27. Dante
For the next two weeks, Nina and I built on the real connection between us. No more pretending anything. No excuses of practicing for anything else.
Before, the deal was that we had to put on an act in front of others. Now, our deal was that we didn’t want to leave each other’s company long enough to bother with anyone else.
She moved into my room, pleased and flattered that I’d gone ahead and bought her the things she actually wanted. Not the wardrobe and appearance that Eva assumed she should have to fit in with me.
I kept her at my side in bed every night, and each morning, I spent several minutes watching her sleep in and be lazy, naked and sated, the same as I was.
Franco joked that we had claimed an unofficial honeymoon, and Romeo smirked in such a knowing way that suggested he agreed.
I made myself scarce, handling calls with Nina in the room with me. While I kept up with my meetings, having Franco and Romeo filling me in on the essentials of the organization, I had those meetings only at the house and when Nina was near.
We worked out together. Cooked together. Slept together.
Best of all, though, was how she came alive and really thrived under my tutelage. I’d never forget the “lessons” where I taught her how I wanted her to give me head. I bet neither of us would lose the memory of when we incorporated some toys and vibrators to further and double her orgasms. Mine too.
After decades of settling for random flings here and there, one-night stands that I forgot about as soon as they were over, Nina gave me a chance to revisit the concept of love.
“Do you think you can pay attention?” Franco joked.
We sat outside at our favorite patio table. With the summer heat unrelenting, Nina opted to swim laps in the pool while we talked. Seeing her in my peripheral vision was a hex. In that skimpy bikini, the tanned swells of her breasts glistening from the water, all that long, brown hair in sexy, tousled waves…
I cleared my throat, annoyed that they’d caught me staring. “Yeah. Of course. What were you saying?”
Romeo laughed and scooted his chair to the side, further blocking Nina from my line of sight.
Just as well. My focus isn’t worth a damn when she’s swimming so close.
“The Devil’s Brothers’ men have made a habit of coming into the Hound and Tea rooms more often.” Franco lost his teasing smirk, scowling as he repeated this news. “The security staff are turning them away, but sometimes, they come without their usual biker clothes and sneak in disguised as others.”
I shook my head, more than peeved about this. “I never wanted them in there in the first place.”
“They never should have come into those rooms.” Romeo zoned out, stuck staring at his water glass covered in beads of condensation on the table. “It’s only with invitation that anyone gets in the doors to begin with.”
“Yeah, but when the Dominos tried to stand up to the bikers with those drug deals, it seemed they turned our gambling rooms into common grounds, a neutral zone to meet or argue.”
That was the only way the MC men got their feet in the door. Someone from the Domino organization likely told Reaper or his other bikers to meet at the Hound and Tea. None of the Mafia members would’ve willingly met up or discussed anything at the motorcycle gang’s clubhouse, and none of the bikers would’ve volunteered to set foot on the Domino turf.
“Unless Stefan facilitated the MC men coming to the gambling rooms,” I said. “He allied with the Dominos, so maybe it was his role to set up meets. And he chose the Hound and Tea rooms to host them.”
Franco nodded. “That wouldn’t surprise me.”
“It does add up,” Romeo said. He yawned and rubbed the back of his neck. “He brought them into the Sarround Gala. He could’ve coaxed them to become regulars at the gambling rooms too.”
“Regardless of how or why those fuckers got in, they’ve overstayed their stay. It’s time for them to understand the doors will remain closed to them—for good.”
“So far, it hasn’t caused issues,” Franco said.
I shot him a rotten look. “No issues?”
Romeo scoffed. “You forget about Ricky Bardot betting on Nina there? With Reaper?”
Franco winced. “Well, that.”
That was a very critical issue for me, personally. “By the way, has anyone seen him recently?”
“Reaper?” Franco guessed at the same time Romeo asked, “Ricky?”
I pointed at my son. “Ricky.”
Both of them shook their heads.
“I’ve asked around,” Franco replied. “Ever since Nina came to live here with you, she became a case, and I’ve had men looking for intel about Ricky.”
“Same,” Romeo reported. “When Nina mentioned that he’d bet on her with Reaper?—”
“She told you?” I asked.
He rolled his eyes. “When I drove her home from Escott’s. She blurted out how she’d come across you.”
He’s known that long. That we started out as faking it all.
Yet, the knowing smirk he gave me suggested that he hadn’t bought it.
“I’ve had people looking for him,” Romeo added. “In case he tried to reach Nina and still hand her over to Reaper.”
“Has she heard from him?” Franco asked.
“Once,” I answered. “She showed me the text he sent her, but other than that, no calls, no texts, no voicemails.”
Romeo shrugged. “Makes me wonder if maybe the MC took him. If they could try to use Ricky as a hostage to get Nina to come to them.”
I narrowed my eyes and shook my head. “I doubt it. We’ve started to talk a bit more about her past. She loves her brother in the name of caring about her sibling, but they’ve never been close.”
“They shared an apartment,” Franco said.
“Yes, because he mooched off me for money,” Nina said, clearly unwilling to let us talk about her. She approached, coming into view around Romeo. A thick towel was tied snug around her waist. With another, smaller towel, she dried the moisture from her hair. “Sorry. I heard my name and listened.”
I scooted my chair back for her to sit on my lap. She was my woman, always would be, so it wasn’t difficult to let her in on this conversation. She was loyal to a fault, but to me.
“If the MC takes Ricky and tries to negotiate, to get me to go to Reaper in exchange for freeing Ricky…” She licked her lips and lifted her finger. “One, I’m not that stupid. They wouldn’t release him.”
Exactly.
“Two, it’s karma. Ricky tried to hand me over to them, and it would only be justice for him to go to them instead.”
