I open my mouth to respond, but he holds up a hand. “Do you know who he is? Who I am?” The inside of the Range Rover is only dimly lit by the florescent lights that manage to seep in through the heavily tinted windows, but I can see the flare of his eyes as if he’s excited by the prospect.
“Yes,” I whisper, hoping he can’t hear the trepidation in my voice.
“Then you know how dangerous it is for him to be so distracted by you.”
“I…”
“I can’t stop him from being with you. But if you’re going to be his woman, then you need to learn what that roll means and entails. You need to be sure of it all before he’s so far gone, you’ll bring down everything we’ve built by walking away when things get to be too much and you see or learn of something you don’t like.” His eyes are penetrating mine, his calm voice edged with warning. “Do you know what I’m saying?” he asks, urging me to answer him.
“Yes.” I swallow. “I understand what you’re saying.”
“Good.” He nods. “Alfie, you can unlock the doors now,” he instructs the driver, the resound shifting of the locks filling my senses as I repeat Leo’s words over in my head.
I don’t even notice when he climbs out and Alec’s face fills the doorframe. “What did he say to you?” he demands.
“Nothing,” I whisper, sliding out of the car. I don’t want to talk to him right now.
Tires come to a screeching halt behind us and I turn to see Enzo jumping out of his SUV and walking briskly towards us. His eyes run up and down me to make sure I’m okay before looking at Alec, and when he does, it’s like Enzo actively clears his face of all emotion. He stands tall, waiting for Alec to say something.
He doesn’t, though. I watch with wide eyes as Alec holds his hand out to the man next to him who pulls a gun from his shoulder holster inside his suit jacket and places it in Alec’s waiting hand.
I stand frozen, not sure if what I’m seeing is the truth.
He flips the safety off and holds the gun up to Enzo, who doesn’t seem at all surprised. Alec’s face doesn’t give anything away. Only his cold, dark eyes show the anger he’s holding.
“You shouldn’t have let her step foot in there. You know that, don’t you?”
Enzo nods once, not showing an ounce of fear. He expected this.
“I trusted you to keep her safe. This is the second time you’ve let me down.” Alec’s cold voice is devoid of all emotion. No anger, no remorse, no disappointment. Nothing.
Then it all happens as if in slow motion. The deafening sound of the gun goes off and Enzo’s torso is thrusted backward. He staggers a few feet and then falls to his knees.
Dropping my bag, I run to him. Kneeling beside him, I press my hands to his wound that’s bleeding out profusely.
Tears blur my vision, but I murmur words of encouragement to the man who’s done nothing wrong in my eyes. He’s followed me, driven me, watched over me, and saved me when I needed it.
“Lay back,” I tell him, and he actually listens. “You’ll be fine, E. You’ll be fine.”
I press harder against his wound and look up at Alec who’s staring at me with those same cold eyes.
“Alec! He needs help!” I yell, my voice breaking at the end. He doesn’t do anything, though. He just stands there holding the gun at his side. My eyes sweep around the group of men behind him, all of them with the same blank, emotionless expressions.
I look Alec in the eyes again. “Alec,” I repeat, “if you don’t get him help, I’ll never forgive you. I trust him to protect me. I don’t give a damn if you think you need to prove anything to these men.”
“I’ll be fine, T,” Enzo says weakly, blood spurting through my fingers as I try and keep the pressure.
“Yes, you will be,” I tell him. “Alec!” I yell, but he just turns and walks away, handing the gun back to the man and telling him something in the process.
The guard takes his phone out and dials a number. A few minutes later, Joe, the doctor who checked me over after I was attacked, comes running from the other side of the garage.
“Please help him,” I beg. Looking down at Enzo, his eyes are closed, so I slap his cheek softly. “No, wake up! Stay here, E!” I keep patting his cheek, then slap him harder, and he groans, opening his eyes.
“Jesus, T. Ow.”
