7. ~Emilio~
7
~Emilio~
“Anything?”
Levi turned from where he was typing away furiously with one hand, and even then moving between keyboards and laptops themselves, while also somehow sipping from a coffee mug.
He’d set all his equipment up in the living room that we’d been using as a suite for Julian. Along with a few of Nico’s soldiers, I’d had all Julian’s stuff moved back to his actual assigned room in the house now that he was mobile and physically healed up.
The place looked like a command center.
“Not yet.”
“What? You can’t track her phone?”
“They’re either in a dead zone intentionally or Stover’s using a military-grade signal jammer.” He turned on the swivel chair with his coffee in hand, took a sip, then eyed me. “What I can do is backtrack the signal.”
“Pinging off cell towers, that sort of thing?”
“In a way. That’s obviously time-consuming and I really don’t believe it’s the best use of my efforts. Give it time. It’s Rina. She’ll find a way. Trust me.”
“Stover told you to focus on tracking down Angelo.”
“Exactly. I understand, though. If it was our woman in the wind, me and my boys would be hard-pressed to approach things rationally. However, this is a special case. Stover will protect her with everything he has and, believe me, that’s a hell of a lot. She’s safe with him.”
I nodded, taking his words in. “It’s where she should stay right now until she recovers. And until we take out Angelo.”
“Speaking of, did you know about any of this?” he asked, turning back to face one of the laptop screens, and gesturing at it.
I walked closer and took in what he’d pulled up.
My gut was twisting in the next second when I found myself reading texts that Angelo had sent to Caterina just before the home invasion.
The full texts this time.
Blocked Number: How’s my pretty cock slut? He’s definitely still obsessed with me, frantically trying to track me down, pretending it’s all for revenge when he’s really craving me. Not to worry, he’ll be able to get his fill soon enough.
Caterina: Stay the hell away from him.
Blocked Number: No can do. And you, traitorous cunt, you’ve signed your death certificate. Your daddy knows what you did. He’s gonna force you to return what you stole and then he’ll do what he should have done a long time ago and bury you. Wish I could be there in person to see it, but I’ll settle for spitting on your grave. Wondering how I was able to contact you? Let’s just say I have some new friends. Better than the ones your boyfriends murdered. They were just a stepping stone to these guys. Bye, Caterina. I should warn you, it’s gonna be painful. Santino promised me it would be. Can’t wait until it breaks your boyfriends into pieces.
I cursed under my breath.
“I’m focusing on the content about Julian. The rest, the threats toward her by that motherfucker, come as no surprise to me. From what Caterina told me, that’s who Angelo is referring to, yes?”
“Yeah,” I ground out, hating that it was the twisted truth of it.
“Well, there’s clearly an emotional angle here. And not just with this text exchange. She has a transcript on file where she’s highlighted certain elements of the audio she extrapolated from surveillance footage from when Julian was in captivity. She also has notes about a possible gameplan to work this angle, which seems more than feasible, especially when she’s referenced that she’s in possession of a tracking chip that’s still operational. But then she’s marked it as a no-go, completely discounted it.”
“Because of what it would do to Julian.”
“Yeah, I got that much. But it’s still a viable angle. It could be used to draw him out, and to put him down ASAP, rather than taking the roundabout and time-consuming route of actually trying to track him.”
“He’d need to be there in person,” Nico’s voice came from the door, and we turned to see him leaning against the doorframe, sipping from an espresso cup with his free hand, the other one in a fresh sling. It was also apparent that he’d taken a shower, and he looked wide awake now. A whole lot better now that he’d had a good night’s sleep.
“What? No, we just need the chip.”
Nico shook his head and pushed off the door, coming into the room. “Angelo is too sly for that. Especially now he’s working with these fucking black ops bastards. He won’t risk stepping out into the open and making his presence known unless he has confirmation that his obsession is actually there. Just bringing the chip and a decoy won’t be enough.” He eyed Levi. “And that’s why we’re not doing it, what Caterina obviously realized, and thereby ruled it out.”
