by Hamel, B. B.
“Sure,” I said. My phone vibrated again.
You know why I sent you that dress?
Because you’re an ass?
Because I wanted to fuck you while you wore it. I’d slip it just up above your hips and sink my cock deep into that tight, wet pussy.
Too bad that isn’t happening.
It is too bad. Just think, if I got you off with only my fingers, imagine what I can do with my tongue?
I felt a deep, scarlet blush come onto my cheeks.
“Darling?” my mother said to me. “What’s the matter? You look a little warm.”
“Ah, nothing,” I said. “I’m just feeling tired. It was a very long day.”
“Say no more, dear,” Arturo said. “Go. Don’t let us old men keep you here.”
“Thank you, Arturo.” I stood up quickly. “Good night everyone.”
I quickly turned and left the table, heading back toward my room.
As I got out of the hall, my phone vibrated again. My cock is hard just thinking about you in that dress. Come to my rooms and wear only that any time you want.
I leaned up against a wall, breathing heavily. Lucas was such an ass, but I didn’t know why I let him get to me so easily.
I turned off my phone and put it into my pocket. How the heck did he get my number? Probably some mafia crap that I didn’t even want to know about.
I shook my head, getting myself together. I really was exhausted from the long day.
It only took one staff member to give me directions this time before I locked my bedroom door.
What a day. I flopped down into my bed and tried not to think about my stepbrother, my husband.
Chapter Ten: Lucas
My mind kept ranging back over the day before as Vince drove the car out into the city.
Natalie’s body, her questions at dinner, everything about her drove me insane. And I loved teasing her more than anything, especially since she was so easy to rile up. All it took was a little dirty talk and she was running away like it terrified her to even consider.
Vince headed deep into the city, and I knew I needed to get my mind right. I couldn’t be distracted on a job, especially not on an important job. We were out scouting the locals for any information on what happened to our shipment for the Russians.
Vince turned into a seedy neighborhood toward the very heart of the city. This was my neighborhood, my turf, and even though it was a little run down, it was still one of the best-earning areas in the city. Arturo gave it to me a long time ago, and I had turned it from a piece-of-shit patch of run-down land to a profitable business in only a few years.
I knew the place like the back of my hand, and I knew the guy we were looking for liked to spend his time at a piece-of-shit crack den at the end of a dead end street. Vince turned the car toward it and parked.
“You don’t need to be doing this, you know,” Vince said.
“I know that.”
“We got guys. We can send them.”
“I know, Vince.” I climbed out of the car and he followed me. “I like doing shit like this. People need to see my face, know that I’m for real.”
“I know, boss. Just saying.”
We walked down the block, and I watched a pack of locals quickly move inside their houses. I smiled to myself, satisfied with their reaction.
I was known. I was feared by many and loved by many. I tried to take care of my people the best I could, but there were a lot of shitty assholes living in the slums, and I did not abide by their garbage. If they crossed me, I killed them. If they injured my business, I injured their bodies. It was a pretty simple way of operating. I wasn’t going to win a ton of best friends, but I was going to run a tight operation.
We walked to the end of the block and Vince climbed up the steps. I saw his hand was on his gun as he kicked open the door.
I followed him in, making a face. The place smelled fetid, like body odor and rotten plants. The windows were blocked with blankets and the rooms were littered with detritus. I kicked aside some empty cans and followed Vince farther into the house.
“Rodney White,” Vince called out, “we know you’re in here.”
People were looking at us curiously. Some of them I recognized, but most of them were strangers, showing up with some cash to score and hang around for a while.
Rodney ran the joint. He was also part of the squad that was responsible for security on the Russian drop.
“Rodney,” Vince yelled again, “get your ass out here before we start hurting people.”
I leaned up against the door and caught sight of two people lying together on a dingy mattress in the room next to us. They were staring at me, afraid but curious. I sneered at them and they quickly looked away.
“Vince,” Rodney said, coming down the stairs. “Lucas. Hey, guys.” He looked nervous.
Of course he did. The shipment he was supposed to guard got fucking pinched, and now we were showing up at his place unannounced. Anybody could put that together.
I stormed past Vince and walked up to Rodney. “Hi, Rod. Tell us what happened.”
He held up his hands. “I don’t know, I swear. One second we was watching out, all clear, and the next the cops were swarmin’. I barely got out.”
I hit him in the nose with the palm of my hand. He fell backward onto his ass, groaning and clutching his nose.
People were watching, now more curious at the sight of violence than afraid. Vince drew his gun and people quickly disappeared back into their little holes.
I got into Rodney’s face. “Listen, Rod,” I said. “I don’t feel like wasting time. It smells like fucking shit in here.”
“Sorry,” he muttered.
“You know I don’t like hurting you, right, Rod?”
“Sure.”
“But you know someone fucking talked, and you’re on the list of suspects. So please, Rod, give me something I can use.”
“I don’t know anything, Lucas. Please believe me.”
I sighed. “I’m starting to get annoyed. Do I work well when I’m annoyed, Vince?”
