Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
ANDIE
Exhaustion is quickly creeping up on me as I sit and listen to Declan and Keane negotiate terms on how to deal with Julio and Alejandro. I’m still stuck on the fact that the two of them are willing to work together. I expected Keane to be all guns blazing after the shit Declan pulled to get me away from the man I thought to be my father. Keane shouldn’t even be speaking with Declan without the consent of the other families. That’s how things work. There’s a hierarchy to adhere to in our tangled web of mafia syndicates and alliances.
“Go easy on him.”
“Oh, now you show up,” I mentally chide Kellan whose voice has decided to pop into my head. “Keane is being his typical pigheaded self. Always wants to do things his way.”
“He wouldn’t be Keane if he didn’t.”
True. As much as it annoys me.
“Things are so messed up, Kel. You’re not even my brother.”
“We have the same mother, Andie. Even if we didn’t, I will always be your big brother. I will always love you.”
“You don’t lie to people you love,” I accuse.
“Sometimes you do, to keep them safe. I’m sorry, Tinker Bell. For everything.”
“Not interested in your excuses. I looked up to you. You were my hero. You hurt me, and I don’t trust you anymore.”
“Then trust them .”
“Andie?”
I blink and refocus on the conversation only to find all eyes on me, waiting.
Declan brushes a hand down my arm. He’s sitting to my left; Rafe, Liam, and Tessa to my right, with Keane and Jax across from us.
“Tired?” Declan asks me.
“I’m good.” My mind scrolls back to what we were discussing.
Tessa giggles at something on her screen. It’s amusing to see her focused on her laptop and Jax on his phone. A part of me wishes I could connect with Jax in that way, and it makes me a tiny bit jealous knowing that Tessa can.
Liam drums his fingers on his knee, drawing my attention to his large, masculine hand. Several faint white lines score down his fingers. Old scars. All the men surrounding me bear them in one way or another. I do as well. The lives we live are not for the weak.
“If the trap we set at the docks doesn’t work, Rafael could always flush out his old man and brother. Heard Julio had a hard-on for you to come back to Mexico.”
“Not fucking happening,” Rafe snaps.
My hand slides over to rest on top of Rafe’s, giving it a small squeeze.
“I’m with Rafe,” I say, jumping in, daring Liam to contradict me.
Rafe will never go back to that life or his father.
“Clearly, I’m out of the loop. What plan are you talking about?” I ask.
Tessa looks up from what she’s doing. “The one where a little birdie told the DEA about a drug shipment coming into the docks.”
But that would mean?—
“Hold up. Those shipments come into docks controlled by us—I mean the Rossis,” I correct myself, turning my concern toward Keane. “Wouldn’t that put you in the DEA’s crosshairs as well?”
“Not if they were paid to look the other way,” Declan states.
He must have DEA agents in his pocket as well. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have said that. There’s a lot of the inner workings of the business I understand, and a lot I have yet to learn. I listened and absorbed while growing up under Max Rossi’s boot. He never saw me as a threat. I was a girl. Weak. Brainless. Useless. It was one of his biggest mistakes to underestimate me. But he’s dead now. By my hand. Karma is a bitch.
“With Julio and Alejandro still in town, have Keane set up another meeting using me as the bait, then take them out,” I suggest.
Julio wants his property back so badly? He can come and get me himself, and then die for his arrogance.
“To repeat what Rafe said, not fucking happening,” Keane immediately interjects.
“Not up to you,” I tell him. I look at Declan to gauge what he thinks. “It’s a reasonable plan.”
“One that puts you at risk.”
I shrug. “I know.”
“ I swear to Christ ,” Keane grumbles, then abruptly stands up from his seat. “Can I have a word with you in private?”
Here we go. Keane all up on his high horse. I stand as well and walk out onto the small balcony, needing some fresh air to wake me up for this conversation. I peer over the concrete balustrade as the gusty wind whips my hair all around my face. We’re so high up, I can’t make out anything below. Looking down makes me think about the urban myth of killing someone by dropping a penny from the top of the Empire State Building. It’s not true. There was some University of Virginia physics professor who tested the theory and debunked it by using himself as the guinea pig.