“All right,” Levi said.
“I understand where you’re coming from. The faster we take out that twisted fucker, the faster Caterina can return home, because the hit will be rendered inactive upon his death.”
“Well, I also wouldn’t risk one of my brothers, so I hear you.”
I started as Julian’s hand landed on Nico’s good shoulder, startling him, too, before he came into view and rounded him into the room, walking in, just clad in a pair of his blue boxers.
His eyes went straight to the screen before Levi had a chance to shield it from his view.
He’d obviously already heard our conversation because he looked away without any visible reaction. “We should use me as bait. It’s the optimal strategy.”
When Levi turned back to the monitors, likely not wanting to involve himself in it from a personal standpoint, Julian looked between me and Nico, pushing, “Well, isn’t it?”
“It’s off the table,” Nico told him.
“You’re being too rash about this.”
“Shawn Price takedown? Am I really being too rash about it in light of that fiasco?”
“That was then. I’m in control now.”
“It’s not happening.”
“Nico—”
“We always find a way through, yes?”
Julian grunted. “Throwing those words that you know that I revere back at me? That’s low.”
“Whatever it takes to make you see reason here.”
“Right back at you.”
Nico stepped up to him and growled, “Off. The. Table.”
I tensed as Julian glared right back at him, close to challenging him.
That was the last thing we needed right now. Fucking infighting.
Tensions were high with everything going on.
Caterina not being here really wasn’t helping matters either where that was concerned.
But then Julian stepped back. “Okay. It’s off the table.”
“What?” Nico uttered, his surprise mirroring mine.
“We’ll find another way, like you said. Fine. Let’s do it then.”
“On it,” Levi spoke over his shoulder.
Julian nodded to himself, then told us, “I’m gonna take a shower. Then I have some Carver Group business to attend to.”
With that, he smiled out at us, then walked on out of the room.
I frowned after him.
“Rocco will be here in a few minutes and we’re finalizing everything regarding the upgraded security system together, but after that I’ll have a talk with Julian,” I told Nico.
“Yeah, that was too easy.”
“Agreed.”
“Security system?” Levi queried.
“Yeah,” I confirmed.
“I’ll need to ensure it’s properly synced to Rina’s system, so you’ll need me there, too.”
“Milo’s got that aspect,” Nico told him.
Levi cocked an eyebrow. “You didn’t mention your capabilities in that area.”
I lifted a shoulder. “You didn’t ask. Plus, I’m used to keeping that on the down low, I guess.”
“Just seen as Nico’s guard, huh?”
“Pretty much.”
“Underboss,” Nico spoke.
I eyed him. “What?”
“If you want it, it’s yours. There’s nobody I trust more than you to fill that role.”
I smiled out at him. “Wow, that’s… that’s a lot.”
“What did you think was going to happen?” he queried.
“That you’d make me one of your Capos alongside Cassio and promote Rocco and Tony to that role alongside us.”
“It’s Underboss. Think about it. I know you might want out of the Marchetti Syndicate altogether, given everything that’s happened, so take some time with it.”
I gave his good shoulder a squeeze. “Thank you, brother.”
“Of course.”
My thoughts starting to swirl with the possibilities of it all, I walked out to grab some equipment that I’d need for this meeting with Rocco.
Emilio Bardi, Underboss of the Marchetti Syndicate?
Just like my dad.
It was a lot to process.
That seemed to be the theme lately.
“Julian?” I called out, stepping into his room because the door was invitingly wide open.
“Bathroom!” he called back.
I strode through the room toward the ensuite, frowning when I didn’t hear the running water from the shower he’d said he was going to take.
I had been in that meeting with Rocco for a while, though.
As I opened the door, I located him over on the other side of the room in the large, round tub in the corner, bubbles literally up to his ears as he lounged back while playing on his phone.
