5
I woke to an unfamiliar noise. Snoring. Who the fuck was snoring in my ear? My eyes snapped open and I frantically searched my surroundings. The room was light enough for me to realise that I had royally fucked up.
I should not be here.
Lorenzo was sleeping deeply next to me in his dark mahogany king size bed. The softest white sheets that I had ever felt wrapped around my body, barely covering my boss’s peachy ass.It looks like I still hog the sheets.Fuck. I’m not alone.Panic hit me before I could process that thought, stealing my breath and weighing heavy on my chest. The last time I had woken up with someone beside me was the last time I saw my brother. He had crawled into my bed. I had woken up to him grinning at me, his green eyes that matched mine, that changed with his mood the exact same way, creased around the edges as he laughed at the way I had screamed. He rolled onto the floor before I could hit him, shouting at him to not scare me like that ever again.
Little did I know that when he had promised he wouldn’t, he had meant it.
He left me to calm down, coming back moments later with a tray of cold pancakes and lukewarm coffee, setting it down on my bedside table so he could present me with a card and a small black box. Three days late, but I didn’t care. He hadn’t been able to get out of a ‘business trip’ to spend my birthday with me, but he had come over first thing the morning he arrived back home.Two days later he was gone.Forever.The birthday card with the simple message still sat on my bedside table, and the gold star shaped earrings hadn’t left my ears at all since that day.His shooting-star. A slightly twisted joke. Jase had never been able to shoot well, not like me. He had his own talents though.I touched a finger to my lobe and gently stroked the earring, trying to force a sense of calm back into my body, and finding a deep comfort in the repetitive motion. I had started noticing myself doing little things like that more often recently, and I made a quick mental note to put a stop to it. I couldn’t risk anyone else noticing. Even the most subtle sign of weakness could be used against me.What a life. When my panic subsided a little, I rolled over and took in the unfamiliar room. It suited Lorenzo perfectly. It was as neat and simple as I had expected his private space to be; mahogany furniture, a couple of photos, nothing overly personal. There were two open doors on the wall to my left, one appearing to lead to a bathroom, and the other to a walk-in closet. Every wall was a clean, fresh white, except for the one opposite the bed, which was covered entirely in floor to ceiling windows, showing off the most breath-taking view of the garden, and beyond that, Oak Lake shimmering under the morning sun on the other side of the back wall.It felt strange, being in this room. I was a guest. Wasn’t I? Being in his personal space didn’t mean anything. There was no way there was any hidden meaning behind it. Yet still I couldn’t manage to fully dismiss the confusion that I was feeling.I had followed Lorenzo up the stairs last night, and he had taken me into the guest bedroom, where he had showed me exactly what he thought of my performance at dinner. Punishing and praising me in equal measure. The last thing I remembered was collapsing in a blissfully satisfied heap, thinking to myself that I would allow myself five minutes to enjoy that post-fuck feeling before finding my clothes and driving home. I guess I must have fallen asleep instead.
