“Why would I want to eat a dirty Calabresi princess?” he asked with a sneer.
“Why would I want to cook for a greasy Romero who has no class? Calabresi men would never treat a woman the way you do.” I spat at his feet and a dangerous shadow slipped into his eyes.
“I know how to treat a woman, bella, but all I see before me is a rat.”
My lower lip quivered with rage and my heart beat painfully hard in my chest. I wanted to scratch and tear at his face, destroy the beauty and unveil the evil beneath. He deserved to be ugly, his face marred and twisted just like his soul.
“Get out,” I hissed and he stepped back without complaint.
Frankie appeared behind him and Rocco took the bag of clothes from him, tossing it at me. The door slammed shut and I stood there, shaking with rage. I turned to the shower, about to turn it on when I noticed the window was open a crack.
My world halted as I stared at it. It was a tiny thing at the very top of a frosted pane of glass. One of the brothers had probably taken a dump in here earlier today and I thanked the lord for that particular shit because it was about to save my neck.
I turned the shower on then stripped out of my sodden leggings and pulled on the black onesie Frankie had supplied. It was lined and the thick pair of socks they’d given me would have been perfect if I’d had shoes. But I’d have to go without. Instead, I carefully tore the plastic bag in half and tied the two pieces around my feet to make the soles as waterproof as possible. Then I climbed onto the toilet seat and pushed the window as wide as it would go. It was seriously small but I was petite and come hell or high water, I was getting through that gap.
I hauled myself up, sticking my arms and head out before bracing myself against the wall outside.
A foot of snow and miles of forest spread out before me, but I didn’t care. There had to be someone out here who could help me. I’d just keep running until I found them.
Adrenaline pounded in time with my pulse, making my muscles twitch with the urge to flee. I squeezed my way through, wriggling hard to get my hips out and bruising my sides along the way. I twisted to cling to the top of the window frame, praising the world for my Pilates classes as I slid my legs out and dropped into the snow.
For a full second I froze, drinking in the icy air and endless space around me. Holy hell, I’m free!
I charged across the snow covered yard and into the trees, needing to put as much distance between me and the Romero brothers as possible. I ran and ran, my lungs burning as the cold air dived into them and made my heart pound even harder.
Even sprinting flat out couldn’t chase away the cold. It bit at my hands and slid beneath my clothes like grasping fingers. Still, I raced on, never slowing, wondering how long I had before someone checked the bathroom. The thought of Rocco’s shocked face brought a smile to my lips and a small laugh bubbled from my throat as I tore through the trees.
When I escaped, I was going to bring the full force of the Calabresi household down on their heads. They were going to rue the day they ever stole me from that church.
A noise reached me that made my heart clench with terror. I hoped on all the stars in the heavens that I was imagining it but as it drew closer, a sick kind of dread made me certain it was real.
Footsteps crashed through the snow, moving far faster than my legs could manage.
I powered on, running as fast as I possibly could as panic rushed through me.
As the light of the house was left far behind, I was plunged into almost total darkness. The trees were grouping tighter together, forcing me to slow and raise my hands so I didn’t crash into them. The snow had barely made it beneath the thick canopy of the pines here and I praised my luck, leaving no more footprints as I fled into the dark, begging the shadows to swallow me away and hide me from my pursuer.
A man howled not far behind me and I recognised Rocco, my skin crawling as I realised he was taunting me. Playing wolf.
I charged on, my lungs labouring and my limbs aching as I kept hunting for a prick of light ahead. A house, a farm, a car. Anything. Anyone who could help.
The trees thinned up ahead and the snow caked the ground beyond them. An idea struck me and I ran out into it, racing for another line of thick woodland ahead. When I darted onto the drier ground beneath their branches, I turned sharply back, racing across the tracks I’d just left, hoping I hadn’t just made a terrible mistake.
I could hear him crashing through the trees ahead and dove back into the cover of the pines before he appeared.
