by Tessa Thorne
I grab the stack of papers and head out of the gun store. I get an odd look from a passing nanny pushing a double stroller as I tear the papers in half, then in quarters, crumple them up and toss them into a trash can.
I just want to throw back my head and scream. This isn’t fair. We shouldn’t have to live like this.
God damn it.
I stop and dig through my purse for the matchbook Rocco gave me. I stop by a newsstand and stare at it, avoiding the crowd on the sidewalk.
Maybe it’s time I give in and take him up on his offer. He could have robbed me when I was at his bar, and I’d have had no way to stop him. He offered me his protection when I couldn’t pull the money together to get him to kill Harry. Staying with him seems crazy on its own. But when I consider it next to my dwindling alternatives, it doesn’t seem so bad. I’ll just have to tell him firmly that he’s going to take my money as payment, and that I’m not offering myself as part of this arrangement. And I’ll ask him to not talk to Ethan.
I nod to myself, reaffirming my decision, and take out my cellphone to call Franky’s.
Chapter Seven
Rocco
I pull up to the curb and flick on my blinkers. That same junkie that was here before is camped out in the same spot, a growing pool of urine spreading under him.
I step out of the car and head up the stairs, taking the steps three at a time. The door to her room’s been damaged. Looks like someone kicked it in. Probably why Caitlyn ended up calling me.
I knock on the door. The couple staying next door start screaming at each other as I wait for her door to open. I hear the bolt unlock and the door swings into the motel room. The chain lock is swinging from the door, the other end torn out of the doorframe. Caitlyn is standing before me with her right arm in a white sling. My pulse starts racing as my eyes on fall on her face.
Her lips look like she took a backhand to the face. That motherfucker must have busted in here and smacked her around. That’s why she called me. I flex my fingers into tight fists as a surge of white-hot rage flows through my body.
“Did he get your kid, too?” I ask.
“No.” She shakes her head as she presses her knees on top of a suitcase, trying to get the zipper closed.
I nudge her aside and finish closing the zipper. There are five large bags packed along with a small athletic bag, and a little backpack that’s shaped like a dog.
“You ready to go?” I ask, taking two of the suitcases by their handles.
“No,” she says. “I have a set of conditions for our arrangement.”
“You make it sound like a thing from that movie.” I grin. “You know, the one where the guy offers the married broad a million bucks for a night?”
“I need you to be serious,” she says.
I wipe the grin off my face and nod. “Alright, sweetheart. Give me your conditions for our arrangement.”
“This is going to be purely professional,” she says. “I’m paying you for your protection. There won’t be any side benefits.”
I can’t help but grin again. I can tell by the way she's standing that she still wants me. How could she not after the dicking I gave her? If she wants to pretend she’ll be able to keep her hands off me when she’s living in my home, more power to her.
“Gotcha,” I say, flashing her my teeth. “I’ll let you make the first move when you’re ready. What else?”
The look on her face says she wants to retort, but she moves past it. “I need you to stay away from my son.”
“That really hurts,” I say sarcastically. “You don’t think I’d be a good influence on him? Toughen him up a bit?”
“I’m serious,” she says, furrowing her brows at me and frowning. “The last thing I need is for him to idolize a gangster.”
“No,” I respond flatly. “The last thing you need is for him to grow up idolizing his father.”
I regret saying that the moment I see the hurt look on her face. That was low, and I shouldn’t have gone there. I just don’t like being told that I’d be a bad influence on a kid. I didn’t grow up in no heaven neither, and she ain’t got no right to judge me for the life I live. No one does.
“How dare you?” she spits out. “This was a dumb idea. I can’t believe I actually thought this was going to work out.”
“Hold on,” I say, holding up my hands for peace. “That was uncalled for. I’m fine with your rules. Okay? I’ll keep my interactions with your son purely professional. And I got a big apartment. You’ll have your own rooms. I got a second bathroom. I stay out most nights. You’ll barely see me.”
