Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Nicolette
I awoke hot and sweaty and attempted to kick the covers off. When they didn’t budge, I opened my eyes to see I was draped in limbs, not blankets. I was sandwiched between Marko and Gio, encompassed in their dual, masculine scent of fresh woods, oak and chocolate. The aroma made my stomach growl and my clit pulse with need.
My stomach rumbled again, and I realized I hadn’t eaten in two days, not since before that last fateful rehearsal.
“Hungry, tesorina ?” Gio was regarding me with a hunger of his own, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t for an egg-white omelet.
“How about some meat, Niki?” Marko growled.
I couldn’t hold back the wide smile. “Uh, yes please. I can't remember the last time I ate.”
The guys exchanged dark looks but quickly shifted back to a more amiable appearance. I wondered what that was about.
“I’ll go make us breakfast, you two relax,” Marko ordered.
I watched him slide out of bed, his cock heavy at half-mast and his muscular ass flexing as he bent over to retrieve his pajama pants. I whistled at the view. Marko shook his ass, and I broke out in a peel of giggles.
“Go already,” Gio demanded impatiently. “I have to whet my appetite.”
“Mmm, I like the sound of that,” I purred.
Gio pinned me to the bed, his hands engulfing my wrists. He nibbled at my lip until I opened my mouth. His tongue tangled with mine in a very heated kiss.
He pulled back when I tugged my head to the side and his bright eyes held a glint of concern.
“I need you, Gio.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to push you.”
I acted in mock outrage. “Seriously? Pushing me is your favorite activity, Giovanni.” I’d meant my comment to be light and humorous, but his eyes darkened into a piercing royal blue.
“I’m not a gentle man, but I could be for you.”
He meant what he said, but that wasn’t what I needed from him. “Giovanni Luciano Alfonse Vitale, have I ever given you the idea that I wanted gentle?”
“You haven’t, at least not from me.” With a smirk, he spread my thighs with his knee and speared me with his cock in a single thrust.
“Is this what you want, tesoro ?” He slid his hands under my ass, lifting my hips so he could sink his cock fully in and hit that special spot deep inside. I wrapped my legs around his hips and let his cock take away the nightmare that had been the past few days.
Then I saw Amergio in a pool of blood, his lifeless eyes accusing me of killing him.
“Stop!” I screamed.
Gio pulled out immediately and I backed up to the headboard. I felt wild, feral, and out of control as I looked desperately for a way to escape what was haunting me.
Marko came flying through the door. “What the hell is going on?” he asked.
“Niki.” Gio said my name in a tone that was low and placating, almost like he was scared of me. “What happened to you? What did he do to you? Please tell me, tesoro, so I can make it better.”
Marko and Gio approached me like one would a wounded animal.
I felt like one, unable to control my breath, my thoughts or my feelings that were spreading out of control. “Don’t touch me! Stay back!”
They both stilled and I moved further away until there was nowhere else to go. It wasn’t far enough.
I tried closing my eyes but the vision of Liam shooting Amergio point blank with not an ounce of remorse, just to teach me a lesson, was too real, too heart-wrenching. I couldn’t deal with what had happened and darted for the sliding door that led out to the enormous deck. I had to get to the edge.
I’d tested a ruthless man and someone else had paid the price, a young man with his entire life ahead of him. A sob erupted and it took a moment for my adrenaline-riddled brain to realize it was me that made that sound. I needed to set myself free of the haunting images, needed for them to stop and for me to feel purged of the overwhelming guilt.
If I took the leap of my life and ended it with a tumble from the skyscraper, would I be forgiven? Marko caught me long before I could reach the edge and decide for myself if I could make up for my sins
“Please let me go!” I thrashed. “I need to go; I need to die. Please!”
Marko held onto me, but it was Gio that approached me, his eyes boring into mine. I was sure he could see the guilt. I was a murderer, responsible for his cousin's death.
Gio cupped my chin firmly. “Niki, is this about what happened at your apartment?”
I froze. My heart beat so hard and wild I was surprised not to see it bursting from my chest. “He’s dead.”
“Who’s dead? Who is she talking about, Gio?” Marko frowned, his confusion evident.
The fact that he didn’t know yet made me feel worse. It was all my fault.
“My cousin, Amergio. Niki’s driver, he was shot point blank between the eyes.” Gio spoke to Marko, but his gaze held mine. “You saw it, didn’t you, bella ?”
An avalanche broke through me. I began to scream hysterically, no longer in control of myself.
“Niki. Nicolette! Enough! Stop it this instant,” Marko demanded.
But I couldn’t stop it, I couldn’t control anything.
“Bring her inside, we need to calm her down,” Gio replied.
Marko half-dragged, half-carried me all the way back into the bedroom. I fought every step of the way. Clawing at him, at doorframes, at plants, anything I could get my hands on, but eventually Marko got me back inside, and placed me gently in a sitting position on the edge of the mattress.
“Now leave, Marko.”
