Dominic (The Family Book 2)

by Angelique Jones

  “Are you going to invite me in?” Tori asked nervously, when I continued to stand there like an idiot.

  “Uh yeah, come in.”

  I pushed the door open and stood back, afraid that if I went in first she’d disappear. As she walked past me she kept her eyes downcast. I closed and locked the door, placing the gun on the table before following her.

  “Can I get you something to drink?” I asked. Fuck, I was such a tool. She shook her head and sat down on the couch. I took the chair near her. I just stared. I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t believe she was real and here. I wanted to go to her and check her over to make sure she was OK but I stayed rooted in my spot, not willing to do anything that would make her leave a second sooner. Trying to think of anything to say I blurted out, “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m a fine.” She put her hand to her shoulder.” The bullet went through and didn’t hit anything.”

  “I know, I…”

  As she looked up, fire filled her eyes. “What do you mean you know? You couldn’t get away from me quick enough.”

  “That’s not true. I stayed with you at the hospital until they told me you’d be fine,” I said, as she glared death rays at me.

  “Bullshit, Dom. Don’t lie.”

  “I’m not lying. Ask your brother,” I snapped.

  “You know what, it doesn’t matter.” She stood up, looked down at me, and shook her head. “I don’t know why I even came here. It was a mistake.”

  Realizing that this was getting out of hand, I grabbed her arm. “Enough, Tori I don’t want you walking out like this,” I said, trying to be reasonable.

  “I’ll do whatever I want. You have no say.”

  At those words any chance of being reasonable flew out the window. I got into her face until our noses were an inch apart. I’d had enough of this shit. Fuck being the good guy and giving her a chance at a life with a guy that wasn’t broken. I was done with this self-sacrificing bullshit. I hadn’t sought her out. She came to me and now she was going to live with all the fucked-up consequences.

  “The fuck I don’t, you belong to me,” I snarled, right before slamming my mouth into hers.

  …

  You belong to me. You belong to me. Rage filled my soul at those words. I beat my hands against his chest and ripped my mouth away. “Since when? You left me without a fucking word. I risked my life to come for you and you couldn’t even wait for me to wake up before running off back to your family. I was nothing but a means to an end for you. You use me when I’m convenient and then you throw me away,” I screamed, hating him, hating myself.

  Why wasn’t I good enough to love? Caged in his arms I tried to break free but he wouldn’t let me. No matter what I screamed or how hard I hit he took it, pulling me into his body, whispering that he was sorry. Weakly I collapsed into him as if releasing all the anger that I had kept bottled inside stole my strength. There was no fight in me when he gathered me into his arms and carried me to his bed. He sat on the bed, keeping me tight in his arms. My face hidden in his chest, I asked what my soul dreaded the answer to. “Why did you leave me? Why didn’t you want me?”

  He laughed without humor at my question. “I left because you’re better off without me. How the fuck could you possibly want me after what you saw? How could you want your sister’s whore?”

  I pulled back and looked into his face. Pain and self-disgust filled it. I reached forward and cupped his cheek. He captured it with his hand and held it there, as if he was afraid that I was going to take it away. “The things I had to do I can’t ever talk about, but they’re inside of me, festering like an open wound ready to poison whatever is around it. I didn’t want any of it to touch you.” He opened his eyes and stared into mine. “I wanted you to have a life with a man that didn’t remind you of the past. I wanted you to find happiness and love. I didn’t leave you because you were the enemy. I left you because I fell in love with you. I’ve never loved anyone before you, and I doubt I’ll love anyone after you.” He pushed his hands deep into my hair and brought my head forward until our foreheads touched.

  “Why did you come?” he asked. “Was it to torture me? To make me suffer for what I did to you. If it was, you needn’t have bothered. I hate myself every moment for the way I treated you.”

  I pulled my head free, got to my knees and straddled him. I gripped his face and forced him to look at me. “I came because I couldn’t not come. I came because every moment without you has been endless in its misery. I came because no matter how bad it is with us together it is unbearable with us apart. I came knowing that you might not feel the same way. I know that how we met was a fucked-up mess. I know that your family hates mine, but I don’t care. I don’t care as long as I have you.” I smiled. “I came because no matter what you think, Salvatici, you belong to me and the Genoveses always keep what’s theirs.”

