I moan when the taste of milk chocolate and hazelnut hit my tongue, Braxton stops suddenly, turning on me and pulling me against him. It happens so fast that I barely have enough time to move the plate out of the way, saving the chocolate. Braxton’s hands curl around my neck, forcing my face up to his, then his lips are on mine demanding entry.
“The next time you moan like that, Klara, will be around my cock. Understand?”
I nod, my tongue running along the bottom of my kiss swollen lips. For a split second I wonder why the fuck we’re not holed up in our room exploring each other’s bodies. I know Braxton wants to explore the city, but I want to explore him. All his hard edges, dips, and ridges. I want to run my tongue along the tattoo snaking up his arm from wrist to shoulder. I want to dig my nails into the hard muscle of his back as he thrusts into me. We have two missed years to make up for.
My lips curl in a mischievous grin when my eyes dart from his lips to the chocolate spilling out of the crepe. Braxton’s dark eyes narrow when I swipe a finger through the warm chocolate and slowly… deliberately swirl my tongue around it before sucking it into my mouth. I make sure to moan, low and long, so only he can hear it.
Braxton swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the strained motion, seconds before his hand curls around my wrist and we’re moving fast through the lobby and out to the pathway that leads up to our room.
We spend the first week lost in each other, memorizing every kiss, every nip, every touch, every breath, all the I love you’s. And the next week exploring the city and all the little shops on the main road outside the resort.
I’m a mixture of disappointed and relieved when our two weeks comes to an end and we have to leave our bubble. Disappointed because I wish we could exit in the world we were in for the last two weeks, where it was just us. Braxton wasn’t the Don of the mafia, and I wasn’t an unemployed university grad student. For the last two weeks, Braxton was just mine and I was just his. I’m also slightly relieved because I miss our friends back home and the life we started building together.
But then as soon as we take our seats on the private jet, the screen of Braxton’s phone lights up and every muscle in my body pulls tight. I really don’t want to leave the bubble the resort provided because the name on the screen is the last name I ever want to hear or see for the rest of my life.
Alessandro: Located Dante.
Dante.
“HELLO, COUSIN,” DANTE says as I step out of the shadows, the lone streetlight and the moon our only source of light. It shouldn’t have surprised me that he knew I would come for him, and that he would hire protection.
“Was beginning to think I would have to chase you down again. I would say to put you down like a dog, but they deserve more respect, don’t you think?” I cock my head to the side, taking him in in the dim lighting. Wondering why the fuck he never ran like he always would.
His face is bathed in shadows but his clothes are dirty, torn and frayed at the ends. He looks like he’s fought his way through the depths of hell and back. But that means nothing to me because wherever he’s been will be a cakewalk compared to what I have planned for him.
“Where’s the girl?” I sense more than see his eyes darting around us, looking for any sign of life other than ours. He won’t find any.
“She’s none of your concern,” I respond, slowly pulling my prized blade from its confines in the inside pocket of my jacket. The edge catching the light from the streetlamp. Dante goes stiff next to me.
“Did you really think it would be that easy? That I would just hand myself over to the great Braxton De Luca?”
I let out a throaty chuckle, knowing that by my now my men have taken out any threat Dante thought to place around us, and that whatever happens here tonight, whatever the surrounding businesses think they would have heard, the cops will never be called. There will be no investigation, no newspaper article. The city will go on like it always has.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t find and eliminate any threat you had planted?”
My lips slowly tip up in a smirk as I look over at him. He’s closer now, out of the shadows. I don’t think he’s even noticed the small move, but now I can see his face perfectly. The fear in his eyes, the sweat coating his brow.
“Tell me, did the bitch tell you how much she liked me fucking her? How much she begged for my dick? Said it was the best she’s ever had.”
Dante swallows hard at the snarl that rips through me. His lips snapping shut as he takes a step back and bumps into the chest of Alessandro. His eyes widen in shock, and I know I have him exactly where I want him. Alessandro shoves him forward until Dante is standing under the streetlight, his eyes darting between the men standing in the shadows around us, dressed in black. Each one acting like his own grim reaper.
“You really need four men to help take me out?” Dante heaves, his chest rapidly rising and falling with every heavy breath.
“I don’t need any help in taking you out, cousin. They’re here to make sure you don’t run.” I make a show of undoing the buttons of my suit jacket and taking it off before tossing it at the man to my right before rolling up the sleeves of my dark dress shirt. Enjoying the unease emanating from him.
Dante laughs nervously, backing up into Stefan’s crossed arms before he’s shoved toward me. I take advantage of the split-second Dante looks behind him at the massive motherfucker that shoved him. My fist connects with the side of his face as he looks back over at me. It was a sucker punch but I don’t care. Not when Dante goes down hard from the momentum, and not when he curses as the hand he presses to his nose comes away bloody.
