by Evie Adams
“But you were an idiot, marching in there all alone. I'll bet you challenged him too didn't you?” I was so angry and frustrated I slapped him.
He took it easily, his eyes inflamed, an amused grin on his lips, “Of course I did and he did nothing,” he held my wrist tightly. “And I told you to wait for me, if anything had happened you would have been caught up in it too. You were stupid to follow me.”
With the free hand I slapped him again, but he grabbed that wrist too, and he drew me to him, his mouth taking mine in a harsh furious kiss.
I struggled to move, but he had me, his arms encircling me, pulling me to him out of my seat and into his, between his chest and the steering wheel. He release my wrist and grabbed the back of my head to keep it on him. The hate, the anger, the danger, all came out in an angry kiss, a great kiss. Insistent, bold, fierce, alive, all the things he was.
Finally, he let me go, or I think, I let him go, we had switched at some point from him holding me still to me holding him and pushing my mouth and tongue into his.
“Do that again, and I'll kill you.” I told him.
“If I do that again, you won't have to. But point taken. No more foolish risks.”
I slipped back into my seat and he drove off.
“So that woman, who was she?” I asked.
“A dangerous woman, more dangerous than all of them. More dangerous than me.”
“She implied she owned the club. And by the way she ordered around the bartender and they followed her orders, it seemed like she did.”
“I don't know how she could, but that's maybe worse if her and Marcelo are allied.”
“Who is she?” I asked.
“Do you really want to know all of this? It won’t help in your life after, in your free life.”
“I do want to know.”
“She is a Markov. Evgenia, Jenny. Daughter to the head of the Markovs. I was her prisoner, she was my captor the last few months.”
“Her?” I couldn't believe it. She was elegant, refined, but frightening as well. She had a restrained menace.
“If she and Marcelo are allies, that's bad for me, but bad for everyone else as well.”
“How did you escape from her?” I asked.
“She let me go. I have no idea why. She took me for a ride, one I had taken before. Each ride was supposed to end with my death, but after each they returned me to my cell. The final ride I was sure was the final one, but she let me go. I didn’t understand then and don't now.” He spoke low and I saw him grip the steering wheel harder with each revelation. His knuckles were turning white, and his shoulders stiff. He seemed to be pushing the steering wheel away from him as he spoke. “But she is more ruthless than anyone I've known. Marcelo would have his men kill me, somewhere secret, behind closed doors while he was somewhere else. She would do it herself and not care about consequences. She would enjoy it.” Whatever he had been through, he had suffered greatly, and still did remembering it.
That was the man who had kissed me. A man who died already, a man with bigger problems than me. Who would be dead in a month or at war or ruthlessly controlling his family.
I had to remind myself he was dangerous and ruthless and the end of me. Certainly not the boy who tried to act tough, like he was once. But still.
I put my hand on his thigh, and saw his hands stop clenching the wheel. The knuckles turned pink again, his breathing less shallow.
We didn't talk for what seemed like hours.
It was past midnight by the time we were in the Catskills. As we arrived, the resort was lit up brilliantly in the dark. It seemed to be a giant manor house. With columns on the sides of the doors and steps leading to the door. A valet took the car and I felt under dressed, but Nico took my hand and we walked in confidently.
It was a great big open room, there were performers up on stage and fifty or hundred tables full of people eating, talking and laughing.
Only half were paying attention to the comedian on stage. He competed for their attention, and had the fifty or so people in front of him rapt, but kept on peeling off more further back as the laughs made them turn their attention to him.
Nico spoke to the young girl maitre d, “I'm here to see Marcus,” he told her.
The pretty young girl looked at him and said, “I'm sorry, Mr. Morgan is awfully busy and usually doesn't have time to mingle with the guests. He may be around later, but I can't promise anything.” She spoke politely, but firmly and folded her hands over the reservation book.
“Tell him a friend is here to see him. Tell him a friend is here to see Mr. Marletti, not Mr. Morgan.”
The way he said it made the receptionist look twice at him, considering him. She followed her instincts and said, “Please wait here,” and she went over and picked up a white phone, and turned away from us to speak to whomever was on the other end.
A few moments later, a man came up behind us and hugged Nico. “Not many people use that name. It's reckless Nico. But you always were. Come on, follow me. I'm so glad to see you.”
We followed him off to the side of the room. He shook a few hands as he went, the people at the tables treating him like a movie star, and he was gracious, but clearly didn't savor the attention.
It was a private room behind smokey glass, so the people inside could see out, but no one could see in.
It was a mix between a VIP room and a private dining room. Half naked women were getting dressed and undressed from feathery costumes and people clustered around three or four tables, eating and laughing and shouting.
Nico introduced me around and I chose to sit at the quiet table, next to a pretty woman trying to feed a baby. Marcus' wife, Anna.
Marcus took Nico to the back tables, and everyone treated the both of them like movie stars. Even the girls, who must be burlesque dancers, they clamored around them both.
A pang of jealousy sprang up, seeing him surrounded like that, but it was silly. This was what I wanted, him to find someone else to amuse himself with and release me. Or that's what I thought I wanted anyways. Most of the time.
