60. Daren
Chapter 60
Daren
A n awkward silence lapsed over the table after Bellamy and Fletcher left, quickly broken by Vince’s unnerving laugh.
“God,” he said, scrubbing a hand down his face. “Are all five of you fucking?”
“Not directly,” Gideon muttered.
“I’d love to know how you indirectly fuck someone, but you’ll have to tell me about it another time. Until then.” He returned his gun to the holster at the back of his pants. “I assume you’ll give Fletcher whatever he needs to satisfy his father?”
“I will,” Gideon agreed, glancing between Luca and me next. “Then he’ll share what he knows with your father, who will call up the debt. After that, I expect mine to show up so it’s important we maintain appearances for now.”
I knew what that meant. We both did.
No more cavorting in the shadows. Back to pretending it was them against us.
“Can you manage that?” he asked Luca.
“As long as the end is in sight,” Luca whispered.
“It’s close,” I promised.
“You can kill him whenever you want,” Vince said, standing from his seat at the table and giving his clothes a quick pat down. “It makes no difference to me.”
Gideon huffed out half of a laugh, tucking a loose bit of hair behind his ear.
“After that.” Luca cleared his throat and fidgeted with his glasses. “Will…will you just…be the one in charge then?”
“That’s how it works,” Gideon said.
“Even if it’s after a murder?”
“ Especially if it’s after a murder.” Vince smiled like he’d murdered a few people on his own.
He wasn’t wrong. Our families kept our dealings far more quiet than Angelini’s did, but that didn’t mean we didn’t run in the same circles and do the same kinds of things. The Norths and the Sinclairs just did it better than most.
But not for long.
“And what about Sinclair?” I asked. “Not Fletcher. His father.”
“I’ll talk to him about it,” Gideon said, joining Vince on his feet. “Let me walk you out.”
Gideon gestured toward the front of the house, and Vince headed that way. The two of them left Luca and me alone at the massive dining table, sitting on opposite sides and facing each other head on.
“Will you forgive me?” I asked.
“Already did,” he rasped, mouth twisting into a sad smile.
“Come here.” I pushed my chair back, and Luca was around the table and in my lap before I’d even settled back into the seat. He was so lanky and tall, his hair so soft, his mouth so fucking perfect.
“This is killing me,” he said, taking my cheeks into his hands and searching my face for an answer I wasn’t sure I had.
“It’s almost over,” I promised, pulling him closer. “I love you. I love you. I lo?—”
He cut me off with a moan and a kiss.
I arched away from the back of the chair, pushing my body closer to his and flattening both of my palms against his spine. Luca was so warm and so pliant, and three days without him had been too long. Any time without him was too long, but I had the sinking feeling things were going to start moving quicker than we’d ever imagined and when it was all said and done, we’d either be dead or we’d be together.
We’d be together either way, but one was more preferable than the other.
I kissed Luca with lazy and teasing strokes of my tongue, knowing we didn’t have time to take things any further than a kiss. Bellamy and Fletcher would be back soon, and Gideon was only in the other room. Not that we had to hide ourselves from them, but this thing was bigger than us. Not just whatever kind of bizarre relationship the five of us had found ourselves in, but the situation with the families.
“How do you think it’s going to go when Fletcher and Gideon have their little talk?” I asked, smiling as I traced my lips from Luca’s swollen mouth to his ear.
“Bloody.”
I chuckled, nipping at his earlobe.
“I love you,” I told him again.
The front door closed.
“I love you,” he whispered.
Gideon’s footfalls were deliberately loud as he returned to the dining room. He took his seat, once again at the head of the table, expression entirely unsurprised to find Luca on my lap.
“I’m impressed you’re not fucking on the table,” he admitted, letting out a long sigh.
“Was that an option?” Luca asked, looking from him to me and back again.
“You know I like to take my time with you.” I slid my hand up Luca’s stomach and chest, wrapping my fingers around his throat until he tilted his head back with a breathy gasp.
“The two of you…” Gideon bit back whatever he was about to say, shaking his head instead.
“Make you sick?” I asked with a laugh, squeezing Luca’s throat for good measure before letting him go.
“Give me hope,” Gideon said, stare flickering up as Bellamy and Fletcher returned to the dining room.
Bellamy was flushed pink like a rose, spit shining on his lips. If I was a betting man, I’d have wagered it was from Fletcher’s mouth, not any residuals from what had sent him to the bathroom in the first place.
Gideon stood, towering over all of us. “Bellamy, stay with Luca and Daren, I need to get some paperwork for Fletcher.”
Luca stretched out his arm, wiggling his fingers in invitation for Bellamy to join us. It was awkward with Luca on my lap, but I managed to heft him up onto the table, and Bellamy hopped up beside him, resting his head on Luca’s shoulders. He blinked slow and heavy, and I supposed he was as tired as the rest of us, if not more.
I looked from them to Gideon and Fletcher, finding them side by side, staring me down like they were both willing to burn me alive if any harm came to the two men in front of me. On their own, Gideon North and Fletcher Sinclair were imposing figures. Not only based on their size, but their presence, their power. The way they owned every room they wanted to own. Power had been spoon-fed to them since they were babies, and it showed.
“I’ve got them,” I assured the two men whose shoulders barely pressed together on the other side of the room. The two of them were magnetized, much like how I felt about Luca.
Gideon would never warm to me…or Luca, though. Not in the way he’d warmed for Bellamy. And he’d never want any of us the way he wanted Fletcher, but somehow, that was okay. We were about to build a new world order and we could set whatever rules we wanted. Gideon could have Fletcher. Fletcher could have all of us. I could have Luca and Bellamy both.
I could have everything.