by Cecy Robson
“Yeah. You will. Because I’m going to make sure you make it up to your place.”
She seems ready to argue, but doesn’t, hooking her arm through mine. Maybe it’s the drugs or maybe she knows I’m not ready to leave her.
I keep her steady, allowing her to lead me through the foyer and up the large staircase. There are four floors, but she stops on the second. Good. The only way she was getting up the next few levels in her condition was if I carried her.
Vincent is expecting me back to watch Donnie after he’s done with her. I should head back, but I’m not in a rush. I’m so done with their drama, and tired of the life that I lead. It feels good to be here with someone who’s not a part of any of it.
It’s a dangerous game I’m playing, being connected to the mob like I am, but I need to keep moving my pieces. I’m only hoping I can stay alive long enough to see Apollo and Gianno grown and on their own.
Aedry takes a breath, turning away from the staircase and leading me back to the front of the building. “I’m really thirsty,” she says as we reach her apartment.
“It’s the drugs and the alcohol,” I tell her, watching the careful way she slips the key into the lock and opens the door.
“I suppose.” She waits by the threshold. “Do you want to come in? Maybe have something to drink with me?”
“Yeah. I do,” I respond, my voice dropping an octave.
She doesn’t notice the shift in my tone, offering me a small smile before stepping inside.
The first thing I notice is a framed picture of her on the wall, hugging what appears to be a yellow Labrador with fur that’s almost white. Shit. Aedry can’t be more than fifteen in the picture. Despite the thick glasses and crooked teeth, she looks the same―younger, yeah, but pretty like she is now, smiling wide as she hugs the animal against her.
“Was this your dog?”
“Yes,” she answers quietly, placing her keys and purse on the table beneath the photo. “Moonlight.”
“What?”
“That was my puppy’s name, Moonlight.” Her voice fades like she’s remembering. “She was my best friend for fifteen years, but we had to put her down the summer before I left for college. Worst day of my life.”
I don’t tell her if that’s her worst day, she’s had a good life. Especially since it’s obvious the memory still causes her pain. “Did you get another dog?” I ask.
“No. But I’ve wanted to for the last few years. I’d love another lab, because I adore the breed, but I wouldn’t want a yellow one since I don’t want to feel like I’m replacing Moonlight.” She shrugs. “It’s just never been the right time.”
She walks ahead. Her place is small, but modern and clean. There’s a kitchen to my right and a bathroom with a claw foot tub directly across from it. The tiny living room extends past the kitchen, yet nothing keeps my focus like her bedroom further back.
A large shelving unit that makes up her closet is perched against the wall just behind her headboard. Shoes neatly stacked in vertical shelves make up each side while a rack filled with clothes runs along the center. A sheer curtain separates her room from the living area. Without it, the entire apartment would basically be one large room.
I wonder briefly how many men she’s invited to her bed. I stop wondering when I realize how much the thought pisses me off.
“Would you like some water?” she asks. She’s bent over, searching through her refrigerator, her tiny dress riding up her smooth legs and barely keeping her ass covered. “If not, I have some wine or root beer, if you prefer.”
Her voice cuts off as she turns around, my slowly lifting gaze demonstrating that my mind hadn’t been on anything but her.
“Water’s fine,” I tell her, sensing her sudden unease.
Maybe another guy would be put off or possibly turned on by her fear. I’m not. I’ve seen the terror in a woman’s eyes inflicted by the cruelty of a man. As much as I’m coming to grips with how bad I want her, I’d never intentionally scare her.
I edge away. “Water is good,” I repeat. “Where would you like me to sit?”
Fear seemed to sober her up. She blinks back at me alert, her voice quivering slightly. “In the living room?”
She phrases her comment more like a question, like she’s not sure what to do to with me. I tilt my chin and head to the couch, sitting on the opposite end to give her as much space as possible. She joins me moments later, passing me a glass filled with ice water and surprising me by lowering herself directly beside me.
I’m not sure what she’s thinking, whether she’s trying to be brave, polite, or something else. I don’t know Aedry and, while I can usually read people and anticipate their moves, in many ways this woman’s a mystery. Maybe it’s ‘cause I’ve never met anyone like her.
Aedry doesn’t play or manipulate. She’s not out to get everything and anything she can. She simply is, a genuine entity among a sea of cut-throats.
I wish I could do that, go through life like I’m actually living it, instead of just trying to survive it. But I don’t have that luxury.
“Are you sure you don’t want something else?” she asks, motioning to my glass with a subtle tilt of her chin.
I do, but not because I’m thirsty. My gaze hones in on her full lips. No, right now thirst is the last thing on my mind. “I’m good,” I tell her, lying through my teeth.
She crosses her legs. She’s close, within my reach, but not close enough to touch me. I’m wondering if it’s intentional or if she’s waiting for me to make a move. Like I said, she’s hard to read.
Her hand passes along her skirt to cup her knee. She’s not trying to flirt, at least that’s not how I take it. But the motion draws my attention to her bare legs. She notices, her focus returning to her glass as she takes large but careful sips.
