Chapter Eleven-Nico
CHAPTER ELEVEN-NICO
I hate her fucking apartment building. It’s falling apart and there is no security at all.
The stench of old food lingers in the hallway, beneath that is whatever chemicals the superintendent uses to kill insects and pests.
That can’t be good for my Anna or our baby. I frown. Hard.
“Um, I’m not sure if I have boxes,” she says, and I shake my head.
“I’ll have some people pack it all up for you. Let’s just grab some clothes and toiletries. Stuff you need for the next few days,” I tell her.
Anna agrees and moves inside, docile as a lamb.
I don’t know what she’s thinking, or what happened downstairs to put that stricken look on her face. But I know I don’t like not knowing.
I want her to talk to me. To lean on me. Confide in me.
But I suppose that takes time. And I’ll give it to her because I wasn’t lying downstairs when I said no divorce.
She’s not leaving me. Not ever.
This obsession I have with her is no small thing. I might be considered a criminal in the eyes of the law, but I’m honest.
At least, I am about my feelings.
What I feel for Anna is beyond anything I ever felt for anyone.
Hell, I didn’t even think I was capable of it. Of love. But when she asked what if I might fall in love, my immediate answer was it’s not possible.
Because I already love you.
But I didn’t say that part. Not out loud. Not yet.
How could I just drop a bomb like that with no explanation or reasoning?
I have zero experience with love.
Yeah, I’ve fucked plenty of women. But fucking is not the same as loving. And I haven’t touched anyone since I laid eyes on her.
Anna is rummaging around her bedroom. I watch her through the open door and fuck, she’s so beautiful I almost groan out loud.
Instead, I inhale a deep breath. Then I stop moving.
“Do you smell smoke?” I ask.
My phone is in my hand and I’m sending texts to my guys. I start them moving as I grab the duffel bag she’s been filling from her bed.
Anna pauses and looks around, sniffing.
“I think I do smell smoke,” she says, her eyes wide.
I wait a moment, trying to make sure it’s actually fire and not just me overreacting to some asshole burning his toast.
But no. I’m not.
I’ve smelled fire before, and something is definitely on fire. My hackles were already raised. Have been ever since we left the bakery.
I can’t shake the feeling. Now I know why.
Something is fishy about this whole thing. And it all comes back to her dead brother.
Sammy. That fucker.
You shouldn’t think ill of the dead, but I don’t pander to superstitious bullshit like that.
I’m a bad guy, but Sammy was a fucking leech. My instincts are all fired up. I know he’s involved somehow with the trouble Anna has been having with the bakers.
But I can’t think about it now, cause if I am right and this building is on fire, we need to leave. Like now.
“Let’s go,” I say, taking her hand in my free one.
I pull open the door to her apartment, and the air in the hallway is thick with smoke. I can’t see two feet in front of me, and the stifling heat is trying to choke me.
The thing about fire is the smoke is black. Not white. Damn near impossible to see through, and even worse to breathe in. I’m not exposing Anna to that.
“Fuck,” I growl, pushing us back inside. “Fire escape?”
“Uh, yeah, but it’s old.”
She points to the window on the far wall of her small eat in kitchen and I pull her towards it.
“Come on,” I tell her.
I lift the glass and screen out of the way. Looking out the window, I toss her bag onto it, then I straddle the sill.
“Nico, I’m not sure I can do this.”
“Anna, I will keep you and the baby safe. I swear. Do you trust me? ”
The look on her face, the hope I see there in her big brown eyes fills me with an overwhelming sense of pride. She places her hand in mine, and I get her out of the window, onto the rickety fire escape.
“Fire department is on their way, Boss,” Tommy, my driver, shouts, and I nod.
“Yo, Tommy, catch.”
I toss the duffle at him, ignoring Anna’s sharp gasp as I move us both to the ladder. Shit. I don’t like this.
The old wrought-iron ladder is rusted, and all the paint has chipped away.
I’m not sure it can hold my weight, never mind both of us. But it has to. I won’t accept anything else.
“Nico, I feel dizzy,” Anna whispers, and I nod.
“It’s okay, Rosebud, You just wrap your arms around my neck. Good Girl,” I murmur as she steps up to me and does just that.
“Now, hold on,” I say, and I lift her up.
Her legs wrap around my waist automatically, and I want to groan. But now isn’t the time to get turned on.
Anna’s body is fucking perfect. She’s got all the curves I desire, just the right amount of meat on her bones, and being pregnant just makes her softer.
She probably thinks she’s overweight. In my experience, most women do, regardless of how they look. But that’s bullshit.
I’m a big fucking guy and even holding her like this, I’m able to get us down the ladder, using my legs and arms to create enough space between her back and the rungs.
By now, a crowd has gathered outside the building. It’s still super early. Not even four-thirty, but someone pulled the smoke alarm, and it’s ringing loudly.
I hear the fire engines pull up and check that Tommy moved the SUV to the corner.
“You can put me down,” Anna whispers when we reach the bottom rung, but I don’t.
