Desired Too

by Lessly, S. K.

  Lincoln suddenly moved past us, but not before smirking at me.

  I shut my eyes in embarrassment.

  “Hey, where’s Georgia?” Max asked him.

  “She’s upstairs. She’ll be down in a minute.”

  Lincoln opened the patio door and we all heard Mason say, “Damn, I have to teach you both how to please your women? Two-minute knockouts are only acceptable in the ring, gentlemen.”

  Max shook her head, but I actually laughed.

  “Yeah, I got your two-minute knockout,” Drake replied, grabbing his crotch before he disappeared on the patio.

  Georgia arrived minutes later, happy as a clam. Apparently, she’d gotten her up-against-the-wall tryst, pregnant belly and all.

  Angel

  I slowly pulled from the cigar in my hand, closed my eyes and let the flow of the smoke through my nose soothe me.

  Drake and Mason sat next to me. Both were quiet and in their own worlds. It had been a long and stressful few months. Most nights, I could feel myself growing cold and dark. Losing Pops was the worst shit I had ever had to deal with and, even though I’d gotten my revenge, it still didn’t bring him back.

  That shit felt good, though. Whoever said getting revenge wasn’t worth it, must have never gotten the taste of it themselves. I’d done what I set out to do. I made everyone pay for the shit they did. Basile had kept his word, and gave me the men that shot at Raquel back when she was in San Francisco. I kept my end and increased his slice of the distribution pie in the West. Ducci’s family was no more, well except Lucy. She knew however that she was on a tight leash. She wasn’t allowed to step foot in the United States, for me it meant she was too close. I told her, though, if I got wind that she disobeyed me, I would kill her. She’s since kept her distance.

  Who I hadn’t caught up with was Casper.

  I turned and looked in Mason’s direction. “Hey, did you find Casper yet?”

  Mason took a sip of his scotch.

  As I mentioned before, Drake had been there for me in my darkest hour. He knew me, and knew what darkness lurked around the corner, ready to swallow me up the second I gave it a chance. Lincoln didn’t allow me to give it a chance and neither did Mason.

  Mason, however, had surprisingly provided an outlet to feed those demons that sometimes screamed for release. He was always setting me up with fighters to pound on when I needed and times when I didn’t. He had told me some of the shit he’d done in the name of revenge, and I had to admit, I appreciated and feared him all at the same time. I never wanted to be as far into my demons as he had gone, and he made sure I never did.

  “I didn’t tell you what happened?” Mason finally said to me.

  “Oh shit,” Lincoln muttered immediately before he pulled from his own cigar.

  Curious, I shook my head. “Uh no.”

  Mason then looked at Lincoln. “I thought you said you were going to tell him?”

  “I didn’t say that shit. You’re the idiot that let it happen. You tell him.”

  I closed my eyes. Sometimes dealing with these two sorority girls was so fucking exhausting. I swear I wanted to shoot them both sometimes.

  “Will someone just tell me what the fuck you two pussies are talking about?”

  Mason sat up and looked at me. “Okay, look, I told you that I would be able to find this Ghost, and that the moment I do, you need to be ready to move, right?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, I remember. So what?”

  Mason nodded sympathetically. “Okay, well, I found him. However, things got a little hairy.”

  I frowned, confused as shit. “What do you mean things got hairy?”

  Lincoln, at this point, started laughing. “Yeah, tell him how things got hairy. Tell him how you were baited.”

  Now, I was really confused. “What?”

  Mason, who stuck his finger up at Lincoln, looked at me. “All right, it happened like this: We found the guy. Again, I told you that he was a slippery son of a bitch, so I figured if I grabbed him, it would be much easier. instead of following him around and waiting for you. Well, when I got him, which by the way, was easy enough, he wouldn’t shut up. He started talking about how I was your bitch, I was a pussy, how he allowed me to catch him, and how I wouldn’t be able to do it again.”

  I looked over at Lincoln, then at Mason. “Okay, so what?”

  Lincoln started laughing again. “Go on, Seal. Tell him what happened next. Tell him how you let him go.”

  “What!?” I sat up and looked at him. “You fucking let him go?”

  Mason, who was getting pissed off himself, said to me, “Yes, that’s right, I let him go. I’m not a fucking pussy. I am no one’s bitch.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I really am surrounded by idiots.”

  “Oh, no, it gets better,” Lincoln added.

  “How?” I replied. “Did he catch him again?”

  Mason was up and heading closer to us. “Of course, I did. Who the fuck do you think I am? He baited me, and I caught the fucker again.”

  “Okay. So where is he?” I asked.

  “I threw his ass out of the fucking plane.”

  I just stared at him, not saying a word, fucking thrown by what he was telling me. Mason finally explained, “He started talking about what he would do to my wife when he escaped and got to her. He pissed me off, so I dropped him from fifteen thousand feet. He was asking for it, so I gave it to him, and I don’t need your judging eyes either. You don’t like how I do things, you can kiss my ass.”

