Chapter 16 – Vanessa
Chapter Sixteen
Vanessa
Magnum climbs down and licks my pussy clean. I’m so overstimulated that it’s almost too much, but it’s also highly enjoyable. He grabs his boxer briefs and pulls them on before stretching out next to me on the edge of the bed.
I scoot closer, plastering my face to his chest.
My head spins.
Moretti and I are going to have it out come morning. I can feel it, and my anxiety is high.
“Do we have a plan?” I ask, running my fingers over the tattoos on Magnum’s chest.
“Charlotte and Patrick helped me get in. I posed as part of Patrick’s security team. They said they’d come back tomorrow to help me get back out—”
“You’re going to leave?” I ask, pushing up enough that I can study his face.
“Yeah. I mean, I can’t stay here. I hoped you would come with me,” he says, pulling me back down to his chest. “I should have spent tonight scouting the house to find out its security weaknesses.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to let Moretti hurt you.”
He chuckles. “I’m not sure you could stop him if he tried, but I knew what I was getting myself into when I came onto the property.”
“He says I need full-time security, and right now, only Hawk has been tasked with the job. If I can get Moretti to agree, would you stay with me?”
Magnum’s hand tightens on my ass, and he sighs. “I really wasn’t planning on being trapped in one place.”
My eyes clench shut, and I nod against his skin.
That’s fair, even if it really sucks for me. I can’t expect him to completely change his plans when it might not even be safe for him here.
“I’m guessing there’s a reason you don’t want to leave Boston?” he asks.
“If I leave, I’m sure my family will start shit with Moretti.
They might even accuse him of harming me.
” I shrug. “It wouldn’t affect me much. Not unless they came after us, but I wouldn’t want to start a war.
Once they fully come to terms with the fact they can’t sell me to Grigoryan, I think I could leave and it would be safe. ”
“So you would be open to leaving one day?”
Shit.
It’s a valid question, and I think I did just imply that I would be willing to go, eventually.
I’m not sure what to say.
Despite his faults, Moretti is growing on me.
“Possibly,” I whisper, grimacing. “I don’t know. Things are confusing, and I haven’t been here long enough to know what life would really be like as Moretti’s wife, but I should have told you that before we messed around.”
“Uh, yeah, princess. You should have.” His tone isn’t cruel, but his annoyance is clear. “I don’t know. Being trapped in a house with your husband could get complicated. Do I get to snuggle up to your tight little ass every night?”
My insides light up, and I nod before I can stop myself. “Yes, absolutely.”
Damn.
Did I give away how desperate I am for physical affection?
Probably.
I still can’t bring myself to care.
Men don’t like it when women get too clingy, especially after sex. I’m sure I’m supposed to play it cool and pretend like I’m unaffected, but I’m not.
“Does what we did qualify as sex?” I blurt out, and my face heats.
God.
Why?
Why would I ask such a thing?
“Mmm, it was definitely sexual contact.” He snickers.
“There was some penetration going on at the end, but I’d hate to call that sex.
” He brings his hand to my jaw, gently tilting my face up to his.
“Not because I don’t want to have sex with you.
I really fucking do. I just don’t want you to think that little tease was all there is to good sex. ”
My teeth dig into my lower lip as I nod.
I get what he means, at least I think I do.
“You’re killing me with this.” He keeps his voice low as he brushes his thumb over my lip, prying it from my teeth. “We should probably talk about birth control because I definitely came inside you.”
“I have a hormonal implant,” I whisper. “It has like two years left. I wasn’t hooking up with anyone. More…I guess I just don’t trust men in general.”
“That’s seriously fucking grim,” he says, sounding disgusted. “But I get it. Might as well get all the awkward conversations out of the way at once. I don’t have my records with me, but everything was negative the last time I got tested, and I haven’t been with anyone since.”
“Thanks.” I pull free of his hold on my jaw and snuggle back to his chest.
That’s another thing I should have thought about before the sexual contact. Maybe my father was right all the times he called me a naive fool.
In most ways, I wouldn’t say I grew up sheltered. I’ve seen my father’s enforcers execute someone on more than one occasion. I’ve listened in on the highly illegal shit he was teaching my brothers, but when it comes to romantic relationships, I am woefully unprepared.