He looked up as I entered. “I figured a soak in this sweet-ass bath would be more relaxing and calming. Centering, really.”
“I’m glad. Sounds like a good plan.”
His eyes shone with mirth as he gestured at the tub, the whole setup, actually. Candles everywhere around the edges and on the shelves, pot-pourri in the mix, then a champagne bucket in the far corner. “Cozy, huh?”
“It looks that way.”
“Discover the proof of it for yourself. Take a dip with me.”
I started.
After what had happened with that psychopath, Julian and I, we hadn’t… gone there together, not on our own, like we used to. It had been getting it on as a foursome all the way. I’d figured there had been something about the intimacy and intensity of just the two of us that had unnerved him after what he’d been through, something that had perhaps even reminded him of his time in captivity and what he’d suffered through.
So I hadn’t pushed it. I hadn’t said a word about it at all, and I even tried not to think about it.
But I had missed it.
That much was driven home to me all over again from a physical standpoint when my cock thickened in my jeans just at the mere suggestion of me joining him.
At my hesitation, he went his usual brazen route—or what had been his usual way of doing things before everything had gone to hell—and he rose to his feet, water and bubbles dripping all down his sexy-as-fuck toned and chiseled body.
He put his phone down on one of the high shelves, then made a show of stroking his very hard cock, his piercings glinting in the muted light, the whole display sending a rush of desire straight through me. Goddamn.
He smirked at me as he sank back down into the tub, resting his head peacefully on the edge. “You really want a piece of this, huh?”
I rolled my eyes. “I thought we were retiring that phrasing?”
“Just bringing it out of retirement for this instance.”
“Is that so?”
“Hell, yeah,” he said, slicking his tongue over his lips in an intensely erotic way.
I ripped my tank over my head, and his gaze turned molten as he roamed his captivating hazel eyes over my torso.
I kicked off my shoes and yanked my socks off.
When I opened my jeans and started pulling them and my boxers down, my hard cock springing free for his viewing pleasure, his hand disappeared under the bubbles, and I watched his arm start pumping, the water sloshing as he obviously worked his beautiful cock.
He was fucking killing me.
I yanked my clothes the rest of the way off, and then I was sinking into the tub right beside him.
I’d barely settled when he climbed onto me, straddling my lap, then fisting his hands in my hair and yanking my head back so I was staring up at him. That mirth and flirtatiousness slipped away, and hunger laced with stark emotion bled into me as he uttered, “I need you.”
“I fucking need you, too,” I uttered, grasping his nape, then slamming our lips together.
His hands were all over me as we kissed, hot and heavy, the intensity stealing my breath away as much as the kiss itself, our lips clashing, tongues tangling, the both of us fighting to get as much of the other as we could, to fucking drown in one another completely.
He shifted his weight, and pushed his cock against mine, then had me groaning into his mouth as he started grinding along my shaft, those delicious piercings cranking the bliss-inducing sensation of it all up several fucking notches until I was rolling my hips and fucking my cock back against his, losing myself to it all.
I threw my head back, and he licked my throat, making me tremble with need.
“Sunshine… fuck.”
He grasped my hand and placed it between his ass cheeks.
What the—
I lifted my head and stared out at him, cocking an eyebrow.
“Told you, I need you.”
I couldn’t believe it. This wasn’t how we usually did things.
I watched him carefully as I peeled one of his ass cheeks back, then trailed two fingers down the crack of his ass.
Mixed signals came my way as he squeezed his eyes shut, but then bit his lip at the same time.
“Julian?”
“More… don’t stop.”
I teased his hole with the pad of my finger, and he squirmed, but then sank into me.
“Fuck,” he breathed in rapture when I dipped inside a little.
I teased him, dipping in and out, then rimming his hole, titillating all the nerve endings, and it had him slamming his hips back and forth, then clutching my shoulders fiercely. “Deeper,” he rasped.
I sank in further, groaning as I felt him clenching down around my finger.