I darted behind a huge trunk, pressing my back to it and holding my breath as I waited, my eyes burning from the icy air. It was too dark for him to see the tracks well enough to know I’d crossed back over them. At least, I hoped it was.
His footsteps pounded right beyond the tree I hid behind and my heart soared as he continued off across the snowy path I’d laid.
I waited for a full minute before I moved again, heading away from the direction he’d taken and breaking into a run. I glanced over my shoulder as a victorious smile pulled up my lips and my heart rose like the sun in my chest.
I collided with something hard and too warm to be a tree and a scream ripped from my throat. Strong arms closed around me then threw me back against the solid trunk of a pine. I could barely see him in the dark, but I knew it was Rocco from his scent, his imposing height, his terrifying aura. He crushed me back against the bark and I fought hard not to yelp as a hard knot dug into my spine.
“I’ve hunted people in the dark before and they all ended up in ditches, principessa.” His heated breath washed over me and his hips ground into my stomach as he tried to draw a whimper from my lips. I ground my teeth, refusing to let a noise escape me apart from the frantic pace of my breaths.
He shifted his weight against me and I inhaled as I felt the solid length of him digging into me. The sick bastard was turned on by this. My hands were crushed between us and were altogether far too close to that monstrous appendage than I liked.
“I thought you weren’t attracted to Calabresi girls,” I taunted, heat invading my body as I tried not focus on the immense size of him. I prayed he had too much pride to act on his urges, because there wasn’t a thing I could do right then to escape.
Rocco growled at my words, moving back enough to relieve me of his hard-on and I tried to duck under his arm. He caught me by the hair, yanking me back into his body and turning me toward the house. “I’d sooner fuck a hole in the ground. It’d be far more satisfying than your god-fearing pussy anyway.”
“Just make sure you don’t traumatise a family of rabbits while you’re at it,” I said dryly and he laughed. Like actually freaking laughed. I didn’t want to like the sound but it was gravelly and rough, like a wave crashing against a rocky beach. The worst thing of all, was the thrill of that chase had left me light-headed. And I hated to admit how much some twisted part of me had enjoyed it.
His hands closed around me; not tightly like before, but the threat was still there. My heart sank deeper and deeper into my gut as the house came into view through the trees.
I was a prisoner of war. But this solider had fight left in her yet.
Sloan sighed in her sleep as she rolled over onto her back and her side brushed against mine.
I tore my eyes from the view beyond the open window where I’d been watching the sun rise over the mountains and looked at her instead.
I cupped my hand behind my head and shifted to get a little more comfortable as I assessed my new pet.
In all the hours I’d spent training for fights or learning about strategies to employ against your enemy, I’d never once pictured a foe who looked like her.
Sloan sighed again, wriggling closer, no doubt subliminally chasing down some more heat from my body.
I stayed still as she rolled onto her side, her arm twisting awkwardly over her head where it was cuffed as she laid her head on my chest and pressed the full length of her soft body against the length of mine.
I hung in that moment with a frown pulling at my brow, wondering what strange twist of fate had delivered us both here. We’d been born to hate each other, destined to ache for the other’s demise and take pleasure in their pain. But what if we hadn’t been born a Romero and a Calabresi? What strange opportunities might fate have dealt us then?
Sloan shifted against me, a soft moan escaping her full lips which had my dick twitching to attention. She was either dreaming about food or sex and I was struck with the desire to find out which.
She shifted again, her cuff clattering against the wood as her hips shifted against me and I cleared my throat loudly.
She gasped as she woke and I watched her in amusement as she took a moment to figure out where she was and what was going on. Not to mention whose chest she was currently half on top of.
“When you’re done dry humping me, we should probably get up,” I deadpanned, breaking through any lingering remnants of sleep she was clinging to and laughing as she jerked away from me in horror.
“Are you sure you’re a virgin, principessa? Because the noises you were making in your sleep sounded a hell of a lot like you knew what you were doing.”
