Chapter 20
Zeno
It may have been the change in the weather—the drop in temperature that signaled the oncoming thunderstorm—that had my skin chilled and goosebumps rising on my flesh. It may have been the squeal of tires and the flash of red as Stephano’s car raced around the corner and thundered my way.
Or perhaps it was my little hurricane about to make landfall after the absolutely horrifying phone call I’d just received.
Stephano squealed to a stop in the middle of the street in front of my house, not even bothering to pull into the open spot at the curb. He rounded the car without looking my way, pulled open the passenger door, and reached in.
His hand came out latched onto Clara’s beautiful hair, her screams piercing the late-night air and her body followed shortly after. Without the care this girl deserved, he threw her onto the sidewalk and walked away, yelling, “Stay out of my fucking club!” as he did.
My chilled skin was no longer anywhere to be seen. Hot rage furled through me so fast, I feared I might burst. I rushed down the steps, chasing after the asshole kid and ready to put him in his place.
But he didn’t give me a chance.
Stephano was behind the wheel and his car was zooming away before I even got to Clara’s side. Kid was lucky I didn’t have my gun, because I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t have used it on him for what he just did.
I knelt beside Clara and carefully rolled her over, my concerns eating me from the inside out.
Her head had a large, red goose egg near her temple, and her cheek and forehead were bleeding from their run in with the sidewalk.
Her hands, elbows, and knees didn’t fare much better.
Black streaks ran in rivers down her face and only her blood-red lipstick came away unscathed.
Raindrops fell like tears as I scooped the girl off the sidewalk and into my arms. I rocked back on my heels, then stood, holding her tight against my chest. “Come on, kid. Let’s get you inside.”
My phone rang incessantly the entire time I took care of Clara.
From the moment I stepped foot on the third floor of my home, through undressing the both of us and guiding her into a warm shower.
I put it on silent before I stepped in behind her, but the buzzing could still be heard as I washed every inch of her body, taking care with each of her wounds.
After drying her off and tucking her into my bed, I finally turned the damn thing off.
This girl needed the quiet. I was sure whatever noise was going on in her head was loud enough.
When I couldn’t get her to talk, I curled myself around her, holding her tight until she fell asleep. I closed my eyes and hoped with everything in me that she’d still be there when I woke up.
There was no sleep for me. Not with my worries for Clara.
Not when someone pounded on my door in the middle of the night like they thought they could get in.
Not when my dick didn’t get the message that this girl had been through something horrible, and it got excited about how close Clara’s naked pussy was to its head.
The most I could do was hold onto her. To give her what little comfort I could bring without knowing what happened at Stephano’s club.
An “incident,” he’d called it. Clara had snuck in and found herself deep in something she shouldn’t have been in. His anger at his little sister had seemed righteous, right up until he threw her on my curb.
Whatever had happened had left Clara in tears and quite possibly in a state of shock. There was no excuse for the way he treated her. And if history were any indication, I didn’t want to field calls from Berto just for him to berate his daughter for something she might not have done.
I needed to talk to her first. I needed her to wake up and speak to me. I needed her to tell me she was going to be okay so I could put my worst fears aside and focus on trying to heal her.
“Zee?” Clara raised her head, then let out a groan before lowering it gently back down onto my chest.
Smoothing one hand over her back, I curled the other around her cheek. “How are you feeling?”
A breath shuddered out of her, and she curled the arm draped over my waist tighter around me. “Not good.”
“What can I do?”
For a long moment, she didn’t respond. Finally, after my patience was about to run thin, she lifted her head and looked up at me. “You’re already doing it.”
A gentle smile curled my lips. “And what is it I’m doing?”
“Taking care of me.” Her fingers drummed against my side, and it made me feel like she was about to get up and go.
Like she had last night. She’d drummed her hands all over the counter as I tried to walk her through my files, then tapped them against her legs right before she bolted out the door.
I put my hand over hers, stilling her, and she looked away.