He pushed back against me, so needy for more, that it had me drawing all the way out, then driving back in right to the last knuckle.
“Fuck!” he cried, digging his nails into my shoulders. “Yes.”
I pumped in and out of him then, before adding another finger that had him growling, pre-cum leaking all over my cock. I was fucking dripping myself. This was something else to me, something I was really fucking getting off on, more than I thought possible.
Taking control, rather than him doing it, as was our usual way together, was empowering, all-consuming. And his reactions, being so overcome by it, just added another spine tingling element that had me beside myself.
Before I knew it, I was ripping him off me and shoving him down over the side of the tub with his ass in the air, his face smushed against the tile.
“Yes, lose your fucking shit, darlin’.”
I spread his ass cheeks apart, then dove in, lashing my tongue over his exposed and vulnerable hole, eating him up, then thrusting inside and tonguing him.
It had him cursing out into the room, panting and squirming in my hold, losing his mind to it all.
“Sunshine… fuck,” I choked when I came up for air, then kept his cheeks spread as I slid my cock up and down between them, nudging at his hole in the process.
“Do it,” he breathed.
I grabbed a fistful of his hair and wrenched him around to meet my gaze. “I need to see the look on your face as I sink inside your ass for the first time.”
“Yes…”
“You need to feel the loss of control?”
He nodded, his eyes shining with more than need. Desperation. Emotion. “Please.”
Fucking begging me? He had me. He fucking had me so deeply.
I pushed inside and he jerked as my crown sank into his tight hole.
I released his cheeks, then wrapped my fist around his cock, stroking, pulling, and pinching, and it had him pushing his delicious ass back, pleading for more.
His eyes shone at me as I drove deeper, another couple of inches, and squeezed his cock in the process. “Jesus, Milo. That fucking dick… ungh.”
I sawed in and out of him with shallow thrusts, opening him up, moans spilling from him, until I then slammed all the way inside.
“Oh my fucking… fuck!” he cried, his thighs shuddering.
I didn’t stop then, pounding into his ass, slamming my hips like a wild thing, hitting his sweet spot and zoning in on it until he was bucking in my hold, and slamming his fist down on the edge of the bath, struggling to take the intensity.
He dug his fingers into my ass, his glazed eyes fixed on mine, all fucking blissed out, mirroring my own state.
“Sweet fucking hole… gonna fill it with my cum.”
His eyes rolled back in his head.
I jerked him closer to me, banding my arm around his torso, and he joined my hand wrapped around his cock, the both of us working to jerk him off.
“I want your hot cum spilling into my hand when I fill your ass with mine.”
“Ungh… yeah… come in me… fucking come inside me.”
“God-fucking-dammit, Julian,” I growled. “You’re driving me fucking insane.”
He cried out as he jerked in my hold, then sprayed all over our joined hands, bucking his hips like a fiend, his ass clenching down around me fiercely.
A roar tore from my throat as I lost control and shot my hot cum deep inside his ass.
He trembled at the sensation, and I stroked his face, holding him to me, staring into his glazed eyes. “Okay, Sunshine?”
“More than,” he answered, a sly grin spreading over his lips.
“You begging for that caught me off guard. I really wasn’t expecting it.”
“You got off on it, big time.”
“Undeniable. And you? Was it what you needed?”
“Yeah, I just… thank you.”
He didn’t want to explain it, but I knew him well enough to get it, and I knew he’d been counting on that.
“I’ve missed this. I’ve missed being with you in this way.”
“Me too,” he said, nuzzling against me. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get back here, get back to you.”
“Don’t apologize. Just be with me now.”
He grasped my ass. “Don’t pull out. Just stay with me like this for a while.”
I stroked his hair. “Your wish is my command, Sunshine.” I winked. “Or your begging is.”
His eyes sparkled with amusement. “Shut it.”
I chuckled. “Yes, Sir.”
That had us both bursting out laughing, especially with the connotations involved with those two words.
And it felt really fucking good.