“You smell stressed.” Magnum’s chest starts to vibrate under my cheek as he purrs. It’s even more soothing than his honey and lemon scent. “Relax. I’m not going anywhere. We’ll figure it out together as it comes. There’s no use in worrying about things now.”
“Right,” I say weakly, nodding. He’s comforting and steady under me, but nothing in life works out smoothly for me.
“If you kill me like this, it’ll leave her with serious emotional damage,” Magnum says, his voice low and raspy from sleep. “Chill. We can talk this out.”
“Who the fuck are you?” Hawk snarls.
My eyes pop open as panic rips through my chest.
I meant to wake up early, sneak out, and have a heart-to-heart with Moretti before Hawk or Magnum woke up.
At some point while I slept, I cuddled right on top of Magnum.
Okay, this probably doesn’t look great.
I peek at Hawk, and my eyes widen. He’s aiming directly at Magnum’s skull, and his jaw is so tight I wouldn’t be surprised if he cracked a tooth.
“Oh my god,” I hiss, still sleepy and out of it. “I’m not in danger. Everyone just needs to calm down and let me wake up enough to explain.”
I scoot up until my face blocks Magnum’s. I used Moretti as a human shield that night in the warehouse, and now I’m doing the same for Mag.
I’m his best chance at not getting shot. There has to be at least a ninety-eight percent chance that Hawk won’t risk shooting me just to get to Magnum.
Magnum’s hand tightens on my lower back, and I realize I’m nude. I never bothered trying to find my pajama dress before I fell asleep, and that was a mistake.
“Climb off the bed, Vanessa,” Hawk growls.
I shake my head. “I can’t do that.”
“Now!” Hawk barks the order, and my body almost complies.
“The door was locked. That was a clear indication that you weren’t meant to come in,” I hiss, jabbing a finger at him.
“Is no one, ever in my entire life, going to respect my privacy?” My fury builds, and I edge higher up Magnum’s body.
Pushing my top half up might be a bad idea because it leaves my bare tits hovering in front of Magnum’s mouth, but I can’t glare effectively while lying smooshed to his chest. “I need you to calm down and put the gun away.”
“I respect your privacy, darling.” Moretti’s condescending-ass voice comes from behind me.
“Oh, bullshit,” I snap, waving a finger back toward where he must be.
“I do,” he says, his tone light and filled with too much humor. “You can put that away, Hawk. I believe my wife is about to introduce us to her boyfriend.”
“Unbelievable,” I mutter, shaking my head.
Magnum stretches up, looking at Moretti over my shoulder. “We’ve already met.”
The move leaves us chest to chest, but he has a much longer torso, so I still have to look up at him.
“We have,” Moretti agrees, his voice clipped.
A lazy smile crosses Mag’s face, and his fingers dig into my lower back. “I just so happen to be much better acquainted with your wife.”
I suck in a sharp intake of air, stretching as much as I can to cover Magnum in case Moretti changes his mind about shooting him. He told Hawk to put his gun away, but Magnum shouldn’t purposely taunt either of them.
“How did you get into the house?” Hawk growls.
“We have the future Mrs. O’Connor to thank for that,” Moretti chimes in as I’m trying to think up a distraction. “I believe Charlotte and Magnum had some type of past relationship that left her feeling nostalgic and willing to go out of her way to help.”
My eyes fly to Magnum’s.
The way he talked about their history in the hotel the day I was kidnapped left me thinking they were just friends, but then all that shit went down afterward.
“Have you had sex with Charlotte?” I blurt out, bringing my arms between us as I cross them over my chest.
“God no,” Magnum says, snorting.
His blond hair falls over his forehead as he laughs, and it makes my stomach flutter.
We barely know each other, but he’s been open with me since that first day in the hotel. It might be stupid to believe him. He just doesn’t give off sneaky vibes.
“Okay, good.” I’m not sure how I would have felt about that if he had.
Okay, I do know.
I would have hated it.
I smile at Magnum before climbing off the mattress and pointing at Moretti, so he knows this part is directed at him. It’s complicated because I purposely keep my arms covering my tits. “You’re going to have to try harder if you’d like to start shit.”
