9. Tommaso
TOMMASO
I’ll be damned if I’m going to watch Aleksandr talk to Lucas Calver, practically mouth to mouth, and not know the fuck is going on.
Carmine hasn’t told me how the issue with the Bianchis and kidnapping went, all he’s told me is that it was handled. For now.
I’m burning up with irritation at the lack of information everyone is giving me.
Walking up to Aleksandr and talking to him in the middle of this event would be a mistake, especially since he’s already been spotted with Carmine and Soren at least once, but I’m dying to know what the hell is happening.
I step up to Carmine and Tiberi while they’re chatting to the left of me with drinks in their hands, Soren is off somewhere talking to some politician.
“Lucas Carvel is talking to…him,” I say slowly.
Carmine looks at me curiously, like he didn’t notice at all. “Really?” he asks.
“It’s gotta be about us,” I insist. “The way they’re leaning in close to each other. Lucas looks like a fucking snake.”
Carmine’s eyes dart over and the second they find Aleksandr and Lucas, his jawline tightens. His eyes glaze over for a moment.
Tiberi looks as well, but his expression is far less intense.
“You need to find out what they’re talking about,” Tiberi tells me.
Carmine nods. “Yes. Meet with…Trevor in his hotel room. Find out what the Carvels want. The last thing we need is them getting involved in all this,” he says.
“Got it,” I agree. “After what they did to you and Soren…they’re lucky we haven’t killed them all.”
Nikolas comes up near us holding his own drink, and I really don’t care whether it’s virgin or not.
He looks a bit…less weak than usual, and I can tell that the workouts we’ve been doing have been working. What they haven’t helped, though, is the anxious look in his eyes.
“Is there anything I can do?” he asks.
Carmine glances at him, and then at me. Clearly, he’s decided that the teenager is my responsibility now.
“Go try to get information from the guests about the Calvers. Be discreet about it,” I tell him.
Nikolas nods and looks behind his shoulder at Beau nearby.
After he walks away, I shoot Carmine an annoyed look.
“Why did you bring them?” I ask. “They could get us in even more trouble.”
He shrugs. “They need to learn how to blend, how to talk to people at these kinds of events, and how to do their part.”
“You realize the task I gave him was just to keep him busy, right?”
He chuckles. “Yes, but it’ll be good practice anyway.”
I sigh and look away from them.
I need to get out of here.
After shmoozing the receptionist of the hotel that is hosting the guests of the charity ball, I find out that Trevor is in room 302B. On the third floor.
I wonder briefly if Aleksandr has noticed I’m missing yet, or if he even cares. It seems like everyone involved in this situation with the Bianchis has some kind of secret they don’t want to share, and I know Aleksandr has one. Maybe more than one, if the Carvel’s are talking to him.
With a little jerry rigging, I manage to bypass the card lock on the door and get into the room.
The room is empty, not even a suitcase at the end of the bed or anything that could tell me I’d gotten the right room. I just have to trust that the receptionist didn’t steer me the wrong way.
Still, I creep around in the darkness of the room and try to find anything that might belong to Aleksandr. I find nothing, so I sit down in a chair by the window, the moonlight the only light peaking through the curtains.
As I sit here, I’m forced to think about all that could have gone wrong tonight. He could have been killed by Petra and Raff. Aleksandr could have turned on us…been killed by my own brother.
People from the gala could have noticed what was going on and gotten involved. There could be a lot more death than necessary.
My jaw shifts and muscles tighten. I shouldn’t care, should I? Aleksandr is a means to an end, that’s all.
Yet, I find myself now thinking about Lucas clearly flirting with him.
How close their faces had been and how for a moment I thought Aleksandr might actually be falling for it.
Whatever games the Calvers are playing, I know he won’t fall for it, but…
I don’t know what it is yet. I don’t know what they were talking about.
So, all I can imagine is the two of them together.
I slam my fist down on the arm of the chair.
“Shut up, stop it,” I growl to myself. “Stop thinking about it.”
My mind quickly shifts gears, and it’s not any better.
Aleksandr’s body pressed up against my own…hot, sweaty, and needy. His mouth claiming mine like no one else has ever done. Tongue fighting mine for dominance until I give in.
My cock is hard in my jeans. I shift in my seat trying to ignore it.
I’m sitting here for thirty minutes, maybe forty-five.
It’s difficult to keep my thoughts to only business.
I remember the exact moment that Aleksandr’s eyes went from icy cold to fire hot.
