53. Tasha
53
I wake up alone. From the bathroom comes the splatter of water. Matteo is in the shower.
Alone. Without me…
Sneaky. I slip out of the bed and head that way, but the water turns off. I peek into the bathroom only to see him tug a towel off the rail. Water droplets glisten on his chest, making the dragons’ scales sparkle and bringing his tattoo to life. I could stare at him the whole day.
As if he senses me, he looks up. “You’re supposed to sleep in,” he says as he wraps the towel around his neck.
My gaze drops. I can’t help it. He has zero body confidence issues. Doesn’t need to have.
“Like what you see, kitten?” he asks as he saunters over.
I bite my lip. “Hmm, yes?”
He wraps his arms around my waist, and I shriek. “Eeek! You’re freezing!”
Matteo laughs and lifts me up, cold fingers splayed on my naked butt. I get squeezed against his cold pecs and abs, forced to wrap my legs around his hips. My hardened nipples, still tender from last night, relish his cold skin like a balm. I wrap my arms around him, useless in resisting him. I love that he’s so easy. So playful like this and so different from the man that’s hardcore Mafia. I bury my face into his neck. “You take cold showers. Crazy, crazy man.”
“Only when you’re not with me, kitten.”
“Thank God.”
He makes me stand on the bed and my feet sink into the mattress. Like this I’m a head taller than him and my breasts are basically in his face. He cups one and sucks a nipple and I drop my head back with a moan as I dig my head into his hair.
“Fuck it, kitten. You smell of sex… of us.”
“Can I warm you up?” I ask.
“So tempting…” he murmurs as he trails his lips over my chest to that little spot below my ear. “But I need to meet with Dominic.”
“Surely you can be five minutes late.”
He cocks a brow at me. “You’re suggesting I fuck you in five minutes?”
I shrug. Matteo is one hell of a confidence boost for me, in everything. “I’d like to send my husband off to work in a good mood.”
“I was already in a good mood,” he smirks, “but I like your thinking.”
He doesn’t need to be invited twice. Next thing I’m on my hands and knees and his cock drives into me. He rocks hard into me where I’m already sore and sated. And yet… when he leans over my back and slips his fingers between my legs to stroke my clit, I’m there with him.
“You’re too fucking hot for your own good, kitten. Totally irresistible,” he says as he fists my hair to pull my head to the side, opening my neck for his lips. Those words are like an adrenaline-level boost to my wet and needy sex. Hearing him want me like this is the strongest aphrodisiac. When he sucks and licks open-mouth kisses down my neck, I explode in orgasm, triggering him to come with me.
How easy it is to learn the signs of his body; how easy it is for mine to succumb to his. He groans as he rips into me, stroking my hair tenderly. For a moment we hold still, probably a bit shocked at the intensity of our mutual need. Then he slips from my body, and I drop forward, trying to avoid the dripping cum that tags along with his cock. Nothing matters anymore after last night. If bedsheets could be read like tea leaves… well, these would correctly predict a sex-laden future.
Matteo gives me a soft slap on the butt, and I roll onto my back to watch him. He dries his hair and wipes a bit here and there, then drops the towel to the bed for me to use. I’m still catching my breath.
“I’ll be out most of the day, but Rosalia will be here.”
“Is there any news of Burley?” I ask.
“I haven’t checked. She’ll know.”
It’s already ten in the morning. I did sleep in. To be honest, I’d much rather be in a state of sex-induced fog than think of anything, but I suppose Matteo has work to do. I had an internship for which I never arrived. If only I had access?—
“I’ll bring your things later.”
“And my clothes, from home?” I have some favorites that will make moving into this apartment feel a bit more like home.
“Sure, you can fetch it later this week.”
“Can I see my friends?” I’d love to see Vee for one, but everything seems to be on hold until Matteo gives me the green light.
He doesn’t answer for a long time, and my spirits sink. This is one silence where it isn’t a yes.
“There’s a lot to sort out on my side, Tash.” He has his boxers and pants on, and now slips into a white button-down. “Let me deal with a few things first before I give you the all-clear, okay?”
“Okay.”
When he’s dressed and leans over to kiss me, I kiss him back. No regrets. There’s time enough to figure everything out and I suspect the only way I’m going to stomach it all is in bite-sized pieces.
“I’ll see you later, kitten.”
