Chapter 4
DANTE
L ena Muzzo—the perfect match to Ethan Moore, at least on paper. While I lacked interest in her at first, simply focusing on cyber-stalking Ethan, now I find myself wondering just how serious their relationship is. I’m not sure whatever situation they’ve got going on can even be called that.
I watch them from a distance. It’s hard as fuck, considering they rarely seem to go out anywhere together and are always meeting up at each other’s places.
This particular day, however, they’ve gone out to a local diner together. It’s still on campus, so my being here doesn’t draw any more attention than usual. I slink into a booth near the back, sitting at just the right angle to watch the two of them in their own booth near the front.
“Hi, I’m Jenna and I’ll be serving you today. Can I get you anything to drink?” my waitress asks with way more pep in her step than most people have at eight on a Thursday morning.
I don’t make eye contact with her, my focus like a laser across the room.
“Coffee, black.”
“Got it. I’ll be right back with that.”
I barely notice when she returns with my mug on a small plate, then pours the coffee and leaves me be. If she does say anything else, I don’t hear it.
I don’t bother with the menu. I’ve never been someone who eats this early in the morning.
Ethan is holding Lena’s hand on the table. They both have mugs of coffee, but Ethan is the only one with a plate of food.
I can’t tell what they’re saying, but the look on both of their faces is tired, but…pleasant.
My hands curl into fists as I watch Lena’s thumb stroke Ethan’s hand. The way she smiles at him after he says something pisses me off.
The bitch doesn’t break eye contact with him. Not even for a second.
My jaw tenses.
Lena hasn’t done shit to me. I’ve spoken to her a few times throughout the years, but we run in different circles, just like me and Ethan. Every time we’ve interacted has been cold and distant.
But this is worse than just not getting along.
Lena has something I want.
Someone I want.
I finally start to drink my own coffee as I force myself to tear my gaze away from the couple.
I could have anyone I want. I have had anyone I want. There’s nothing stopping me from texting one of the guys I know will drop trou at the snap of my fingers.
So why am I suddenly so fucking obsessed with Ethan?
Those innocent green eyes of his that hide desire.
His neatly combed blonde hair, just asking to be tousled and pulled on while I fuck him from behind…
Before I know it, my eyes are back on him, but my vision is blurry as I zone out into an animalistic fantasy.
How sweet his skin would taste in my mouth…caught between my teeth. I want to mark every inch of his body and leave not a single part of him unclaimed.
I’d crush him underneath me until he can’t breathe, his throat in my hands. Slowly losing consciousness…but I let him live.
I control whether he lives or dies, feels pain or pleasure.
“Sir, are you going to order any food?” Jenna asks, snapping me out of my head.
“No!” I hiss at her, finally looking away from Ethan.
I see my dark expression mirrored in her eyes as she flinches and her smile wavers.
“Alright. Here’s more coffee, and your bill.” Her hand is shaky as she pours my coffee and puts the receipt on the table.
“Apologies,” I say, realizing my asshole attitude isn’t making me look any less suspicious. Plus, Jenna’s just doing her job. She’s not the one playing footsie with Ethan under the table. “Long night.”
Jenna blinks at me and simply nods before walking away.
Footsie is exactly what’s happening as I look back at the table. Lena is rubbing her foot against Ethan’s ankle through his jeans.
My eyes narrow.
Ethan barely reacts to her. He’s talking, smiling, and holding her hand, but he doesn’t rub her hand or move his own foot in response to her own. He doesn’t even lean in closer across the table.
I smirk to myself. Oh, how pretty his face was in the library, flushed beet red as I touched his hand. I wonder how he’d react to my fingers in other places…
Like up his sweet ass…
Suddenly, I see an opening. Ethan is getting up from the table and heading toward the bathroom, leaving Lena all alone.
My knee bounces under the table for two or three seconds as I watch the small hallway to the bathroom to make sure Ethan actually goes in.
I grab my wallet, pull out a fifty-dollar bill, and slap it on the table next to the receipt before heading to the front of the diner.
Trying to keep my appearance as light and casual as possible, I smirk and wink at a woman who looks at me from her table.
She blushes and smiles back before looking at her food.
Lena is looking at her phone when I slide into the booth, replacing Ethan.
“So, I looked up the reservation an—” She looks up while talking and realizes it’s me. Her eyes go wide for a moment. “Dante?”
