by Bethany-Kris
“How did she end up here tonight?” Damian asked.
“Does that matter?”
“A matter of curiosity.”
“Curiosity killed the cat, Damian.”
“Stalling killed the man, Adriano.”
Point taken.
Adriano scowled. “She snuck out of the Trentini place, and I met her at the back road with the lights turned off. That enough for you?”
“You’re really toeing the line between crazy and downright insane with this girl, Adriano. The general consensus is that if she gets you killed, it wasn’t worth it.”
Adriano disagreed entirely. “Your opinion, Damian.”
“And I’m usually right.”
“What do you want?” Adriano asked, tired of the chitchat.
“She sleeps like the dead,” Damian noted, nodding at Alessa.
“Not really.”
Long night, Adriano held back from adding.
He couldn’t hold back his smirk even if he tried.
Damian sighed and shook his head. “I get it. Never mind.”
“Good.”
“Your sister is sleeping down the hall,” Damian said like it was an afterthought.
“I got my Dad off her back.”
“Fascinating. Let’s have that chat before daylight comes and one of the two wakes up,” Damian said.
“Will you drop your gun?” Adriano asked.
“No.”
Well …
Adriano kept one eye on the weapon, one on Damian, and his hand on Alessa’s side under the blanket as he said, “Talk.”
“I need some information,” Damian explained. “On your father.”
Adriano barely held back from barking at Damian to go fuck himself. He figured that wouldn’t be the best thing to say to the man holding the gun. “I have nothing to say about him.”
“Too bad. But if you’re trying to hide the fact that he’s alive, don’t bother. I’m already aware. I have friends in every man’s house. Your father’s included.”
Dammit.
“Does anyone else know?” Adriano asked.
“A lot of people suspect. No one has confirmed anything. I suppose that works out well to your father’s favor, if this is his goal, I mean. And if not, but for whatever reason he is hiding away, then he’s making Joel look mighty good. Riley might want to take a second look at his choices right now.”
Adriano chuckled. “Nice try. I won’t tell you his plans.”
“I’m not asking for them.”
“Riley holds my loyalty, Damian. Take that as you may.”
“I didn’t ask that. Let’s not waste time with runarounds.”
Fuck.
“What do you want to know?” Adriano asked.
“My wife is very upset,” Damian said quietly, never taking his heavy stare off Adriano as he spoke. “And you see, when Lily Rossi is upset, I am upset. I don’t like to see her cry and I’ve been known to hurt those who cause her tears.”
Adriano didn’t blink. “So?”
“So, her brother was murdered a little over three weeks ago with a bomb that was planted in his car. I have to console my wife in her brother’s home while being bothered by a nosy police detective. Lily can’t even get a goddamn break from her pain because now, even Dino’s home is hers and she can’t get away from it all. A lot of people believe your father ordered that hit on my wife’s brother. In fact, Riley isn’t even denying it, considering he seems to be using it to his advantage with everyone’s fear.”
“Your point?”
“Did your father plant that bomb, Adriano?”
A little second-guessing through the vine could be a good thing …
“No,” Adriano said, knowing it was the truth.
Damian’s gaze narrowed. “No, huh?”
“Nope.”
“You’re very sure of those words, kid.”
“Because Joel did it,” Adriano said, not giving a fuck who the guy told. Joel could waste all the time in the world trying to deflect whatever this conversation started. Adriano didn’t give a shit. “And as far as anything else my father has done or will do, I’m not aware. I’m not made aware until it happens. Sometimes he denies certain things, sometimes he doesn’t say a word. Riley has a way about those kinds of things, and he doesn’t give an honest damn if I believe him or not. But if you’re looking for someone to blame for Dino’s killing, look to Joel.”