I wait for her to empty her glass before asking her something that’s been bugging me all night. “Can I ask you something?” She dabs the corner of her mouth with her fingertips and nods. “What were you expecting tonight, coming into Silk to see me? As you saw, it’s not a place for someone like you.”
“No. It’s not.” Those bright blue eyes scan my face as she considers her words. “I thought . . .” She glances down. “I thought you’d invited me to spend time with you.”
“Like a date?” Her blush answers me enough. Shit.
“Apollo and Gianno set you up,” I tell her when she says nothing more.
“I figured as much.” She rolls the glass between her hands. “I’ll admit, I’m disappointed in them. I thought we were connecting, and that they liked me.”
“They do.”
She lifts her chin. “Then why would they do that to me? I feel like such a fool.”
“You’re not a fool,” I say, my steeling features showing her I mean what I say. “And my brothers never meant to embarrass you. They don’t know what goes on in Silk. All they know is what they’ve heard: that it’s hot, exclusive, and that people line up every night to get in. If they knew it like I do, they would never have sent you there.”
She leans in. “And how do you know it as well as you do?”
“I take Donnie there all the time.”
“Why?”
“It’s one of her favorite clubs. You can see why. She likes the atmosphere, the exclusiveness of it all, and the drugs that are easily offered.”
“But she’s not your girlfriend.”
“No,” I answer.
She gives what I say some thought. “The way she touches you, it seems like she is or at least wants to be.”
“She’s like that with people she trusts and we’ve known each other a long time. But I’ve never fucked her.”
Her eyes round. “Wow. You don’t mince words do you?”
I shake my head slowly. “No.”
Her hands clutch the glass. “You’re not in public relations, are you?”
I was waiting for her to ask that. “I work security for Donnie’s lover. With what she does, and the p
laces she frequents, it’s my job to keep her safe.”
Her brows knit. “You’re a . . . bodyguard?”
“No. I’m in public relations,” I answer, even though we now know it’s a lie. Aedry’s been good to my family, but she’s still an employee at my brothers’ school. By law, she’s obligated to report any concerns about their welfare.
“Why can’t you just say you work security detail?” she asks. “It’s an honest living.”
“Public relations sounds more impressive. When people hear security detail, they think mall cop. A twenty-one-year-old mall cop didn’t stand a chance at gaining custody of two kids in grade school.”
I’m not sure she’s buying what I’m telling her, but when she speaks, she latches on to my reasons for doing what I did in a way that cements me in place. “I can’t imagine how stressful your life must have been back then, losing your mother and fighting to hang on to the family you had left. It must have been a nightmare.”
Yeah. It was.
My jaw seals tight. The last thing I want to do is remember that time or even talk about it. I’d toss and turn all night, wondering if my brothers were safe, if anyone was messing with them in that group home they were dumped in, and whether my efforts were in vain.
The judge, he didn’t like me and neither did the social worker assigned to the case.
“Too young to provide appropriate care,” she’d told the judge.
“Nothing more than a thug,” she’d whispered to the other caseworker.
If it weren’t for Vin stepping in, dropping the bills to support me, and replacing my shit-bag attorney with one of his, I would have lost my brothers to the system.
You might say I owe Vin everything.
“I’m sure everything you did was for them,” Aedry says, bringing me back from that dark time.
Her smile is soft, sympathetic without showing pity. “What?” I ask, even though I heard her.
“I’m trying to tell you that I know that you love them, and that everything you did was to help them.”
Her smile loses its luster in the quiet that follows. “What are you thinking?” I ask her when her attention drifts toward her bedroom.
“That they’re great kids with good hearts,” she answers quietly. “Just like their brother.”
She thinks I’m good man. But she’s wrong.
“But I’ll be honest,” she continues. “I’m confused by their actions tonight, and why they would pick me of all people to target for prank.”
I mull over what to say to maybe spare her or to make her feel better. In the end, instead of more lies, the truth comes out, even though maybe it shouldn’t. “Near as I can figure, you remind them of our mother.”
“I don’t know what you mean by that,” she says. “Are you saying I resemble her?”
“Not even a little bit,” I admit.
“Then where are you going with this?”
“She was everything to us,” I say without thinking how much I’m telling her. “You’re nurturing like her, affectionate like she used to be. I think they miss it and maybe need it.” I set my glass down on the coffee table and look up at her. “You might have noticed I’m not the warm and cuddly type.”
She laughs, placing her glass beside mine. “I might have noticed.”
“I’m pissed at what they did,” I confess. “Don’t get me wrong. But I know they meant well.”
“How?” she asks, grimacing. “It was so embarrassing. I can’t imagine what they’d hoped to accomplish.”
“They were trying to get us together.”
It’s like I’m watching a movie at home and I hit pause. For a long few seconds, Aedry doesn’t move.
But I do.
I lose the space between us, my hand cupping her face as her full lips part. “They think I’m attracted to you,” I murmur, trailing my thumb over her cheek. “And they’re right.”
I lower my head, passing my lips gently along hers until she invites my tongue to penetrate her deeply. I’m not sure how she’ll respond. I half-expect her to break away from me.
But she doesn’t, flicking her tongue over mine as I strengthen our kiss and my arm hooks her waist.
