Chapter 11
11
LUCA
V iktor said he couldn’t act like he was mine, but he is. He’s all over me, and I can’t stop the way my chest expands from it. The way he leans into me, touches me, pulls me down for desperate kisses. Everything about him screams that I own him. From the way he tastes to the way he smells. To the way his body is pinned against mine.
But is this all pretend? Is he proving a point? I don’t know. It could be the alcohol he had with Anthony or it could just be him letting loose. Letting me experience what it is to be his.
For him to be mine.
I wrap my hands around his waist and pull him into me as we move toward the back rooms. We spent far too much time in the VIP rooms, chatting with Bane and Tatum ad nauseam.
So after another drink and a cigarette, Viktor leaned over to me and whispered that he wanted to see the rooms I had built, the ones made for filthy things. He wants to see what’s inside.
“You excited, kitten?” I ask, my lips at his ear as the bouncer lets us into the dark hallway that leads to the rooms. It’s exclusive to certain members, the ones who pay handsomely for it and are bound by silence.
I may have taken notes after purchasing Eden.
Everyone back here has signed an NDA.
As we move, his body pressed against mine, we hear moans, the slap of skin against skin, and Viktor’s hand snakes down my abdomen, pulling my shirt from my pants and trailing his fingers across my skin. His nose hits my neck and he inhales, breathing me in. He has to be fucking with me.
I know it will end as soon as we step out of this club, when this charade is over, but fuck it.
I let it happen all the same.
“You like this?” I ask, and when he doesn’t answer right away, I add, “I bet you do. I bet your cock is hard.”
He groans and arches into my palm as I stroke his stiff length over his black jeans.
He didn’t dress up for me. I know he was proving a point when I asked him to come with me to the club opening, but I saw the makeup on his pretty eyes. I want to watch it melt down his cheeks as I wreck him.
The things I want to do to his beautiful face.
“It’s so dark,” he whispers in my ear as I continue to stroke him.
“All the better to hide with,” I reply, glancing around. The lights are dim to make it difficult to see anything clearly. It’s all just shapes and shadows as we come to a stop in front of one of the viewing windows.
The room reminds me of when Viktor crawled to me. The anger on his face that day made my cock twitch in my pants, a sign of things to come. Now it’s hard and hungry. It wants more than it’s being offered. It wants it all.
Viktor’s hands slip from my stomach as he steps toward the window, watching as a slender man gets spit-roasted by two burly guys.
Viktor’s hands spread on the windowsill as he leans forward, his ass pushing into my groin as I take my place behind him.
My fingers twist in the waistband of his pants. I could peel them down and push inside of him.
He’d let me. He’d want it. I bet he came prepped and ready.
I shift closer, pulling his back to my chest and dragging my other hand up to his neck. It’s my favorite part of him. One of them at least. I feel his Adam’s apple bob against my palm and feel the vibration of a groan hit my skin.
“What is it you want, pretty boy?” I ask as I slide two fingers into his mouth.
He sucks on them slowly, his tongue twisting around them, leaning into my body as he does.
I hold him up, feeling the wet pressure against my fingers and knowing that could be my cock.
The obsession I have with him is unreal.
His eyes never leave the men in front of us as I fuck his mouth faster.
“You do know already that I won’t share,” I say. “You let another man touch you and I’ll skin them alive. You’re mine. All mine.”
My tongue slides up his neck and I bite down on his jaw, releasing a strangled cry. I could pull him into a room right now and bend him over, could stretch that hole open with my cock and make him scream.
“You like that, hm? Me owning you? I bet you’d let me put you on a leash and make you crawl. Like the dog you are.”
He whimpers, and I bite at his earlobe.
“Say it, Vik. Tell me who you belong to, like a good little boy.”
My fingers slip from his mouth, and he blinks over at me. His spit-slick lips move as he rasps, “Yours.”
I step away from him, and he turns to look at me, confusion lining his face .
“Come on,” I say, grabbing his hand and pulling him forward. He stumbles behind me, past two women, one on her knees, the other leaning against the wall and moaning.
The sounds of sex are everywhere, permeating the spaces between the cracks in the walls and ceiling. But then again, that’s why I created this. For this purpose.