“Can you tell me what happened last night?”
“I don’t want to.”
I sucked in a breath. “I know, kid, but I need you to tell me.”
“Why?” Her voice snapped, but it broke at the same time. She buried her face in my gut, and my blood began to stir.
Hooking my hands under her arms, I dragged her up until her head was on the pillow and I was staring down at her. “Can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on.”
Her gaze darted away, and her hands fumbled at her chest. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Clara.”
“Zeno.” She hooked her leg over my hip, then took my pulling away from her to her advantage. She climbed on top of me, and my mind was no longer lost in my worries.
Instead, it was stuck on the closeness of her pussy to my dick. I grabbed her hips, locking her in place and ensuring neither of us did the one thing I’d been thinking about all night.
“What are you doing?”
She leaned forward, lowering her mouth to mine, pecking her lips to my lips once, twice. “Thanking you.”
Her name was on the tip of my tongue, but she swallowed it the second I opened my mouth. And fuck, I couldn’t stop myself if I wanted. Not when she swirled her tongue against mine. Not when her bare breasts pressed against my chest and her bare pussy slid down against my hardened cock.
It wasn’t until I nudged something I most definitely didn’t need to nudge that I was reminded that I was the adult, and I couldn’t let her take control of me.
“Clara.” I gripped her arms and pushed her away, though I didn’t even think of letting her go. “Tell me what happened last night.”
Her bottom lip trembled when she opened her mouth. “I don’t want to—”
“Now!”
She jolted at the loud crack of my voice, and tears pooled at the corners of her eyes. “He tried to rape me.”
“What?” I sat up so fast, if I hadn’t been holding on to her, she would have toppled right off my lap. “Who?”
“Jayden Anders.” It came out a whisper. “I snuck into the club, and he cornered me in the back hall and he…”
She swallowed hard, then wiped a tear from her cheek.
“He touched me, Zee. He pinned me against the wall and tore my panties off and shoved them in my mouth. And he… he…”
That rage I’d felt when Stephano dropped her on the curb came racing back. “I’m going to kill him.”
A sob ripped from her chest. “Stephano already did!”
Clara covered her face with her hands, sobbing uncontrollably, and her tears were the cold shower that put out my fire.
“He did what?”
“Stephano shot Jayden.” She sucked in a sharp breath, but her crying didn’t cease. “He yanked him off me and broke his dick, then shot him in the head. There was blood everywhere, Zeno. The entire wall was covered in red.”
“Clara.” I wrapped her up tight, pulled her to my chest, and squeezed my eyes closed as I buried my face in her hair. “Clara. I’m so sorry.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do. Jayden was the only one who knew, and now he’s gone.”
My entire body turned to stone, even as Clara’s whimpers continued. When my mouth unfroze itself, when my tongue found the ability to move, I forced out, “What did he know?”
“How fucked up I am,” Clara whispered. “How completely and utterly useless I am without my pills.”
Pills.
Something told me she wasn’t talking about birth control.
“What did he give you?”
Instead of answering, she curled herself around me, tucking her head into the crook of my neck. She sniffled, then stilled. “Xanax. Adderall. Occasionally Lexapro.”
My chest squeezed. “Why?”
“Because I can’t function without them.” She sniffled again. “I can’t function without you and my pills.”
My mind spun, and I waffled between hating myself for not realizing what was going on and hating myself for not helping her. My beautiful, intelligent girl had been struggling with something her whole life, and no one but her fucking drug dealer knew.
“I’ll help you,” I murmured against her skin. “We’ll figure this out.”
“I don’t want anyone to know.” Her shaky voice brought tears to my eyes. “My family already hates me. I don’t want to give them another reason to hate me more.”
“They don’t hate you.”
“Don’t they?” She sat back, wiping her tears. “Who do you think was calling you last night? Who do you think came pounding on your door at three in the morning?”
I pursed my lips, and even though I wanted to, I couldn’t look away.
