Feel the Reaper: Bad Boy Mafia Romance Novella (Book 1) (Bad Boy Mafia Romance Novella (A Crime Family Novella))

by Asher Scott

  I fucking need her, period.

  Chapter 17

  Abby

  Where am I? The massive, muscled arm wrapped around my shoulder and the stiff cock pushing into my back tell me all I need to know.

  I’m with Luca in a hotel room, and last night he killed a guy in my apartment. Just a normal Saturday morning, right?

  My God, how my life has changed since I woke up in my own bed a few days ago, alone, just another day in my boring and unsensational life. Now, I lay next to an Adonis, a killer, and a guy who has shown me more about myself sexually than I would have learned with another partner in an entire lifetime.

  It’s way more than that. We are connected by a silent and unseen force that pulls us together despite anything. Even murder. Or was it self-defense?

  This is what my heart tells me, and if a woman can’t listen to her heart, what’s the point? I think about him all day, I dream about him when I sleep, I wonder what he’s doing when I’m not with him. And here I am still with him, and loving the feeling of having him beside me in bed.

  I’m tired of being alone in this life. Ever since that fateful day when I lost my mom, then my grandmother, and finally my dad, I’ve felt so terribly alone. It’s an awful way to go through life. That story ends here. I’ll hear Luca out, and if he’s being honest with me, what more can I ask? I want to be with him, I want to follow my heart. How many times has indecision gotten in the way of people’s happiness? Not me. Not anymore. I feel amazing when I’m around him, like I’m floating on a cloud and my feet can’t seem to find the ground.

  I shift a bit, probably due to my full bladder, lift his heavy arm off of me, and let it fall to his side into the place I just vacated. It feels good to pee, and I silently laugh at his underwear hanging off the curtain rod. At least he’s into hygiene. He still smells like a man, though, musky, mixed with sweat and whatever else goes into the mix.

  When I come out of the bathroom, Luca’s sitting up in bed, rubbing the sand out of his eyes, which light up when he sees me. “Good morning, darling. I saved a spot for you.” He lifts the sheet, and I hesitate enough for him to see that I’m not ready to jump into bed with his naked hotness just yet. I sit on the edge of the bed, facing him, grabbing his hand and looking right in his eyes.

  “I need to hear your story.”

  He looks away, bows his head down, runs his fingers through his hair, and then exhales. “Alright, Abby. You ready?”

  Chapter 18

  Luca

  “I’m a bad guy. Real bad. I’ve killed a lot of men. Never women, and never children. I’m not fucking proud of it. Talking to you now, though, I make no apologies. I’ve seen some fucked up shit in my life. My parents were deadbeats and never around. My dad could give a shit about me, and my mom worked so much I never saw her. I latched up with a Father at a church when I was around seven. Father Francis. He kept me on the straight and narrow and off the streets. When I was close to twelve, some money went missing from the church. One of the kids I knew blamed me for it. I didn’t do it, but Father didn’t believe me. His name was Ralphie Cardillo. That fucker is dead now. I know because I killed him two days ago. After I killed him, I found a bag of money in his apartment. That bag of money over there.”

  My eyes went to the leather bag over in the corner, as I cleared my throat and took a sip of water from a glass on the nightstand. Fuck this wasn’t easy, but I owe it to Abby to tell her the truth. She sits quietly, studying my eyes, her eyes darting back and forth to study mine.

  “How much is in there?”

  “There must be a million fucking dollars in there.”

  “You’re kidding?”

  “Do I look like I’m kidding, Abby?”

  Fuck. I’ve killed two motherfuckers over this money.

  “It’s my ticket out of this shithole that is my life. A guy who gives me work sometimes, Tonio Tavollaci, is after me and the money. He’s a bad character. I don’t know whose money it is, but I know Tonio plans to hunt me down, torture me if needed, until I give up the money. He wants to take the money himself.”

  She never wavers, her other hand reaching over and stroking my face. Damn, that feels good.

