Chapter 10
Titan watched Venetia sleep. The sheet lay between her legs and over one breast. She was on her back, and his brother Roman had one hand over her bare breast. Titan looked at her skin, at her curves and the way her thick red hair flowed over the pillow on either side of her head.
She’d been incredible last night and so giving. As much as they had hoped to take her together, and in every hole, making it official, they were more than prepared to put her safety, her potential limitations first. She surprised them though. She’d given in to the power of this connection, and she let them all in.
The sun was beginning to rise, and soon it would cast the warm glow of the sun over her body and this makeshift outdoor bed. His brother Roman had a great idea making love to Venetia for the first time under the star-filled skies of Kauai.
He leaned closer and kissed her shoulder and was surprised when she began to blink her eyes open. She looked exhausted, but then she smiled.
“I didn’t mean to wake you.”
She looked at the hand over her breast and then at Roman.
“Are you okay?” she asked him, and it surprised Titan. She was the one he worried about. He reached up and stroked her cheek.
“Everything is perfect. In fact, I was just lying here admiring your beauty and wondering how much more beautiful you’re going to look when the sun shortly rises.”
“I think you look incredibly handsome, Titan.”
Titan saw Roman stroke her nipple, and she looked at Roman.
“What about me?” Roman asked.
She turned toward Roman and kissed his lips. “You are very handsome also.”
Roman smiled, pushed down the sheets, and pulled her on top of him.
“Be careful. She could be sore still,” Garvan said from the edge of the bed.
“She doesn’t feel sore,” Roman said, stroking fingers up into her cunt.
“Roman,” she scolded, and he continued to thrust his fingers up into her. Titan laughed.
“I want you. Can you handle it?” Roman asked.
She looked at Garvan and then at Titan.
“All three of you,” she said, and Titan swallowed hard.
“I’ll grab the lube,” Garvan said as Roman inched to the edge of the bed and Venetia lifted up and took his cock immediately inside of her pussy.
“Here.” Apollo tossed Garvan a tube a lube and then readjusted his position on one of the couches.
Titan climbed off the bed, and Garvan handed him the lube.
“I want her mouth,” Garvan said and then got into position and caressed Venetia’s hair from her cheeks.
“Can you?” he asked.
“Do you like it? Me sucking on you?”
“On what part of me?” he asked.
“You know,” she said.
“Say it,” Roman ordered and thrust up into her as he held her hips tight.
She gasped. Her cheeks turned red as Titan ran his hands along her naked body.
“Your cock. Do you like me sucking on it?” she asked.
“Fuck yeah.” He urged her down to take it into her mouth, and she did.
The sight aroused Titan further, and he was quick to lubricate his fingers and moisten her ass. He thrust a few times and felt her tighten and then push back.
“Get in there before I come. She feels incredible,” Roman stated and thrust again and again.
Titan eased his fingers out and slowly pressed the thick bulbous head of his cock to her anus.
She moved her head up and down on Garvan’s cock and then pushed her ass back, trying to get Titan to penetrate her. He grabbed her hips and slowly pushed through the tight rings. She felt so snug he could hardly breathe. It took him several times before he could fully penetrate her ass, and when he finally did, she came.
Over and over again, the three of them thrust into her body. Garvan came first, calling out her name then falling to the bed.
She continued to keep up with Titan and Roman until they both grunted and came together.
As Titan eased out of her ass, and Roman rolled her to her back and scattered kisses along her body, he saw Venetia looked exhausted.
It was Ace who approached with washcloths and a towel, taking care of her until she fell fast asleep.
Chapter 11
“These look incredible. I can’t believe these shots, Venetia. I mean, have you considered doing a gallery show?” Apollo asked her.
She smiled at him and could tell he was truly excited and being honest about her work. Garvan and Roman sat at the table mesmerized by her pictures, too, as well as the brochure she’d already come up with.
Titan, Zane, and Ace were nearby in the living room and could hear their conversation.
She leaned back in the chair and smoothed out the short skirt she wore.
She knew that she needed to be honest with them and explain things. The last week had been incredible, and they’d spent so much time together, not just making love but getting closer and closer.
“Venetia?” Garvan said.
“I would love to do a gallery showing, and if I still lived in New York, I know I would be successful, but it just isn’t possible right now.” She stood up.
She walked over toward the open area where Titan, Zane, and Ace were. Roman placed his hands on her shoulders from behind, and she immediately leaned back against his strong, solid chest and placed her hand up and over his hands.
“Why can’t you do a gallery showing right now?” he asked her.
“Then he’ll know where I am,” she said and his hands tightened.
“What does that mean? You’re in hiding from your ex?” Titan asked, and now he and the others all surrounded her in the outdoor living room.
She stepped from Roman’s hold and stood with her back against the doorjamb. She wanted to face all six of them as she explained how stupid she had been.
“I’m not going to tell you his name or where he is, but I want you to know why I was scared to let you in, and scared now that he could hurt any one of you for being with me.”