Seems the clientele are enjoying themselves. Sabrina’s employees are working hard.
The money I’ll get from this. The way our businesses will thrive.
And yet none of it seems to matter because Viktor is here. Owning him will be worth so much more than all of this.
As I step forward, guiding him to the empty room on my left, several people exit the door to my right. By the way they move, I can tell they’re high on drugs and drunk on sex.
Their staggering movements cause them to fall into us and it breaks my contact with Viktor. Within seconds, he’s jostled away from me. Agitation slides through me as I crane my head to find him, but he’s not there. The group of people who stumbled out have carried him away.
I can’t even see him, and he hasn’t made his way back to me.
What the fuck?
I inhale sharply and something familiar wafts over me, the faint scent of gasoline. That, coupled with the dark hallway, makes something inside of me flip sideways. I know it could all be reasoned away, but at this moment, I can’t adhere to logic. At this moment, I’m just that little boy again.
Trapped.
My breath catches and I push forward, not sure what’s happening but feeling that tingle of panic at the base of my neck.
It’s the same dread that seeped into me when I saw those men all those years ago on my front porch, ski masks covering their faces, gas cans in one hand, guns in the other.
I’ll never forget those eyes. They were hollow, dead.
They felt nothing as they burned my family .
The scent of burning wood, flesh.
Everything suddenly narrows.
I can almost feel the fire rushing toward me, my body so hot it hurts.
My mind spins and I feel faint.
My body sags against the wall and I gulp down long breaths.
Where is he?
Where the fuck is he?
He’s fine. He’s fine.
Someone knocks into me roughly, their elbow digging into my skin, and I snap upright, pain jolting through my abdomen. I gasp and pull in a breath, grabbing my gun at my back and pushing forward.
Panic can come later.
I won’t let myself go out like this. Or him.
Not him.
My brothers’ faces, eyes unseeing, blood spurting from their gunshot wounds appear in my mind, and I move faster.
I nearly run onto the dance floor, the space pulsing with people and a low, sultry beat.
My eyes scan over the crowd writhing before me, lights flashing, but I can’t find him.
Where the fuck is he?
My heart is thumping in my ears and my hands are trembling.
And then all of a sudden, I see him, his head thrown back, his hips moving with the beat of the music. He’s sweating, drops rolling down his temples, his shirt rucked up around his waist.
I shake my head, clearing my mind of the swirling, anxious thoughts.
He’s alive. He’s fine. Everything is fine.
My gaze narrows and I push forward, moving everyone out of the way as I approach. He sees me, his pupils blown out, his cheeks flushed, and he smiles sweetly at me. Without a care in the world .
“Baby,” he mouths and presses into my chest, making my heart race. His fingers curl into my hair and his lips hit my cheek.
I can’t help but wrap him up against me, tucking my face into his neck and inhaling.
Fuck. What the hell happened back there? Why is he on the dance floor and not with me? Was I panicking for that long? I must have been. I must have been out of it far longer than I thought. And Viktor, he’s too drunk to think clearly.
Fucking Anthony. He should know better than to ply him with shit.
“I’m your baby now?” I murmur, my lips hitting the lobe of his ear as I breathe in the salty scent of him.
“Mhm,” he says as he slides his leg between my thighs and grinds. The feel of him against me has my cock hardening, my chest swelling in excitement.
Then I notice the beat of his heart against my palm. It’s too fast, and the weird way he’s breathing is the same.
My fingers move to the pulse in his neck, and I feel the erratic pounding there, too.
“Vik, did you take something?”
“Sure did.”
“What the fuck did you take?”
His head is resting on my shoulder now, and I’m hugging him to me. With a shake, he straightens and his eyes meet mine.
“Just some E.”
“Some? How many?”
He wets his lips and then shrugs. “Few.”
“Are you sure it was fucking E?” I ask, and he nods, his lashes fluttering, before he shakes his head.
“Dunno. Think so.”
“Shit. You think so? Who gave it to you? If it was from Anthony’s supply, it would have come from the servers.”
“Someone else. I don’t know. Funny…guess he kinda looked like Henry?” he slurs, his body trembling now .