I grip his greasy hair between my fingers and drag him up an inch before my fist connects with the side of his face again. I don’t relent on my hold on hair as I deliver blow after blow. I only stop when a throat clearing sounds behind me, reminding me that I planned on dragging this out. I planned on making him suffer, planned on making him pay for each and every one of the girls we found, and for Klara. For the nightmares she tries to hide from me. She thinks I don’t hear them because I’ve become so fucking good at controlling my breathing and pretending I’m asleep. But I hear every single one of her cries and screams. I have bruises and scratch marks on my chest from where she’s held me so fucking tight in her sleep I thought she would for sure draw blood. It only got worse when she caught a glimpse of Alessandro’s text about Dante. If putting my cousin down was going to help her sleep better at night then her wish was my fucking command.
I straighten up to my full height, wiping away some of the sweat from my forehead at the same time I nod at Stefan and Alessandro. The two big men grab hold of each of Dante’s arms and lift him up enough for me to slice my blade through his tattered shirt until it falls away from him. His pants are next, and then they’re releasing him. My fist clenches with the need to hit him again but if I start, I won’t stop, and I need him to be conscious for this next part.
Stefan and Alessandro kick out each of his knees so he’s forced to kneel in front of me, his head bobbing to the side from the damage my fists delivered. I move to stand beside him, gripping the hair at his nape in one of my hands and yanking on it, exposing his throat.
“This,” I hiss close to his ear, “is for Ashley.” I continue as I carve the little girl’s name into his chest.
Antonio got me a list of names of every single one of the girls Dante had held in that run-down building. And as I finish carving one name into his skin, I move further down and start on another. Making sure he hears every single name. “This is for Jessika… This is for Robyn…” On and on it goes, until I’ve moved in front of him and every single inch of his skin is sporting a new name. Blood dripping from the deep wounds.
None of this will ever come close to giving those girls back their innocence, but I can at least have a hand in bringing their captor to justice. My justice. The law would have let him off too easy. A slap on the wrist and away he goes. Those girls deserved more than that.
They deserved to know that the man responsible for their worst nightmare was never coming back, that he will never be able to touch them again for as long as they lived. That they were safe.
“And this…” I pause, running the tip of the blade over the sensitive flesh. “This is for Klara.” The metal slices through as the last word leaves my tongue and Dante howls in pain. His blood is no longer dripping, but has now pooled around him, the appendage sitting in the puddle between his legs, and then he passes out. A collective groan sounds around the circle as each man unconsciously covers their junk with a hand.
“Was that necessary? Cutting off his dick?” Antonio asks from behind me.
“It was all necessary,” I respond, cleaning the blade of the blood and snapping off the black gloves.
“What now?” Alessandro asks as we all watch Dante groan while he comes in and out of consciousness.
“Want us to take him up to the farm?” Stefan questions.
“No. I think tonight calls for a bonfire. Make it big, but clean this mess up first,” I instruct, then turn on my heel and get into the blacked-out SUV and make my way home to my girl.
“WHAT DOES THIS mean?” Klara asks, staring down at the ring I placed in front of her plate this morning at breakfast
“It means you get to have everything you’ve ever dreamt of having. The husband, the house, and maybe one day the kids.”
I see the wariness forming behind her eyes when she starts to protest but I shut that shit down fast when I sweep her hair off her shoulders with my fingers, palming the side of her face. “And I get to be the lucky bastard to give it to you.”
Her mouth opens and closes with unformed words and I grin. I think this is the first time Klara has had trouble coming up with a comeback, but while this feels... words cannot describe how it feels to be able to hold my heart in my arms again, she still needs to know the dangers she faces if she accepts my proposal. The daily threat to her safety will not just always be there, but it’ll continue to grow.
“But Klara, life with me will never be easy. You should know that before you agree to anything. If you think I was a possessive bastard before, then you’re sure to hate me once I put that ring on your finger. I’m not your knight in shining armor, Mia Bella. I’m not someone to base your dreams on.” I pause, looking away momentarily.
“I know I’ll be safe as long as you’re with me.” She places her small hands on my hips, trying to get my attention when I refuse to give her my eyes. “Braxton,” she starts, her hands curling into the fabric of my shirt. “I’d stand in the shadows of your heart and tell you I’m not afraid of your dark.” She grins up at me. “I read that somewhere, and since meeting you it’s always just been stuck in the back of my mind. I know what I’m signing up for. I know you’ll never be an easy man to love. I know this life comes with more cons than pros. I know that violence will always be a way of life. But I also know that at the end of the day, I get to curl up next to you, get to lay my head on your chest and feel your heart beat. I get to feel your arms wrap around me. Arms that I know I’ll always be safe in. At the end of the day, Braxton, I get you. And that…” She reaches up on her tiptoes, her lips inches from mine. “And that is worth everything.”
I press my lips against hers, savoring the feel of her pressed against me.
“And so the beauty fell in love with the beast,” she grins against my lips before my tongue sweeps into her mouth, claiming what’s mine.
The End
Two years later
“DEEP BREATHS, JESS. In. Out. In. Out. He’s just a man,” I tell myself. “Just a normal person. Nothing to be afraid of.”
I groan, resting my forehead against the painted wood of the apartment door I’m currently standing in front of like a stalker.
Why I decided to try and find him I have no idea. Morbid curiosity maybe? Fuck if I know. I did owe him a thank you for rescuing me from that hell though, but that doesn’t explain how I tracked down his name… and his number… and his address two years after the fact.
