7. Valerio
SEVEN
VALERIO
Valerio begrudgingly dropped Luna off at her apartment. If she was trying to act more stubborn than usual, then she was succeeding. She refused to talk or even look at him, slamming the car door when he wished her a good night.
She drove him over the fucking edge, and yet, he couldn’t get her out of his mind for even a second. It was like he was wired while around her, and then as soon as she was gone, he just crumbled into himself. Not healthy, but that was his life now.
The exhaustion hit him as soon as he walked into the house. He didn’t think his night would include crashing a party and nearly killing some boy his fiancée was trying to kiss, but that was his life now. He should have shoved a bullet through that boy’s head for even touching Luna in the first place. Valerio shook his head. He needed to talk himself out of killing, not pushing himself to do it.
“Finally, you’re home,” Dante called out from the living room just as Valerio was closing the front door.
“Why are you still awake?” he asked with furrowed brows.
“Wasn’t sure what your plan was tonight,” Allister admitted, sitting up on the couch. He rubbed his eyes. “If you were coming back to finish the job.”
“Where is that boy now?” Valerio asked. He slumped down onto the couch beside Dante, letting his body sink into the soft cushion.
“Dropped him off at the hospital,” Dante said. “You’re paying for the detailing on my car by the way.”
“Get over it. The asshole had it coming for touching Luna like that,” Valerio muttered. “I should have just finished the job.”
“You’ve been back on campus for a couple weeks. Give it a little longer until the university is forced to kick you out.” Allister shook his head.
“I’d like to see them try.” Valerio snorted.
“How was your night with the Mrs.?” Dante asked. “Hopefully it wasn’t all screaming and crying.”
Valerio let out a deep breath. “Gave her a gun to shoot me.”
“And she didn’t? Wow, that is progress.” Dante shook his head. “I see a hopeful future for the two of you.”
Valerio grabbed the small couch pillow, throwing it against Dante’s chest with a thud. He loved his brother, but he always talked too much at the worst times.
“Why are you torturing yourself with all of this?” Allister asked. “You could have anyone, anything.”
They were right, of course. He could have anyone. But there was only one person he wanted. Luna had always been his, just like he had always been hers. Valerio didn’t understand how it worked or what fucking laws of the universe made their paths cross, but they were destined for each other, no matter how cruel it seemed now.
“She’s mine,” Valerio told him, shutting him up in a moment. And because of that, he would go through this hell a million times over again if it meant one day she would fall in love with him the way she was before. Valerio leaned back on the couch. “Just talk to me about what is going on for initiation weekend.”
“Glad you asked. While you’ve been out and about, frolicking with your future wife, I decided I could use a good fight,” Dante said. He took out a cigarette, lighting it as if it was muscle memory.
Valerio watched him in confusion. “Since when do you want a fight?”
“Since I feel like causing some chaos,” Dante told him. “I think the Kingsleys can use it.”
“Not to be the voice of reason around here, but I think it might be a good idea if you didn’t choose chaos for once. Your brother is marrying a Kingsley. Maybe you could try to build better bonds with them,” Allister said to Dante.
“But Augustus isn’t a Kingsley,” Dante pointed out.
Valerio thought about it for a second. Every initiation weekend had two events: the Chase for the Vitalis and Fight Night for the Kingsleys. Valerio knew that Luna had attended every single Fight Night for the past three years, going to support her brother. But maybe there was a way he could join the Fight Night himself, make a little wager with his future wife.
“We’re crashing it,” Valerio told them. “Tomorrow night.”
“What the hell do you mean we’re crashing it?” Allister asked. “Are you forgetting that the contract is supposed to bring peace to the two families? How the hell is this peaceful? I swear to God, I feel like I’m losing my mind around you two.”
Valerio smirked. “I never said I wasn’t keeping the peace.”
“So I get to beat the shit out of Augustus?” Dante asked.
“Do what you want. Finn is mine though. I need Luna to bet against me,” Valerio told them. He stood from the couch, letting his body stretch. In the morning, he would have to train, but for tonight, he would pray he could get a couple hours of sleep. “I’m going to sleep. See you both in the morning.”
They waved him away, getting up to go into their own rooms for the night.
He took the stairs up to his room, the silence overbearing. He had become used to it, but there had always been a part of him that wished for that silence to be filled. Valerio ripped his shirt off, throwing it into the closet. His mind immediately went back to Luna, but it wasn’t like he had stopped thinking about her anyway. His mind had her on repeat, thinking of the next moment he would get to see her again.
It didn’t help that she looked absolutely fucking perfect tonight, but she hadn’t dressed up for him. She was dressed for someone else and was willing to give herself to someone fucking random. It wasn’t going to happen. Not when Gianna had let it slip to Allister that they were going to the party in the first place. Of course Valerio had followed them, and of course he had kept an eye out on Luna all night.
And of course as soon as he saw some little boy put his hands on her, Valerio pounced. He would have gotten to the scene sooner had Dante and Allister not held him back, but once he got free of their hold, the damage was done.
If she tried it again, he would do the same thing. He didn’t care how many bodies he left in his wake. Until Luna understood she was his, he would have to do whatever was necessary.
He was a patient man. Maybe that was a semi-redeemable quality of his. His ability to sit and wait, to weigh out his options for the perfect time to strike. It made him an excellent businessman, the perfect hit man, and he thought it also made him a better choice for a husband.
He gave her seven years when most wouldn’t have given her a single second to wrap her brain around it. He saved himself for her. He waited and waited until he couldn’t wait anymore.
Until he got too antsy just looking at photos of her. Until he started daydreaming about her during all hours of the day and night. Until the fear of losing her became suffocating.
She was an obsession, a drug he couldn’t stop taking now that he had gotten a hit. Nothing and no one would compare to her. No way in hell.
Valerio took off the rest of his clothes, turning on the shower. He let it heat up before sinking under the stream of water, finally feeling his muscles relaxing.
He thought about her frown, the anger in her eyes, the sweet “Fuck you” she hissed at him. His hand was already reaching down, wrapping around his hard cock. He leaned against the shower wall, letting his mind wander, but of course it led him back to her. Luna fucking Kingsley. All it took was imagining it was Luna’s hand on him that sent spurts of cum onto the tile shower wall.
He turned the shower handle to the cold side, desperately cooling his body.
It seemed his patience was officially gone.