Gio’s order took us both by surprise. My attention darted between the two of them as Marko scowled at his boss and best friend.
Gio didn’t back down. “I know what she is suffering from, and I know how to fix it. Right now, she doesn’t need a Daddy to indulge her and make her feel better. She needs the devil to take her into the dark and bring her into the light.”
“Okay,” Marko grunted, though it was clear he didn’t really understand what Gio meant. “I’ll be in the living room if you need me.”
“No.” Gio regarded him darkly. “I need you to leave.”
A series of emotions played over Marko’s boy-next-door features before he nodded his head and left the room. I was stunned into silence; they always did everything together and now Gio had sent Marko away. I didn’t know what to think of that.
When we heard the apartment door open and close, Gio trapped me between his legs and wrestled me over his lap. He slung his leg over mine and trapped one hand with his, pinning it to my low back while his other stroked my backside.
“Are you a bad girl, Nicolette?”
“Yes!” I howled. “Now let me go.”
“I’m afraid not, my fierce ballerina. You belong to me.”
Those words had worked in the past. Belonging to Gio and Marko was what had kept me steady. “Not anymore.”
His hand came down on my bottom so hard I cried out, not my usual modus operandi.
“Always, Nicolette, you will always belong to me, and there will be no more running away from what haunts you. That all ends today.”
I gulped. The quietness of his voice did not fool me for a minute. That sexy, sultry tone always made me wet for him and now was no exception. How could I be turned on and hate myself at the same time?
His hand came down again, marking my other cheek. Then he worked down to my sit spots, peppering my ass with the hardest spanking I’d ever experienced, one that had me trying to twist out of his grasp while simultaneously begging him to stop.
He was relentless. He didn’t usually spank me in any sort of disciplinary way. That had always been Marko’s thing. Gio’s spanks were usually part of heavy sex, like the kind I’d wanted just a short time ago. Never had I been so thoroughly punished, but even as I cried out and protested, something inside of me was cracking and giving way.
“Tell me, Niki…” He punctuated his words by spanking my thighs, making me scream for mercy. “How badly do you loathe yourself right now?”
I couldn’t answer that because even as Amergio’s face came in and out of focus, a stronger urge was beginning to take over. A desire to be cleansed, and set free from the overwhelming guilt. I stopped fighting and lay limply over his lap. “I hate myself.”
Gio’s paddle-like hand continued to sear my bottom, the stinging heat like flames to a martyr, purging me of all the guilt that had been eating me. Not just with the death of Amergio, but the guilt I’d been carrying for leaving them with no explanation.
The tears that had stopped when I began to try and escape from him came back with a vengeance. I cried for the girl who’d lost her mom far too young. I cried for the teenager who’d been subjected to neglect and verbal abuse. Tears poured in a steady stream to drip on the rug beneath me.
Soon I was wallowing, my body wracked with sobs, and still Gio spanked me without reservation. He never once took it easy on me.
“You are not responsible for Amergio’s death.”
The actions leading up to that moment played in my mind. I wanted, needed, so desperately to believe him.
“Liam was going to kill Amergio regardless of what you did or didn’t agree to. He fully intended to fuck with your head in any way possible. And what better way than to make you think you were responsible for the death of my cousin?”
Gio’s hand worked back up my thighs and stayed at my sit spot until I thought I would lose consciousness.
The spanking stopped and Gio tipped me up. My punished bottom screamed in protest as he held me tight on his muscular thighs.
“Because Liam knew if he ruined you with guilt, then he’d have ruined me, also. It was his last fuck you and he made it personal. You couldn’t save Amergio, Niki, any more than I could save you from the nightmare you’ve experienced. I failed you, Niki. If anyone should throw themselves off the roof, it should be me.”
Gio moved as if to stand, and I threw my arms around his neck. “No Gio, don’t leave me please. I couldn’t bear it.”
He stroked my back in soothing circles.
“Neither could I, Nicolette. Liam would win, we would be dead, and Amergio would have given his life for nothing. Don’t toss away my cousin's sacrifice, Niki. Don’t let what that bastard did be what tears us apart.”
“Oh Gio!” I slammed my mouth against his, desperate to feel him, and wishing I could climb inside his body and stay there forever. He moved us until we were prone on the bed, his body hovering over mine, his hands pinning my wrists above my head.
“Keep your eyes on mine. No closing them, Niki, or you’ll be punished for disobeying me.”
His smokey-toned command was all I needed to hear. “Yes, Sir.”
Gio smiled that devilish grin of his, and sunk his cock deep inside me. He took me hard and fast, his strong fingers digging into my flesh like cuffs. I loved it, relished it and gave myself over. He claimed me just as thoroughly as he’d done that first time and it was there, floating in the world that he controlled, that I found a new Niki.
Slightly older, and wiser, but still the naughty girl underneath the controlled ballerina who wanted nothing else in life but to spend the entirety of what was left with him and Marko. My guys.
Gio spilled his seed deep inside of me and in the aftermath of his violent lovemaking I realized I was home.