Gotta admit though, it’s going to be hard keeping my hands off this fine broad with her living in my house. I would kill to have her walk into the kitchen for breakfast wearing my shirt, her sexy ass sticking out from under the hem. The kid would probably ruin that though.
She pauses, an uncertain look on her face as she looks into my eyes before finally nodding. “One last question,” she says.
“What’s that, sweetheart?” I say.
“Why are you really doing this?” she asks.
That’s the question I’ve been asking myself repeatedly, and there’s no easy answer to it. Sure, I’d like to break her off again and again. There’s never been a broad that left me thinking about her for a week after we banged before.
Fuck. I jacked off just this morning imagining her riding my cock. But that’s not the real reason. If I’m being honest with myself, I know exactly why. But those are memories I got no use for now.
“It’s an easy fifty grand, and I get to piss off a cop.” I smile, covering up my lie. “What more could a gangster like me ask for?”
She looks at me like she doesn’t believe me. “I guess you don’t have to give me the real reason,” she says.
She speaks her mind. The more I’m around her, the more I like this broad. Shit, with sass like that, I think I’m underestimating how hard it’s gonna be to keep my hands off that ass.
“Gonna have to leave your phone behind.” I hold out a new phone Pinky setup for her. “Harry shouldn’t be able to find you with this one so quickly.”
“Okay.” She nods, taking the phone from me. She presses a few buttons on her phone, wiping its memory and leaves it behind on top of the TV.
“You can come out now, Ethan,” Caitlyn says toward the bedroom.
Ethan pokes his little head out from behind the doorframe and studies me with his bright blue eyes.
“Hi,” he says in his high little voice.
“Hey, kiddo.” I smile back at him, my eyes flickering to Caitlyn. She seems fine with me saying hello at least.
“Let’s go,” she says. “Ethan, come here. You ready to move to Brooklyn?”
“Yeah!” he says, running out of the door and grabbing his backpack. “I hate it here.”
Kid’s got it right. This place is a fucking hellhole.
“Okay,” she says, squatting down to help him put on his backpack.
I start picking up the bags and I take the bag she tries to pick up with her good arm. “You watch the kid,” I say. “I’ll get the heavy stuff.”
She smiles and lets me take her bag away from her. She takes Ethan’s hand firmly in hers and follows me out of the motel.
I pop the bags into the back of my SUV, and open the back door to let the kid in.
“I don’t have a booster seat,” I say. Never thought I’d need one, if I’m being honest with myself.
“It’s fine,” she says, climbing into the back with her kid.
I’m a little disappointed to not have her riding up front with me. But I’m sure there’s going to be a lot more of that in store for me. It’s going to be hard to live with a broad this fine in my house and have her doing everything she can to make sure I know she isn’t interested.
I get in the driver’s seat and turn around to make sure they're all set. “You ready? You forget anything?” I ask.
Caitlyn tightens the belt over Ethan and nods at me.
“Ready as we’re going to be,” she says.
I nod and put the car in drive and pull off onto the road. As I take the ramp for the freeway, I can’t help but chuckle as I hear what Ethan’s whispering to his mother.
“I really hope the Indian food isn’t as bad at this new place.”
I drop the bags to the hardwood floor with a loud thud and close the door behind me. Ethan’s already run ahead of his mother into the apartment. I hope I got everything when I was cleaning up. Turns out there’s a lot of shit in my apartment you shouldn’t have around kids, but I think I got everything.
“Get back here right now, Ethan!” Caitlyn shouts after him.
“It’s fine,” I say, and she shoots a glare back at me. “Or not.”
“Go ahead. I’ll put the bags in your room,” I say to her as I kick off my shoes.
I take the bags to the large guest room and drop them next to the wall. Caitlyn comes in momentarily, holding onto Ethan’s hand tightly. She swivels her head around, surveying it like she’s trying to find a booby trap.