The kiss is slow, not as fast as I want, or as hard as I’m used to. But then something switches, turning us more aggressive. Her nails trace over my chest to dig into my shoulders, tightening our embrace and inviting me to curl around her.
I don’t want to pull away. I don’t want to stop. What I want is to peel away her dress and spread her legs wide.
The only thing that stops me is knowing she’s not sober, despite how she’s acting. Ecstasy can do a real number on your head. I won’t take her now, not like this.
I break the kiss, even though I’m as hard as a metal railing. “I have to go.”
Surprise sweeps along her delicate features, but when she bites down on her bottom lip, I come close to tossing my sense of right and wrong aside and carrying her to bed.
“Are you sure?” she asks, barely above a whisper.
No. I’m not. But that’s not what I tell her. “I have to get back to Donnie.”
Donnie’s is the last place I want to be, especially with Vin there. I don’t need their dysfunctional shit messing with my head. I’d rather be here, with Aedry.
I almost tell her that, but I shut my trap and force myself to my feet.
Images of taking her behind that sheer white curtain pound against my skull like a wild storm as I walk toward the door. She follows me, tugging down her skirt as she reaches my side. Christ, does she know what she’s doing to me and how bad I want to rip that thing off her?
As small as her place is, it seems to take forever to reach the door. I won’t lie, I change my mind about leaving more than once.
I grasp the knob, but then let it go, speaking before I think things through. “Do you want to have dinner with me tomorrow night?”
“Dinner?” She smiles. “I’d love to.”
I frown when her grin fades, and she seems to want to say more. “What’s wrong?” I ask.
She watches my hand when it drifts to play with her dark hair. “I just wanted to thank you, for being such a gentleman.”
My hand stills. “I’m no gentleman,” I growl, pegging her with look that halts her in place. “Have dinner with me and you’ll find out what kind of man I really am.”
Chapter Nine
Aedry
Salvatore’s comment is meant as a warning and that’s how I take it. He’s not like the beta men I’ve always dated. Oh, no. He’s very alpha, his mere presence commanding respect, or else.
I’m not blind or naïve. The way he held the gun with ease demonstrated his readiness to pull the trigger. He’s a man used to violence and seizing control. It makes sense, given his family history and the rough streets he grew up in, but I’ll confess, it was hard seeing that side of him.
I don’t want to believe that he’d tread on the wrong side of the law, so instead of focusing on what he might be capable of, I remind myself that almost everyone in the south, including my immediate family, owns a gun. “You have to be ready to protect yourself and those you love,” my granddad told me every time I’d find him cleaning his rifle.
He’s right and Salvatore did use his gun to protect me.
Despite witnessing his aggression, I don’t cancel our dinner plans.
I pause in the middle of sweeping my lashes with mascara. There’s something about him that invites me closer, luring me into his dark embrace and stirring my primal need like a cyclone.
A knock on my door has me hurrying to finish. Oh, no. He’s early.
The second knock has me racing. “Aedry?”
My steps slow as I reach the door, the familiar voice of my former roommate and loving bestie making me grin. I open the door. “Hey, Autumn.”
She yanks me against her, hugging me against her tall, slender frame. “Hey, stranger,” she says. “One of your slutty friends was nice enough to let me in.” She glanc
es back to where Christy is standing outside her apartment, scowling and clutching her bag of groceries under her arm.
Autumn whips her head back, her eyes wide. “Do you think she heard me?” she whispers frantically.
Given how hard Christy slams the door, I’m certain she did. I try not to let it bother me. When I checked on her and the rest of the girls earlier, they were pissed their good time ended, and annoyed they were escorted out. Unlike me, they’d taken the ecstasy willingly and it hadn’t been their first time.
I haul Autumn inside. I love her dearly, but smooth and unassuming are the last two words I’d use to describe her. She steps back enough so I can close the door. “You look nice. Are you going out?”
“I am,” I say beaming. “If you can believe it, I’m going to dinner with a hot guy I have no business dating.”
“You’re kidding?” She shoves her quirky green glasses back on the bridge of her nose. Despite the silly frames and the pile of messy red hair held on top of her head by a well-placed number two pencil, she looks beautiful, even though she wouldn’t believe anyone who told her. “Who is this stud and how did you meet him?”
I scrunch my nose. “His name is Salvatore. He’s the guardian of two students I council.”
“Whoa, Nellie.”
“I know.”
“Aedry.”
“I know!”
She tilts her chin. “I’m guessing our Dr. Who marathon is off for tonight.”
“Oh, God. I’m so sorry. I forgot all about it.”
She holds onto her grin, but I don’t miss the disappointment in her features. Like me, Autumn spends too much time working and most of her free time alone. In a way, she’s worse off, hindered by her awkwardness and her disastrous track record with men. Two of her serious boyfriends became priests, choosing God over her. The other two chose men. Autumn blames her performance in bed for permanently turning them off to women. I can’t really blame her. It’s safe to say her experiences haven’t exactly been confidence boosters.
“Aedry, don’t look so sad. It’s okay. If I had to choose between a make-believe man on TV and a real one, I’d choose the real one for sure.”