“No, you don’t.”
“I really don’t,” I said, shaking my head.
“I been listening for you, but I didn’t hear anything.”
I hit Rodney again, this time in the stomach. He doubled over. I saw blood drop from his nose onto the stairs.
“I don’t believe you.”
He groaned. “Please, man.”
“Talk to me, Rodney.”
“You got to believe me.”
I took out my gun and hit him with the butt. He fell to the side and I hit him again.
“Okay!” he yelled. “Okay, please.”
“Talk, Rod.”
“It’s nothing I heard, just something I saw.”
“Tell me.”
“Russians. That night. They backed off, just a minute before the cops showed up. Almost like they knew.”
I looked at Rodney long and hard. “That’s a serious accusation, Rod.”
“I know, man. I didn’t want to say nothing since I’m not so sure, but shit. It’s what I saw.”
I believed him. I wasn’t sure why, since I had basically beat him until he told me what I wanted to hear, but there had been something weird about that night.
“Okay,” I said. “Okay, Rod. You did good.”
I patted him on the shoulder. He flinched away.
“We should go,” Vince said.
I noticed the crack heads were all out and watching again. “Sure. Rod, you take care. I’ll have someone come out and clean this place up, okay?”
“Okay, Lucas. Okay. Sorry I held that back.”
“It’s okay.” I nodded at Vince and we walked back out the front door.
“What do you make of it?” he asked me.
“I believe him,” I said.
“Makes no sense though. Why dime out their own shipment?”
“I’m not sure. But we need to get eyes on that truck again.”
> “It’s impounded. Police custody.”
I shrugged. “Police custody doesn’t mean what it once did.”
He smirked. “Yeah, guess not.”
We climbed into the car together, and Vince began heading back toward the compound.
My heart was racing in my chest. Part of me loved the rush of violence, the thrill of it. I didn’t want to hurt an innocent guy like Rodney, especially one that worked well for me, but I couldn’t tolerate bullshit. I couldn’t appear soft in front of his people or my own.
Plus, it almost got me as worked up as seeing Natalie blush. It got my heart beating and my adrenaline rushing, though it didn’t get me off like Natalie did.
There I was, thinking about her again. It was like I couldn’t go fifteen minutes without thinking about her again.
As we sped back toward home, I couldn’t get her out of my damn head.
Chapter Eleven: Natalie
I woke up confused.
It took me a minute to figure out where the heck I was.
Still in the Barone compound. Still living in the shadow of my new mobster family.
Still thinking about Lucas, my gorgeous, asshole stepbrother slash husband.
I groaned, rolling over onto my side. I wanted to go back to sleep. Maybe then I’d wake up back in my old house, surrounded by my own things, and no longer married to my dangerous stepbrother. Maybe then I wouldn’t be in such an awful situation.
Instead, I sat up and sent a quick text to Pacey. At the very least I could see her and let her experience the absolutely surreal turn my life had taken.
I tossed my phone aside when I was finished and climbed out of bed. I brushed my teeth and threw on some sweats. I wanted coffee and maybe a banana, but I realized I had no clue where the kitchen was.
I pulled open the door and saw a small packet on the ground. I bent over and grabbed it.
Inside was a menu and a number.
Seriously? I thought. They seriously just deliver food to your room like a hotel?
Ten minutes later, they seriously delivered coffee and cereal to my room like a hotel.
Sitting on my couch, my television turned to some crappy but entertaining soap opera, I felt halfway decent for the first time in awhile. Frankly, who wouldn’t want food delivered to their room whenever they waned it?
I could definitely get used to that.
A couple hours later, I felt nervous for Pacey to show up. I felt like I hadn’t fully prepared her for what exactly was going to happen. I checked my phone for the hundredth time when suddenly it started to ring.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Uh, Nat? I’m at the front gate and some guy is telling me that I’m not allowed inside.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Seriously? Put him on the phone.”
I heard some muted words and the sound of someone else taking the phone. “Hello?” the man’s voice said.
“Hi. This is Natalie. I’m not sure what the proper procedure for this is or whatever, but can you please let my friend inside?”
“Sorry, ma’am,” he said. “You don’t have guest approval.”
“Guest approval? Are you fucking kidding me?”
“No, ma’am. Sorry about that.”
“I live here. This is my house now. Let my friend inside.”
“Sorry. I can’t do that. Please get approval.”
I wanted to scream. Instead, I said, “Please put Pacey back on.”
The phone was handed over. “What’s happening?” she asked. “Am I about to get disappeared?”
I laughed. “No. It’s fine. Just hold tight. I’ll sort this out.”
“Okay. This guy is very intense, though. He keeps giving me this dirty look like I’m a terrorist or something.”
“I’m so, so sorry about this. I’ll figure it out.”
I quickly hung up.
For a brief moment, I felt dizzy and trapped. Anger flared through me. How dare they keep my friends out? I wasn’t a prisoner, except maybe I was. They brought coffee to my room, but they wouldn’t let me have a friend over. It was absolute madness.
