CHAPTER ELEVEN
Let fury override common sense
— CLEMENTE —
“What are you thinking about?” Rina’s voice flows through the air.
I take a sip of my coffee and slowly swallow as I turn my back to the window. I’ve been staring without looking to let my mind wander over everything. Trying to find some sort of a solution or to get ahead of things.
All while I want to do nothing more than to take my wife again.
I can’t. She means too much for me to be an egocentric asshole and bury my cock inside her sweet, tight pussy because she’s sore as it is.
And that’s why I got up early and put my mind to work instead of getting lost in the woman who is now forever tied to me.
“I have to get a handle on things. Fredo. Dustin fucking Soren. The illegal gambling parties and the shit it brings along. Petty crime and more drugs hitting the streets. I need to end it. All of it.”
“Then start with Fredo,” Rina says and sways her curvy ass into the kitchen.
She’s wearing my shirt again and in my opinion there’s nothing that can make my cock harder. Her sweet curves are hiding underneath while her nipples are poking at the fabric; her body is screaming for my attention.
“Start with Fredo,” I echo, and know she’s right. “I might as well put his head on the butcher’s block and chop some answers out of him.”
“Yup. More coffee?” she asks, and I fucking love the way I’m able to bounce my thoughts around as if she was my underboss or consigliere.
No hiding. No secrets. A complete line of open and honest communication. And it makes me realize one thing I can’t live with. I know with her background she’ll do it, and it fucking kills me to know it’s the kind of loyalty she was practically born with.
“I don’t ever want you to step in front of a bullet for me,” I blurt and watch her spin around to face me. She jerks the mug filled with coffee to a stop and it makes some slosh onto the white shirt.
“What?” Her shock is readable in her wide eyes staring at me. As if I’m asking the unthinkable of her.
Just as I suspected, she’d gladly give up living to keep me alive. “I won’t have you sacrificing yourself for me, Rina. I can’t be responsible for your death if it means I have to live on without you and the guilt of not being able to keep you safe.”
She processes my words as she slowly puts her coffee down. She stalks closer and places her palm on my naked chest.
“There’s duty. There’s trust. There’s loyalty.
And then there’s this softy thing men in the underworld won’t dabble in because it messes up emotions.
And emotions will get you killed and in return it feeds the enemy.
But you know what? You can ask whatever you want from me, but I can’t promise anything.
Because I don’t know how I would react in any situation thrown our way. ”
A deep sigh rips from her throat. “When Daniel shot Mattia and turned the gun on me I had just washed my hands. They were wet. I was searching through my purse for my gun, then I had to flip the safety and with wet hands I pulled the trigger. What if I didn’t have wet hands?
What if he came in a few seconds before or after?
And what if I did shoot him point blank?
What if Mattia would have waited outside of the bathroom instead of going in with me?
What if I didn’t drink and had left early?
What if doesn’t give you any other options and it’s the same with the promise you want me to make.
The past is solid, while the future is wide open.
You might think we have a grip on the future but it also involves a lot of outer influences and some we don’t have a handle on, Clemente.
So, I’m not making you any promises because my heart is already involved no matter what training I had in the past. And if I am able to take a split second in a life and death situation and think before acting?
Resulting in me being the one to be left behind to live without you.
It will be the same guilt tormenting me. ”
My heart is already involved. She said it. Not the exact words, but still.
“There will always be a risk. A threat of some sort hanging over our heads. It’s the world both of us grew up in and will live and die for.
But you...I knew I would have a wife at some point, but you are so much of an epic change I wasn’t expecting and yet it’s the much needed change I’ll gladly accept.
” I slide my fingers through my hair and think of a way to explain.
“It’s the acceptance of an arranged marriage.
The whole producing an heir obligation. But with you there is no obligation driving me.
I fucking want a bunch of kids just because I want to see your belly swell from the way our bodies unite and made a life together. ”
Fucking hell, did I really just say that shit?
Rina snickers. “You would even try to pee on me in front everyone else if you could, wouldn’t you? Neanderthal. It’s the whole ‘keep her barefoot and pregnant’ to show off just who I belong to.”