“Me?” He chuckles a low, throaty sound that I like a little too much. “I would never.” His eyes rake down my body slowly. “I simply wanted to make you aware of their relationship.” He tilts his head in an almost predatory way. “Are you trying to distract me with your curves? If so, it’s working.”
“Here,” Hawk says, patting my shoulder. “Take my shirt.”
I toss my arms up.
He pulls the material down over my body, and it’s nice to no longer have my vagina on full display.
“Thanks, Hawk,” I say, wishing things had gone differently this morning.
I have no idea how he feels about me, but it felt like we bonded yesterday. I wish I’d had the chance to ease him into the idea of Magnum. I’ll have to talk to him later one-on-one. He’s more private than Moretti or Magnum, and I think that’s the only way I’ll get a chance to apologize to him.
Squaring my shoulders, I focus on Moretti.
“All of us need to sit down and talk without threats of violence. You said I need more security.” I sway forward, batting my lashes. “I hired Magnum. He’s going to help Hawk keep an eye on me.”
Moretti darts forward, grabbing my hips. “That position has non-negotiable job requirements.” He looks over my shoulder, likely at Magnum. “At the top of the list is being able to focus on Vanessa’s safety rather than the next opportunity you’ll have to fuck my wife.”
Magnum chuckles darkly.
“Hey!” I slap Moretti’s chest. “Don’t be a dick. He’s more than capable of looking after me.”
Moretti wraps his hand around my ass. He palms my lower cheek, squeezing and pulling me into his chest. “You might have missed it because your back was toward the action, but I saw him kill his president in cold blood. I’m unimpressed with his idea of loyalty.”
“Fuck you,” Magnum growls.
I peek over my shoulder as he tosses back the comforter, springing from the bed.
“He was going to get me and my brothers killed,” Magnum says, and it takes me a second to realize he means the other members of the MC. “You have no idea what he had planned for Vanessa before I stepped in. I did what I had to do to be able to sleep at night.”
A shiver runs down my spine, and my eyes ache.
Jesus.
I don’t even want to imagine how much differently things would have gone for me if Magnum wasn’t there.
“Not to sound repetitive, but I’ll repeat what I said that night in my warehouse. It was the least you could do under the circumstances,” Moretti retorts.
“So, which is it? Did I make the right call, or am I disloyal?” Mag growls back.
“Okay, enough,” Hawk says, and I twist even farther in Moretti’s hold until I can see him. “Going at each other isn’t going to do anything except stress Vanessa out more than she already is.”
I nod.
That was a very reasonable response.
This is such a mess.
“You obviously knew this guy was here, and you didn’t warn me,” Hawk says, pointing at Moretti. “That’s fucked up, and you know it.” He sighs, shaking his head. “I’m going to take a shower and eat breakfast.” He strides out, and my stomach tightens.
Dammit.
I get why he’s upset.
Hawk is serious and focused on doing his job. Having him find Mag in my bedroom must have left him feeling like he failed at protecting me.
“Patrick mentioned Magnum was in town and very interested in locating my wife,” Moretti calls after him.
The door closes loudly behind Hawk, and I jump.
“Can’t say I’m surprised that motherfucker ratted me out,” Magnum mutters.
“I heard you made it into the Chapmans’ mansion twice,” Moretti says. “I’d like to hear more about that. But no, Patrick didn’t warn me that he helped you sneak onto my property. The cameras alerted me to that fact the second you stepped onto the third floor.”
“That would have been while I was out,” I whisper, turning back to face Moretti. “And you just let him chill here?”
He shrugs. “Charlotte indicated that it might be a sign of goodwill if I were to not act rashly should it come to light that the two of you had some type of pre-existing relationship.”
“You lied to me,” I say, squinting up at him. “You said you had no idea why they came by.”
“I vaguely remember you saying something similar. That must mean our lies cancel each other out.” Moretti pats my hip and ass, stepping back. “Shower and change. I’ll see the two of you at breakfast.”
My jaw falls.
I can’t decide if this was a clusterfuck or if it went more smoothly than I expected.
I think it’s somehow both.