It sounded cold, but firm. That was the strong woman who had my heart.
“And three,” she said, lifting the third finger, “they’d have to get past him to reach me.” She patted my cheek, smug.
I caught her hand and kissed her palm. “Well said.”
“However, we shouldn’t be this lax about the Devil’s Brothers coming to the Hound and Tea,” Romeo said.
I suspected he said that with a figment of that stubborn survivor’s guilt he still struggled with. That if he could help spare men from a worse fate, he would join in on the action immediately.
“Then I’ll go have a word with them,” I replied matter-of-factly.
Nina stood from my lap. “Tonight?”
I nodded. “The sooner, the better.”
She kissed me quickly. “Then hopefully, I’ll be back when you are.”
“That’s right. Your spa day.”
She smiled wide. “I think it might be fun. I’ve never had a ‘spa’ day before. It was nice of Eva to ask me along.”
Romeo rolled his eyes. “She probably just wants to justify going herself.”
Nina shrugged. “Well, I appreciate the invite. I’m looking forward to it.”
I was too. If she came home relaxed, it would be the perfect motivation to get her all excited again, on my cock.
Later, Romeo accompanied me on the way to the Hound and Tea. I hadn’t been back here since that night Nina literally ran into me here. I had no reason. Actually, now that we had jumped into our relationship, I seldom made time for many visits. Romeo seemed to benefit from handling the things I used to. I wasn’t anywhere near ready to hand over the reins of the organization to him, but as he coped with the night those three soldiers were killed, being busy and not having time to dwell were a positive outcome.
He spoke with the security staff as we reached the back doors. Two men were perturbed, pissed that word had come back to them of two bikers sneaking inside.
“I’ll handle it,” I told them. And I would. I didn’t expect lower-level bouncers and security guards at the door to tell the leader of another crime unit to back off and not come back. That was a task best delegated to me. One leader managing another. Man to man.
It helped that Reaper was there. If it was a couple of his men, my message wouldn’t have been as direct. It was preferred to tell that MC fucker to the face to get the hell out of my gambling rooms, and to stay away.
He wasn’t easily recognizable dressed in more basic clothes. Without the grungy, dusty leather vest and all the colorful patches sewn on it, he almost blended in. Instead of ripped and filthy jeans, he chose slacks to complement the cheap suit he’d picked up somewhere. The signature bandana wasn’t tied on his head, and the slicked-back effect of the little thinning hair he had might have been presentable on someone else.
His eyes didn’t lie. As he met my gaze from across the room, he sneered with pure malice. This asshole would always be up to no good. Kicking him out would be my pleasure.
“Get out.” That was my greeting. It was the only order I had in mind, too. In one fell swoop, I conveyed all that needed to be said.
“Fuck off,” he replied cockily. “What’s a man gotta do to get a fucking drink around here?” He tapped his fist to the top of the bar he was leaning against.
When the bartender glanced at me, I shook my head. The smart man backed up.
“Get out of my gambling rooms. Get out of my life, you ugly piece of shit.”
Reaper stood straighter, cocking his head side to the side and cracking the kinks. “How about… no?”
I grabbed the front of his pathetic shirt. “Reconsider your answer.” Lifting him slightly, I made sure to tower over him and let him notice that I had significant weight and bulk on him—all in muscles.
“I’m not reconsidering shit. I got a right to be here.”
“No, you don’t.” Romeo straightened his cuffs. “We decide who is allowed up here.”
“Oh, just like you think you fancy Mafia sons of bitches can decide that you can take my girl.”
“She’s not your girl,” I growled through clenched teeth.
“I won her?—”
I tightened my fingers, fisting more of his too-loose shirt that didn’t fit him. Bunching up more of the fabric had me damn near strangling him with a binding over his neck.
“Give her up, Constella.” He snarled at me, spittle flying. “I won her fair and square.”
Without releasing him, I waited for a moment to reply. I wanted him to think that I was searching for something to say, something to argue, but I already knew my ace card in this deal.
Slanting closer, to keep this between us alone, I almost gave in to a smile. “Are you sure you want a woman pregnant with my kid?”
He bared his teeth, wrenching out of my grip. I let him go and shook off my fingers, as though to rid the taint of touching him.
“The fuck?” he demanded. “You knocked her up?”
Now I let my grin show. He would do well to take notice of how triumphant I felt about that topic. “If she’s not knocked up yet, she will be before I’m done with her.”
Nina meant far more to me than being the potential mother of my child. I already had Romeo. I had someone to share my legacy with, someone to pass it on to. If Nina were to have my baby, I would be happy. Over the moon. Excited.
It wasn’t a prerequisite to keeping her with me. Sure, the presence of a baby would strengthen her connection to me. It would make it that much harder for anyone to try to take her from me.
I wanted her for her. Because she was the sweet, easygoing, and generous woman that she was.
At the rate we were going, she’d be so full of my cum from getting it daily that she was simply bound to be pregnant sooner or later. And since she was well aware that we weren’t using protection, she was fine with taking that risk.
I snapped my fingers, not taking my focus off Reaper as he fumed. Constella soldiers surrounded him and his friend, and with minimal struggle, they had them restrained to toss out.
“Don’t come back. This had better be the last I’ll ever see of you,” I warned.
He spat at me. The disgusting glob landed on the carpet, just missing my shoes. “I wouldn’t count on it.”
That sounded like a threat, but I didn’t scare easily. This MC was past due to leave the area, and I was glad to be able to contribute to exiling them, at least from my businesses.
Good riddance, motherfucker.
I wanted the Devil’s Brothers to be a thing of the past so I could be free to concentrate on my future with Nina.