I simply shrug and add, “Everyone already knows who you belong to, but yes, I do have a driving need to keep reassuring myself you’re completely mine.
And maybe that’s what made me tell you not to jump in front of me in a life or death situation, because I know what’s coming.
This Dustin asshole has tortured and almost killed Beck’s sister to get back at Daniel.
Somehow Dustin crawled back to Daniel, or vice versa, and they joined forces.
They don’t care about women at all. They see and use them in a way.
..in any fucking way they deem fit. Even if it’s to strike back. ”
My chest is heaving and just the thought of anyone hurting her is enough to let fury override my common sense.
“Hey,” Rina says as she steps closer and slides her hand up and around my neck to press her body against mine.
“We’re both aware of the dangers but we won’t live by it.
You have my back, I have yours. The two of us also have a lot of people surrounding us who have the same mindset and determination to face anything heading our way.
Fredo has a flaw. He might be a rotten apple in our midst but everything happens for a reason.
Find that reason and it might lead to a chance to end Dustin.
Because we owe it to Beck and his sister to end that asshole.
And really, Clemente, that’s all we can and will do.
Move forward, eyes open, and live to rule our own life the way we want to. ”
“I fucking adore you,” I growl and slam my mouth over hers.
Instant calm overtakes me and I let my hands roam over her body until I’m palming her ass and can easily lift her. She wraps her legs around me and there’s no thoughts about pending danger or issues needing to be resolved.
Not even the coffee we were both having. Everything is forgotten except us. Two people consumed with one another and who capture the moment to make every second count. But seconds might not be enough when my phone starts to ring.
We both groan in discontent as we break our kiss and I let her slide down my body. I reach for the phone in my pocket and recognize the number.
“Arturo,” I say in greeting.
“I hope you had a nice little time alone with the new wife and all, because we need to jump back in. Oh, and Beck wasn’t exactly pleased when he couldn’t reach you, so he called me instead.
But it was smart to let your uncle smooth talk things over with the wives first. Worked like a charm.
” Arturo chuckles. “Though, Beck did leave you one instruction he expects you to personally see through.”
I instructed Arturo to let my uncle handle the whole “Swooping them away to Italy” part. Romanticize the spur of the moment trip instead of telling them to take off for a few days or weeks for the good of their own safety. Nice to hear it worked.
“What’s the instruction?” I question.
There’s laughter in his voice when Arturo tells me, “You have to join your woman while volunteering at the shelter. He said you’d know what that meant.”
“Fucking hell,” I grumble. “I’m allergic to furry animals, Arturo. You know that as well as I do.”
Arturo snickers. “No, you’re not. You’re just a fussy asshole when said fur gets on your classy suit. Anyway, I told him you would be delighted.”
“I’m sure you did,” I mutter. “Just get Gian down here and be in my office along with Leandro when I arrive at home. And just so you know, Rina won’t leave my side for the time being.”
“I expected as much. Gian will be there within the hour. Talk later.”
“Talk later,” I reply and end the call.
I reach out and cup the side of Rina’s face, pressing a kiss on those soft and delicious lips of hers.
“Let’s have some more coffee and get dressed.
Gian will be here to take us home. Like I just told Arturo, you’re not leaving my side for the time being.
And it seems both of us signed up to volunteer at the animal shelter.
Beck demanded it after we shipped them off to Italy.
” I want to grumble but the way her face lights up with the mere mention of the animal shelter is worth the fuss of being around animals.
She’s worth anything and everything.
The time we have to wait for Gian to get here is spent with Rina raving about the animal shelter. Seems like Flora has gotten her all up-to-date about everything the last time they met, and she’s overly excited to volunteer. Not to mention the fact that I’m joining her.
We check the closets for some fitting clothes for Rina since most of the clothes in our safe houses contain suits and sweats and little to none female clothing. She picks some sweats along with a shirt and a pair of sneakers. None of them fit perfectly, but it will have to do.