Chapter Twenty-Five
Bianca
I threw up as nerves rattled me. It was almost time for me to take the stage, but I was heaving my breakfast up in the bathroom stall.
I had so much riding on this audition. Everything I’d worked so hard for over the years was right within my grasp, but instead of feeling joy and excitement, I felt anxious in all the wrong ways to the point I was making myself sick.
“You have this, Bea,” I muttered to myself as I flushed the toilet, then went to the sink to wash my mouth out and applied a cool, damp paper towel to my head and face.
I didn’t care about my makeup. I just wanted the nerves in my stomach to settle so I could dance.
I’d never been this nervous before, but a lot had changed since my last recital.
In a few short weeks, I went from being so focused on dance and keeping distance from people that I was lonely to married, in love, and happier than I’d ever been.
Since that fateful day, when I’d been taken to my brother’s secret club, I had Lorenzo in my life in the way he was always meant to be.
He was my husband, my lover, and everything I could ever want.
He was a protector and possessive in ways that both turned me on and drove me mad.
I loved how he made me feel safe at the same time he took me beyond my imagined limits.
He’d been plugging my ass every night for a few days, fucking my pussy while he stretched my ass in growing increments. I couldn’t get enough of it or him.
My face flushed and flamed as heat stole through my body with the memory of the night before in my husband’s bed, our bed.
He’d gone up another size and slid the thick plug into me while I knelt on all fours in our bed.
He spanked my ass lightly as he pushed and pulled the plug inside my tight puckered hole.
Once the plug was settled deep inside me, he slapped my ass hard one last time. I groaned from the mix of erotic pain and pleasure that was coursing through my body. My senses were on overload from the rapid sensations that he caused when he touched me and fucked me in the best of ways.
“Scoot up on the bed. Hold onto the headboard and spread your legs for me, Princess,” he commanded gruffly.
I did as he said, moving up the bed, each movement had the plug in my butt shifting slightly. My core clenched in need as I got into position. When I was where he wanted me, I felt the bed dip behind me, then I felt the tickle of his hair between my legs.
Lorenzo positioned himself under me, his mouth right below my pussy.
He didn’t waste any time, grasping my hips and pulling my body down onto his face.
He went to work, his tongue laving and licking at my wet slit.
His teeth nipped and nibbled gently at my lower lips, and his mouth sucked on my clit.
I couldn’t help but grind my pussy onto his face as I begged for more, riding him to within an inch of my sanity.
While his mouth worked me to a frenzy, his hand moved back toward the plug, and he started shallowly withdrawing it and thrusting it back into my ass.
I was sobbing with the need to come by the time he finally let me tip over the edge of release, but even then, he wasn’t done with me.
My body was vibrating from the aftermath of the orgasm he pulled from me when he had me turn around and straddle his cock in a reverse cowgirl position.
He wanted to play with the plug in my ass while I rode his cock.
My body felt limp like a noodle, but I craved his cock like a junkie craves their next hit. The only addiction I’d ever had in my life until now had been dance, but Lorenzo was at the top of my addiction list. I couldn’t get enough of what he did to me.
Weakly, I straddled his hips and lowered myself onto his thick length.
I was slow-moving as I started to bounce myself on his cock, letting the mattress do a lot of the bouncing for me.
The pinch and pain of the plug filling my ass as he filled my pussy was countered by the euphoria I felt with him inside me.
I was packed full of him, and I loved it.
I started to pick up speed as I slid up and down his length, slamming myself hard onto him, then grinding my pussy onto his cock when he hit that place deep inside me.
It was the best feeling in the world. I could feel his cock twitch inside me as I worked us both up toward another orgasm.
My breaths were coming out in rasping pants.
I felt Lorenzo sit up behind me, his arm wrapped around my front, his chest to my back, and he snaked his free hand up to my neck, where he gently squeezed.
My body pulsed around his flesh as I came again.
My heart pounded in my ears, the blood surging through my veins.
I lost complete control, not that I had any to begin with where he was concerned.
I wanted to escape this world and the Morelli name more than anything just a few short weeks ago, but my priorities had shifted and turned on their axis. I had a new priority; something that mattered to me more than dancing: Lorenzo.
“You ready?” one of the women asked when I didn’t immediately signal to queue the music.
Her voice broke me out of the daydreams that plagued me more than anything when I wasn’t with him.
It was like I couldn’t function fully when he wasn’t near; a piece of myself was missing when we weren’t together.
I nodded, took a deep breath, and lifted my hand, giving the signal to start.
When I was on stage, I let the music take over and take me away.
This audition was no different. I moved to the beat in controlled, practiced movements that felt as natural as breathing to me.
Everything seemed to disappear at that moment, everything except for me and the music.
The audition didn’t exist. My family didn’t exist. My father didn’t exist. Nothing and nobody mattered except the next step.
The next step. Lorenzo’s words came back to me as I was dancing away. He told me not to worry about the next step when he took my virginity because he had me no matter what. I’d trusted him like I always did, without hesitation or question. I knew he would always be there for me like he always was.
We hadn’t discussed what would happen if I got the job with the dance company, and that scared me more than I cared to admit. I wanted to accomplish my goals so badly, but at the same time, I didn’t want to leave the man I loved behind.
I took a deep breath before going into a series of leaps and turns.
I had to push everything out of my mind, especially my husband.
It used to be easy to detach so I could dance and focus on the music, but that all changed because of Lorenzo.
He’d broken through my barriers, chipping away at them over the years.
Annoying me. Pushing me. Protecting me from afar.
I’d pushed him away, too. Maybe it was self-preservation, maybe it was knowing deep inside that our souls were connected in a way that defied logic and reason.