“Joel is closely aligned to the DeLuca family, Adriano. Now you’re just making up lies to waste my time. That is going to earn you—”
“I am not lying,” Adriano interrupted coolly. “Alessa told me. Even the walls have ears, Damian. Joel wanted to sever any possible ties the DeLucas might have had to the Contis. He wasn’t concerned with losing a man who was already half gone to the system, anyway. With everyone blaming my father for the other shootings, why wouldn’t they blame him for this, too? Now look, Theo DeLuca is in a rage and closer than ever to Joel and his fools. The Artinos are trying to climb over the backs of the DeLuca family to get closer to the top.”
Damian’s jaw ticked. “Joel got exactly what he wanted.”
“Partly.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Damian asked.
“Watch my father, Damian. He can’t be trusted. You’re right, he’s going to use this. Fear brings more than truth, it also brings out the cowards.”
Damian smiled but the sight was cold. “This was a good chat. Let’s do it again sometime.”
“Not if I can help it.”
“Well, you really won’t get a choice, kid.”
Shit.
Adriano passed Alessa another glance, grateful for her tiredness. “One more thing, Damian.”
“What is that?”
“Is your cousin planning to head the Rossi family?” Adriano asked.
Damian smirked. “How should I know?”
“I think you would.”
“Tommas is his own man,” Damian said simply.
“Maybe, but with the distrust between him and Joel right now, Tommas could really use a shift in his own position to get him to safer grounds.”
Damian didn’t give away a thing as he said, “My cousin has had most of the control over the Rossi crew and involved families for years. His father is too much of a drunk to be held responsible. Laurent would run us into the ground.”
Adriano smiled, wondering if Damian even realized his mistake. “Us, huh?”
“My family,” Damian replied quickly.
Too quickly.
“You don’t take sides because you already have one, don’t you?” Adriano asked.
“I have people I watch out for,” Damian said instead of answering.
“Tommas, for one.”
Damian’s eyes flashed with a warning. “For one. We looked out for one another growing up.”
“How much do you charge for a hit, Ghost?”
“More than you can afford for the shit that’s going on right now, Adriano. The last thing the Outfit needs is more trouble because someone wants to settle another score. Let the issues work themselves out on their own. Natural selection will run its course like it always has.”
Adriano scoffed. “Try me.”
“Depends on who it would be for,” Damian said.
“For Tommas.”
“Absolutely not.”
Adriano shook his head. “Not for him, but for him, Damian. It would benefit us both to put Tommas in a higher position right now. He might run the Rossi crew, but he doesn’t have the official weight behind him because his father is alive.”
“A hit on Laurent …”
“Like I said, it would benefit us both.”
“How so?” Damian asked.
“My father needs a little more of a shove from the Rossi side, if you know what I mean.”
Damian nodded. “You’re admitting that Riley is well and good, then?”
“I’m admitting my father would make a better boss than Joel Trentini.”
“Point
taken. What if I said there are men who might be better than your father?”
Adriano smirked. “Hey, as long as I get what I want, I don’t give a shit about anybody else.”
“Feeding your own wants is a bad game to play. Selfish boy.”
“Like you aren’t?” Adriano asked.
Damian shrugged. “Depends on the prize, Adriano. And I won the biggest when I married my wife a month ago.”
“Consider the benefits of the hit, Damian.”
“I am. While Tommas is under suspicion from Joel, Laurent is still hanging tight to the fact he is loyal to the Trentinis. Killing Laurent would certainly make Joel point the finger at Tommas, while Tommas pointed the finger at Joel. Either way, you’re shoving Tommas straight to Riley’s side. I see your point.”
“Do you?”
“Yes. That doesn’t mean I will agree to do it, Adriano.”
“It’s an interesting idea,” Adriano said.
Damian frowned. “I’m against the idea of manipulating my cousin into someone else’s path simply because your father wants a hand out here.”
“My father isn’t asking. I am. But if you want my honesty, he’s discussed the option of taking out Laurent after what he did at the restaurant.”
“You do realize this is a bit like playing Russian Roulette, right?” Damian asked. “There’s always one bullet in the chamber, Adriano, and you might be the fool who gets it.”