So why was I in this bed instead? Had Lorenzo carried me? When? Why?“Good morning, il mio tesoro.” His rough sleep filled voice rumbled beside me, pulling me back to the present. I looked over at him, watching the way his muscles flexed as he stretched his arms and bought them down underneath his head. His dark eyes met mine, they resembled melted chocolate in this light, warm and inviting, they had never looked this way to me before. They were usually so cold and harsh, able to inflict the most intense fear with one simple glare.“Morning,” I replied.He spoke again before I could voice any of my questions. “How did you sleep?”What? He asked the question as though this was a normal morning routine for us. I couldn’t keep the confusion from showing on my face.“Erm, I slept okay, this is a really lovely bed,” I politely commented as my brows pinched. “But why am I here?”His features changed, mirroring my own. The sleepy smile replaced with furrowed brows and narrowed eyes. But he did not speak.“I didn’t think we would be doing sleepovers in the same bed. It’s blurring the lines a little, isn’t it?” I asked, still not wanting to presume that me being in his bed meant anything. The confusion dropped from his face, lips pursing for a second before he fixed himself with his usual flat expression. “I’m not having a valued asset end up in the hospital because she was too tired to safely drive herself home,” he explained. “And my mattress is better for your back than the one in the guestroom. If you’re now feeling well rested, I will call Clive to bring your clothes up, and then you can leave, Mal.”Fuck. I was such an idiot.His reasons made perfect sense. Of course it was nothing more. How could I be stupid enough to think that maybe he was suddenly wanting to change the relationship that we had built. I felt my body relax at his words; lines painted clearly in his tone.“Thank you, boss.” I smiled at him, but he turned his back to me, reaching for the phone on the bedside table. After tapping out a quick message he climbed out of bed and made his way to the en-suite bathroom, pausing in the doorway to look down at the phone still in his hand.“Are you in the office tomorrow?” he asked suddenly as he leaned into the doorframe, his back still to me, bare ass looking damn biteable—not that I would dare.“I am, do you need me for something?”Being self-employed had plenty of perks, one being the freedom to come and go as I pleased. But I always went into the office on Mondays. Doing so felt like a reset button for a new week. I could put whatever had happened over the previous seven days behind me. It was something I had learned pretty early on that would help me to keep a clear head, and would force me to not dwell on the aspects of my role in The Brotherhood that would keep normal people up at night.To put it simply, it kept me sane.“Yes. Six p.m. The Crown. I’ll have details when you arrive. Come well equipped though, Mal.” That meant that he had no solid plan yet, but I knew Lorenzo, he would have one—and numerous backups—mapped out in his head by the time he stepped out of the shower. He was the boss for a reason.“I’ll be there. See you tomorrow then, boss.”He nodded his head in one sharp movement, then continued into the bathroom, closing the door behind himself and leaving me with a silent message to not hang around.There was a gentle knock on the bedroom door, but it did not open. “Clive?” I questioned, but there was no response. I wrapped the white sheet around my naked body and went to open the door. No one was there, but on the floor sat a neat pile of clothes, and my trainers.Was this room off limits to staff too? The thought made me feel as though every second more that I spent in Lorenzo’s room was me overstaying my welcome.I threw my clothes on quickly and checked my reflection in a small mirror. I didn’t look great. My makeup was smudged below my eyes and my lips were still puffy from the night before. My hair fortunately didn’t look too bad, it was easily smoothed down with my fingers. I supposed it didn’t really matter though, as I only planned on getting in my car and heading straight home.I made it to the front door without seeing another person. I had hoped to bump into Clive so that I could thank him for washing and delivering my clothes. But he was a busy man. I noticed a notepad and pen on a side table in the foyer and wrote out a quick thank you message for him before heading out of the front door.I reached my apartment half an hour later, parking my car in its reserved space in the shared garage in the basement of my apartment building. There was only one thought sitting in the front of my mind. Coffee. I was in desperate need of coffee.
I checked my phone once I was inside the lift, heading to my floor. Six new messages. One from Grey, demanding that I apologise to Deb. One from my personal trainer, requesting to push our session in the evening by an hour. One from a client that I’d be ignoring until tomorrow—I never replied outside of office hours anyway. And the last three messages were all from Cooper.
CoopHoly shit Sunshine, are you okay? I’ve never heard the boss use your full name. I think I may have actually shit myself on your behalf.Good luck.Also, damn girl. Sometimes I forget how insane your aim is.
CoopHeads up, if Lorenzo hasn’t murdered you yet then Grey will.He is livid.It was nice knowing you. I’ll try to look sad at your funeral.
CoopWell no one has called me to cover up your murder yet, so I’m presuming you’re still alive, confirmation would be nice though.
