her a De Santis.
It’ll look real bad if my father killed my wife.
At least right off the bat. It’ll buy us some time to get shit sorted. It’s the best plan we have.”
My chest ached, but I nodded. “Fine. We need to let Vincent know.”
“We won’t tell her. I want her to have a nice evening. We’ll stay by her side the entire time. Being in public, out in the open, will keep her safe. We’ll all go back to my room afterward. In the morning, we can make her mine.”
“Sure,” I grunted, taking a hit from my joint. I needed the fucking escape. I’d fallen for someone I couldn’t have. Or couldn’t marry. Story of my life.
Dom studied me for a moment longer. “It changes nothing. You. Me. Her. Vincent. She’s ours , even if she has my last name. I’d never take her from you two. I want you to know that. But we need to agree that she’ll die if she’s been with a lord. I don’t back out of promises.”
His green eyes glinted with the darkness he’d inherited from his father. There was something else in them though. Something that told me he wouldn’t want her dead, even then. I took that piece and clung to it, hoping I was right, before I exhaled. “I’m glad you’ll let me fuck your wife, De Santis.”
“I know you’d let me fuck yours.” And with those sweet words, he nodded for me to follow him into Bianca’s building.
I did so, lost in my fucked-up thoughts.
Tonight would change everything, that much I knew.
I just hoped bumblebee hadn’t made a mistake with a lord because her life was on the line.
Hell, my heart was on the line. Anger flowed through me just thinking about a lord touching her.
I wasn’t sure I could get past it myself if it were true.
It would piss me off, sure, but it would shatter what little faith I had left. I knew it would.
But I also hoped I was right about the look in Dom’s eyes, and that if she had, he wouldn’t follow through with killing her.
Dom never broke a promise though.
And I had a happy trigger finger.