Chapter Six
ENZO
For fuck's sake.
I don't need more punches to my solar plexus in the form of big green eyes that spit fire at me, fire that's a mix of hurt and anger.
I give her arm a tug, and she refuses to move.
Things are going to move a lot fucking faster if she comes with me on her own.
We're kind of in the middle of nowhere, and thank fuck we could track that burner call to the area. That, and enough CCTV footage, speed cameras, and the fact she's a pretty fucking girl hitchhiking gave her up to this general vicinity.
But the middle of nowhere is a boon only for so long.
The door is wide open.
I got annoyed and kicked it open when I couldn't pick the fucking lock fast enough. I can pick locks, it's just that it was taking too long, and my hands kept shaking because I didn't...
Fuck.
What if something horrible had happened to her?
And now it looks like a crime scene.
I don't need the cops called. I don't need the added complication.
"Come on, Lola. Be mad at me in the car."
She shakes her head and stands her ground. "I'm not going with you, Enzo. The rest of the world might be scared of your family name, and the other half scared of you and your dad, but I'm not."
Her words almost make me smile, but somehow I control it.
"Can you be the female version of macho in the fucking car?"
Lola shakes her head and doesn't move, even as I tug on her arm. "No, and let me go. I'm going a long way away from you, from this, from everything. So, get your hand off me or I'll—"
"What?" I pull her right up close.
She smells like cheap shampoo and deliciously of her. And her lips are soft, sweet, kissable. Something which I'm not going to do. Not yet.
"What will you do, Lola? Fight me?"
"If I have to."
Her words unleash visions of us rolling naked in the kind of fight I think we'd both like.
But I drag my mind up from that gutter.
I need to get her in the car. I need her to come with me in a calm manner if possible, and I can feel the corner I'm backed into pressing in on me.
I look at her. "You caused all this."
She swallows, and the guilt that crosses her face hurts. "I didn't mean to."
"But you did."
Shit. While I'm still mad that she took Lyndall, I'm also aware Cade has a point.
No one can stop my sister if she puts her mind to something.
I'm clutching at straws, wanting to fling the blame from me not being able to protect either girl enough to stop this from happening.
Because that just means I'm a failure. And worse, I've let people I care about down in the worst way possible.
She rips her arm free. "Go away."
I let out a shaky breath. "Look, I know you've got every right to be pissed at me."
"For your lies, interfering, and spying? Or maybe for stalking? Wait, maybe for taking advantage of me?"
I grit my teeth, trying and failing to ignore her words. "But leaving you here to sulk isn't an option."
"Yes. It is."
"This Dom, the dude with the gun? He's still out there."
"So? I'll take my chances. At least with him, I know what to expect."
That hits me where it hurts the most, and I've had enough.
I grab her arm again, pulling her in. "Get your fucking things and get moving. You're coming with me. We can talk about this all later. The longer we're here arguing, the higher the chances get that Dom will find us."
It's a lie. I hope.
Another fucking lie.
But I also don't want to take chances.
She's safer with me. And he's out there. Free.
If he can't take revenge against my father, his sights will be set on Lola even more. And this time, he just might decide to harm her.
"No." She darts her gaze around.
She tries to move away. I'm not sure if it's to the bed or to the door so she can run. But something in me snaps.
"For fuck's sake."
If she won't come with me willingly, then I'll fucking take her by force.
I look around and spy her backpack. I drag her to it, open it, and shove her shoes inside.
Then I let her go, but only long enough to grab her and toss her over my shoulder, pick up her bag, and then I march her out the fucking door.
She's still for a second, and then she hits tantrum mode on high. She wiggles and pummels my back. "Put me the fuck down. Right now, Enzo. You—"
I spank her ass three times, hard enough to shut her up.
It was a long-ass drive here, and I'm not in the mood. "Scream, and you'll fucking regret it. I'll spank you a hell of a lot harder for a hell of a lot longer, and you'll be riding in the trunk."
And then I open the back passenger seat, toss her in, and slam it shut.
I throw the backpack onto the seat next to me, slide behind the wheel, and I take off.
Not pedal to the metal. Not even with a screech of fucking tires. I go at a sedate rate until I'm on the highway.
She glares at me in the rearview mirror. "Did you seriously just spank me?"
I didn't have to, but I liked it. I liked it a whole fucking lot. "Stop pretending like you didn't enjoy it."
"You're crazy. Batshit crazy. Let me out." She turns and tries to open the door.
"The child lock's on, and we're on the road. You're going nowhere."
"I'd rather fall out of the car and rip half my skin off than be here with you." She tries the handle even harder.
"Fuck, you're a brat, Lola." But against my will, my lips twitch.
She might be a brat, but there's something highly entertaining about this side of her I've never seen.
And I think I'd like to see all sides of her.
"So?"
"So, ripping your skin off might be the least of your worries. I'd say meeting the Grim Reaper might be a possibility."