I chuckled to myself as I read over his messages. It was nice having Cooper around. I was starting to feel like he was one of the only real friends I had nowadays. I quickly fired off two messages. One to Grey, rolling over and telling him that I would send flowers to Deb, that should shut her up for a bit. And another to my trainer confirming the change of time. I then went back to the messages from Cooper and hit the call button on the top of the screen, putting him on speaker as I exited the lift and headed to my front door, smiling as I made my way back into my sanctuary.“Well, well, well. She survived the wrath of Lorenzo D’Angelo. Or am I speaking to a ghost?”I barked a laugh in response to his greeting. “Only just, I’m as shocked as you are that I’m breathing right now,” I lied.I liked having a friend, but I didn’t need him knowing the truth about my night. I didn’t need any of my Brothers making presumptions about my motive for fucking our boss. Especially after Deb’s comments at dinner. I doubted that any of the guys would believe that I was in it purely for my own selfish enjoyment. Not even Coop.“But it would take more than his wrath to end me, Coop.”“Don’t let him hear you say that. You know he’d just see it as a challenge.” He wasn’t wrong.“Probably. Do you have plans today? Fancy breakfast at Belle’s? You can fill me in on what happened after I left last night.” I desperately needed a shower first though.“Sure thing. I’m not seeing Sam until this afternoon. Time?”The sun appeared to be holding out, and an hour later I was pulling on a dark blue sundress, paired with strappy blue sandals. To most people’s surprise my closet was actually filled with various colours, but since losing Jase I mostly wore black. It was starting to feel like a shame to waste such nice clothes though.I arrived at Belle’s café ten minutes earlier than planned, as usual. Cooper, shockingly, was already there, a menu holding his attention. He had chosen to sit outside, which in my opinion was the best choice. Wouldn’t want to waste the nice weather. Or the view, since the café was on the edge of Oak Lake, on the opposite side to where our boss’s mansion was.I sat down opposite Cooper, and he lowered the menu, revealing a wide grin that I couldn’t help but mirror back to him. Coop was an attractive guy, not in an overly buff, in your face kind of way, he was pretty. Blonde hair, blue eyes, smooth jawline and dimpled cheeks. Like Lorenzo, he had no scars, tattoos, or any other physical evidence of being in a criminal organisation. If you met him on the street, you wouldn’t avoid him. He was smart as hell, the go to guy for all of your tech related needs, spending the majority of his time behind some kind of screen. Coop didn’t need to be scary, he didn’t need to intimidate, but he could. I’d only ever seen it once, but behind his nice guy exterior he was dangerous. Not in the same way as me, dangerous doesn’t even come close for me, but he could handle himself with ease.“Good morning, Sunshine.” He beamed at me and leaned across to plant a gentle kiss to the side of my head.See, not even a little bit scary.“Morning, Coop. Have you ordered?” I asked, quietly enjoying his little pet-name for me. Even I could appreciate the irony. Ray of sunshine I was not. He shook his head in response and pushed the menu across the table to me. I didn’t pick it up though, I already knew what I wanted.Gina came out to our table and greeted us in her usual overly friendly manner. “Mal, Coop, great to see you both. What are we having today?”“Black coffee, and a sausage and—”“Bacon baguette? I don’t know why I even ask you.” She smiled and turned her attention to Cooper. “Never changes her order, this one,” she explained to him, although I was sure he already knew that. “Whereas you have never had the same order twice!”“Variety is the spice of life, Gina,” he said, flashing her the same huge grin that I was met with a few minutes ago. “I’ll have a cappuccino and eggs benedict please.” She noted down his order and went back inside to make our drinks.“You look cute, like a real girl. It’s weird,” Cooper declared as he flicked his gaze over my outfit.“Shut up, I am a real girl,” I shot back, without a single drop of venom in my words. He huffed a laugh in response and Gina came back out with our drinks.When she left us again, I shifted to a more comfortable position and dove straight into getting the details of the rest of the night.It turned out that Deborah had started to genuinely cry when I left the room. She had become hysterical, begging Grey to have me kicked out of The Brotherhood. Collette had agreed with her, and they had declared me a psychotic whore who belonged in an institution. I couldn’t help but laugh. Apparently, they had tried to drag Coop into it all, telling him that he should stay away from me, especially if he saw any future with Samantha. He had defended me, not that they had listened to him, but he had tried.
In that moment, as he recited the words he had spoken, I decided that Cooper was my favourite person in the world. His loyalty meant a hell of a lot to me.We let conversation flow in other directions, discussing his relationship, my day job, and avoided any sensitive subjects. A while later, once we were full, stuffed with breakfast food and a cheeky slice of cake each that Gina had unexpectedly brought out to us, we said our goodbyes.I had originally planned on going back home and sorting through paperwork for the morning, but the calming atmosphere by the lake on a Sunday morning made it so hard to leave. Instead I decided to take a walk around to an empty bench on a grassy area where I could sit and secretly people watch through the trees. I stayed for another hour, enjoying my own company, and for the first time in a long time I didn’t fall prey to the grief that consumed me whenever I was alone.