“I’m not the one who keeps claiming I’m a virgin,” she growled as she moved to the edge of the bed on her back, trying to create some distance between us even though there was none to be had.
“Is that so?” I asked, genuinely surprised as I shifted suddenly, moving on top of her and catching her free hand in my grasp so that I could hold it above her head with the other.
I looked down at her pinned beneath me like that and I had to admit it was a pretty spectacular view. Even the hatred in her gaze was a turn on. I wanted to stoke the flames of that rage in her until it burned her alive and the only release she could get from it would come in the form of her body bowing to mine. Her gaze dipped to my bare chest as I pinned her there and I could have sworn she was thinking about it too.
“Did Nicoli take a ride on his bride before the wedding night?” I tutted at her like she was a bad girl and she squirmed beneath me in discomfort which only really served to grind her body against mine.
“Get off,” she snapped, defiance flaring in her gaze. I leaned down to speak into her ear, my stubble grazing her jaw.
“La ragazza disubbidiente,” I growled. Naughty girl. “It wasn’t him, was it? What would Papa Calabresi think of his little girl getting hot and heavy with someone beneath the sheets before her wedding day?”
My only answer was a scowl and a pout of those goddamn lips. That girl’s mouth was becoming my own personal brand of temptation. Every time a smart comment spilled from them I wanted to push her to her knees and feel her wrap them around the hard length of me.
I eyed her raven locks for a moment, imagining them knotted in my fist as her body fell prey to mine and felt myself growing hard at the mere idea of it.
Besides, as much as I claimed not to want to fuck a Calabresi, I had to admit that I wouldn’t hate to know I’d bent Giuseppe’s little girl to my desires and made her scream my name. Hell, I could even tape it and send it to him as a Christmas present.
“Well I’ll be sure to inform Nicoli of his bride’s wandering attention the next time I see him,” I promised her before shoving off of the bed and heading into the en-suite.
I pushed my boxers off as I set the shower running and smirked to myself as I heard her gasp in surprise behind me.
“You don’t have to look if I’m making you blush, principessa,” I said as I stepped under the water and turned back to face her.
She’d pushed herself to sit up in the bed and was glaring at me with narrowed eyes, working pretty damn hard at looking unimpressed. She fought to keep her gaze on my face as the water spilled over my body.
“You’re not making me blush, you’re making me gag,” she hissed, still not looking away from me.
“I can really make you gag if that’s what you want?” I offered and her gaze instantly fell to my dick before she turned away sharply, yanking on her cuff as she refused to look at me.
“I’ll vomit on my own time, over here, thanks,” she growled and I laughed.
I made quick work of washing and quickly dried off, dressing in a pair of boxers and black sweatpants and leaving my hair damp and curling.
I opened the closet and pulled out some underwear, a pair of jeans and a green tank top for her, tossing them onto the bed so that she could get changed before I unlocked her handcuff.
She instantly drew her wrist closer to her body and rubbed at it where the skin had grown raw and red.
“Are you just going to stand there and watch me get changed?” she demanded.
“Are you going to make a show of it for me?” I countered.
She didn’t so much as twitch a smile and I smirked at her as I turned my back obligingly.
“I’ll give you to the count of ten,” I said. “Then I’m turning back around. One, two, three…”
The sound of the zipper being drawn down on her onesie was quickly followed by material falling on the mattress and her shuffling into the new clothes.
“-ten.” I turned back to face her just as she drew her shirt down over her bra and I reached out to tug the hem down for her.
She didn’t recoil like I’d expected, just looked up at me with those big eyes like I was a puzzle she was trying to solve. I smirked as I turned her around and pointed her towards the en-suite. “You can pee with the door open and brush your teeth.”
Sloan huffed and I was struck with the desire to spank her for it as she strode away to do as I’d said. There was no window in the en-suite and from now on, that would be the only bathroom she was allowed to use.
I reached for the handcuffs, unlocking them from the bed as I waited for her to finish up and moving to the doorway just as she stepped back into the bedroom.