“You can stay here,” I tell her. “I don’t know if you need a second room for your kid, but the room down the hall has a sleeper sofa. He can stay there. I don’t use it for anything.”
She nods and gives me a curt smile.
“Let me show you the bathroom,” I say and lead her to the full bath across the hall. “You can put your things in here. I don’t have any of my stuff in this bathroom.”
Caitlyn nods again and smiles. Her smile is more natural this time. Guess this place don’t look so bad compared to where she was staying.
“I don’t have a second kitchen you can use.” I laugh, but the joke falls flat on her.
I lead them toward the kitchen. Ethan’s head is swiveling like an owl’s as he takes in every detail of the apartment.
“This is the kitchen,” I say, flicking on the lights. “I don’t cook much, but I got the basic stuff you need if you want to cook.” I pull out a drawer filled with takeout menus. “I got all the local takeout menus here if you want to order. You already have the address, and the doorman will bring the deliveries up to the door.”
Caitlyn just nods and smiles again.
“Indian’s pretty good too, if I do say so myself,” I say to the kid.
When I look up, I catch Caitlyn glaring at me. Right. Not supposed to talk to her kid.
I can already tell this is going to go really well.
I’m relaxing on the couch, watching a cooking show when Caitlyn comes into the living room. She’s wearing that same thick white bathrobe she had on when I offered her to let her stay at my place. Seeing her walking into my living room with her wet hair wrapped in a towel, looking like she belongs here, sends a strange thrill up my spine. She looks so beautiful even without her makeup on. Despite the dark bags under her eyes and the split on her bottom lip. I just want to get my hands on that spineless fuck. Who’d do this to a woman and his own child?
I blink hard to chase away that thought. Thinking like that always takes me to a dark place, and I don’t need that right now. Not with Caitlyn coming around the other side of the sofa.
“Do you mind if I watch some TV with you?” she asks. “It helps me fall to sleep.”
“Don’t have to ask,” I say, patting the cushion next to me.
“Thanks.” She smiles as she sits down on the far side of the couch, and pulls her feet underneath her, leaving the middle of the couch empty.
I extend the remote toward her. “Want to pick what to watch?”
“No thanks,” she says. “I like cooking shows, too. I have to say, I didn’t expect you to watch shows like this.”
I laugh. “Don’t get the wrong idea. I don’t cook, I just like to watch cooking shows. It’s a simple pleasure, you know?”
“Yeah,” she says.
We sit there in silence, watching the show. I keep glancing at her, but she just sits there, eyes focused on the TV. I get it. She’s had it rough. Now maybe she can finally relax. Several times I catch her looking at me from the corner of her eyes. It looks like she wants to say something.
At last she turns around and says, “I just wanted to say thanks.”
“No worries, sweetheart,” I say. “Your money’s as good as anyone’s.”
Is that what this is all about though? Fifty grand for this? I could make that money in a million other ways without having a woman and a child in my house messing up my life. Gonna be awkward as fuck trying to bring a broad home to bang now, too. Gonna have to be careful about what I lay out, and what I say. Not that I’m normally not careful. But still. This ain’t worth fifty grand. But I made her the offer. And I’m happy she took it.
She forces a smile. “Speaking of that, you haven’t asked for the money yet.”
“You got it, right?” I ask.
She nods.
“Good.” I say. “Give me twelve-fifty a week, and we’re good.”
I’ll just explain the tax as extra income from the darknet. Tony’s not gonna question why I’m giving him more money.
She pulls her feet out from under her and moves to get up, but I gesture for her to stay seated.
“Not now.” I laugh. “I know you’re good for it.”
“Thanks.” She smiles. It doesn’t look forced this time.
“No worries,” I say. “Haven’t heard a peep from the kid. He go to sleep okay?”
“Yeah.” Her smile grows wider, and her eyes look relieved. “I think he likes this place.”
“Good.” I stand up and put the remote on the couch next to her. “I’m heading out.”
