“That’s a good setup.”
“Yeah.”
There’s been a big question on my mind that I’m more worried about asking than making another attempt to ask if I can call Richard.
Alex hasn’t talked about the guys. Not once. He’s barely talked about them during the times we’ve seen each other. I would be a fool to not know why that is.
They must know I’m a fed. I doubt they like the idea of that, and I can’t imagine that they’re in agreement with this arrangement we have going on here.
“Alex…”
He lifts his head to acknowledge me. “Yes, doll?”
“Have you called Claudius or the other guys?”
He blinks, glances down at the counter, then flicks his gaze back up to meet mine.
With a staggered sigh he nods, but the uncertainty in his eyes tells me more.
“I’m not part of the crew anymore, baby,” he replies, and my eyes bulge. My lips part and my shoulders drop.
“What?”
“Can’t have it both ways. I left because it was the right thing to do.”
“How? How can you say that? They’re like family.”
He sets the knife down. “Matvey came to the garage and threatened to kill our families if I didn’t stop helping you.”
My hands fly up to my cheeks. “Jesus… why didn’t you tell me?”
He shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter, Cora. You know what though? I chose them when I thought it had to be over between us, then when I heard they took you, there wasn’t a question about what I had to do. You are my family, so… this is me protecting you.”
My heart swells and my eyes fill with tears. I get up and make my way over to him. Slipping my arms around his waist.
“Thank you…”
“You can’t thank me for something like that, doll. It’s the truth. It’s that truth I keep telling you about.”
“I know. I know, and I accept it. But I never wanted you to stop being who you are.”
“I didn’t. I guess it’s more the case of what I am.”
“It’s the same thing.”
“I don’t know, and you know what, doll… you’re right. I’m not a coward, and I can’t be the man I’m supposed to be if we sit here and do nothing while people die.”
My heart lifts with hope. “What are you saying?”
“Call Richard in the morning. I’ll get the emergency phone, and you can call him and tell him what’s happening.”
“Oh my God… thank you.” I hug him hard.
“Cora… you know that calling him opens the door. It will reveal where we are. Then we’ll have to run again if trouble comes.”
“I trust him, Alex. He’ll make sure the right thing gets done. If that happens, we’ll be okay.”
He nods. “That’s what we’ll do, then. Make the call, and we’ll stay here where it’s safe. You stay with me no matter what.”
“I’m staying with you,” I promise, and he plants a kiss on my forehead. Relief washes over me. “Thank you. Thanks so much. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t do something. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I allowed something bad to happen.”
“I know, doll. I couldn’t either.”
Chapter Nineteen
Cora
Richard is quiet for several moments.
I just told him what happened, and what’s happening.
I can almost imagine the panic he must feel.
“Cora…” His voice sounds weak. I always think of him as the worried father when he sounds like that. God knows I’ve worried him enough over the years I’ve known him. “I can’t believe what you’re saying to me. Any of it.”
“I know. It’s a nightmare. All of it.”
“Are you hurt?” he asks.
“No, I’m okay. Richard, don’t worry about me. Please focus on the heist. It’s going to happen in three days. Please don’t let it happen. If you can get to the army base, then you catch Matvey and Zack. Both of them in one swoop.”
“I hear you, and rest assured I have this covered. I’m booking my flight back to Chicago as we speak.”
I feel so much better knowing that he’s taken this in hand.
“Thank you. Richard, please tell Lyndsey I’m okay. I know she would have been calling me and is probably worried sick.”
“I will, don’t worry. Did she know about the phone call too?”
“No. I never got the chance to tell her. I just wanted to tell you. I know with anything like this, the less people who know what’s happening, the less you have to worry. It puts them in danger.” I decide against telling him I showed the photos to her. I should have just kept everything with him and gone to him from the outset.
“Yes. I agree. I was just worried for her too. Cora… you still haven’t told me much about you. I want to come and get you.”
“No…” I say that a little too quickly and glance over my shoulder.
I’m in the living room, and Alex has given me privacy to talk. The only thing he made me promise to do was not to say anything about where we are.
“I’m worried sick. I am the one who’s worried sick. I worried from the minute Giles proposed that you go to Chicago, and now look at what’s happened. Giles is dead and you were nearly killed too,” he answers.
“I’m safe. I promise you.” I’ve been purposely vague about myself in general because I don’t want to talk about Alex with him.
“How did you escape?”
I release a heavy sigh. I might have left Alex out of the story so far, but I won’t lie to Richard about him again.
“Alex saved me. He came for me.”
He goes quiet, but I can hear him sigh. He sounds frustrated.
“Cora, you were seeing him again?”
Again, I won’t lie. “Yes…”
“You said you weren’t.” He sounds upset.
“I know and I’m sorry. At the time I wasn’t.”
“Cora, even after all I told you about your parents, you still think he’s good? I’m grateful he saved you, but that doesn’t change what he is. He’s a mobster, a criminal, and you can’t be a fed and involved with someone like that. You can’t.”