Two thickly muscled arms appear on either side of me right before Keane’s body collides gently with my back.
“It’s beautiful up here,” he comments, his earlier irritation with me gone.
Keane has a habit of transitioning between emotions like a yo-yo in a way that gives me whiplash. Perhaps it’s a strategy he uses to keep his adversary guessing what he’ll do next. That way, he always has the upper hand.
There are no clouds tonight, so we can see the tops of the other buildings and the flashing of aircraft warning lights. Lit rooms create a block pattern along the sides of the concrete and glass towers.
“It is. It’s also different. I like the city but living in Switzerland made me appreciate the outdoors. I would go for long hikes almost daily, or Tessa and I would rent paddle boats and spend the day out on the lake that was near our school. On the weekends, we would go for bike rides.”
I fell in love with Switzerland and its mountainous terrain. The air was crisp and clean, and everywhere you looked, you were blinded by nature’s beauty. The people were friendly and welcoming. The school I was in had wonderful teachers and I was treated very well. It was almost paradise compared to what I grew up in.
Keane rests his chin on my shoulder so that we are cheek to cheek. Such a simple thing, but to me, it feels very intimate.
“Were you happy?”
Nodding, I answer yes. I was happy. It was probably the happiest I had ever been. I didn’t know Max had put a tracker on me. I thought I was finally free. I could breathe fully for the first time in my life. I met Tessa. I partied and drank. I laughed. I lived the life I had missed out on growing up while being held prisoner at the Rossi estate. Knowing now that it was all an illusion mars those precious memories.
“Can I ask you a question?”
The wind is rough as it blows, stinging my cheeks, but Keane’s stance behind me helps block most of it.
“Depends on the question,” he replies.
“Did it bother you to see me and Jax like that?”
Keane and Liam obviously enjoyed the show, evidenced by the massive erections pushing against their pants’ zippers. That dark and dirty part of me hidden beneath the surface also liked having them there, watching. Keane had said he knew that Jax and I had slept together, and he still went down on me. Do they share women? Is that something they like to do? I’m so out of my element here, but I’m also curious to hear the answer.
“I thought it was the sexiest fucking thing I’d ever seen,” he whispers in my ear, and goose flesh explodes all over my skin. “Your moans. The sounds you made as you came.”
Pulling my head back, he feathers his lips across my jaw, and I can feel his cock thicken against my buttocks.
Breathless and wanting, I tell him while his guard is down, “Use me, Keane. It’s the only way to end this quickly.”
His mouth stops midway to my neck. He takes my double entendre, understanding that I’m not talking about sex.
“Have you thought about what comes after, once Julio and Alejandro are no longer a problem?”
I twist around and look up at him. Such a beautiful man, all angular lines and rough edges.
“I think my message at Declan’s cottage was clear.”
I’m coming for the rest of the families, and I won’t stop until they’re either dead or kneeling at my feet.
Keane cups my face and touches our foreheads together, turbulent emotions thrashing between us like ocean waves during a hurricane.
“Does that include me?”
My heart wrenches painfully. “Only if you try to stop me.”
Jesus, the hot look in his eyes when I say that. I duck under his arm to get some distance.
“It’s getting late, and I want to talk to Sarah before she goes to bed. Would you like to join me for the video call? I know she’d want to see you and the guys.”
I make the peace offering honestly, holding out my hand. I may as well have been offering my exposed, beating heart for him to take, because that’s how it feels.
Everything in me protests at how right he was when he said that I was theirs. We bicker and argue and go at each other like rabid animals. But deep down, I know it’s true. I’ll fight it every step of the way, but I can’t deny that he, Jax, Rafe, and Liam own me in a way no one else ever could.
Knowing that neither of us will budge on the matter about what to do regarding Julio, Keane takes my hand, tangling our fingers together.