Pissed off, I called my mom. I let it ring, but it went to voicemail. I tried to call another three times, but she didn’t answer.
What was I supposed to do? I rifled through the packet they had left at my door, but there were no useful numbers. I checked the drawers and by the landline phone, but there was nothing.
I felt so damn powerless. I didn’t even know how to find security, let alone how to find anyone that could help me.
And then I remembered.
I had his number. Lucas.
He had texted me the night before.
I looked at the messages, biting my lip. I really didn’t want to ask him for help. I really, really didn’t want to. But my friend was sitting out there like an asshole all because I was living in some mafia prison compound.
Taking a deep breath, I tapped his number.
“I knew you’d call,” he said on the second ring.
“This isn’t about that,” I said.
“What’s it about, then? I’m not sure I want to hear anything other than how badly you want me to come to your room and fuck you senseless.”
“It’s about my friend.”
“We can invite her too, if you want. I’m open to most things.”
I made a face. “No, listen, Lucas. I’m trying to have her over, but security won’t let her in.”
He laughed. “Not surprising. You’ve only been here a day. Nobody knows you yet.”
“Can you help me?”
“Of course I can.”
I paused. “Okay, will you?”
“What’s in this for me?”
“The knowledge that you’re not such a total asshole.”
“Not interesting. Sorry.”
I clenched my jaw. “Please. Make this easy for me.”
“Wear that dress.”
I paused. “No way,” I said.
“Come to my rooms tonight wearing that dress.”
“And do what?”
“Come inside, spin around once, and then leave.”
“No way.”
“Those are my terms. Take it or leave it.”
I sighed, shaking my head. “That’s it? I walk in, spin, and then leave?”
“That’s it.”
“Fine.”
“Great. See you later.” He hung up.
What had I just gotten myself into?
“You have got to be kidding me,” Pacey said. “This place is insane.”
“I know,” I said. “I don’t even know my way around it yet.”
“How could you? It’s freaking huge.”
We walked along the halls back toward my room. I’d given her a brief little tour of what I knew so far, which basically consisted of us wandering the halls until someone pointed us in a different direction.
Finally we found my bedroom door, and I unlocked it, pushing it open.
Inside, it was covered in flowers.
Hundreds of flowers, all different shapes ad sizes, dotted the room.
“Whoa,” Pacey said. “Did they put you in the green room?”
“No. I mean, these weren’t here when I came to meet you an hour ago.”
Pacey walked in and I followed her. There was a card propped up on the coffee table, and Pacey grabbed it before I could.
“‘Enjoy the flowers, ladies.’” She looked at me. “Lucas?”
My face darkened. “My stepbrother.”
“Is it normal for a stepbrother to send his stepsister flowers like this?”
“No. There’s nothing normal about him.”
She laughed, tossing the card aside. “Well, whatever. This place is absolutely amazing, Nat.”
I sighed, collapsing onto the couch. It was just too much. Between the whiplash of losing my family home and suddenly coming to live in a mansion, and my stepbrother wanting me, and me wanting my stepbrother, oh and marrying my stepbrother, it was all just too
much.
“I can hardly believe it,” I said.
But Pacey didn’t hear me. She was too busy looking over the room, inspecting every little detail. She seemed more enthralled by the ornate display of wealth than I was.
“Your own bathroom?” she asked. “It’s bigger than my bedroom. Holy shit.”
I laughed. “And they bring food to your room.”
She poked her head back out. “Seriously?”
“Sure. Want something?”
“Smoothie.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
While I ordered a smoothie sent up to my room, which apparently was a completely fine and normal thing to do, Pacey continued to explore the place.
Finally, her drink appeared, and we lounged on the couch together.
“I know I keep saying this, but I can’t believe it.”
“I am as surprised and overwhelmed as you are.”
“Probably more, since you have to live here.”
I laughed. “Yeah, true.”
“Tell me about your new family.”
“Arturo, my stepdad, he seems nice I guess. My mom and him seem to really like each other.”
“What about Lucas?”
“He, ah, he’s an asshole. I think the flowers are his version of a joke.”
“Some joke,” Pacey mumbled. “How old is he?”
“A little older than us.”
“And what’s he do?”
I paused at that. What did he do? Other than act as a gang member, of course.
“He works for his dad,” I said.
Pacey nodded. “Okay, show me the rest of the place.”
“Want to sit by the pool?”
“Sure!”
I stood up, smiling. Pacey had a way of cheering me up even when she wasn’t trying. I had to dig through my stuff, but I found some bathing suits for the both of us to wear.
We changed and headed out. I was looking forward to just sitting by the water with Pace, not thinking about anything, and relaxing.
My life had very suddenly gone from normal to totally crazy. But at least I had a pool.
Chapter Twelve: Lucas
It wasn’t every day that I found two half-naked women sunning themselves next to my father’s pool.
Actually, scratch that. I couldn’t count how many times that exact scenario had played itself out and I’d ended up with both women back in my bed.