“You haven’t been honest with us about the seriousness of the situation? That’s not how this relationship works,” Apollo said very firmly.
She felt the tears fill her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Apollo, but there are scars that run pretty damn deep. Not everything is a corporate deal all tied up with a nice big bow, easy and taken at face value the way you demand it to be.”
“The truth, Venetia. I want the damn truth, and so help me God, if you leave anything out, there’ll be hell to pay,” Apollo threatened.
She understood his personality, so she didn’t get upset at him for the response he gave. He had fought this from the start, showing his insecurities by having people spy on her. She wondered if they had people investigating her now, but if they did, then they would possibly know about Conan.
“You could have someone investigate me, and then you would know more,” she said to him.
“Why would we do that when you’re right here and ready to explain things to us?” Garvan asked her.
She exhaled. “I don’t want to fight with you. I just want you to understand that I made a stupid mistake when I was twenty-one years old. You know that I have siblings and that they’re involved with law enforcement and were once in the military. Well, one of them, Aaron, died two years ago, and the man I thought I was in love with, that took my virginity and promised me the world, was responsible for Aaron’s death.”
“Damn,” Zane said, and she looked at Titan.
“Was he arrested? Is that how things ended between the two of you?” Ace asked.
She shook her head.
“I met him when my brother got out of the service and was looking for a job. I didn’t know it then, but apparently my ex had eyes on me before I ever met him personally. I was working at a gallery, fresh out of college, my eyes wide open and looking at New York City as the land of opportunity. When I got hired to work on some small business
campaign because of a friend, I wound up face-to-face with this entrepreneur and business owner. A man with connections in everything from restaurants and bars to importing and exporting. That was where he offered Aaron a job. Running security for a crew at the boat basin.”
“How did you meet?” Zane asked.
“Aaron introduced him as his boss, and he had told me that his boss had heard about my photography portfolio and he wanted to meet me and talk about potential opportunities in his business. I met him, and we talked. He swept me off my feet, and I accepted doing a photo shoot for a close friend of his. From there, things progressed. He asked me out to dinner, and, well, he was older, attractive, and I was young and impressionable.”
“So you sleep with him and he starts becoming a control freak?” Apollo snapped at her.
“Apollo.”
When Titan said his name, Apollo paced his hands on the table. “Go on.”
“Flash forward two years and he’s talking about proposing. I’m living the life of a wealthy girlfriend to a well-established businessman when things begin to happen. He disappears for a weekend, or a few days, but has his bodyguards and other people watching me, tracking my every move. I see Aaron, and he isn’t right. He’s acting funny, and I can tell he’s doing drugs. I call my other brothers, and then it’s too late. He turns up dead.”
She pushed away from the wall and continued to talk, not giving them the chance to ask questions. She started to pace.
“In a matter of days, I’m burying my brother, trying to mourn with my parents and brothers, and he’s making demands on me. Requiring that I be home every night to be in his bed. Then the investigation continues, and my brothers tell me that my ex may be involved and that there are detectives investigating. He goes away for three days and—”
“And what? What did he do?” Titan asked.
“Bad things. Things I’m ashamed of because I was weak and scared of him. He always had this hold of me. A threatening tone, demanding requests. Things changed between us, and I was thinking of leaving him. Suddenly he’s forcing me on a trip to Florida, and he’s pissed off about something, some business deal with his dad, and I don’t know what to think, just that I want to break things off. I fear him. Then he degrades me, and I know it has to end, but I don’t know how.”
“Degrades you how?” Roman asked her.
She stared at him as tears filled her eyes.
“Forced my head between his legs while his bodyguard watched.”
“Fucking asshole,” Ace yelled out and then rubbed his forehead.
“When did you break up with him?” Garvan asked her.
“When we got back to the penthouse, he disappeared for a few days without a phone call or anything. I was usually late getting back from the job I was working, but I got back early. Like two hours early. When I got there, I found him in bed with two women.”
“Jesus, what a fucking asshole,” Titan said.
“I lost it. I told him I was finished, done. He kicked the two women out, and he came at me, striking me in the head, threatening me and blaming his indiscretions on me. I screamed at him, and he told me I was never going to leave him. That I would wind up like my brother if I tried.”
She saw the disgust on their faces, and she feared going on, but she had to get it all out.
“I fought him as best I could, but it wasn’t enough. You need to know that I tried so hard to stop him, but he’s as big as you guys, and crazy. So Goddamn crazy.”
“What did he do?” Apollo asked.
The tears flowed, and she sobbed. “Raped me. He raped me, Apollo, when I told him no, and he wouldn’t stop. He forced me into submission and broke my trust, broke my heart, and destroyed everything. I lay there for hours. He made me stay there for days. I was sick and embarrassed, and I knew I needed to get away from him. I waited, and when I got the chance, I went to my brothers.”
“Did he get arrested? You pressed charges, right?” Roman asked her.
“I tried.”