Well… it actually did. Klara and I talked a lot while we were held at the hospital. We bonded over the darkest time in both our lives and have been in contact ever since. I may or may not have let slip while we were leaving the hospital that I wanted to thank the man who had saved me, and she hadn’t hesitated to give me his name and a number I could reach him at. I had the feeling, though, that she wasn’t supposed to give me that information but did anyway. She did not, however, give me his address. No, that I tracked down all by myself.
Yup, that’s me. Jessika Tomlinson, stalker extraordinaire. To be fair, you can find anyone’s address with a name and phone number. So, what did she expect? Probably not that I would show up on his doorstep, that was for damn sure.
I’m such an idiot. He’s totally going to call the cops on me.
Just as I’m about to lift my forehead and turn around having successfully talked myself out of this stupid plan, the door swings open causing me to lose my footing and stumble forward into a very hard, very tall body. He grunts, catching me around the waist and standing me up, his hands never leaving my body until he’s sure I’m steady on my feet.
“Sorry. I’m sorry. I was just-”
“Leaning against my door,” he finishes for me.
“No,” I cross my arms over my chest in a defiant manner. “well, maybe,” I correct when one dark eyebrow raises in a try-again move.
Now that I’m standing in front of him I take a minute to take him in. He’s tall. I mean massive, almost giant like. I’m five-six and he easily towers over me by another foot. His dark hair is shaved down to his head, his grey eyes are striking against his tanned skin, and holy poop talk about vein porn. The veins on his arms are fan-yourself-drool-worthy. His chest is broad, his stomach hard. I can see the ridges of his sculptured abs through the cotton of his muscle shirt when he crosses his arms.
“You about done looking your fill?”
Sweet Jesus, that voice. It’s deep, seductive, and coupled with his physique will probably be my undoing.
“Nope,” I pop the ‘p’ continuing my eye fuck of the specimen in front of me. You’d think after what I went through in that make shift room of that cold, dark building that eye fucking a man, let alone thinking about all the things I’d like to do to him would be the last thing on my mind. But over the last two years after realization sunk in that I wasn’t living in that nightmare anymore I’ve had a tough time thinking of anything other than the man who saved me from hell.
Strong hands grip my wrist, yanking me into the strong body my eyes were just perusing. “Did you come here to dance with the devil, Jessika?”
My breath hitches as I stare up into colorless eyes. “How did you know my name?”
“After two years, I know more than just your name sweetheart.”
“You’ve been stalking me?”
His other hand moves down to the dip at my lower back applying just enough pressure to bring me closer into his body. “Like you’ve been stalking me?”
“I came to say thank you.”
He smirks, dipping his head and brushing his lips along my jaw turning my knees to jello, and if he wasn’t holding me up, I’m certain I would’ve melted into a pool of need at his feet. “Haven’t thanked me yet but if eye fucking me from across the room is your way of saying thank you, I’m going to need a lot more than that.” His tongue licks up my jaw, his teeth nipping at my ear lobe causing me to shiver.
I swallow hard, my panties already growing damp. “Thank you.”
“For what?” His breath is warm against my skin.
His lips hover just above mine and I have to fight back a moan. “For saving me.”
Abruptly he pulls away, taking those lips and the heat of his body with him as he takes several steps backward. I have to stop myself when I realize I’m seconds away from pouting and demanding he continue what he started. I watch him gather his wallet, keys, and holster a handgun before throwing on a leather jac
ket.
“Got somewhere to be, babe.”
I follow him out thinking we can continue a conversation as we both head downstairs but as soon as he locks the apartment door behind us, he turns in the opposite direction and stalks off toward the stairs so fast that it leaves my head spinning. By the time I’ve recovered enough to follow him, he’s gone.
***
(Alessandro)
I needed to get out of there and fast because as soon as I saw her, got my hands on her I wanted to claim her. Fuck, I wasn’t ready for her to find me. I wasn’t prepared for the tornado that is Jessika Tomlinson, but ready or not she was here. And now that I’ve had my hands on her again I don’t plan on letting go this time.
Prepare yourself, Jess. You’re about to tango with the devil’s second-in-command.
Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/…/…/playlist/4w5FrHhNgs5LlI4pYAa7Vj
Let Me Go – Hailee Steinfeld
Should’ve Been Us – Tori Kelly
The Devil’s Bleeding Crown – Volbeat
Moth Into Flame – Metallica
Smooth Criminal – Michael Jackson
Hello – Evanescence
FMLYHM – Seether
Les Memoires Blessees – Dark Sanctuary
Ashes To Ashes – Nox Arcana
Path of Shadows – Nox Arcana
King of Fools – Nox Arcana
Dark Desire – Nox Arcana
No Stopping You – Brett Eldredge
Here Without You – 3 Doors Down
If You Only Knew – Shinedown
How You Like Me Now- The Heavy
Beautiful Hell – Adna
Starving – Hailee Steinfeld
Bad Things – Machine Gun Kelly ft. Camila Cabello
Blue Moon – Damian Syslo
Workin’ On Whiskey – Jessica Mitchell
Drink You Away – Trent Harmon
Dark Desire (Famiglia Book 1) Page 17