  Lincoln, still laughing took another pull of his cigar.

  I was stunned. I really didn’t see that coming. I knew what kind of man was standing before me, but it still shocked me. This man looked like a banker from Wall Street. He didn’t look like a Seal or a MMA fighter. He should be trading fucking stocks for me, instead of killing assassins.

  I leaned back into my seat, putting my cigar back in my mouth. “Okay then. Thanks.”

  “Yeah, you’re fucking welcome.”

  Mason stood there for a few minutes before he nodded and went back to his seat. Before he got to his seat, though, I said, “You know I’m not paying you extra for that shit.”

  Mason grunted. “That shit was for free. That fucker deserved it!”

  Raquel

  Later that night, when the rest of the family left, Drake, Georgia, Max, Mason, Leo and I took over the patio with about four heaters surrounding us, along with a fire in front, keeping the space heated from the unseasonably cold breeze.

  I was wrapped up with Angel, underneath a blanket with my eyes closed.

  “It’s been a long year,” Angel said quietly.

  In response, he received a few grunts and nods.

  “I’m thankful for friends and family, though. I wouldn’t have been able to get through without you,” he added.

  Agreed remarks and nods circled the patio again.

  I raised my glass in the air. “Here’s to friends, family and a fantastic new year.”

  Everyone’s glasses went in the air. Chants of “here-here” rang throughout the backyard into the night.

  I looked up at the stars to say a silent prayer to my mom, whom I never met, to Pops Leonetti, who I never got the opportunity to get to know, and to our futures.

  The friendships that bonded over adversity could only get stronger from here. I couldn’t wait to see what our futures held.

  I gripped Angel’s arms tighter around me. He was my husband, lover, and best friend. I dreamed about this moment countless times, but I never thought it would come true.

  Angel and I got married in our home city a few months ago. First, I told him that we should wait, in order to give his family time to grieve. I wanted him to be sure that he was marrying me because he wanted to, not because he was in the midst of one of the stages of grief. I wanted him to be truly ready. I didn’t want him feeling any pressure, and I told him repeatedly that I wasn’t going anywhere. I was his forever no matter what.

  He told me that w
asn’t good enough. He wanted to make it official and didn’t want to wait forever to make me his wife. So I told his ass that he needed to propose to me again. Fucking and proposing at the same time didn’t count. He did make up for it by proposing to me during one of our family Sunday dinners. Every woman in the room was in tears when he told me how he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me, how he loved me desperately, and how he was blessed that I was in his life and that I stayed by his side through some difficult shit.

  It was beautiful and all in Italian….

  Of course, I said yes to him and told him how much I loved him back, in the same language. After that, Angel took over, and made sure I had everything I wanted; the reception hall, food, type of cake I wanted and the Vera Wang wedding dress that I was salivating over when he took me to Italy.

  Angel was Catholic, and his faith was important to him. I told him that I didn’t care if we got married in a catholic church. I wasn’t conforming and changing my religion, and I didn’t have to. We had to pay extra and go to additional classes, and I had to practically swear that our kids would be Catholic. I agreed for the sake of the Father marrying us, but I had my fingers crossed behind my back. That counts, right?

  The wedding was beautiful, by far the most beautiful, most important day of my life. We were in all white, from me and him to our bridal party. We wanted to celebrate life since we’d been in darkness for so long after the Don’s passing. My dress was simple, but the ring he gave me… Whew! Let’s just say he gave me two; one to wear every day and another that I only wear on special occasions with him and Lincoln at my hip.

  The days leading up to the wedding, I knew how heavy his heart was heavy. So was his family’s. However, Angel never showed it. He just showed the world that day how much he was in love with me.

  I’d wanted to be with this man for so long, and now that I was here, in this moment, I wanted more.

  I leaned to the right and brought my lips to his ear. “I want a baby.”

  Angel kissed the tip of my nose lightly. “Yeah, me too.”

  “You don’t think it’s too soon?” I asked, thinking about everything he’d been through over the last six months.

  He shook his head. “Nah, I’ve been ready to start a family with you for a long time. For me, the sooner, the better.”

  I brought my hand to the side of his face and kissed his lips. “I love you, baby.”

  “Ti Amo un sacco, Mi amore. Ti Amo.”

  The End

  About the Author: S K Lessly is originally from Pittsburgh, PA. She has a love of action movies, hanging with family and friends, reading her loads of smut from her favorite authors and writing a bit of smut herself. Her debut to the IR world came on November 14th will hopefully flood Amazon with many more of her works.

  As a friend has coined, She is a “artist of the written word” and is truly looking forward to sharing her misunderstood imagination with those that love a good romance book to escape to.

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