I give him a smile as Joe gets to work. He digs in his bag and comes out with a wad of gauze and replaces my hand with his.
“We need to get him up to the room. Help me with him,” Joe orders, and three men step up to lift Enzo from the floor and carry him to the elevator.
“Is he going to be okay? Where are you taking him?”
“To the medic suite in the hotel where I’ll do everything I can to save him.”
Sitting back on my heels, I feel the rough cement digging into my legs, and I realize once again that I’m still dressed in my show costume.
I look down at my bloody hands and don’t know what to do with them.
“Here,” Joe says, handing me a small towel from his bag. “You did good, Tessa.”
“Thanks,” I whisper, rubbing my hands on it, the stark white turning a vivid red. I didn’t do good, though. Enzo is dying because of me.
The elevator dings and the doors open. “I have to go,” he says quickly, grabbing his bag and running to the waiting elevator car.
I look after him, and I’m surprised to see Leo is still here, looking at me with what I think is respect in his eyes. But I don’t care. I’m done. I want to leave.
“I need to go home,” I tell him.
“I’ll take you.” Lifting his chin at the man he called Alfie earlier, he gets back behind the wheel and Leo opens the back door for me.
Standing on shaky legs, I grab my bag and look back at the closed elevator doors. “Will he be okay?”
“Joe will take care of him.” He nods, and I return it with a small one of my own before climbing inside the car.
I give Alfie my address, and when we pull up to my apartment building, I look down at my costume and blood-stained hands.
“Alfie will walk you up. No one will bother you,” Leo tells me.
“Right. Sure,” I answer in a daze. I don’t feel anything right now. I just watched a man who’s been with me every day for the past month, or two if you count the one I didn’t even know about, get shot in front of me. It was too reminiscent of watching my brother getting shot and bleeding out on the sidewalk.
I couldn’t help him.
I couldn’t do anything to stop the bleeding from the shot to his chest while people just stood around and watched me scream and cry for help.
Help arrived too late for James.
“Give me your phone,” he says, but when I look inside my bag, I realize I don’t have it.
“It was taken at the party and I left before getting it back.”
“I’ll have it brought to you,” he assures me. “And my number will be in it when it is. Text me tomorrow if you want to know how Enzo is doing.”
“Okay.”
“It’ll be my private number that only my brothers and sister have,” he tells me, and I glance over at him.
“I understand. Thank you.”
Climbing out of the SUV, Alfie walks silently beside me up to my apartment, and I give him a noncommittal thanks before disappearing inside and locking the door behind me.
I don’t want to be bothered by anyone.
Scrubbing my hands under scalding water for what feels like an hour, Enzo’s blood is finally gone, but I can still feel it.
Peeling my costume from my body, I lay it out on the chair in my room, seeing that it luckily didn’t get ruined, and then step into the shower, letting the hot spray of water wash away every other trace of tonight.
Chapter 21
Alec
Downing my whiskey in a single shot, I pour another, and quickly shoot that back as well.
Tessa shouldn’t have been there tonight.
Pulling out my p
hone, I see four unread texts and one call from Enzo that I didn’t see earlier, warning me that Tessa was going to be dancing at The Broker’s party tonight.
Fuck.
Pouring myself another drink, I scrub my face with my hand, trying to get the look on Tessa’s face out of my head when I shot Enzo.
He may have called and texted, but he should’ve never let her go inside. He should’ve locked the fucking car doors and driven her right back to my place to wait for me.
He knew better, and he paid for his mistake.
I should’ve put a bullet between his eyes for fucking up a second time with Tessa, but like Leo said I would, I second guessed myself and went for his shoulder instead. It may still kill him, but he has a slightly better chance of living if he hasn’t already lost too much blood.
Anything could’ve happened to her tonight at that party. Those men saw her the way only I’ve seen her, and I know any one of them would love to take what’s mine from me as payback for something or other.