Work was busy on Monday morning, I barely left my desk until mid-afternoon, relying on the kindness of people passing by my office door to bring me coffee.Eden came waltzing in and sat her ass down on the piece of paper that I was skim-reading. “You haven’t eaten, Clarke. I’m ordering from the café down the road, what are you having?”I looked up at her, the irritation that I felt at her interruption quickly fading as she glared down at me. I leaned back in my chair and let out a long sigh.“I’ll just have whatever you’re having,” I told her, and she got up, tapping at her phone as she threw herself down into the chair opposite me.Eden was an accountant too; her office was a couple of doors down from mine. I was always polite to the people who worked in the building, but I tried to avoid getting close to anyone here, not wanting them to find out who I was outside of this job. My other life was a well-kept secret, one I had worked damn hard to hide. Hence the fake name, Mallory Clarke. But I hadn’t been able to avoid Eden. She had badgered me daily, practically throwing herself at me until she had eventually chipped away at my wall and became a friend. The girl was feisty, ambitious and overly confident, I loved all of those things about her.“So, Lukas decided to try this new thing with his tongue last night. Some guy at work had suggested it, apparently his girlfriend goes crazy for it.” She paused and looked up from her phone. I shook my head with a laugh, already knowing what she was going to say. “That girl either has no idea what good head feels like, or she’s faking.” Yep, knew it. Eden loved to tell me about Lukas’ bedroom fuck-ups.“Lady, just tell him what you like. It’s been six years.”“That, my dear, is exactly the problem. How do I tell him he sucks in bed after six years?” Her eyes widened in desperation.I gave her a sympathetic smile in return. “Just be honest. He’s crazy about you, he won’t get mad.”“No, but he might cry. I can’t do that to him. Anyway, how are things with your mystery lover?” She wiggled her eyebrows at me with the word lover. “Mind blowing, as usual,” I said, struggling to bite back the smug grin threatening to take over my face.“Bitch,” she huffed. “So why are you not pinning that down?”
It had been the same question over and over again for the last two months.“Because I don’t do relationships. And even if I did, it’s complicated. And I don’t know if I even like him, he’s just a really good fuck.” I told her the truth without ever telling her who he was. She didn’t need to know that I had anything to do with Lorenzo D’Angelo, sexually or professionally. She might not know who Mallory Fields was, but she’d definitely know him. Everyone did.She dropped the subject, and we discussed work and her life over our late lunch. She didn’t go back to her office when we finished eating, apparently she only had a light workload today, so she stayed with me, sifting through some old files that needed sorting until it was past the end of my usual working day.We took the lift down to the carpark and parted ways, agreeing to go for a drink together later in the week. I climbed into my Mercedes and drove the short distance to The Crown to meet Lorenzo. Arriving ten minutes early, but not walking in until it was precisely six p.m.I walked straight past the bar and to a booth at the back of the dimly lit room. Waiting for me, as I expected, were Lorenzo and Grey. My boss gave me a quick once over and a sharp nod. His second just glared. Thank god looks couldn’t actually kill.“Mal, I hope you were smart enough to bring a change of clothes,” Lorenzo said as the bartender came and placed a glass of soda on the table in front of me. I never deliberately drank alcohol on the job.“In the boot of my car, as always,” I said and took a sip of the refreshingly cold drink. I had turned up in my work clothes, dressed in a satin blouse, tight skirt, and black heels—my standard office attire. I could get away with wearing this type of thing on some jobs, usually ones where it wasn’t likely that I would have to get physical. But I already knew that tonight wouldn’t be one of those nights.“Good girl.” Bastard. “I need you to go to this location.” He slipped a piece of paper across the table to me. I knew the area well enough to not have to think too hard about where I needed to go as Lorenzo filled me in on what he expected me to do.“Do we have a backup plan if this goes to shit, boss?” I asked.“We do,” he said bluntly and slid out of the booth, fixing me with a hard glare. “But it won’t.”With that he left. Grey following obediently behind him.