Anna put a hand on my arm as I watched, “Most of the girls know better than to try,” she said warmly, then added, “But some of them are stupid, you have to take those ones aside and threaten them.” She moved a steak knife towards me and when she smiled I knew she was joking.
“No, it's fine. We're not together.” I told her.
“Does he know that?” She asked and nodded in their direction. Nico caught my eye and smiled at me.
“Most of the time.” I answered, and let out a deep breath.
She laughed knowingly, but dropped it thankfully. “You look dead tired my dear. Want me to show you a room? You can freshen up and come back down, or just stay in bed. I'll tell Marcus to keep an eye on him.”
“I am dead tired, thank you.”
She picked up the baby, content now that is was fed. And whispered something to Marcus before she came back to me. I followed her out and refused to turn to Nico, to beat down that pang of jealousy.
"We only have the one extra room, will Nico be staying with you?" She asked as she gave me a key.
"I don't know, ask him." I told her, and she made nothing of it.
"I think I know his answer already," she smiled.
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CHAPTER 10 - NICO
After Mina retired and Anna followed, Marcus and I tried to get away and talk privately. I told him about Jenny and Marcelo as quickly as I could.
“That does make for strange bedfellows doesn't it?” He said, and sat back to take me in. “But it does make sense without you in the picture. There was some uncertainty if you would ever come back, and if you would return to the life. There was even a rumor you left willingly and didn't want to be found. I didn't quite believe that, but in what I know about you, that wouldn't have been completely surprising.”
“Retire like you?” I asked him.
“Sort of. I am out of it, semi retired is a good way to think about it. My Uncle Carmine runs the Marletti family, so I'm not too much help.”
“But does this retirement suit you? You seem bored.”
“Maybe it’s a necessary break for me. Gathering my resources so to speak. From what I heard, Marcelo tried his best to get you back. Aldo wasn’t very much help, I even heard rumors he was running drugs. Something your family always shied away from.”
“If he did it was for me. To raise money for me.”
He looked at me like I was a fool for a second. “That’s your family and your business. Not for me to say anything about that. But the important thing for you is to meet with the council of the families. Carmine can speak for you, I can talk to him to make sure. He has no love for Marcelo. But he can't speak for all the families. They may be unpredictable. If they refuse you, you don't have many options.”
“Do I have any?”
“There is one. You wouldn't like it. I don't think your woman there, Mina would like it either, but it is your best move.”
Even as we talked I wanted to go after Mina, follow her to the room and restart the fire we had begun earlier.
There were 1000 things to worry about outside of her, and Marcus was reminding me about all of those things and more.
Those worries seemed far away from me for now. Hours on the highway, while my comfort was 50 feet away in a room.
Marcus was instructing me, teaching me, reminding me of the things I needed to do. The other part of me was thinking about what I wanted to do and all those were the same and involved Mina.
It was impossible to reconcile the two. The needs over the wants.
"Any word on Tess?" Marcus asked.
"None. Aldo has been looking for her. He's her brother after all. But he hasn't found anything.”
“Finding her or what remains of her, would ease the tensions for sure.” He rubbed his chin, thinking.
“What do you mean what remains of her?”
“After this long, the odds she still breaths are pretty small right? But anyways I'm trying to help in any way I can. I will try to reach out to my uncle Carmine tonight and see what we can do. There aren't many hours left, but I'll accompany you in the morning if you like and see if we can get this settled and avoid an all-out war between families. Nobody wants that it's not good for anybody."
"Is this proposed alliance of yours, the one I don't like, is it the only way to avoid it?"
"Maybe, without Tess, she was supposed to balance things out and add stability. Without her, Marcelo can go against you. And the other families can too."
"And there's nothing I can do to convince them?"
"Not with words, but with actions. It'll be clearer in the morning. Go get some sleep. I'll go do some work for you and we'll figure it out tomorrow."
"Okay." I agreed.
Now that I had considered what I needed to do, it was time to get what I wanted.
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CHAPTER 11 - ANNA
The silence made it hard to sleep.
I thought about the silliness of my jealousy. I didn't care if he had another woman. I wanted him to, it would take his advances off of me. I could get back to me running his club, paying off the rest of that debt and being able to go and start a new life. Away from him and the Manetti's and everything I had ever known.
I had to apologize for the kiss. It was a weakness, a silly mistake made under pressure, under duress, under fear that he didn't care at all for his life and would throw it away for no reason.
That's all it was.
At some point, he came into the room and slipped into bed with me. I pretended to sleep but he could tell I was faking it. Probably because my breath sped up when he got under the sheets and positioned himself behind me and I could feel his hot breath against the back of my neck.
"Trouble sleeping?" He whispered into my neck and I could feel the vibrations from the pillow, it sent shivers running down my body.
"The quiet I think,"
"It can be hard to get used to. The silence out here. But then you get used to it. It's the same when you return to the city. The cars and people and neighbors in the city will become too loud to sleep. Here the silence is deafening. The crickets louder than fire trucks. Even the moonlight seems to scream at you."