Loosening my tie, I sit in my leather chair in the living room and stare out the windows at nothing in particular.
At some point, Leo storms in and pours himself a drink, taking the seat next to me.
“Where is she?”
“I took her home.”
“What?” I clip, looking at him. “Why?”
“She needs some time away from you, Alec.”
“That’s not your call to make. I don’t want her alone. She might run.”
Leo huffs out a laugh. “I have someone on her. But maybe she should run.”
My hand tightens around my glass. “Shut the fuck up. I’m not letting her go.”
“Well, you better think of a way to come back from tonight.”
The image of her kneeling by Enzo, her hands covered in his blood and completely unfazed by it fills my mind, and the corners of my lips lift.
“She was beautiful tonight,” I say without thought. “She handled it so beautifully. Half-naked, her hands covered in his blood and spitting mad. She’s the most beautiful fucking thing in the world.”
“You’re fucking crazy.” Leo shakes his head and sips his whiskey. “I know you hesitated from killing him because of her, but I think you made the right choice. She wouldn’t forget that image in her head. She might eventually get over it and move on, but she would never forget it.”
He’s right. But Tessa needs to know that I’m dead serious when it comes to her. And if she’s going to hide shit from me, or decide she wants to let another man put his hands all over her, she needs to know there’ll be consequences.
I’d kill for her, and already have. But I’d also kill because of her.
♠♣♥♦
Wiping a towel across my chest and around my neck, I lie back on the bench and go for my tenth rep of weights.
I couldn’t sleep with my mind going crazy over Tessa, wondering if she’s alone, if she’s mad, or if I should go to her and just fuck the anger right out of the both of us.
With one last lift of the bar, I clink it back into place and sit up.
I take a quick shower, but my cock is still rock hard from the thought of fucking her angry and having her fight me before giving in. My hand isn’t an option. Only Tessa’s tight little silken pussy will satisfy me.
The next thing I know, I’m dressed and grabbing my keys as I storm out of my house. When I reach the garage, I have to step over Enzo’s blood stain on the cement to get to my car, and my anger flares once again.
I don’t know why I let Tessa make me this fucking crazy with shit I’ve never felt before or know how to handle. Obsession, possession, jealousy, a manic need that only grows the more I have her, and this crazed fucking feeling in my chest that makes it seem like that organ in there is pumping harder than usual.
Ignoring the stain, I climb in my Audi and peel out of there. I take the streets of AC at a speed that’s more than double the limit.
When I get to Tessa’s apartment building, I take the stairs two at a time, needing to get to her quicker. Leo has one of his men outside her door, and he gives me a curt nod at seeing me. For the life of me, I can’t remember his name right now, and I’m not in the mood to ask or care.
Knocking on her door, I wait a few seconds, listening for movement inside. When I don’t hear anything, I knock again, harder this time, and the door flies open to an angry Tessa.
“What the hell are you doing here? It’s four in the morning!” Her eyes are blazing.
“I don’t care what time it is.” I push my way inside and kick the door closed behind me.
“Get out!” she yells, holding her hand up to try and keep me away.
Pushing her hand aside, I lift her up by the waist and toss her over my shoulder, striding through her living room and into her bedroom.
Throwing her down on the bed, she crawls back up to the pillows. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m going to fuck the anger out of you,” I tell her as I grab the back of my shirt and take it off, tossing it to the floor.
“I doubt that’s possible,” she huffs.
“Is that a challenge, bella?” I ask cruelly. “Because you know I always win.”
“Not this time,” she pushes back.
Tessa goes to climb off the bed and I grab her ankles, dragging her down so her back is flat on the mattress, easily fending off her kicks.
When I release her to push down my sweat pants, she scurries to her knees at the end of the bed in front of me, her eyes revealing the battle she’s waging between desire and hate.
Good.
It’ll make fucking that hate right out of her all the more sweeter.