“I know how you feel about mobsters, Richard, and I know how you feel about him. But… I know how I feel about him too.”
“So, you’re going to throw away your career for a guy like that?” He fumes.
“I haven’t thought about my career yet.” I don’t want to talk about my career with him. Not now when there’s so much going on that is more important.
“Cora, think about what you’re doing. Are you with him now?” he asks.
“I am, and I’m safe. That’s the best thing I can hope for now.”
“We’ll talk about this more when I see you. I’ll call you later and update you.”
“Okay…” My voice trails off, and I bite the inside of my lip.
“Cora, please be careful.”
“You too. Please be careful too. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”
“God… I pray I’ll see you soon.”
We hang up, and I gaze out the window at the bright morning sun.
I know I have a lot to think about. It’s a given.
Alex walks into the room a few minutes later, and I stand up.
“Is it done?” he asks.
“Yeah. He’s going to take care of it. I think that maybe I can stop thinking about this for a little while.”
“Yeah?” He looks doubtful.
“Yeah.”
He slips his arm around me and pulls me close. “So, what do you want to do now?”
What do I want to do?
That question is the same thing as asking me what I want. As I look up at the beautiful man holding me, loving me, I know what I want.
It’s the first time in years that I’ve had that strong feeling of knowing what I want to do with my life and know what I want.
It starts with him, being with him.
Right now, I just want to have the kind of moment I would have if none of this ever happened.
I reach up and touch his face, running my fingers over his beard and down his neck, over the tattoo of the snake. I stand on the tips of my toes and kiss him, then I start undoing the buttons on his shirt.
“Is that what you want, Goddess?”
“Yes, I want you to make love to me.”
He scoops me up and carries me upstairs, right back to that bed.
We kiss and kiss, tasting and teasing, and layer by layer our clothes come off.
Naked, we lie on the bed, and he starts feasting on me.
Fiery kisses run down my neck and trail the path down to my breasts. He starts with the left, taking my nipple into his mouth. He sucks wild and hot, swirling his tongue over the tips to work them to life. The pleasure that pulses through me is unbelievable, and I moan into the wild suckle, arching my back, pressing my breasts deeper into his mouth as he starts to alternate from one to the other.
Unimaginable pleasure rushes over me. It takes me higher and higher, and when I come, the greedy orgasm that rips through me sets my soul on fire.
He makes his way down, down, down and licks over the hard nub of my clit. He licks and sucks, teases and tastes, taunting me to the edge as he laps up the flow of my juices. Arousal claws through me again as he does, and I’m pushed right over once more.
I come again on his face as he eats me out, and I hold his head to me so he can drink it all.
When he finishes, he lifts his head, and I can see his cock is perfectly erect and ready to take me.
He flips me over onto my hands and knees and smiles when we catch an image of us in the long mirror. There’s me with my hair falling over my face and my breasts hanging like large globes in front of me. My nipples harden at the wild smile he has on his face from the very erotic vision of us.
I’m a long way from being that girl he first met. I don’t look like her anymore. I look like a woman at the mercy of her avenging angel. Her dark avenging angel who’s getting ready to claim her body one more time. As soon as the thought enters my mind, he takes my hips and plunges deep inside me.
I gasp at the feel of his thick cock spearing into my passage. My walls stretch to take him, but he fills me up completely.
His pumps steal my next thoughts, and I get lost in him and the pleasure that cascades over my body as he drives into me hard and sure. This is us making love. We’re wild and reckless, unstopped and out of control. There is nothing tame about us.
I get lost in the rhythm that claims us as his pumps speed up and I move against him too. The onslaught of the sensation is too much, but then I knew it would be.
Going like this is insane; you burn out eventually. That’s what happens again as I come and my walls wrap tight around his cock, milking him as he comes inside me too. Hot cum fills me, and I savor it. I love it, and I love him, and in that moment, I know this is what I want with my forever.
The answer was always him.
Chapter Twenty
Alex
I’m smoking…
I hardly smoke, but I do when I’m stressed.
I’m stressed now because I feel like I should take my girl and run far away. Leave the country, anything besides what we’re doing right now.
We’re in the bath, and it’s in the early hours of the morning. Once again, we were in that bed, never leaving, only coming up for air.
She’s pressed against me, sitting in the gap between my legs while I hold her in one arm and the cigar in the other hand.
I’ve been calculating the hours. It’s been nearly twenty-four hours since Cora spoke to Richard. If someone was tracking the call, I’m hoping the fact that a whole day has passed means we’re safe. That she’s safe.
My one rule in life, though, is never assume anything.
That’s closely followed by always staying in control. I broke that rule when I decided to allow her to call Richard. The minute she did, I gave her control over us.
I want to relax, but I can’t. I won’t until I hear that Matvey is behind bars somewhere or dead.