All for me. Only for me? I can’t be sure, but I doubt he’s got much time to be hooking up with anyone else.
Something about this makes me smirk to myself in satisfaction.
Just then, the lock on the door chimes and the handle turns. I straighten up in my seat and peer out into the darkness as the light from the hallway shines into the room but doesn’t reveal me just yet.
It might’ve been a problem had I been in the wrong room, but I see the familiar shape of Aleksandr’s body in the doorway and sigh softly in relief.
His body goes rigid at the sound of my breath. He closes the door behind him and pulls out his gun.
“Who is here?” he asks. His accent thick and voice low. He’s no longer pretending to be Trevor now that he has no one to act for.
“I have to say, I prefer your natural accent,” I tell him as I slowly stand up from the chair.
He flicks on the nearest light and I squint, eyes adjusting to it.
“What the fuck are you doing in here?” Aleksandr asks me, his voice barely louder than a whisper but carrying all of the anger of a shout. His eyes are cold but furious.
“I need to talk to you,” I say simply. “I figured it’s better no one sees us together.”
Aleksandr removes the distance between us but doesn’t put his gun away, instead he points it directly at my chest. “You could’ve been caught sneaking in here,” he tells me. “What if I had someone with me?”
“Like who? Lucas Carvel?” I ask him. “It didn’t look like you were very interested.”
“Oh, but you were, weren’t you?” Aleksandr mumbles. “I saw the way you were looking at us. I don’t have time for this kind of drama, Tommy.”
My heart flutters in my chest at the sound of my own name from his mouth. Nickname at that. I try to ignore it but it’s a burning that floods my crotch as well.
“What drama?” I respond. “I’m just here to find out what the fuck you were talking about with him. What does he want?”
“Maybe it’s none of your business,” Aleksandr says. “Perhaps we were just having a casual conversation and you’re butting in.”
“I doubt that,” I say while rolling my eyes.
“The Carvels don’t talk to people just to talk.
They always want something. Besides, they’re not known for being friendly to those of us who enjoy the same sex.
Lucas was flirting with you; I know it wasn’t just to flirt. It was to get something out of you.”
Aleksandr eyes me from head to toe. “You’re always putting your nose where it doesn’t belong, that’s how we got here in the first place,” he tells me.
I step closer to him until the barrel of the gun is pressed right against my shoulder. My suit jacket unbuttoned and the top three buttons of my dress shirt undone as well.
“Where is here?” I ask with a low growl in my chest. “You’re the one holding a gun to my chest, Alek.”
His lashes flutter and he slowly leans in closer to me. “The fight…at the arena. If it weren’t for you insisting on jumping in…we wouldn’t have fought each other. What happened afterward would have never occurred,” he tells me.
“But it did,” I reply. “It did happen.”
“It should not have,” Alek huffs and presses the gun to me tighter. I glance down and try to determine if the safety is on or off, but I can’t tell from this angle.
“Too bad,” I croon. “Maybe neither of us deserved it, maybe it shouldn’t have…maybe it was fucking idiotic, but it happened.”
Alek’s throat bobs as he swallows and I find myself staring at his neck, then up to his lips.
“I can’t stop thinking about it,” I tell him. My voice low and deep. Just for him to hear, no one else. We’re all alone in this room. A king-sized bed just to the right of us.
He shoves me backwards with a frustrated look in his eyes. “Shut up!” he hisses. “You have gotten into my head and it stops here.”
“You’re the one who pushed me against that wall, Alek.
You’re the one I can’t stop thinking about every time I have a second that I’m not thinking about work,” I growl at him.
I step back over to him, still feeling the push from his hands on my shoulders.
“Now you’re refusing to tell me what Lucas wanted.
We’re supposed to be working together, aren’t we? ”
“Working together,” he chuckles softly and moves in closer, our noses almost touching. “That’s what you call this?”
“Call it whatever you want. I made a deal with you. You give me the information I want; we help you take down the Bianchis,” I remind him. “Maybe part of that deal is to protect you.”
“Your family will protect me?” he asks. “I don’t think they’re very interested in that. I think if I get caught, they’ll let me go down without a word.”
“No,” I say sternly, my eyes flaring with heat. “Absolutely not. No one is going to touch you.”
Alek’s eyes flicker with confusion that melts into understanding.
“Why?” he asks.
I lean in even closer, smelling alcohol on his breath and the warm musky scent of his skin. “Does it matter?” I ask him in return.
Truth is, I don’t really know why. All I know is I can’t resist removing all space between us by pressing my lips to his.