I love you, I want to say, but bite my tongue. Instead, I only watch as he leaves and listen to the sounds that come from the apartment. Voices. Matteo’s and Rosalia’s. When it’s quiet I get up and reach for a T-shirt and my panties from yesterday. Rosalia will know if there are still some of the clothes Matteo bought on a whim in the apartment.
When I walk out of the bedroom, I look down to the open plan area. Rosalia is there, busy gathering the balloons. I don’t have the stomach to ask her if Matteo had any hand in this, because I don't want to be disappointed.
She glances up at me. “Hi,” she says with a smile. “Welcome back. And congratulations.”
I chuckle as I take the stairs. “Do you think I can talk to you now?” We’re alone without a bodyguard in sight.
Rosalia only grins, her doe eyes softening. “Suppose so.”
“Where’s Burley? And how is he doing?”
“He’s next door. The doc took the bullet out last night so he’s a bit grouchy.”
“Thank heavens for that. I’ve been worried.”
“Thanks for looking after him.” Rosalia heads to the dining table, where she ties the balloons around a table leg. “Do you want some coffee and breakfast? I can make you something?”
“Only if you join me.”
Rosalia laughs. “Don’t push your luck, Mrs. Scalera,” she says, but heads to the kitchen and waves at me to sit down at the island.
Rosalia has just drawn the line in the sand, but she’s the only person I have access to, and she’ll know things. “I have so many questions,” I start, not even knowing where to begin.
“I bet.” She places a pod in the coffee machine. “I’ll answer what I can and may answer.”
“Okay.” I smile at her, suddenly nervous as all hell. “Firstly, how do you fit in?”
“Easy. My mom used to work for Don Scalera, Matteo’s dad, as head housekeeper. She’s retired now but I met Burley at the Don’s house, you know... working.”
“Ah. Okay. And you’ve been married for…?”
“Almost a year.”
“And how many bullets has Burley taken for Matteo?” This comes across as a light question, but I need to know what level of danger my husband really functions in.
“Oh, it’s a standing joke between them. He’s good at dodging bullets. Mostly.” Her voice cracks just the tiniest bit at the end and she looks away. The coffee machine is done, and she busies herself with getting sugar and cream and everything I don’t take with my coffee. Rosalia has lived through a close call, like we all have, but she didn’t answer my question. “As for Matteo,” she continues, redirecting probably to avoid bursting out in tears, “the last time he took a bullet was when his brother Alex died, and that was before Burley started working for him.”
“Twelve years ago.” That number bugs me so much and I can’t shrug it off. “Was Matteo in any other shootouts since then?” Bar the one I was in, from which I still wake up at night in a cold sweat, until Matteo’s arms fold around me, his reassuring whispers calming me.
“I don’t know all these things.” Rosalia meets my gaze, holding hers steady. “Il Consiglio functions on a need-to-know basis. And to be honest, the less you know, the better. Trust me.”
I sense her clamming up. I’m not going to get much more out of her. Rosalia is guarding her secrets as she doesn’t trust me yet. Fair enough, trust is earned, but I’d like to take some shortcuts sometimes.
There’s no other way. I’m going to have to be frank. “What does it mean, in Il Consiglio’s frame of reference, when someone’s death has been atoned for?”
She blinks at me. “You know the quote an eye for an eye?”
“Yes, the one from the Bible.”
“Il Consiglio doesn’t do that. Rules for crime rings are different from the rules they have for civilians on the sidelines of their operations.” Rosalia shrugs as if all of this is par for the course. “The rule is simple and effective. Plus, it makes people think twice before coming for them or snitching. If you’ve killed one of theirs, they’ll kill two of yours. And you wouldn’t have seen it coming.”
You wouldn’t have seen it coming…
My stomach turns as I grip my cup. Two for one.
No. It can’t be. I can’t believe that. I won’t. Because then it means?—
My vision swims and heat prickles over my skin.
Alex has been atoned for. Stephano had said so himself.
Two for one.
Mom and Kevin.
The bodyguards I got saddled with after their car wreck. Dad losing his mind over security because of the tiniest things, turning my life ever more introspective, closeted within the walls and safety of our house. Me, being watched, guarded, all the time.
It wasn’t an accident at all, was it? I stand so violently from the chair that it falls over. I rush up the stairs to our room, where I reach the toilet just in time to throw up.
Cold sweat swamps my brow when I eventually stand up and wipe at my mouth.
Mom’s and Kevin’s deaths were pure revenge.
And Matteo… What if he had a hand in it?
Then I’ve married a monster.