“Everybody needs to pick a side, Damian.”
“My cousin doesn’t need to take a side, he has one.”
“Oh?” Adriano asked.
“Yeah, his.”
“Consider it, Damian.”
Damian shoved his gun into the waistband of his jeans. “Eighty-k.”
“That's your price?”
“Have it in cash within twenty-four hours, get someone to drop it off at Dino’s—” Damian winced. “—my new place, and I’ll do the job. I’d probably take less, but I think I’ll make it two. Eighty-k seems fitting for a double hit on people I don’t care much for.”
Adriano arched a brow in question. “Who is the second one?”
“Might as well put my aunt out of her misery, too.”
Damn.
Cold as ice.
So cold it burned.
Adriano wasn’t even surprised. Hitmen weren’t in the business because killing made them feel something. They did it because they felt nothing at all, and someone had to do it. Even so, Adriano knew Damian’s wife Lily. She was a sweet girl with a nice personality, and she wasn’t all too fond of the Outfit or its dealings. Just the idea of her being head over heels for a killer like Damian was one huge fucking contradiction.
“How in the hell did someone like Lily fall in love with you?” Adriano asked.
Damian chuckled. “Naturally. Like breathing.”
“Or bleeding.”
“Exactly.”
Adriano awoke to the best pressure tightening around the head of his dick. A wet heat engulfed his shaft as his eyes flew wide to find Alessa between his legs, her pretty pink lips wrapped around his cock, and staring straight at him.
A groan slipped from his lips as he fisted the bedsheet with one hand and grabbed her hair with the other. “Good morning, beautiful.”
Alessa released his cock with an audible pop. “Good morning.”
“Lick me.”
“Mmm, anything you want, Adriano.”
Christ.
Fuck yeah.
“That sounds perfect coming out of your—” Her tongue licked from the base of his dick all the way up to his tip as her fingers wrapped around the bottom of his cock and squeezed. “Shit!”
“Again?” Alessa asked sweetly.
“Again,” he demanded throatily.
Alessa’s tongue was a wet, textured paradise on Adriano’s cock. She licked and flicked a path on the underside of his shaft against the sensitive vein until his dick was throbbing and the pre-cum beaded at the tip. Through her dark lashes, Alessa watched him silently as she cleaned the pre-cum off with fast strokes of her tongue to his hole.
“God, that feels fucking good,” Adriano muttered. “Shift up here and let me see that pussy of yours while you suck me, Lissa.”
She twisted on the bed, giving Adriano the best view of her pussy and ass. Soft, smooth skin met the palm of his hand. He ran his digits over her folds with light touches, smearing her arousal through the lips of her pussy and up to her clit.
“Suck me,” he said again.
Alessa’s took his cock into the heat of her mouth until her nose was nestled against his trimmed public hair. For a second, Adriano just wanted to feel his cock down her throat and have her lips tight around his dick while her saliva soaked his length. He held her hair tight, keeping her there. Her cheeks hollowed around his cock, sucking him hard as her throat contracted.
“Fucking hell,” Adriano grunted.
He let her go. Only because he wanted to keep her hair out of the way while he watched the show.
Alessa started a fast bobbing rhythm on his dick that was sure to make him come and fast. Adriano let her do what she wanted, loving the way her mouth felt as she sucked him off. He fingered her pussy with two digits knuckle-deep while his other hand piled her hair high on the top of her head.
“Shit, suck that cock, Lissa,” Adriano said, a pressure building in his groin. He used his thumb to press along the hood of her clit while he fucked her pussy in time with her beat on his cock.
The moment her thighs began to shake and her sex turned tight under the thrusts of his fingers, Adriano knew she was coming. Alessa’s cry muffled around his cock but it was enough to send his own orgasm hurtling fast to the end.
“I’m going to come,” Adriano warned.
Alessa’s mouth left his cock, leaving his orgasm behind.