Henry? Fucking, fuck. He’s not supposed to be here. Does he have a goddamn death wish? Some kind of vendetta? “What color were the pills?”
“Dunno. Red?”
“You fucking took shit from a random without checking? Goddamnit, Vik.”
“Had to make it through the night with you. Needed to survive. Like you too much.”
My arm wraps around him, and I try to carry him to the exit, my hand fumbling with my phone. But it’s hard. Vik is big, almost overbearing when he’s sagging and limp like this, and it doesn’t help that the crowd seems to surge around us at that exact moment, jostling us endlessly.
Suddenly, in my periphery, I see Tatum, Bane, and Teddy on the dance floor, and I stagger toward them, Vik stumbling beside me.
“Hey!” Tatum says with a grin, Bane wiggling his ass next to him. The two of them look like they’re having a great time, but Teddy, not so much. He looks worried, his eyes meeting mine before shifting to Viktor, who is completely out of it now.
“I need you to call Doc. Now!” I shout, and Teddy is suddenly next to me, picking up a sagging Viktor in his arms and cradling him to his chest. Thank fuck he’s so strong.
Tatum and Bane freeze for just a moment, taking a second to process all of it, before shooting into action.
Before I know it, I’m in the car with Jax and Bane and we’re flying down the highway toward the estate, Doc waiting on standby.
He better not have fucking taken anything that is going to kill him. It better not have been that fucking drug, Pink.
“Did he really say Henry was there?” Bane asks, turning around from the front seat and staring at me.
“Yeah, but who fucking knows? Vik was incoherent at that point. There’s no way Henry would have shown up at my club. Unless he had a death wish. ”
“The bouncers knew not to let him in, right?” Bane asks, and I nod.
“They did. They know what he looks like. We’re all searching for him, Bane. It couldn’t have been him.”
I say that even though I’m not certain, even though I’m second-guessing everything. Could it have been him? Does he have an in with one of the bouncers?
“I’m worried though,” he says, and then crawls into the backseat with me and Vik, wrapping his arms around me.
“I’m sorry. I’m such a cumslut. I shouldn’t have ever let him fuck me. Tatum lost a finger because of him and now Viktor is going to die.”
“He’s not going to die,” I hiss, but I can tell Vik is not okay.
His breathing is erratic and his skin is clammy. He doesn’t look well at all. Fuck, is this all my fault? If I hadn’t been so consumed by my past, by the panic, I could have found him sooner, could have protected him. I don’t have time to stew on it for long because a moment later, Jax pulls into the driveway and then we’re out, dragging Viktor to where Doc is waiting.
“You think it’s Pink?” Doc asks, his voice clipped and serious.
“No idea, but maybe. Fuck, I’ve never seen him like this.”
“Alright, let’s get him into the room. I’ll get him on an IV and monitor him.”
Jax and I help bring him inside, and I situate him on a bed.
“Will he be okay?” I ask gruffly, trying to keep myself from cracking wide open.
Doc eyes me from behind his glasses, pulling on some latex gloves.
“Yes, I’ll make sure of it. You got him here quickly. Would you like to stay in here while I work?”
I nod and lower myself into an overstuffed chair as Doc inserts the IV into his arm and places a monitor on his finger. The beeping infiltrates the room just as the rain starts to come down in droves and thunder rolls across the sky .
It’s going to be a long fucking night.
I don’t sleep that night, watching as Viktor lies in bed, the beep of the machine monitoring his heart the only balm for my anxiety. The thunder cracking and lightning rolling across the sky make this seem far more ominous than it probably is.
Viktor is stable. He’s fine. The weather outside isn’t a sign of things to come.
Anthony makes an appearance in the early morning and lowers himself next to me, offering me a bottle of water.
“I’m too old for this shit,” he murmurs, and I nod, opening the water and taking a long swig.
“Me too. Why did we get involved with men half our age?”
“Fuck if I know. They’re addicting, I guess.”
He leans his head back. “We have someone looking at the footage from the club. We’ll find out if it was Henry.”
The two of us turn our gaze to the monitor.