Chapter 22
Tessa
Staring up at Alec while he strips for me, my mind and body wage an internal war of both wanting him more than anything, and wanting to slap him for being so presumptuous in my need for him.
With his broad, naked chest on full display, my hands itch to reach out and touch him, to feel his warm, taut skin.
My eyes roam down his toned abs that are calling to me to run my tongue between all the defined ridges, and then settle on the monstrously erect cock that’s swollen and in desperate need of my touch.
“You can’t just think that coming here and stripping so I can see what I’m giving up will make me crumble like some weak woman you’re used to controlling.”
“Oh, I know you’re not weak, bella. That’s why I know you’ll fight me.” Gripping my oversized t-shirt in his fist, Alec pulls me towards him and crushes his lips to mine, silencing me from further argument.
My body comes alive with his touch, and I have no choice in whether or not I respond to him. It’s like breathing. It happens without me even knowing.
But I don’t want to want him this much. It’s not going to end well.
Remembering what happened tonight, I push him away, but fall back onto the bed in the process, and Alec flashes me a predatory grin that both sends a chill down my spine and makes my body flood with need.
I’m only wearing an oversized t-shirt and panties, and when Alec climbs up on the bed, he easily opens my legs and occupies the space between them with his large frame.
“I know you’re wet for me,” he taunts, leaning in close so I feel his breath on my neck. Licking his way to my ear, he bites down on my lobe, and I bite down on my lip to keep from groaning. I will not let him have that satisfaction. “I’ll bet you anything you want that your panties are soaking wet. For me,” he growls, biting down on my neck.
Arching off the bed, my chest collides with his as he snakes a hand between us and runs a knuckle down the seam of my sex through my panties.
An animalistic groan vibrates from his lips into my neck, and I bite down harder on mine to keep from making a sound.
I hate that he can render me utterly powerless with a single touch. He could brush my arm as he walked by and my body would burn for more.
I hate how much I’ve already fallen for him, and I
don’t see my need for him lessening. But I can’t do this with him if he’s going to control every aspect of my life and kill whoever dares to defy him because of me.
Gripping the waist of my panties, Alec literally tears them from my body, the simple black cotton biting into my hips as it rips.
“You won’t win, mia bella rosa. I know everything you love done to you. I know how to make you come so hard you won’t even remember why you’re mad at me. Should we test how strong you think you can be against me?” he whispers harshly in my ear, his voice like gravel on my insides – rubbing me raw.
“Making me come doesn’t mean you win,” I tell him, and he chuckles darkly.
“That’s exactly what that means.” Entering me in a single thrust, my mouth hangs open in a silent scream as my body adjusts to his size without warning.
Sliding his hands under my t-shirt to palm my breasts, Alec pinches and rolls my nipples between his fingers and I close my eyes to the sensations rippling through me.
“Look at me when I’m inside of you,” he demands, but I shake my head, keeping my eyes squeezed closed. Rolling his hips, Alec pulls out almost completely before slamming back inside of me full force.
A little whimper leaves my lips and I can sense the victorious gleam in his eyes without even seeing it, so I use every ounce of strength I have to push him off of me and roll him over, using the element of surprise to execute the maneuver.
I rip my shirt off over my head and sink down on him before he can stop me.
I’m taking back the control.
Alec’s deep grunt at my sudden impalement makes me smile condescendingly down at him. “I thought you were going to win.”
His dark eyes turn molten black as I splay my hands over his chest and roll my hips, my clit rubbing perfectly against him. I bite my lip and toss my head back as I suppress the moan threatening to explode from inside of me.
Alec’s deep snarl, followed by a head-rushing switch of positions, has the breath leaving my lungs in a rush. On my back again, he grips me behind my knees and spreads me open, thrusting into me furiously.
His brows are drawn together as he takes me with a hardened need to fuck the anger out of me.
Casino King: A Dark Mafia Romance (Carfano Crime Family Book 1) Page 16