"People can get used to anything right?"
"Almost anything." He said and hesitated.
I could feel the warmth of his body against me, but we didn't touch yet. I imagined his skin on fire, mine certainly seemed to be. “I thought you would stay with one of those dancers tonight.”
“I could have, one of them would be nicer to me I think.”
“But I am nice. Anna said this is the last room in the hotel. If I threw you out, then you would have to sleep in the car or something right?”
His voice came out almost sleepy, almost a purr, “It wouldn't be my last option, but yes, I suppose if you threw me out that is where I'd go. If someone didn't offer something better.”
“So you owe me now don't you?”
“You're right, I do. How would you like payment?”
He kissed my neck, his hand traced my hip, fingertips sending electric shocks into me. I tried to throw his hand off, “No, I was just kidding,”
“I wasn't.” He said, his voice not sleepy anymore. “I'm a man who pays his debts. And I don't mind paying them the old fashioned way.”
I was aware of the swollen length of his cock rubbing me from behind. I didn't move away from it, my hips wanted to wiggle back against him, but I fought to control them. His cock pressed against my thighs, insistent. He rocked against me, but went no further. My body began to do things against my will, it rocked with him, despite me telling it not to. It wasn't listening to me and was shouting louder than my mind, louder than a fire truck.
We gently rocked this way while he rolled my nipple between his thumb and finger. He probed between my legs with his fingers now instead of his cock, following my wetness to its source.
I couldn’t help but turn, lifting my bottom in the air as he fingered me. “Hmmm,” I moaned.
“More?” he asked, not waiting for my response before slipping another finger in, stretching me, making me moan against the mattress.
“Please don't,” I whispered, looking back at him, his eyes dark with lust in the moon light. It took everything for me to lie to him, to say I didn't want it.
I bit my lip, trying to be quiet, enjoying having him to myself for the moment, focused solely on me as he reached around to cup the sway of my breasts in his hands.
“Touch yourself,” he urged. This voice my body would listen to, but not my own.
I closed my eyes and ran my hands over my body. I found that little spot at the top, the nub of sensation which drove me over the edge.
“Hmmm,” he breathed as I spread my lips. He moved down to watch, I felt his hot breath on my thighs and I opened my eyes a little to watch him as I rubbed myself.
He pushed two fingers on my thighs, to open them to him. His eyes demanded I do it and not fight him, but I didn't have very much fight left anyways.
I whimpered and pulled my knees back and lifted my hips. He smiled and covered my pussy with his mouth. I moaned and let my knees fall open wide for him, my own hands cupping my breasts, thumbing my nipples.
“That’s it,” he encouraged. “Doesn’t it feel good?”
“Hmm,” I agreed breathlessly bucking my hips in rhythm with the hot press of his tongue. “Keep doing that,” I begged him but I didn't have to, he wasn't going to move from that spot until he had what he wanted.
Nico wrapped his arms around my hips and buried his face deep, making me shiver with my own lust. I couldn’t control my body or the way it responded to him so I just gave into it, letting myself go completely in his arms. His tongue lapped and licked at me, the wet sound of his mouth filled the room drowning out the crickets.
Drowning out any thoughts I had.
“Oh!” I cried twisting my nipples as my orgasm hit in a wave of heat, shaking my arms and legs and twisting my torso with its force. I quivered and spread my thighs even wider, my head thrown back against the pillows in pleasure, straining to capture every last bit of the climax rocking my hips.
I grasped the sheets in my hands and twisted and pulled them in my fists to hold on as Nico didn’t stop. His tongue probed deeper, sliding down to taste me.
I almost couldn't bear it, I squealed and squirmed in protest, but he held me down, kept me just where he wanted me, his mouth fastened over me. I tried to buck and turn away but he held me tight, his arms wrapped around my hips.
“Please,” I begged. Unable to bear it, but with no choice than to get thrown further this time by him and his unrelenting tongue.
He mumbled something but I couldn't make sense of it. I focused on not flying off the bed. I moved my hips hips in little circles, using his tongue for my pleasure. Then he slid his fingers inside of me and I flew off the bed in my mind, hurtled into orbit with this second orgasm just after the first, my body trembling with the force of it.
I passed out, so content, so spent, so tired from the long day, so tired from resisting.
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CHAPTER 12 - NICO
I woke with her hair in my face and drank it in. Her body was pressed up against mine. Her ass up against my crotch, my cock ready for her.
She had been so sweet last night, fighting with her body and her body winning. If only she hadn't fallen asleep. I followed her into sleep not very long after, maybe that was better.
She had the night to get used to the idea, to dream of me.
I kissed the back of her neck. I let my hot breath stay there as she began to wake. I wanted her red hot when she woke, no pretending resistance any more.
I kissed down her back and traced my fingers over her breasts, down to her stomach, and further down. I kissed the side of her stomach, the valley between ribs and hip, and she turned over, her eyes open, she didn't startle, she didn't frighten, she smiled.