“Exactly. It was my father, Zeno. He was calling to yell at me. To tell me this isn’t how a Vinci behaves. But I’m tired of trying to be a Vinci. If that’s what I have to live up to, I don’t want to be a Vinci anymore.”
“Clara—”
“I just want to be yours.” Her voice was so quiet I could barely make out her words.
But I did.
And it broke my heart.
“You’ll always be mine, Clara.”
She lowered her gaze. “I don’t think I will.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She ran her fingers over the swirl of ink tattooed on my chest. It was a long moment before she spoke. “I just want you to love me.”
A breath burst from my chest. “I do love you, kid.”
Clara shook her head. “But not the way I love you.”
Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, I tilted her chin up, forcing her to look at me. “How do you love me, Clara?”
Tears filled her eyes, and her lips trembled. “With everything I am.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, fighting against the pain in my chest. That pain screamed I love you too.
With everything I was.
With everything I’d ever be.
I loved her too.
“Kid—”
Her fingers covered my lips. “Don’t call me that.”
When I opened my eyes, I found her watching me, pupils dark, the whites of her eyes red from her tears. I gripped her wrist, dragging her fingers away.
Before capturing one between my lips.
“I’ll call you what I want,” I told her when I pulled her finger from my mouth.
“Then I’ll call you Daddy.”
“No.”
“Why not?” She shook her head. “What’s good for you isn’t good for me?”
“Clara—”
“If that’s what you think, then you’re no different than my parents. Did you know, mom’s been taking pills for years? Where do you think I got started. But does anyone know? I don’t even think my father knows, and he fucks her every night.”
“Clara—”
“It’s not fair, Zee. All I’ve ever wanted is to be seen, to be viewed as something that’s good enough. But how can I expect that much if my own family can’t be honest? How can I expect that if the man I love—”
This time, it was me who silenced her, only I didn’t do it with my fingers.
I did it with my mouth.
I kissed Clara Vinci senseless. I kissed her until her chest was heaving and my jaw ached from devouring her mouth.
I kissed her, because not kissing her would be my death.
She kissed me, too. She kissed me the same way. She kissed me as if the two of us were made for each other, as if the years between us didn’t matter one bit.
My grip on her tightened, and soon she was rocking into me. The friction of her body made my rock-hard dick weep.
I wanted her. I wanted her so much that when she lifted herself from my lap and I felt my dick nudge the slickness between her legs, I couldn’t bring myself to stop her.
She slid up and down my length, coating me with her juices until I was minutes away from bursting. I bit back a groan as she lifted up. As my dick nudged against her clit.
As the fat head of my cock nestled itself at her warm, wet entrance.
“Tell me you’re on the pill,” I ground out, barely able to hold myself back.
Clara edged back, mouth dropped open and her eyes at half-mast. My little hurricane smiled, lowering herself down just an inch. Then she shook her head. “I’m not.”
“Fuck.”
Fuck me.
Because I was fucking into her.
I captured her mouth once more, tightened my grip on her hips. And I slammed myself into her over and over again.
Clara clawed at my flesh, left long, red welts across my skin, but I couldn’t be bothered to care.
Because I’d never in my life felt anything as good as her.
“Clara!” I gasped, sucking in her storm until it raged inside of me. “Fuck. It’s so good.”
She whimpered. She moaned. The girl gasped and pleaded and begged me for more.
I couldn’t deny her.
I never could say no.
So I flipped her off me, tossed her on her back, and covered her slick body with mine.
My dick twitched as I moved inside her, and as she screamed out her release, I picked up my pace. Lightning zipped across my spine and my balls pulled up as my dick swelled.
Clara held me close as I spilled every last drop of my cum into her. A roar tore free from my throat as she cried out into the space between us. And as I floated back down to earth, I found reality shifted.
Where once this girl had been the one person in the world I cared about most, now this woman, this beautiful, smart, infuriating woman, was the one I loved more than anything else.