“Lead the way, princess.”
When we enter back into the suite, all eyes turn to us, making me squirm.
“Give me a sec,” I tell Keane and walk promptly to the bathroom connected to my bedroom.
After splashing some water on my face, I finger comb the tangles out of my hair. Looking around for a hand towel to dry off with, I spot one rolled up on a shelf under the floating bathroom vanity. I bend down to get it, then stand up—and jump out of my skin when Rafe’s reflection in the mirror startles me.
“Jesus!” I yelp.
“I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine,” I reply, my neck breaking out in a line of sweat because Rafe is a large man and having him in here with me is making me claustrophobic.
“Do you mind?” I gesture for him to get out.
I take a few slow breaths to calm down. I’m not back in the cage , I remind myself. I’m not back in that room in the basement of Max’s house .
Rafe’s dark brow drops with concern when he sees the color drain from my face. He crowds into me, turning me around and lifting me up to sit on the lip of the vanity countertop, then he steps between my thighs.
“Hey, talk to me.” He cups my face until our eyes align.
I try to shake my head, but his grip won’t allow it.
“Confined spaces,” is all I say, but I know he understands, especially after he told me what happened the night Max found us together.
He brings his face closer. “Focus on me. Breathe with me,” he whispers, and I do.
I grip the hand towel tighter, so I don’t do something completely idiotic like reach out and touch him. My fingertips remember how his smooth, tanned skin felt. How it tasted. I lick my lips, and Rafe’s gaze follows the path of my tongue. My heart rate accelerates again, but not from panic. This time it’s caused by the longing I see building behind his blue eyes.
I need to put the brakes on this. “I’m good now.”
“I’m not,” he replies, and I gasp as Rafe lifts me up by the backs of my thighs and pulls me forward to him. The towel slips from my hand, and I moan helplessly when he swoops in to force my lips apart, licking into my mouth.
The taste of him is so damn good, and God help me, as much as I don’t trust him, I still want him to shove his dick so deep inside of me, I forget my own name.
Rafe sucks on my tongue, sealing his mouth to mine, and I whimper as a flood of memories of us together comes rushing back like it was only yesterday. My fingernails score down the soft fabric of his T-shirt and dig into the firm muscles of his abs. My eyes close as I’m consumed by a careless, drunken desire for the boy I loved more than anything once upon a time. You still do , Kellan whispers in my ear, shocking me out of my lust-fogged haze.
My violet eyes meet his vivid blue ones. Rafe’s face is set in stony determination, the dark stubble along his jawline creating shadows on his face, making him look dangerously beautiful.
“Rafe.” His name falls from my lips. I don’t know whether I’m asking him to stop or never let me go again.
“Let me make you feel good, baby,” he murmurs against my lips before kissing me deeply, stroking his tongue against mine.
Every protest I was conjuring as to why this is a bad fucking idea gets tossed out the damn window when his clever fingers slither underneath my waistband and over the soft hair of my mons. Rafe always knew how to touch me. And once he slides two fingers through my folds, seeking then sinking them deep inside me, I have no control over my body as I let him finger-fuck me to a quick orgasm.
It only takes mere seconds before I’m shuddering and gasping his name, my body trembling like a leaf in a windstorm, as wave after wave of pleasure sends me on a high that I never want to come down from. I watch under a half-lidded gaze as Rafe brings his fingers, slicked with my wetness, up to his mouth and sucks them clean. He smiles at me, his face filled with a softness I haven’t seen for a very long time.
“Better now?” he asks.
“Mmmm,” I hum, too stubborn to tell him just how much better I do feel.
Noise from outside the bathroom catches my attention, and I push Rafe back to hop down off the counter. My clothes are all askew, and I try to quickly straighten them back into place. As soon as I step around Rafe and exit the bathroom, Liam appears in the open bedroom doorway. He gives me a considering look, and I quickly avert my gaze. Can he tell what just happened?
“Video is up,” he tells me, lingering for a second before walking away.