“And Doc says he’s fine. He’s just sleeping it off. He took a blood sample and will let us know what the results are.”
“Yeah,” I murmur, still not completely sure what the fuck to do. Doc has never been wrong before, but this entire thing shaved a few years off my life.
“Viktor usually isn’t this irresponsible,” Anthony says, and I eye him.
“He is. He’s a self-destructive asshole.”
“Seems you’re both a great fit, then. How is the underground fighting going, by the way?”
I huff a small laugh and lift my water bottle in a salute. “Touché.”
We’re silent a moment and then, without looking at my best friend, I ask, “Tell me about him, Anthony. The bad shit. I need to know it all.”
Anthony is quiet for a moment and then sighs. “He’s had a rough go of it. He wasn’t born into this life like us. He was just unlucky enough to meet me.”
“He doesn’t regret it.”
“He doesn’t. He’s proven to be very loyal, despite being raised with parents like his. As unfaithful and unloyal as they come.”
“He told me some about his parents.”
“Yes, and they’re dead now.”
I nod.
We’re silent for another beat and then Anthony shifts in his chair, his voice lowering. “They beat him, badly. They’d throw drug-fueled parties, and their friends—high as fucking kites—would be given permission to hurt him as well. I found one of them several years ago, gave him to Bane. He confessed to all of it.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me the names of the people who’d show up at the trailer. How they used Viktor like a punching bag, how he’d try to hide, but they’d find him, drag him out, punch and kick him. It was a game to them. Cat and mouse.”
This makes my chest constrict, and I feel my hand clenching the water bottle far too tightly. “Where are they now?” I grind out.
“Underneath us.”
I lean my head back and let out a long breath. “Thank you.”
“It was my pleasure.”
“Does Viktor know you killed them all?”
“No, but he doesn’t need to know. All he knows is they’ll never hurt him again. I made sure of that.”
I nod and sip at my water, listening to his heartbeat through that dark screen. It’s a balm for my aching chest, the only thing keeping me still.
“What about the foster parents?” I ask after another moment of silence.
“Mm. They’re gone too. When I met Viktor, he was traumatized, quiet and ashamed. But after a few years, he opened up about what happened. One of the dads was a creep. I made sure to cut off his cock before shoving it down his throat.”
That soothes something inside of me.
“Good to hear.”
“It was quite nice to watch.”
Our eyes turn back to Viktor, and Anthony reaches out and squeezes my knee.
“He’s damaged, but so are we. He needs someone to fight for him, to care for him, to be gentle when he needs it.”
I think of the way I’ve fucked with him, the way I’ve driven my cock down his throat, the dirty things I’ve said, and guilt wells up within me.
He liked it though , I tell myself. He likes it like that.
“I can be gentle.”
“Can you? Sometimes I think we weren’t made like that. That it was bred out of us.”
“You’re gentle with Tatum. You were gentle with Laura. Your sons.”
“I know.”
I sit with that a moment, and then Anthony adds, “You were gentle with Laura as well.”
“She deserved it.”
“So does Viktor.”
“I know.”
I lean my head back and my chest expands as I take a deep breath, letting all these thoughts filter through my mind. The abuse Viktor went through, the way he copes with it now. The way I should treat him moving forward. Owning him and yet being gentle. Rough when he begs and soft when he needs it.
“How did this all start between you two?” Anthony asks.
He’s staring at me intently, and I know I’m going to have to give him something.
“I saw him at a club three years ago. Things happened afterward. Things I won’t talk about. Things only he and I know. But I tried to forget and move on.”
“What the fuck happened? What did you do?”
“I was an asshole.”
The way he’d taken me, his body and heart opening up for me. Fuck. I should have known better than to mess with someone as lethal as him.
Now he’s slithered under my skin, and I’m a mess.
More than usual. I’m a fucking disaster.
“He’s been in love with you forever. Don’t fuck this up,” Anthony says quietly.
Those words sit heavily on my chest and after another hour of idle chatting, Bane appears, his hair mussed, his lips swollen, blood on his torso.
“Where the fuck have you been?” I ask.
“I went back. Gave three blow jobs and someone told me it was a guy named Henry at the club. I also may have killed someone.”