“What do you mean you tried?”
“I had to drop them, and the accusations that he killed by brother.”
“Why?”
She sat down, unable to get her legs to stop shaking.
“My parents got into a car accident. Their brakes failed, and they both could have been killed if my dad wasn’t such a great driver.”
“What does that have to do with—” Garvan asked, and then he must have realized what she was saying.
“He was responsible? He fucked with their brakes, didn’t he?” Apollo asked.
She nodded. “I had no choice, so I left the city and headed upstate. I was gone for a year, and there had been no word, no attempt at communication from my ex. A friend of mine ran a gallery show in Manhattan. She had a bunch of my pictures on display, and I was trying to get my work out there yet remain anonymous. That’s why I have the logo with just the V in the center. When I got there, and was looking around at the work at the gallery, my ex showed up and forced me from the room.”
“No one was there to help you? They didn’t see this guy pull you away?” Garvan asked.
“Oh, I’m sure they did, but that isn’t what stopped him from forcing me out of there and to his penthouse to rekindle our relationship.”
“He seriously tried to do that?” Roman asked.
She stared at him a moment. “He told me that he would always own me because he’d taken my virginity and no other man would ever replace him.”
“What did you do?” Titan asked her.
“Well, I realized that those people I thought were my friends had set me up and told him I would be there. It validated my fears that he hadn’t moved on and still wanted me and would stop at nothing to get me. He would have succeeded in abducting me, but I swung at him. He struck me, and as I tried to get away before he shoved me into the limo, the place was surrounded by cops and feds.
“He was arrested, and my brothers showed up. We made the decision that I needed to get farther away and not return to New York. I had to leave my family, my parents, and friends, and I made arrangements to stay near Cena but still not with her or on her property just in case he sent people to find me. I’ve been living with this fear for over nine months now. Then I met all of you, and Cena, her boyfriends, even my brothers, told me to trust you guys and to trust my heart. So that’s why I can’t live out my dreams and do any gallery showings. No gaining public exposure, no becoming famous for capturing a beautiful flower or a moment of true emotions on some innocent child’s face.” She lifted a couple of the pictures she had developed and then pushed around the others on the table.
They were all quiet, and then Roman approached, pulled her into his arms, and hugged her tight.
“I’m so sorry that you went through all of that. That you had to leave your family and live in fear. I’m so happy that you trusted us so much to not only let go and let us make love to you but to also share your fear and the pain with us now.”
“I don’t want you to hate me or to think I’m tainted because of what he did to me.”
“No. Never. Never, Venetia.” Titan rubbed her back as Roman held her tight.
She looked at Apollo, who appeared ready to kill, and Garvan, Zane, and Ace looked just as angry.
“You all don’t feel that way, do you?” She pulled back from Roman. Roman and Titan looked at the others.
“We’re angry. We want to know who this man is so we can protect you,” Ace said to her.
She shook her head.
“I don’t want you to know who he is or to get involved. You’ll want to investigate him, which either he will find out about or the feds will and then think you’re involved with him. It’s a bad situation, but I’m safe here with you, and I think in South Carolina, too. He hasn’t found out where I live.”
“Why won’t you tell us his name? What is holding you back from telling us? Does he still have a hold on you? Who the fuck is he?” Apollo demanded to know.
She stepped
back, and the tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Why, Apollo? Why are you pushing this? I don’t want you involved. I don’t want him to hurt any of you.”
His eyes widened.
“That would never happen. Tell me now. Tell me his name, or is it because you’re not sure it’s over between the two of you?” His words shocked her, and she screamed at him.
“Conan Sassone! You bastard.” She walked out of the room, not even hearing their responses. She thought she heard cursing, and then she slammed her door closed and threw herself onto the bed.
The door swung open, and Apollo stormed inside and climbed up onto the bed, gripped her hands, and pushed them above her head. He was seething with anger.
She heard his brothers saying for him to calm down and to stop.
“Did he put you up to this? Did he send you to seduce us and make us fall in love with you?” Apollo screamed at her.
She was scared and crying as she shook her head. “What in God’s name are you talking about?”
“What’s this?” Zane asked, lifting up two phones.
“Is that how you update him? With a burner phone?” Apollo asked, and Zane asked for the passcode.
“It’s a private phone. One I use to communicate with my brothers so Conan can’t track me or find me. The other one is under Cena’s name.”
“There are three messages and one that says urgent,” Zane said to them.
“She isn’t working us over, Apollo. Let her fucking go,” Titan demanded.
“Working you over? What does he mean, Apollo? Why are you acting like this? You’re scaring me.”
Apollo released her arms. “Conan Sassone’s father hurt our fathers years ago and sabotaged their business. His son was somehow involved, too, and we spent the last three years destroying Renaldo Sassone’s businesses. We took over two of his hotels three years ago. Smack in the middle of when you were sleeping with his son.”
A Six-Pack & a Shot at Love [Love on the Rocks 1] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) Page 15