  “That fucker who was searching your apartment last night tried to subdue me. He failed. He would have tortured me to get to the money. Then he would have killed me. I had to kill, or be killed. I took out his partner already. That’s where I left to go on the night we met. He’s dead, too. If I can take out Tavollaci, I’m betting I’m home free. I don’t know for sure, but killing Tavollaci should be the last obstacle to keeping that money for myself. If that fucker comes after me, I’ll kill him, too. It’s what I do. It’s what I’ve always done.”

  I sit up now, my hand on her cheek, not because I feel like I have to, but because I want to. “Abby, there’s one thing you need to know about me and it’s important. I have a code. I never kill anyone unless they’re a bad person. I hear things and see things and I’m a good judge of character. If they’re bad, I kill them. If they’re not, I don’t. I’ve never gone against that rule and it’s the only thing that’s kept me from putting a bullet in my head all these years. Otherwise, I couldn’t live with myself.”

  Abby speaks. “So you’re like the Grim Reaper? Picking and choosing who goes and who stays?”

  I pause and think if there’s anything else I need to add.

  “I guess you can say that. Well, that’s my story, darling. You wanted to know, now you do.”

  She looked at me in an odd way, but I couldn’t blame her. The man that she has openly given herself to has just confessed these awful things.

  “Are you sure he wants to kill you?”

  She has questions, and I need to answer them as truthfully as fucking possible. It’s the least I can do.

  “Maybe more than Tavollaci’s vicious nature, he’s a greedy man. Money and power is at the core of everything he does. I took his money – at least I think it’s his money – and he’ll be coming for it. I’ll kill him first. That money is my ticket out, and I’d rather die a horrible death than go back.”

  Chapter 19

  Abby

  I feel like I’m going to be sick as the nausea grows the more I hear about Luca’s life. It’s sad, and raw, yet brutal and real. He talks about stuff he’s done like this is a normal conversation. The fact that this is normal, everyday stuff to him is too much for my mind to comprehend.

  I know why he wants to get out. You have to respect a guy who realizes his life is a mess and takes action to change it. But this is not something easy like I don’t like my job at the bank, so I think I want to make a change and become a teacher. It’s ‘I’m tired of killing people for a living, so I stole a huge amount of cash so I don’t have to do it anymore.’ There’s one catch, though, and it’s that I have to kill a bunch more people to make it happen.

  I guess I’ve always known there was something dark to him. The way he owned that bar when he walked in was something powerful. Taking out those four guys was nothing to him. He didn’t take karate classes to learn how to fight. He learned on the job and God knows how many people he’s hurt or killed. It’s what he’s good at.

  Beneath all those layers of heinous acts that span most of his lifetime experiences is a guy with a good heart. Right now he’s showing his honesty by laying it all out on the line and answering all my naive questions. He knows damn well he could lose me. He’s also taking a huge risk in telling me all this. I could easily go to the police. I have names, places, and motives. It shows he can trust other people. At least he can trust me. It takes a man to be honest about their life, however messed up it may be.

  “I believe you, and I’m okay with it.”

  “You’re shitting me. What parts are you okay with?”

  “All of it.”

  “You’re either really into me or incredibly trusting.”

  “Maybe a little bit of both?” I laugh and he does the same.

&
nbsp; “It doesn’t matter, Luca. All we have is today. After losing everyone I loved in my life, that’s what I come back to. Yesterday doesn’t matter. What we do today is what matters. It’s all we have control over.”

  “My history is a lot to look past. You’re sure you’re ready for that? I’m a fucking bad human being, Abby.”

  “No you’re not, Luca. You’ve just done some bad things. But you’re a good man with a huge heart. Look at the way you protected me. Look at how you treat me when we’re intimate. I’m falling for you, Luca, and I like you just the way you are.” I kiss his lips and bring his hand to my thigh.

  He doesn’t return my kiss as passionately as I would have expected. “Is there something wrong, Luca?”