I lean back and fold my arms. “Hello, sweetheart.” I smile at her, though I want to do the exact opposite.
“What do you want?” she asks, her tone immediately annoyed.
“That’s a loaded question,” I tell her. I unfold my arms and lean closer to her on the table. “My question is, what do you want?”
She eyes me. Her eyes are a sparkling shade of copper that are pretty hot with the winged eyeliner she’s wearing. Frankly, if I wasn’t completely gay, I’d probably be into both of them.
Unfortunately for her, instead of being in my fantasies, she’s in my way.
“What do you mean?” Lena asks.
I click my tongue. “Well, what do you want from Ethan? Because I’m pretty sure you’re not going to get it.”
“What exactly do you know about Ethan?” she asks, folding her arms.
I chuckle. “Probably more than you.” In reality, there’s so much about him I don’t know. But there are things I want to know, like how he tastes in the morning…needing to stay focused, I try to brush that thought away.
Lena scoffs. “I didn’t even know you two knew each other.”
“There are some things that are just pretty damn obvious. Especially watching the two of you together.” I tilt my head to the side, keeping my eyes locked with hers.
“Whatever you’re referring to, it’s nothing I can’t handle,” she insists.
I laugh softly. “Sure, I guess that’s true. Plenty of couples keep skeletons in their closets, but…this isn’t just some little game.”
“Then what is it?” Lena leans in closer. “Because it sure seems like you’re fucking around with me.”
“Let me put it this way.” I lean closer to her as well. “You keep seeing Ethan, and more than just your feelings are going to get hurt.”
“Is that a threat?”
I shrug. I hear the swinging of a door, and I can’t risk it being the bathroom. “You’re smart, and you know who I am. Who my family is. You figure it out.”
I push up from the table and quickly make my way out of the diner, just in time to see Ethan walking back to the table from the corner of my vision.
“We agree then. Contessa’s wedding takes precedence over anything else,” my aunt Tania says from across the room.
My father stands near the fireplace with a glass of whiskey in his hand, as he often does. “Over anything else at the moment,” he corrects her. “If something vital to the family’s survival comes up, will we discuss postponing.”
“Absolutely not, Nicholas,” Tania says as she stands up. “It’s one day. The most important day of my daughter’s life! And may I remind you, this marriage is vital to our family.”
“The marriage is important, but the wedding is…of little meaning to me,” my father tells her with a sigh.
I roll my eyes from where I’m leaning against the doorframe of the large family room. “If it were up to you, they’d be getting hitched at the courthouse yesterday,” I say.
They both look at me with annoyed expressions. My cousin, Contessa, is seated next to her mother, her hands in her lap, as quiet as she usually is.
“This is serious, Dante,” Tania snaps at me, then looks back at my father.
My father, rarely known for his grand displays of emotion, waves his free hand and motions Contessa over.
Contessa looks to her mother before standing up and walking over to him.
“Tessa, darling. You know how special you are to me, my only niece.” He rubs her on the back.
My face crinkles as I watch them. I know what he’s going to say next.
“And likely the closest thing to a grandchild I’ll have for quite some time…
” His eyes dart to me, then my brother, who’s standing a few feet away.
If my eyes could roll any farther back into my head they’d come out of my ears.
“I know, Uncle Nick,” Contessa says softly.
“You know I would never postpone your wedding for anything less than life or death, don’t you?” he asks her.
She nods.
“I can’t promise that won’t happen,” he explains, shaking his head a bit. “But I will do everything in my power to prevent it.”
Aunt Tania scoffs and turns so her back is facing them.
“I understand,” Contessa replies.
It’s obvious that neither of us wants to be here. It was our parents’ idea to have this little meeting.
I sigh. “Not to interject, but why am I here again?”
“Your cousin needs reassurance, and I need my best here to ensure her that you will do everything in your power to make sure the day goes as planned,” my father insists.
I stare at him blankly. “I thought the wedding meant little to you.”
He clears his throat. “I was speaking too harshly. Of course I care about the wedding.”
I chuckle and shake my head. “Tess, why don’t we get something in the kitchen while these two figure their shit out.”
She nervously looks between my father, her mother, me, and Marco.
I nod out the doorway and push off the wall. After another moment, she crosses the room to me.
“I need to meet with a couple of our dealers,” Marco says, and makes his exit as well.