  I moved forward to kiss Dom but ended up giving a little scream when he rolled us over until my back was on the bed and he was looming over me. “I think you got that wrong. It’s the Salvaticis that always get and keep what theirs,” he said, before his lips sealed to mine in a kiss that sent scorching waves of need through my body. Every touch that he gave me seared my skin. Like animals we fought for dominance, ripping at each other’s clothes. Sweet lovemaking would come later after we slaked the burning want that filled us.

  I rubbed my hands over his body, and latched onto his nipple, causing him to buck. He gripped my hair and turned my head to give him access to my neck, biting down on that spot just before my shoulder. He turned me over, pulled my hips up, and kept one hand firmly planted on my neck, forcing my face into the pillow. In one hard thrust he filled me. My breath caught in my throat at the invasion, my unused muscles fighting to accept him. Each thrust was an agonizing mixture of pleasure and pain as my body willingly took the brutal pounding that he gave me. I gripped the sheets and tried to move, wanting to thrust back, but he wouldn’t allow it. He totally dominated my body and pleasure. The pressure in me built and built until I was shaking. My muscles clenched around him, forcing him to stop teasing me and give us what we both needed. The hard pounding of before was nothing compared to what he unleashed. Pushing my hips up high, he forced every inch in deep, causing screams past my trembling lips.

  Pulling free of me I wanted to weep at the loss as he flipped me over. Raw lust and something more filled his gaze when he looked down at me. “I need to see your eyes.” He growled out before throwing my legs over his shoulders. He hoisted me up until only my shoulders touched the bed. If I though he was deep before it was nothing compared to where he was now. My eyes rolled back when he entered me. Forcing my eyes to him, terrified that if I looked away he would stop, I came hard. The fierce ownership that filled his face as he looked down upon me sent me over the edge. My body exploded into a million pieces as tremors and shakes filled it. Even in my euphoria I felt the moment when he surrendered. Every muscle that surrounded his hard length tightened, milking every drop. His bellow of pleasure filled the empty apartment before he collapsed on top of me.

  Exhausted, we lay, our bodies tangled together. Long minutes passed before he moved off me. His cock was still hard as it slid out of me, causing mini orgasms to rake my sensitive flesh. Dozing I opened my eyes as I felt him lift me into his arms. Cuddling into his body, I moaned in pleasure as he lowered us into the hot water of the bath. Taking a washcloth he gently worked it over my oversensitive body as he whispered, “You’re staying with me, Tori. I won’t let you go again. I’m not strong enough.”

  I glided my fingers over his chest. “You should never have let me go to start with,” I softly said back. He covered my hand with his as it touched one of the scars that now covered his body. “I love you Dominic, and nothing will change it. You belong to me. Every scar, every fucked-up feeling is mine. Don’t try to hide it from me. I can deal with a lot but I can’t deal with you locking me out. I can deal with anything but that.”

  He cupped my chin,
tilted my head back and gently took my lips. What happened next wasn’t sex, but the melding of two beings into one. By the time he carried me back to bed and held me in his arms I was at peace. I was finally home.

  Chapter 30

  As I stood in my father’s study I was taken back to the day I was summoned. I had been so willing to do anything to protect my family and today I was doing that. I was protecting Tori. She was my family now.

  “I plan on marrying Victoria Genovese,” I told them in a hard voice, wanting no misunderstanding. Surprise showed in my father’s eyes but Lucca’s showed nothing. “I understand the animosity between our families may make this impossible for you to accept.”

  “Impossible? Dominic you want to marry into a family that has brutally abused you and two of our woman. A family that started a war that almost destroyed our family,” my father said.

  The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on me. “Tori is not to blame for the insanity of her brother and sister. Hell, even that brother of hers, Nero, isn’t to be blamed. The Genovese family has suffered their share of losses, father. Nero risked his own life to save Maria, and Tori risked her life for me.”