“What are you thinking?” she asks, piercing the silence.
“A lot. I’m thinking about you.”
“What about me?”
“Tons of stuff. You didn’t really answer me when I asked you why you joined the feds. I know why you stopped seeing me and you said it was more you, but I don’t believe that. Was it because of Richard?” I’m curious, that’s all.
She shuffles and twists to look at me.
“Yeah... It was. He’s always been this symbol of good in my life. I joined because I thought it would be something good. I could be someone good, different from my father,” she answers and I stroke her hair. “Are you asking me because of us?”
I chuckle and take her hand. I hold it up and look at her dainty fingers in mine.
“I’m going to put a ring on this hand one day. You’re going to be my Mrs. Alex and we’re going to have lots of babies,” I inform her.
Her cheeks flush, and she smiles, moving a strand of her wet hair from her cheek.
“We are?”
“Yeah. I’m Italian, we like big families, and we love baby making. So, yeah, we’re gonna have lots of babies. That’s my dream. That’s what I want to do with my life. That means I’ll do what I have to, to be with you. I’ll give up what I need to, to be with you. But, I’ll do what I have to, to keep you safe. You and our children. I’ll protect you no matter what.”
A tear runs down her cheek. “Alex…” she dabs at the corners of her eyes.
“I mean it Cora. I’m sorry your father turned out the way he did, but please don’t take that and judge me. Not when you know me.” It’s important she knows this. “Not when you know you can trust me. I am who I am and that means I can be the average Joe and live the vanilla, but as you know the past can follow me.”
I think of Luc, Claudius’ brother. He was supposed to be boss but he gave up the empire for his wife. If he can do it I can too. It’s easy to hand over whatever you have to for the woman you love.
“Alex, I love you for who you are, and what you are,” she says with conviction. “I don’t want to change you. It means a lot that you want to do whatever it takes to be with me and protect me and our children, but I won’t change you. I fell for Alex Bellantoni, the guy who was part of a crew of guys who were good people. That’s what I see when I see you. I know you left the guys to save me, but I don’t think they’d leave you.”
I don’t know about that. Claudius was serious when he said I’d be out. He was serious too when he said he’d come and get me. The decision isn’t about them though, it’s about me and Cora.
“I just want a life where we can be together and be who we want to be at the same time. That’s my dream,” I say.
“Mine too. So I think I need to go back to being that person I used to be when I wanted to live on the edge of adventure and use my skills and abilities to help people in ways that others couldn’t. I don’t really think I can truly do that by being a fed.”
That surprises me. I bring her hands to my lips and kiss her knuckles. “Cora, I don’t want you to give up a career you worked hard for.”
“I won’t be, Alex. I promise. I won’t. I want to do what I want, something that will make me proud for a change, not somebody else. I just want to be me.”
I feel proud of her for coming to that conclusion.
“I guess we have… a lot then to think about,” I note.
“Yeah, we do. But, we can do it together.” She smiles and despite the turmoil roiling within me, warmth surrounds my heart.
That day we found each other was the day we belonged to each other and became family.
“We do it together,” I agree.
She rests back against me, and I try to think of the dream. She’s mine. She agreed to be mine.
I think of that future I want with her and it’
s beautiful.
Me and the girl I love.
Since I can’t shake the feeling that shit may follow us here, I think it’s best we plan to leave soon.
I’ll start organizing something tomorrow.
* * *
It’s night again. Today was productive. We went into town to get some things to take with us. We’ll leave in the morning and head across to Idaho to stay with some people I know.
We’re in the kitchen again, making lasagna. Cora insisted on cooking this time.
“I like it here, Alex… I don’t see why we can’t stay here.” She pouts as she stirs the béchamel sauce.
“Cora, baby. I think there’s no harm in being too careful. We stayed long enough. We can head to Idaho and wait it out until we hear back from Richard. That’s the safest thing to do.”
“I would have loved to explore around here a little more.” She gives me a shy smile.
“We’ll come back another time.”
“That would be great. I’ll call Richard tomorrow just to check in, and then that’s it, I guess.”
“Yeah. No phones after.”
I walk over to her and give her a kiss. “Are you okay?”
She nods, and while she seems alright, I know she’s like me. She wants this to be over and done with.
“I want to curl up with you by the fire and eat dinner,” she says with a smile.
“That means I better go get some logs.”
I managed to gather a few when we got back. There are more in the clearing outside.
“Oh, don’t go into the woods.” She frowns.
“Baby, if you want a log fire, I’ve got to go get it. I’ll be about ten, fifteen minutes tops. I won’t go far.”
“Okay. This will be ready a little after, then.”
“Cool.” I kiss the top of her forehead and leave her.
I admit the woods look creepy as fuck at this hour. I wouldn’t bring her out here for anything. The lake too, beautiful as it is, has that eerie horror film vibe, and I wouldn’t be idiot enough not to bring my gun out with me.
Double Edged Hearts Page 14