She sniffs. "Preferable to you."
"I knew you liked tall, dark, and deadly." I try not to think of how Alex is the antithesis of me, and how maybe, just maybe, she got it right when she accused me of lying.
"Only if you carry a scythe."
"Be quiet, Lola."
Thing is, I know I'm jealous of myself. The persona I accidentally created. Because he's different from me. Not in sexual predilections, but...
Shit. Did she free me from the way people perceive me? Because Alex wasn't ever meant to be more than a way to check in on her, to see if she's okay, to guide her to a job she could hold without people knowing whose daughter she was.
That old protective obsession I had.
Somewhere, though, it morphed into something else. Morphed into something more mature, addictive, sexual. A different kind of emotional.
Not love.
Right?
But almost like she belongs with me.
I'm not done with her in that way.
Maybe I'll be over her tomorrow, or maybe in a year. I don't know.
It's both new and old, and I'm aware realistically the change in the relationship is months old for the Alex part, yet weeks for Enzo.
And if I keep going down this path, I might explode in a wild mess of thoughts.
Fuck.
I glance at her. And in the back, she's pouting like an angry child.
Except it's not a pout, it's hurt, and she's nothing at all like the child I once knew.
Finally, I glance at her again, and with a sigh, I shake my head. "Sorry for going all caveman on you back there at the motel. I just..." What? "I didn't know what else to do."
"Well, you could've not done that. You know, taken me by force? That's a start." She tugs at the hem of the T-shirt that's showing too much thigh.
I could pass her the bag, but who knows what weapons she's got in there.
So far, Lola hasn't used any, but there's always a first time, and I have no intention of being her victim.
"You weren't cooperating. Or being reasonable."
"So? What does that tell you, Enzo?"
It tells me a lot of things, actually. Like, I don't like her saying my name in that clipped, cold tone. But I'm not here to win points. That didn't work. In fact, trying to win points got her thinking I'm a stalker when all I wanted was to keep her safe.
I lock onto that word. Safe.
"I need you to be reasonable, or at least cooperate. My one goal is to keep you safe, and I'll do that with your help or without it."
She doesn't answer, so I keep going.
"And think of me what you fucking will, Lola.
I do have your best interests at heart. I know.
.." I sigh. "I know there was a falling out, and you lost me from your life.
But for whatever that's worth, I was never really gone.
And even if it's not worth anything to you, it is to me. I...I just want..."
I stop.
What is it that I want?
Beyond keeping her safe?
There are big things, scary things that press down on me, that squeeze my heart and hammer in my veins, but I don't give them air. Or even thought.
Instead, I settle on something else.
Something that is a safe truth.
"I want to help you and make up for it all. Whatever your dad did or didn't do, it's not on you, and I hate you're getting punished for it by being cut off, blackballed, however you want to put it. And I hate that this Dom is searching for you. I hate even more that he found you." And my sister.
She shudders. "I don't...I don't know what to do, Enzo. Or the right thing. But you stalking me isn't it."
"If anyone's a stalker, it's him."
"That smacks of the pot calling the kettle black, as the saying goes." But she's quiet when she says this, and her words lack bite and vitriol.
"Yeah, well, I did it for you." I suck in a breath. "And Lola, I can't let you go right now. You get that, right?"
"No, I don't. I mean, I get that, but I want space. I need space."
Fuck.
I bite down on a comeback.
There's no way she's going to have space like she's thinking. Space where I drop her off at her place and wait in the wings for her to call.
It's too dangerous.
Now fucking Dom has reared his head, and if I let him get away, he'll be back, so I need to show him Lola's mine. That she belongs to me.
"I feel violated, betrayed. I'm not sure... I miss Alex..."
Inexplicably, it's a tiny dagger to the heart. I'm Alex, so I don't get it. Either her words or my reaction.
"Lola..." I want to put it into words.
But that's all I get out.
She keeps talking. "It's like you've killed him, Enzo. And right now I don't know how to forgive you for that."
I sigh. "Alex is me, Lola."
"No..."
"Yes. I wasn't acting, it was me." I hate myself a little, even though I don't know how else I'd have done it.
If I'd admitted to her at any time during that whole thing, she'd have shut down.
I couldn't have that. "I know I crossed the line, but to be honest, I liked you, liked exploring things with you.
And I discovered some of our kinks with you. "
"I don't—"
"What? Have kinks? You do. You loved what I did, you loved the bets, you loved letting me give you commands. Every single thing as Alex or Enzo, you fucking loved."
She swallows but doesn't answer.
"No matter what you might think right now, you've always been in my heart." I say the words, and I mean them.
The exact how isn't important, is it? She's there.
And she belongs to me.
"Enzo..."
"Please, think about that. Because I'll give you space. Your own floor if you want, at my place."
"No—"
"I'm protecting you because I care."
As she turns to stare out the window, I hope like hell that some of what I just said sinks in...