Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Matteo
There was a crowd gathered outside the club. Excited, barely-dressed people were lining up around the block to get into the newest, hippest club in the city.
It should have made me happy because Cream was a success even before it had really opened, but all I could see was the threat.
Anyone could have been in that crowd, and I was beginning to regret bringing Sophia here. Not only because it would be hard to protect her in that crowd, but also because of how she looked.
Out of the corner of my eye, I surveyed her: the hair, the makeup, even her outfit for the night all screamed, look at me.
Look at me, but don’t touch. She was a goddess, so far above the riff raff outside that I was tempted to tell the driver to turn around and take us home so I could touch her.
The only thing that stopped me was the fact that I had business to discuss, and such conversations always went better in a more casual setting where the drinks were flowing.
“Ready?” I asked and was rewarded when she smiled at me.
“Sure, but I think I’m a little…”
Reaching for her face, I skimmed my fingers across her cheek to the back of her head so I could pull her toward me. Our lips met. Soft at first, and then harder as I lost myself in the feel of her tongue against mine and the minty freshness of her breath.
“You look amazing,” I whispered against her mouth. “I told you that, right?”
If I hadn’t, then I had meant to, because from the second she had stepped out to meet me, with her face flawless and her hair all glossy, dressed in that pink dress, I had been speechless.
Sophia had gone from beautiful to goddess in a single afternoon.
“Yes, you told me once or twice.” She giggled, and it was a girly sound. I hadn’t heard her laugh like that since she was fifteen.
“Well, let me tell you again.” It was taking everything I had in me not to pull her onto my lap and take her. The windows were tinted, no one would see, and the driver would make himself scarce if I demanded it.
“You look absolutely,” I nipped at her bottom lip, drawing it between my teeth until she whimpered, “edible.” I lowered my voice. “In fact, I am not sure I can wait to eat you in that dress, Sophia. Ever fooled around in a nightclub before?”
She rolled her eyes at me, her lashes fluttering as pink dots appeared high on her cheekbones. What had I said to make her blush, like that? Because whatever it was, I was going to keep saying it.
“I haven’t been to many clubs.”
I squinted in shock. “Well, let’s get you into this one and then we can find a quiet spot to fool around.” I winked. “So you can have the full clubbing experience.”
Exiting the car, I reached inside and helped her out, and for a second, we stood on the sidewalk together and just stared at the line.
“You did it,” she whispered.
Entwining her fingers with mine, I pulled her hand through the crook of my arm. “Yeah, I did.”
I didn’t need to ask her what she was talking about. Back when we had been sneaking around, we had talked about the future. All our hopes and dreams had been laid out.
One of mine was this club. I was good at running a criminal empire, but this had always been my own, personal dream.
And she had remembered.
“I’m so proud of you, Matteo,” she whispered.
I was proud as well, but not for the same reasons as she was. “I’m glad you are here with me tonight, Sophia,” I said in a hushed whisper.
Now that was the truth. When I’d dreamed of this night, I’d always been with her.
“There is no one else I would want to be here with me.” Drawing her hand up to my lips, I pressed a kiss to the back of it, and then led her forward. “Stay close to me, okay?”
Being outside with her was making me nervous. Sophia might not have a target on her back, but I sure as hell did, and being with me would definitely put her in more danger than I liked.
Security on each side, we had barely taken three steps, when a loud cracking sound split the air. I moved on instinct. My body curled around her much smaller one.
The men on either side of me moved, their weapons drawn.
“Inside,” I hissed, my arms around her, and I ushered her through the now-open red rope and inside. It was only when we were in the dark, cool confines of the club that I let myself breathe again.
“Matteo.”
I looked down at her. “It’s okay, Sophia. You’re safe, I promise.”
“It was just a car backfiring.” Reaching up, she touched my cheek. “Just a car. No one was shooting at us.”
Leaning into her hands, I closed my eyes. Just a car backfiring? And I had panicked like we were under attack.
“What’s wrong, Matteo?”
How could I explain it to her? That this had always been an ongoing nightmare of mine. To lose her like this. Especially now, when I had just gotten her back. It didn’t bear thinking about. I’d already lost her once.
“Just jumpy.” Forcing a grin on my face, I kissed the back of her hand again. “Nights like these are always risky. But let’s show our face and talk to who we need to, and then I can get you home and throw that dress out the window.”
“Why do you want to throw my pretty dresses out of the window?” She followed after me, and the sea of people parted before us. All eyes were on us as we made our way across the main area of the club and up some stairs to the balcony VIP area.
“Because.” He fell into one of the black leather sofas, snapped his fingers to a passing hostess, and pulled me into his lap.
“Every single asshole in this place is looking at you like they want to eat you, and I am,” bringing his lips to my ear, he nibbled, “the only person who ever gets to do that now.”
“So,” twisting on my lap, she wrapped her arms around my throat pressing her breasts against my chest, “because men are looking at me, my dress needs to be tossed out of a window.”
I nodded seriously. “Yes. In fact, I might just throw out all of your clothes.”
“And how is that going to help?”
I tightened my grip on her. “Because if you don’t have clothes, then you can’t leave the apartment, and I can have you all to myself.”