  He doesn’t answer. All I see is a quiet rage building inside of him, fire in his eyes, muscles tightening with fists clenched.

  “What is it? You can tell me.” My hand reaches to his face and turns his strong jaw so that he’s facing me.

  “You’re not going to like this, Abby. I don’t fucking know if I should tell you this. This has been on my mind and you’ve been so honest with me, I need to tell you this.”

  “Luca, just say it.”

  “I think I know who killed your father.”

  Chapter 20

  Luca

  The look on Abby’s face breaks my fucking heart. She looks like a lost puppy. Fuck. I wish I could take the pain away from her. I look at her beautiful face, those green eyes contorting into a mask of disbelief, and then I think I see anger.

  God, she looks so fucking beautiful, even when she’s tormented.

  “I… how?”

  She can’t even speak. A lone tear slides down her cheek, and I wipe it away with my thumb, and then there’s another, and another, until it’s a constant trickle.

  “You have to tell me, Luca.” Her voice is urgent, filled with emotion.

  “About five years ago, Tavollaci offered me a job. He said there was a guy who wasn’t paying his protection fee. The guy simply refused. Since that was his territory, he felt he had to do something about it.”

  “What’s a protection fee?”

  “It’s a fee that’s paid to a local mobster by business owners, and in return, they will have mob protection from robberies, you know, that sort of thing.”

  “Does everyone have to pay?”

  “It depends on the neighborhood, and really on the guy who’s running it. Tavollaci is a ruthless bastard, so yeah, you have to pay.”

  “Go on.”

  “So Tavollaci tells me the deal, about killing this guy and I say no. I told you about my code. I don’t kill civilians, only bad guys. Tavollaci must have called on his other muscle, Cerone or Spiletti. I killed Cerone a few nights ago and Spiletti… well, you met him. He was the dead fucker on your living room floor.”

  “One of those guys killed my father?”

  “Yeah. It had to be. Tavollaci doesn’t hire out, myself being the exception. And one of those fuckers pulled the trigger, for sure. But it’s not their fault. They’re bad fucks, don’t hear me wrong, but they’re following orders. If they don’t follow those orders, they’d be rubbed out.”

  “Rubbed out?”

  “Killed. It’s a rough business, darling. It’s why I want out. Not many people get out. They try, but very few succeed, and the rest end up floating belly-up in the East River.”

  Abby is crying now, and although it feels awkward, I hold her. I’m not used to this. I’d never gotten this close to any woman. Usually I bang the shit out of them and hightail it out of there when I’m done, or certainly by the next morning. Not with Abby. We belong to each other and I will kill anyone who tries to hurt her. She’s mine and no one can ever touch her again.

  Fuck. I should be hiding out up in Albany right now. The only reason I’m still here is wrapped up in my arms. Abby was worth fighting for. I’ve fought my whole life against other people, against myself. I’m tired of that shit.

  I’m going to fight once more. One big fight against a nasty motherfucker who deserves more than anything else to be six feet under the ground, or worse. I’ll send that fucker to hell.

  As if I didn’t hate the motherfucker enough, how he manipulated me into this world of mayhem and ordered me to kill people before I popped my first pimple. He hurt my Abby, and he would pay, or I would die trying. Except I wouldn’t die. I’m the fucking best, and Tavollaci will learn that soon enough.

  I stroke Abby’s hair and wipe away her tears. I can get used to this. Having Abby in my arms and comforting her when she needs it.

  Between soft sobs Abby finds her voice, and what she says next rocks me to my core.

  “I want him dead. You need to kill him for me, Luca.”

  Chapter 21

  Luca

  “Abby, I…” She cuts me off.

  “When I was a little girl and I lost my mother and grandmother within a week of each other, I lost my faith in God, or any higher power. I questioned everything. How could this be a beautiful world when the most beautiful things are taken away from me? I was bitter, resentful, and nothing made sense to me anymore.”

  She pauses for a moment to reflect, and I know she’s not done yet.