I hold her tighter to me, one hand on her ass as I walk her to the truck. Tommy holds the door open, and I place my wife inside.
“Stay put and buckle up,” I tell her just as the fire department arrives.
Flames have engulfed the floor where Anna’s apartment is located, I can see them through the window in the stairwell.
Fuck.
Another five minutes and we’d have been truly trapped. I frown. There’s no way this is a coincidence, but I’m not going to tell my wife that .
Instead, I walk up to the truck’s lieutenant. His eyes widen, and I can see he recognizes me. Most people know who I am. Or if they don’t but they have a good sense of self-preservation, they can tell I’m something the first time they meet me.
“Hey,” he says, his eyes flash to mine then back to the building.
“Can you tell if it’s arson?”
“Will take a little while,” he replies, and I nod, taking a business card from my wallet.
“Call me when you know,” I say, watching awareness creep into his vision as he reads the name on the card.
I know what it says.
Nico Fury. CEO Viper Enterprises. The Vipers’ Den, Jersey City, New Jersey .
Followed by my contact information.
He might not know my name, but he’s heard of the Den, and that counts for something. The lieutenant eyes me before he nods sharply.
I walk away from him, back to the SUV where my wife is waiting.
“The condo,” I tell Tommy, and he gets in the driver’s side while I climb in next to my wife.
Anna already scooted over, making room for me, and I hum in approval. It’s the little things that make a person good, and I know she’s a good woman.
Even better, she’s my woman.
I know she’s grieving and maybe a little confused about everything that happened since she came back to town, but all I can think about is fucking her.
Guess that makes me a pig or something.
“So what’s going on? Is there really a fire?” she asks.
“Looks like it. But don’t worry, I’ll replace anything you lose,” I explain, hoping to ease some of her worry.
“Oh, I don’t care about that stuff, just wow, I mean, you saved me, us . You saved us.”
“Anna, I wasn’t gonna leave you.”
“No, I know,” she says, and shrugs. “But I’m starting to wonder if maybe you’re not some kind of superhero or something.”
“I am not a superhero,” I scoff.
In fact, I was the total fucking opposite. But her saying that makes me wonder just how fucking innocent my little wife really is. How badly am I tainting her with my presence in her life?
I push the thoughts away.
It doesn’t matter because Anna is mine now. And I’m not giving her up. I’ll give her some time to grieve and to get used to the idea of me.
But I don’t think I can wait very long to touch her again and I’m not a man used to denying myself.
“Are you okay?” she asks, her soft hand touching my thigh.
I look down at it. My jaw tenses. I want to feel her touch me without any clothes on. I want to see her on her back, spread eagle. I want to hear her beg for my cock.
Am I okay?
No, Rosebud, I’m not fucking okay.
I’m completely obsessed with my wife. And I think I need to hide that from her for a little while at least.
“Nico?”
“I’m fine, Anna.”
I’m a liar. I’m not fine.
Part of me wants to go back to the bakery, employ some tactics I’d learned on the job to get Javi to talk.
I know something is wrong with the whole situation. I just don’t know what and it’s pissing me off.
But another part of me, a newly awakened part, just wants to take Anna home. I want to check her for injury. Make sure she’s okay. Then I want to feed her, bathe her, tuck her into bed.
My bed.
I want to kiss her soft lips, pet her smooth skin, and sink into her tight, wet heat. I want to feel her surround me. And I want to make her come on my cock.
Fuck. Yes.
There’s a lot I want, but my phone is already buzzing, and I can tell it’s from Angel. I have to see to this.
So, I’m gonna take my wife home. Then I’m going to work. Anna yawns, and protective instincts roar to life inside of me. I wrap my arm around her, forcing her to lean on me.
She’s stiff at first, clearly shocked. But I just keep my arm there and after a moment, she relaxes. It takes fifteen minutes to get to the condo, and by that time she’s asleep.
I sigh. The excitement I feel at holding her sleeping form in my arms is fucking palpable.
Oh yeah, something inside me is changing, and it’s all her fault. I hear the question she asked me earlier ring through my brain, and I clench my jaw, staring at her slumber-relaxed face.
“Are you okay? ”
I huff a sigh as I lay her gently on the bed, lifting the comforter first so I can pull it over her. Then I kiss her cheek, breathe in her hair, and make a promise to myself to always do right by her.
I won’t allow anything else.
“Are you okay?”
Ha. I’m so fucking far from okay.
But I have a job to do. First and foremost, I have to protect Anna and our baby from whatever threat is out there.
It’s coming for her. I know it.
I feel it hanging in the air, dense and heavy, like a fog.
I almost feel bad for whoever it is who thinks they can hurt my wife. I smile as I get into the SUV and slam the door.
It’s not a good smile. It’s the kind of smile a viper gives before he strikes. And it’s the only kind of smile I’m used to giving.
I want Anna to love me, but I don’t know if she will. I don’t know if she can.
Either way, I am hers now. She has my protection and my loyalty.
Anna and our baby are both safe now.
So safe.
If she only knew how fucking safe she is.