I reached for her hand, snapping one manacle closed around her right wrist and the other around my left.
“As you can’t be trusted, you’ll be spending your days locked to one of us from now on,” I informed her.
“And I thought this was already hell,” she complained and I chuckled, pocketing the handcuff keys.
“Oh no, principessa, you’ve barely even begun to scratch the surface of the darkness inside me.”
We headed downstairs to the kitchen and I couldn’t help but smirk to myself every time she brushed her shoulder against my arm or her fingers nudged mine. She reacted like my skin burned her, trying to jerk away only to find that she pulled my arm with her when she tried.
We headed into the kitchen and found Enzo sitting on the counter by the sink, halfway through a slice of toast.
“Good morning, love birds,” he teased, eyeing the handcuffs which linked us with an amused expression. “Did you sleep well?”
“Aside from the girl who was all over me while I tried to sleep, I can’t complain,” I replied and Sloan scowled.
“You wish, asshole,” she spat at me.
You have no idea, baby.
I took the handcuff keys from my pocket and tossed them down on the kitchen island as we headed towards the coffee machine and Sloan waited as I poured myself a cup.
I added cream and held it out to her, watching her eyes widen in surprise at the gesture. She reached for the coffee, her fingers brushing mine just before I drew it away from her again and drank it myself.
Her lips parted, her eyes blazing with rage as I smirked into my coffee, fighting down a laugh so hard that I choked on it as I swallowed.
I bet the Calabresi Principessa never had to deal with anyone who didn’t fall all over themselves for her before.
Her lips parted like she wanted to chew me out, but before she could get a word out, the kitchen door opened again.
“I got everything you asked for from town last night,” Frankie said to Sloan as he came into the room. “Are you going to make us something good?”
I frowned in confusion as Sloan gave him a smile that looked da
mn near genuine.
“Thank you,” she said, hurrying towards the fridge and tugging me along behind her.
I followed her out of curiosity as she drew it open and raised my eyebrows at the mounds of food inside.
“What’s all this?” I asked.
“If you’re going to make me cook for you then you might as well let me do it properly,” Sloan said defensively like she thought I might take all the food and dump it in the trash just because it pleased her. Which actually wasn’t the worst idea, aside from the fact that we’d all go hungry too…
I shrugged like I didn’t give a shit and she started pulling out ingredients right away.
She tugged me around the kitchen and even shoved things into my arms as she went, clearly in her element and I indulged her to see where this would go.
She piled up eggs, milk, butter, yeast, vanilla, flour, cinnamon and finally grabbed a big bag of sugar before hooking a huge mixing bowl out of a cupboard and stepping towards it with intent.
I jerked her to a halt using the cuffs and she frowned at me in confusion.
“I don’t like sweet things,” I said, eyeing the bag of sugar with distaste.
Her lips curved into the ghost of a smile. “Well you haven’t tried my baking yet. I’m sure I can convince you to enjoy something sweet.”
“Come on, Rocco,” Enzo begged. “Maybe you’ll enjoy her sweet things when she gives you a taste.”
“Yeah, let her make her buns,” Frankie piped up. “I bet you’ll love her buns!”
I snorted a laugh as Sloan fought a blush at my brothers’ terrible innuendos.
“Fine,” I gave in, moving to stand before the worktop as Sloan started putting the ingredients together.
She struggled a bit with my hand locked to hers, little huffs of irritation spilling from her lips each time she was forced to tug on my arm. And as I’d locked myself to her right hand, that was more often than not.
I didn’t exactly make it easier for her either, letting my arm hang like a dead weight from the cuff as she worked.
As she started pouring the flour out into the scales, I suddenly tugged my wrist back. The bag fell from her hands, landing with a solid thump in front of her and sending a cloud of flour up to coat the front of her clothes.
Beautiful Carnage: A Dark Mafia Bully Romance (The Boys of Sinners Bay Book 1) Page 12