  “Then I found a way to move on. I still had my dad, and he loved me very much even though I wasn’t as close to him. At least I still had a person in my life who would love and care for me. Until that day when he was murdered. I instantly wished the most horrible death on the person who did that to my father. I didn’t blame higher powers anymore, I blamed people. I blamed human nature. I wanted to go live in a small mountain hut, away from everyone. I would just have to care for myself, and if I didn’t interact with anyone, I would never get close to them. I could never lose them.”

  Abby pulls away from my grasp, and sitting up straight now, she looks right into my eyes. “In a sense, Luca, I have been living in that hut ever since. I put up walls to protect myself. I never let anyone in. Mandy is the closest thing I have to family in this world, and I only let her in because in essence, I needed someone to talk to. I was lonely.”

  Tears are streaming down her face now and I have no idea what to say or how to support her. I’m not used to this shit. I just know my feelings for her grow with every word she says.

  “When I met you, Luca, so dark and mysterious, so powerful… I was sucked into you and couldn’t control it. When you took out those guys, I said, there’s a guy who can protect me. Keep me safe. There’s a person who can’t be taken away from me because he’s so freaking tough. God himself couldn’t strike you down, Luca.”

  Abby is releasing stuff that’s been pent up for years, and I let her continue. There’s nothing I can fucking say right now. She needs to get this out, so I put my hand on her shoulder to give her some strength.

  “When you first made love to me, I’d never felt so alive. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs because of the beautiful experience that you and I shared. You made me feel again for the first time in a long time. In the last two days, I’ve breathed in life with you, Luca. Through the fear, the connections, the good times and the bad, I want to feel life with you, Luca. I want to feel you now.”

  She comes to me, stripping the nightshirt off her body, her beautiful breasts, perky and bright, brush against my chest. I instantly harden. How fucking beautiful can one person be?

  I’m already naked, so at least my cock has some room to grow to full size. I want her so bad right now. I want to take away her pain and fill her with good memories. Memories of my cock burying deep within her, filling her completely.

  Abby is on me, filled with passion, but this just won’t do. I like to fucking drive. I force her over onto her back and she doesn’t complain at all. She likes it when I dominate. I kiss her neck, then ride my tongue along her ear, and she giggles, as she’s ticklish there.

  That’s my girl. Love that smile.

  She licks her hand, and reaches for my cock, stroki
ng it from the hard root base right up to the tip. It feels so fucking good.

  “Is this what you want?” I bring my raging hard-on up near her face, and she surveys it for a second, maybe planning her attack, before taking in just the tip, her hot tongue swirling around it like an ice cream cone that will never drip. Her movements are frenzied, her breathing haggard and rough.

  She hums and moans, now letting it slide into her mouth, tracing my length with her tongue as my head reaches the back of her throat. She releases it back into the world, then runs her tongue down the side ridge, tracing my vein back and forth, then concentrating on the tip, swirling under the ridge where head meets shaft. I expand and she answers inaudibly.

  She strokes my shaft up and down now, her hand looks tiny against my enormity. Fuck yeah. This feels great but I need to bury my cock so far inside her, it will never see the light of day.

  I lick my own hand, but instinctively I know she’s wet and ready for me. My fingers meet her folds and she’s dripping wet for my cock. I pull my body down and enter her, feeling her hot heat envelop me, milking and pulling on me in desperation.

  Her ankles hook my ass, pulling me deeper into her. Deeper than I’ve ever been before. She is swallowing my impressive cock whole, then spitting it back out in response to my thrusts. Her silky glove massages every inch, as I piston slow and steady, letting her feel my full length.

  I angle up, riding her top wall then find her spot, spongy and sweet, the friction against my upper head is driving me fucking nuts.

  “Fuck, Abby, you’re so fucking beautiful.”

  She moans in delight, her eyes wide, not wanting to take them off of me, and she looks like she’s taking all she can handle.

  “You like my cock inside you, darling?”