  Wearily father shook his head. “Son, I don’t believe that Nero or the girl are like their siblings, but it doesn’t matter. Your sister Marie and Angie don’t deserve, after everything that they have been through, having a reminder sitting at the table every holiday. It isn’t fair to them and you know it.”

  I kept my eyes locked with my father’s. “I do know it. Which is why I’ve come to say good-bye. I knew that it would be Tori or the family. I never expected it to be both.”

  Shock filled my father’s face, but it was Lucca who spoke. “Nothing comes before the family, Dominic. You know this.”

  “Lucca, I will be loyal to our family until the day I die. No matter what has happened that will never change, but I will not give up Tori.” I shook my head. “If anyone can understand that it should be you, Lucca.” I smiled when he stiffened. “Whether you admit it or not, it’s plain to see, Angie comes first with you. Had it been anyone else shot, you would have been the cold calculating bastard we all know and done your research before you went for blood. I don’t fault you for this, brother. I just point this out so you know where I’m coming from.”

  “Stop picking on my husband, Dominic,” an amused voice called out from the door. “You know making him admit his feelings causes him to break out in hives.” Angie walked in and stopped next to me. “You look better. I’m glad that girl finally showed up. I don’t think her brother would have been happy if I made a second trip there and dragged her out of the house.”

  I blinked in shocked at her words. “You went to see Tori?”

  “Of course. The two of you were taking entirely too long to make the right decision,” she said, as if it was the most natural thing.

  “What the hell do you mean you went to the Genovese house?” Lucca barked. Fuck, I forgot they were there.

  She rolled her eyes. “I’ve had enough from the lot of you. Someone had to deal with the situation and since the rest of you weren’t doing shit I did.” Looking to my father and Lucca she said softly but firmly, “I’m willing to accept that girl into our family because I’m unwilling to lose Dominic. He loves her and would have eventually turned his back on us to be with her. I wasn’t going to allow that. If you want to be angry with me for interfering so be it, but you will accept this girl, and we will make peace with the Genovese family.”

  I saw that my father and Lucca were about to explode. “Angie, I know you mean well, but I understand that Tori is an either-or choice and I accept that,” I said, trying to reason with her.

  She turned on her heels and walked toward door, ignoring my words. “I’ve arranged for a party for next Saturday and have invited Tori’s brother and grandmother to celebrate your engagement. I expect you both to be here by eleven to help set up,” she said, leaving three pairs of eyes staring at the empty doorway.

  “You know this is all Lucca’s fault, don’t you Dominic?” My father said, breaking the silence. I saw the smile playing in his eyes. “Your brother insisted on marrying her. Hell, he went so far as to threaten a war if he didn’t get her.”

  “I don’t see you complaining when it’s time for dinner,” Lucca said, causing us all to chuckle.

  I looked back to the empty doorway, knowing that the day Angie decided that we belonged to her was the luckiest of our lives. I knew that there was still shit to work out between us, but I also knew that we would, because that was what Angie wanted and nothing stood in the way of something she wanted.

  Epilogue

  “Damn it Dom, stop picking on Tony,” I hissed, smacking him in the chest.

  “I want you to stay away from that little shit. There’s no reason for you to be talking to him. I don’t know why you even invited him,” he growled, earning nods from Chris and Marcus.

  I rolled my eyes. “I was just trying to be nice. What am I supposed to tell him? I can’t talk to him because you don’t want me to? He’s in three of my classes.”

  “No baby, you don’t have to say anything because when I’m done beating him into the ground he’ll realize that you’re not fucking available.”

  “Don’t you dare. I mean it, the three of you had better not touch him,” I said, realizing that he was serious.

  “Then he better stay the fuck away from you. You’re mine, and I don’t share.”

  I smiled because I couldn’t help it. I threw my arms around his neck. “You’re jealous,” I said jokingly, but seeing the flash of insecurity that went through his eyes was incredible. If anyone had a reason to be jealous it was me. He was so hot I couldn’t blame women for practically worshipping at his feet. It was unreal that he only had eyes for me. I brushed my lips against his before bringing them to his ear and whispering, “I love you.”

