Chapter 11 Tommy
Tommy
Ishould be on my way to meet the dean.
I should be running through my talking points, smoothing out my answers.
I shouldn’t be driving in circles, strangling the steering wheel so tight I can hear the leather creak, obsessing over Giovanna and motherfucking Tony the Hack.
He’s in love with her. She agreed to a date with him.
Both are things I can’t control.
But how the fuck can she go on this date with him when I had my fingers inside her just a few hours ago?
Was she cheating on him with me? Is she going to let him fuck her again?
The thought of him kissing her, touching her, sliding into her makes me physically ill.
Rage claws up my chest. I don’t give a fuck what they did before, but it can’t happen again.
She’s mine. She’s always been fucking mine.
FUCK.
Up until yesterday, I thought I had to wait, that I couldn’t drag her through the grind of building a future, that I had to earn the right to claim her.
But after today? Waiting isn’t an option.
I need to be inside her, hold her, kiss her.
I crave her, and it has nothing to do with logic.
I won’t get through the interview like this.
I won’t get through law school like this.
Fuck it.
I wrench the wheel and gun the car toward Long Island.
**
It should take over an hour to get to Giovanna’s parents’ house, but I’m there in half the time, pulse hammering the whole way.
With one curt call, I move the dean’s meeting to tomorrow night, turning it into dinner at her suggestion, her voice echoing in my head.
The rest of the drive, I torture myself imagining her smoothing on lotion, slipping into a dress, putting on that bright pink lipstick…
for him.
Her family’s estate rises like a fortress behind its iron gates: sprawling brick buildings, glass that gleams cold in the winter air, a long looping driveway and eight-car garage.
I park around the corner. The last thing I need is Lorenzo catching me here.
He hates me enough already.
I slip in a side door and up the back staircase, heart pounding.
Her bedroom door opens easily, but her room is empty.
My stomach drops until I hear water running in the en suite.
She’s in the shower.
It takes everything in me not to walk in, pull her wet body against mine, finish what we started.
Instead, I sit on the edge of her bed and wait.
When the door finally opens, steam curling out, she’s wearing nothing but a fluffy blue towel.
She freezes when she sees me.
Neither of us speaks.
My brain short-circuits, her black hair wet and shiny, droplets sliding down her flushed skin.
Fucking gorgeous.
“I didn’t fuck her,” I say, my voice hoarse.
Her brows lift. “What?”
“Lexi. New Year’s Eve.
We didn’t fuck.”
Suspicion flickers in her eyes.
“So you said. But I heard you two disappeared, and she came back looking like a train wreck… in your clothes.”
I nod.
“My hoodie. The one you put on her. But we didn’t fuck.
”
“She told everyone you did.”
“Because she didn’t want them to know the truth.
”
She rolls her eyes. “Okay, so what’s the truth?
Enlighten me.”
I drag a hand through my hair, suddenly unsure how much she really wants to hear.
“I was wasted.”
She rolls her eyes again, dismissing me with a sharp look.
“You don’t drink. Discussion over.”
“I did that night. Matti shoved a bottle of whiskey in my hand to keep me from chasing you down when you left with Tony.”
Her eyes flicker, embarrassed, then defiant.
“Go on.”
“She followed me to my suite and asked to use the bathroom, so I let her in. I… got in my head. Like I do.”
She nods tightly.
She knows exactly what that means.
“I forgot she was even there. I was thinking about…something else. Someone else. I came.” I swallow hard, taking in her wet skin, the flush on her throat, and blow out a breath.
This sucks. “The next thing I hear is vomiting, and she’s puking into a pizza box.
She said she gagged on my—” I can’t say the words.
I just shake my head, my voice trailing off.
Gi’s lips purse. “Hmm.”
I can’t read her, can’t tell if she’s jealous or angry or both, but I’ll take either because it means she cares.
She never gave a fuck that Lexi fucked Tony.
Her voice sharpens. “So she gagged on your dick while you were thinking about someone else? Jesus Christ, Tommy, if it were anybody but you, that would sound like so much bullshit. Only you can disconnect from your body so much that you wouldn’t notice that someone has your cock down her throat.
Did you come in her mouth?”
Heat flares in my chest. The last thing I want to do is give details.
“No. And I know it sounds strange, but I was so fucking wasted and I was thinking about getting my cock sucked by—”
I stop.
My jaw locks.
Her breath hitches. “By whom?”
I don’t answer.
I don’t have to.
“Has this happened before?”
“Not with Lexi.”
The air between us tightens, heavy and hot.
She straightens, adjusting her towel like armor.
“Did you really come here to tell me that? Because this could’ve been a text.
”
I stand up and walk to her vanity, frowning.
A short, skimpy dress with tiny spaghetti straps is draped there, silky fabric between my fingers.
Is she going to wear this for him? “In part.”
She follows me and swats my hand away from the dress.
“Why then?”
“Information is power. That’s what you said, right?
”
She’s standing so close to me that her towel almost brushes against my hoodie, and she stiffens.
“I also said it’s currency,” she says curtly.
“So, what is it that you want in return for this particular piece of information?”
“You.” I take a step closer, my voice low.
“Don’t go out with him tonight, Gi.”
Her eyes flash angrily.
“Are you serious? First, you tell me I’m your forever and you want me to have your babies, and then, you tell me my best friend choked herself on your cock.
What the fuck is wrong with you, Tommy?”
“Plenty. But none of it changes the fact that you’re mine, including what happened on New Year’s Eve—with either of us.
You are my forever, and there’s no way I’m allowing you to leave here with him.
”
“Not allowing me?” She scoffs, molten lava in her voice.
“God, you’re insane. Aren’t you supposed to be with the dean right now?
Or was that a lie, too?”
“You know I don’t lie.
I called and moved it to tomorrow night.
And it’s a dinner now, like you suggested, at a Demonio-owned restaurant that I’ll close down for us for the night.
”
Briefly, the iciness in her gaze melts.
She looks impressed. My chest swells, and I can’t tear my eyes away, memorizing every single detail of her face.
This is how I always want her to look at me.
“That’s great, Tommy. Perfect, actually.
I’m proud of you.”
She’s proud of me. The words nearly undo me.
I take a step closer to her, dragging my knuckles over her damp collarbone, and she shivers.
“You need to go,” she whispers, but she doesn’t move.
Her skin prickles with goosebumps as I run my palms down her arms. My cock hardens.
“I’m sorry about what happened with her,” I rasp.
“I was too wasted and too deep in my head to realize what she was doing. I should have been in control. And I should have been with you.”
She lets me pull her a little closer to me.
“What were you thinking about? When she—”
I let my hands slide from her arms to her hips, my gaze dropping to her mouth.
“Your lipstick.”
“My lipstick?”
“Yes. Your bright pink lipstick. And what your lips would look like wrapped around my cock.”
She bites in a breath.
“You were imagining me?”
“Always. Every. Single. Time.”
The silence between us is heavy and electric.
I dig my fingertips into her hips to ground myself.
“Are you still going to go out with him?” My heart slams against my rib cage.
“Yes.”
The word punches the air from my lungs.
I pull away from her, seething, and flick the hem of the dress.
“Are you wearing this for him?”
Defiance—and something hotter—sparks in her eyes.
Her voice is husky, teasing, a smirk curling her lips.
“Maybe. Does that make you jealous? You want me to wear it for you?”
I close the space again, voice low and dark.
“No, sweet girl. I’d rather you wear nothing at all.
”
I tug the edge of her towel, and it drops to the floor at her feet.