“Jesus, Bane,” Anthony grunts as he stands up and moves toward him.
“I know. I’m sorry but they were very rude and insulted you and Tatum. They had to die.”
“Do we need to do a cleanup?”
He shakes his head. “No. I have it taken care of.”
“Are you sure?”
“One hundred percent.” He sighs and runs a hand through his hair, making it stand up at odd angles. “But it was Henry, Boss. Henry . What do we do?”
“Did you find him?”
“No, but security is scouring the footage to see if we can get a lead on what he’s driving or who he’s with or where the fuck he went!”
“I know, and right now that’s all we can do,” Anthony says calmly.
Bane peers over at Viktor and his face falls. “Will he be okay? Shit, this is all my fault.” He looks like he’s going to cry. Anthony lays a hand on his shoulder, and Bane peers up at him. “And Georgiy didn’t fly down to see me like he threatened.”
He sniffles at that admission, his heart clearly bruised and broken.
Anthony removes his hand and then nods toward the door. “Let’s get you something to eat. You need something in your stomach besides cum.”
Bane sniffles and moves out of the room, leaving me alone with Viktor. I stare at him from my seat across the room and then push myself up. I approach his bed and look at his slumbering form.
“Fucking wake up, Vik,” I whisper, my fingers reaching out and touching his. He’s warm and alive, and I curl my hand around his. But he doesn’t do what I’ve demanded, so I’m left to wait.
“Oh my god, they’re so cute,” a giggling whisper wakes me, pulling me from my dreams.
Ones with fire and Vik and smoke.
My eyelids fly open and I see Tatum and Teddy standing in the doorway, Tatum grinning happily while Teddy watches on.
I realize that they’ve caught me in Viktor’s bed, my body wrapped around his. Even in a drug-induced coma, he manages to lie akimbo. As I come to, I feel Viktor start moving as well, his body sliding against mine, and relief filters through me. And with it comes anger.
Fucking Viktor. Taking shit in a club from someone he doesn’t know, doesn’t trust.
Someone who was most likely Henry, a man who is hellbent on ruining us.
I push myself upright and stare down at him, his flushed cheeks, his droopy eyes. He’s never been more beautiful than at this moment. Alive and awake .
“What happened?” he rasps when he takes in the bed and the IV in his arm.
“You fucking took drugs you shouldn’t have and passed out. You could have fucking died.”
My words are gruff and stiff. I want to strangle him and kiss him. I want to make him beg for forgiveness.
He blinks at me, confusion marring his handsome features, and then he swallows. “Oh. Yeah.”
“That’s all you have to say about it?”
My voice is clearly angry, and Viktor just stares up at me. “Why are you yelling at me?”
“You could have fucking died ,” I repeat.
My heart is racing now, and I suddenly feel something ugly well up inside of me, something dangerous. I peel myself away from him and out of bed, standing up and adjusting my rumpled shirt.
“I take drugs, Luca. It’s not all the time, but it’s not a big deal.”
“But it is when you take it from Henry .”
Viktor freezes and runs his hand across his face. “Did I?”
“Yeah. And why the fuck did you leave me in that hallway? You were safe and then you fucking disappeared.”
Viktor glances away and his eyes screw shut. “I don’t know…I can’t remember.”
His eyes open and his troubled gaze meets mine. Before he can say anything else, Jax moves into the room, pushing past Tatum and Teddy, his face filled with relief when he sees his friend awake. He sits on the bed and hugs him roughly.
“Fuck, man. I thought for sure you were dead. We were all worried.”
Viktor glances up at me, and I can’t help the rage that moves across my face. I know he can see it. He has to. It’s clear as fucking day.
I need to punch something.
“Luca…” Viktor begins, but I’m already striding from the room.
Be gentle with him , I think as my vision reds out .
I can only be gentle after I fucking wreck something. As I move toward the gym, I pull out my phone and call Agro.
“Yeah?” he clips when he answers.
“Can I get on the books tonight?”
“Yep. I’ll put you in.”
The phone disconnects, and I feel relief almost immediately.
I’m still going to work out this anxiety, but tonight I’ll expel it completely.