“Fuck, what—” Adriano’s words cut off abruptly as Alessa shifted fast in the bed, climbed on top of him, and straddled his cock. She sat down, letting the hot satin lips of her pussy slide against his length and she rolled her hips up and down his cock. Her fingernails scored into the muscles of his abdomen. The biting pain made him groan. “Fuck.”
“So wet,” Alessa whispered, still rocking and rubbing on him. “Feel how wet you made me.”
“I can,” Adriano forced out.
And fucking hell, was she ever. The pressure of her bodyweight pressing down on his cock while her fluids provided all the friction for his length was delirious.
So crazy.
Adriano couldn’t breathe.
“Don’t stop doing that,” he ordered.
Alessa flashed him with a sinful grin. “Never.”
All over again, his orgasm was fast approaching. He was going to come like this. Like this … with her rubbing her pussy on him and whispering his name.
“Christ, what are you doing?”
“Enjoying the show, Adriano. Do you know how good you look when you come? I love seeing it. I want to see it. Let me see it. Please.”
“God, that’s dirty,” he muttered.
Alessa licked her lips, pressed her palms to his chest, and rolled her hips a little faster. “Let me see it.”
The pressure in his spine was undeniable. Adriano couldn’t have fought back the need to come even if he tried. Cursing harshly, he grabbed her hips, digging his fingers into the soft flesh of her thighs as he moved her faster on top of him. It didn’t take long at all for the coil in his gut to unwind with release. His come shot out in thick, ropey streams, splashing up his stomach and chest.
Adriano’s head slammed back into the pillow, his teeth gritting to hold back the shout of Alessa’s name. “Fuck, fuck …. Fuck!”
“Love the show,” Alessa murmured.
High on nothing but her, Adriano watched in fascination as his lover began to lick him clean. Alessa worked her way up his stomach, her tongue swiping away at every drop of his come. She took her sweet fucking time and he didn’t mind a bit.
She looked happy, so bl
issed.
Worked over.
Thoroughly fucked.
His.
By the time she finished cleaning him, Adriano was hard again. Alessa, still soaking wet and straddling him, let her fingers dance across his pecs.
“You missed your alarm,” Alessa said.
Adriano cocked a brow. “Did I?”
“It went off ten minutes ago. I heard it and woke up.”
“Thanks for getting me up, too.”
Alessa winked. “I figured this was a good way to wake up.”
Oh, it was.
Adriano let his thumb travel down Alessa’s toned stomach, past her navel and straight to her clit. It was hard and warm under his touch as he circled her clit with gentle swipes.
Alessa sighed, rocking her body into his thumb. “You’re going to make me come again.”
“That’s the plan. You’re not the only one who enjoys the show.”
“Mmm. Since when do you miss your alarm?” she asked, breathless and soft.
Since someone woke him up in the middle of the night and he had a hard time falling back to sleep. Adriano decided not to mention Damian’s presence the night before. It wouldn’t do any good except maybe put Alessa on edge.
“You woke me up, so that’s all that matters.”
Almost.
Adriano thought about Damian’s demand. “I have to make a detour before taking you home today. That okay?”
Alessa swallowed a whine as a tremor rocked her thighs. “Perfect.”
“You sure? Your brother—”
“Yes. Abriella said Joel didn’t come home last night. Apparently he left a message saying he’d be back in the evening. I called her after I woke up. It’s only five.”
Adriano checked the clock, noting she was right.
“We have to get going,” he murmured.
“Not yet.” Alessa lifted off his body, held the base of his cock, and lowered down on his length with a slowness that was sure to kill them both. Her heat and tight channel hugged his cock in the best way. Fucking heaven. A wet, hot heaven. “Fuck, right there …”
He grabbed her waist and turned them around fast so Alessa was under him. Her legs spread wider, letting him get deeper with every hard thrust. She pushed her hands into his wild mess of hair and pulled, arching off the bed.
So beautiful.
One more wasn’t going to hurt anything.