Somehow, I got through the end of my audition piece. My chest was rising and falling as I tried to catch my breath. Despite the doubt and turmoil in my head and heart, I was able to deliver a clean performance. Come what may, I would make a decision once I was sure there was something to decide.
“Thank you, Miss Morelli,” one of the judges said my name and wrote down some notes.
“It’s Vitale, actually,” I corrected them. “I got married a few weeks ago, so my last name has changed since I filled out the application.”
“Okay. We need to update your application, but thank you, Mrs. Vitale. And congratulations on your wedding.”
I nodded my thanks and made my way off the stage. No matter what happened between Lorenzo and me, I liked the idea of not carrying the weight of the Morelli name anymore. His name gave me the freedom I didn’t have before.
***
A week went by, and I hadn’t heard anything from the auditions.
I knew they were taking their time to consider the different dancers who tried ut, but I didn’t realize I’d be sitting on pins and needles for over a week.
While waiting, I spent time with my sisters, talking about everything that had happened since right before Valentine’s Day.
Romeo had pulled me into our father’s old office and told me that he would give his blessing if I wanted to stay married to Lorenzo, but he left the choice up to me.
“What about the cartel?” I asked quietly, scared of the promise my father had made to Arias.
“I met with them and told them the deal is off. They have made threats, but it’s not for you to worry about, Bea.
You aren’t marrying into that family, and neither is Gia or Nic.
” He hugged me tight to reassure me. “I will protect you from this world as best as I can, Bea. This was never your fight to begin with.”
I closed my eyes and basked in the warmth of my brother’s embrace.
He was the head of the family now, and I felt safer for it.
We all did. I didn’t know what he had done with our father, and I was afraid to ask, but none of us missed the bastard.
The oppressive heaviness that had hung in the air of this house lifted the day he was removed from it.
“I don’t know about Lorenzo,” I whispered softly, pulling back from my brother’s embrace.
“I love him, but if I get a place in the dance company... I mean, chances are low because I still haven’t heard from them, so it may be a non-issue, but if I get that spot.
..” I sighed. “How do I make this work when he’ll be here, and I’ll be traveling? ”
“Maybe you still get your dream, and your escape.” Romeo shrugged. “But maybe it looks different from what you planned, Bea. Life has a funny way of throwing in twists and turns we don’t expect and never see coming.”
I thought about what he said throughout the week.
When I wasn’t with my siblings, I was with Lorenzo.
He held me each night in his arms. We made love so much that my body ached deliciously.
I found myself smiling uncontrollably from the happiness of being with Lorenzo and being free from my father’s control.
The more time that passed without a phone call from the dance company, the less I found myself caring.
I was happy with Lorenzo. I didn’t want to be separated from him for days or weeks on end.
After careful consideration, I knew there was no going back to my previous path.
If I was offered the spot, which I doubted after a week of waiting, I would turn it down. My life was here with Lorenzo.
I was getting out of the shower and drying my hair when my cell phone rang.
Lorenzo had left the shower about ten minutes before me to get us breakfast. My stomach had rumbled so loudly he was making sure I was fed before he went to work.
I didn’t recognize the number, but I slid my thumb across the screen to accept the call anyway.
“Hello?”
“Hi, I am trying to reach Bianca Vitale.” I didn’t recognize the woman’s voice.
“Speaking.” I pulled my towel tighter around my body.
She chuckled softly. “Good. I’m Hannah Grayson from the Hudson Vanguard Dance Collective.”
“Oh! Great to hear from you.” I forced a smile into my voice. I was either about to be told I wasn’t good enough, or I was about to let people down and turn down a job that I had really wanted before everything happened.
“Yes. Well, I have some news for you.” Her voice was warm and welcoming, but there was a hint of disappointment in it, too.
“I didn’t get it,” I whispered softly into the phone, not needing her to say the words. It was tough to take, even if I had made a decision not to take the spot. I wanted to know if I was good enough for what I had wanted and worked toward for so long.
Ms. Grayson laughed. “Well, you would have if not for your condition, dear.”
“My condition?” I questioned. Confused.
“Oh. You don’t know.” Her own surprise came through the call.
“Well, according to the health screening you submitted to before the audition, you’re pregnant, Mrs. Vitale.
Even if we did offer you the position, it wouldn’t be a long-term one, or even one that would last a few months before we’d have to pull you anyway. ”
My hand went to my stomach protectively. The day of the audition, I had thrown up, not something I had ever done before a performance. Pregnant. My brother’s words came back to me about life and how our plans may not look the same as we thought they would. He definitely wasn’t wrong about that.
“Okay.” I cleared my throat. “Thank you for calling and letting me know.”
“Yes, well, congratulations again on the wedding and on the baby.”
“Thank you,” I muttered and disconnected the call.
I sat there on the foot of the bed, staring into nothingness as I processed what she just told me.
I don’t know how long I was sitting there, but it was long enough for Lorenzo to come back into the bedroom carrying a tray filled with fruits, a couple of pastries, and some coffee and juice.
“You okay?” he asked, setting the tray down on the dresser and then moving to kneel in front of me. “Bea, everything okay?” There was concern in his voice, which brought me out of my stupor.
“Yeah.” I lifted my phone. “I got a call from Hudson Vanguard,” I stated and watched Lorenzo’s face.
He clenched his jaw, and a stoic veil fell over his eyes.
“They would have given it to me, Lorenzo, and I would have turned it down,” I whispered and reached for his face.
I leaned down and bracketed his face with my hands.
“But they didn’t offer, so it turned out I couldn’t accept or decline. ”
“Why?” His voice was gruff and thick with emotion, and his hands found my hips, pulling me closer to him, my knees spreading for him.
“Because I love you, and I can’t dance for long when I’m pregnant,” I whispered against his lips, then pressed my mouth harder against his.