“You have me all…”
“Matteo, old friend,” a voice boomed out, and I turned to a man barrelling toward us.
“Hey.” Nodding my head, I reached out a hand for him to shake, but I didn’t rise from my seat. Here in my club, with my woman on my lap, I was king. “Have you met Sophia?”
The man barely looked at her. He didn’t recognize her name or her face, but then why would he? He was new here.
“Nice to meet you, now can…”
The waitress arrived with champagne and two glasses, pouring it for us before leaving again quickly. Reaching around Sophia, I passed her one.
“What can I do for you, friend?” I instantly went straight back to business, leaning back with one arm loosely thrown around her waist as she perched on my lap and sipped at the bubbly golden liquid in her glass.
“Why don’t you make yourself scarce,” Gerald said in a voice that was tinged with laughter. My eyes went to him, taking in the expensive suit and the cigar in his hand, but more than anything, I saw the way he was looking at her.
Like she was someone to be bought and played with.
Did he look at her and see a whore? Because he sure as hell wasn’t looking at her like she deserved his respect, and that was the problem with these men.
They didn’t know the ways of the city or who had run it before they started making a name for themselves.
Sophia stiffened, and my arm tightened around her midriff. “Sophia isn’t going anywhere.” I snapped, because how dare he try to order her away?
“She is…”
“Important. From a family who has much deeper ties to this city than you do, Gerald. I would watch how you talk to her.”
The threat floated in the air.
“I just meant…” he stuttered.
“Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of Sophia. We don’t have any secrets between us, do we, my love?”
It might have been my imagination, but I was sure I felt her stiffen. “Of course not.” She smiled.
Gerald began talking, ignoring her completely, and maybe for him it was easy, but for me, it was the hardest thing in the world.
How was a man supposed to think about anything but her?
Gerald spoke his piece, almost begging me for my backing, and before I could answer, more and more people came to join us. Soon, it was my own party of fawning sycophants.
And I didn’t want to talk to any of them. I didn’t want to be here with them. I wanted to be here with her so we could enjoy my success like I had always dreamed of.
Like the perfect woman, she sat silently and sipped at her champagne, but the alcohol in her glass didn’t seem to go down at all, and she didn’t refill her glass.
My fingers stroked across her knee.
It was possessive, I knew that, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want there to be any doubts. Sophia was here with me.
She was mine.
And anyway, touching her gave me comfort.
“Sister.”
My head snapped around, and my good mood disappeared. Gio stood there, looking his normal cocky self, and he was greeting her first. Like I wasn’t there at all.
My hand closed around her knee.
“Hello.” The music was so loud that I could barely hear her, but she sounded unsure of herself suddenly.
Was she feeling his presence like I was? Like he was an unwelcome guest.
“Gio.” Nodding my head, I stared up at him. Maybe it was my imagination, but his eyes looked glassy. “Glad you could make it.”
He didn’t answer me at first. His eyes were glued to the hand I had molded around his sister’s leg. He was staring at it like he couldn’t quite focus.
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. He was on something, that much was clear. In fact, he was so wasted that I was surprised he could function normally. I had heard rumors of his drug use, but this was the first time I was seeing the proof.
Gio really was a mess.
“Well.” He snapped out of it, dragging his eyes away. “It’s the only way I could see my sister, isn’t it?”
“No one stopped you from visiting,” I retorted.
“No?” Leaning down, he breathed alcohol fumes into my face. Although I wasn’t sure which alcohol. It might have been paint thinner, it smelled so strong and pungent. “Because I’m pretty sure…”
“Gio.” Sophia’s voice was sharp. “Stop it right now.”
“No, say what you were going to say, Gio. If you can get the words out, that is?” I slid my hand up Sophia’s thigh. Not too far, but enough to get a rise out of him.
“You have your hands all over my sister.” He shook with anger.
I opened my mouth to tell him that she was mine and that he was the one who had given her back to me, but Sophia got there first.
Jumping up, she put herself bodily between us. “I am right where I want to be, Gio,” she said in a hush. “But let’s talk somewhere quieter.” She glanced over her shoulder at me. “That’s okay, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s ok. Just stay where my men can see you.”
Sophia’s smile was for me alone. It was a blinding flash of white behind pink, glossy lips that I could so easily imagine wrapped around my cock.
“Let’s go and dance.” She was already leading her brother away before I could react.
Dance? I sure as hell hadn’t said she could dance…down there…on the dance floor where a hundred of men could ogle her.
It wasn’t like I could trust her brother to keep her safe.
He’d sell her for his next fix.
“So like I was sayin…”
I stood up, and the man to my left fell silent. Walking over to the railing, I scanned the crowd for her and found her almost instantly.
“Boss?”
“Keep an eye on her.” I didn’t take my eyes off the dance floor. My men already knew what they had to do. I had been pretty clear on that, but now that Gio was here, I wanted people close to her.
“Get someone close,” I hissed as I watched them together below. The music was pumping, so their slow dance was out of place. “I want to know what they are talking about.”
“You don’t trust her?”
“I don’t trust him.”