  He tightened his hold on me for a long moment before smacking my butt. “Come on, we’d better mingle before Angie comes and hunts us down again.”

  Smiling at his gruff tone, I turned in his arms and looked out into the crowd. It was like a party of the Hatfields and the McCoys. On one side of the yard was my family, on the other was Dom’s, and right down the middle were all the poor bastards who were afraid to pick a side. Angelica, or Angie, as she said to call her, fluttered around between all sides, terrifying and fascinating them at once as Lucca Salvatici watched on, ready to kill anyone who was remotely improper toward his beautiful wife.

  I pulled out of Dom’s arms and told him I’d be right back. I hurried into the house to use the bathroom. I swear I had to pee every five minutes lately. Seeing someone waiting outside the downstairs bathroom, I rushed past a guard stationed on the stairs to keep nonfamily from going up. Going into the first bathroom I found I hurried, wanting to get back out there before something went wrong. Because let’s be honest, with this group that was a definite possibility. In the hallway the sound of a voice that shouldn’t be there drew me. What the hell was he doing up here? As quietly as I could I snuck to the slightly ajar door and listened.

  “How are you feeling?” Nero asked.

  Curious as to who was in there with him, I went to peek around the door but was stopped by the voice that answered him. “How do you think I feel?” Maria spat out, in a venomous tone.

  “Why aren’t you downstairs at the party?” he asked, ignoring her anger.

  “Why the hell would I want to watch my brother betray me with that sister of yours?” Maria sneered, causing my breath to catch. I had been told that she was away, that’s why she wouldn’t be attending, not that she refused to.

  “Maria, Victoria had nothing to do with what happened to you. In fact she considers you a friend and is worried about you,” Nero said calmly, but I could tell it was forced.

  “A friend? Are you insane?” She laughed cruelly. “Of course you are. You’re a Genovese.” She emphasized every word as if it was a curse. “Victoria is just like any Genovese. They u
se you. She used me to try and get close to Angie, nothing more. If my stupid brother doesn’t realize that she’s using him for something then that’s his problem.” Pressing into the wall when I heard something fall, I held my breath at the sound of Nero’s angry footsteps thinking that he was leaving the room. He wasn’t.

  “What are you going to do, Nero? Beat me? Rape me? Come on, prove to me you’re just like the rest of your family,” Maria taunted.

  Risking being seen I looked through the crack in the door. Nero stood before a gaunt Maria, his fist wrapped around her hair as he held her face inches from his. Emotion filled his eyes as he stared at the broken woman before him. “Are you going to spend the rest of your life feeling sorry for yourself? Are you going to let the hate inside of you eat you up until there’s nothing left but a bitter, soulless woman?”

  “Don’t you mean used-up woman, Nero? Because that’s what I am. Did you think that I didn’t know that your sister sent the same tape to every family that she had my brother? Tell me Nero, is that why you came looking for me? Did you get off on what you saw on that tape? Were you hoping to get a little taste? That’s it, isn’t it? ” she whispered silkily, raising her hands to his chest.

  He released her and stepped back. “This isn’t you.”

  “Isn’t it? I’m exactly what your family made me. A whore. A whore that isn’t to be around good people. Do you want to know why I’m not outside? It’s because my father told me to stay up here out of sight. He doesn’t want anyone to see the embarrassment that is his daughter. My family can’t stand the sight of me. The only reason I’m even in this house is because of Angie. She forced them to bring me home,” Maria said bitterly. She wiped a hand angrily across her face at a stray tear. “So if you’re not here to fuck the Salvatici whore then get out!” The sound of her cry encompassed every evil deed done to her and the pain that it brought.

  Instead of being cowed by what he saw, a look of determination entered Nero’s face. “This isn’t over, Maria.” He said the words in what sounded like a vow before he turned and came toward the door. Not wanting to be seen, I quickly slipped inside a room and waited for Nero to pass. Once I was sure that he was gone I made my way back toward the stairs away from the soft cries that tore into my soul. I wanted to go in there but I knew that I was the last person she wanted to see.