I go into the kitchen and dig around in a drawer, fishing out a set of spare keys. I walk back to the living room and drop the keys down on the coffee table in front of her.
“I’ll leave your names as guests with the doorman downstairs in case you get locked out without keys,” I say.
“Thank you,” she says. “I really appreciate it.”
It feels good to hear her saying that. That’s exactly why I need to get out of here. Go hang with the crew. Get some alcohol in me.
Try to forget about this hot broad I can't touch, sitting on my couch in a bathrobe.
Chapter Eight
Caitlyn
I lie back on the couch and let my head sink into the soft pillows. I love the smell of clean leather mixed with a hint of Rocco’s cologne. I don’t know what got me to come out and sit next to him in my bathrobe. As we watched TV, he had his eyes on me half the time, not even pretending to hide his interest. I kept catching myself shifting my body to show him my cleavage through the bathrobe. I should know better than to tempt a guy like him. Especially when I demanded he keep his hands off me.
But he’s hard to resist. His body’s so hard that I could make out the lines of his muscles through his t-shirt. Just seeing his thick arms covered in tattoos made me wish he’d scoop me up and fuck me in his arms. Seeing the outline of his massive cock pressing up against his tight jeans made my mouth water. Is it so wrong to wonder how much of that cock I could get inside my mouth before I choke?
I shake my head, clearing out that thought. It’s not wrong, but it’d just complicate this situation. I’m not a live-in girlfriend, and I know for sure he’s not father material. A relationship with a gangster is out of the question.
Besides, I doubt he’d be interested in me as anything other than a piece of ass. I’ve seen guys like him before. Well, that’s not true. Not exactly like him. But good-looking guys who’re still single in their late twenties aren't exactly complicated. There’s a reason he’s single, and it’s not because he can’t find a woman. It’s because he’s got women throwing themselves at him everywhere he goes, and he has no interest in settling down. Especially with a single mom.
I can’t even imagine what it’s like for him at a bar. There’s probably a constant line of girls hoping he’ll favor them with a glance. No way is he still thinking about me. He’s probably picking out which slut he’s going to fuck
tonight.
I catch myself grimacing at that thought. Why the hell am I getting jealous over him? There’s nothing between us. We just fucked once, and I’m not going to fuck him again. Nothing to be jealous over. I just hope he doesn’t bring whatever slut he picks up here.
Whatever. It’s stupid to even think about. I have bigger worries on my mind. I just need to keep my hands to myself while we figure this whole situation out. Then I can move on with my life. No need to even be thinking about a man like him.
That’s when I notice my hand is between my thighs, inching closer to my pussy. I sigh as I spread my legs and cup my pussy. I feel like I’m on fire thinking about him. I close my eyes and spread my lips, dipping a finger between them. God, I’m so wet just from thinking about him.
I slide my finger inside my entrance and drag it back up between my lips, spreading my juices over my folds. I close my eyes, picturing him coming home alone and horny. He finds me lying on the couch with my bathrobe open and one breast out, the other still covered, my hand gently working between my legs.
He tells me that he couldn’t find a woman as beautiful as me. That I shouldn’t have to please myself alone. I slip a finger deep inside me as I picture him between my legs, throwing them over his shoulders and licking my pussy. His breath is hot on my lips, his tongue hungry to taste me.
I slip a second finger inside myself as I picture him picking me up and throwing me over the couch. He spanks my ass hard till my cheeks are beet red, right before slipping that cock deep inside me.
My breath starts coming out in short gasps as I churn my fingers inside me. My breasts are swollen and my nipples taut, begging to be played with. I loved the way he tugged on them. Making me squeal in pain, right before soothing the hurt with his slippery tongue, turning every bit of pain into pleasure.
I press my wet thumb over my clit, working my fingers deep inside my pussy as I imagine him cumming inside me, but still rock hard. He looks at me with his cocky grin as I look back, spreading my glowing ass for him, and invite him to try to fit his huge cock in my little asshole.