Hot Set

by Ivy Blake

  I crouched down to the floor, feeling a wave of nostalgia overtake me as I sifted through old photo frames and bed linen. I shook my head at the realization that none of this meant anything to Papa anymore. He just kept this all locked up in a dusty forgotten room of the house.

  While I looked, my fingers fell on a necklace and I scooped it out of the box. I recognized it the moment I saw it. It was a thin silver chain with a beautiful silver pendant hanging from it in the shape of a dove. I remembered it around Mama’s neck and how she always wore it everywhere, even when she slept. I clutched it tightly in my hand, a smile crossing my face. I had finally found a piece of her!

  “Bella!” I heard Papa’s voice outside in the halls. Slipping the necklace around my throat quickly, I rushed out of the room to him. He was in one of his three-piece suits, waiting at the end of the hall, flanked by his two trusty brutes.

  “Ready to go? My beautiful daughter,” Papa asked, smiling as he looked me up and down.

  “Yes, Papa,” I replied, walking towards him. I could feel the warm touch of the pendant as it sat on the center of my chest, and now, finally, I felt like I had come home.

  ***

  The party that Papa had organized for my homecoming was at the most exclusive nightclub in Naples, or at least that was what Papa had told me. And just like he said, he’d invited all the people I knew from my time here.

  I was greeted by old acquaintances, faces I thought I’d lost in memory a long time ago. Everyone was excited to see me and as I mingled and talked and laughed with them, I felt like slowly my anger towards Papa was diminishing. It was good to be back, it was good to feel at home again.

  I hadn’t seen Leo at the club yet, and I tried to convince myself that I didn’t care. I was too caught up with catching up with my old friends to look for him and a few hours went by, drinking and laughing, before I noticed that I hadn’t seen Papa in a long time.

  Excusing myself from the group I had been talking with, I tried to go look for him. This was supposed to be a celebration of my homecoming, he was supposed to be there with me, by my side, drinking with me, reconnecting.

  Instead, I could see him sitting at a dark corner table, surrounded by a group of men who he was deep in conversation with. Clenching my fists, and bubbling with frustration, I weaved my way around the tables towards him.

  Just when I was a few feet away from him, Leo intercepted me. Once again, I had walked right into him.

  “I’m sorry, Isabella, you can’t talk to your father right now, he’s in a meeting,” Leo spoke firmly, formally, meeting my eyes.

  “Let me through! This is supposed to be my party, he’s supposed to be celebrating with me,” I said, but nobody except Leo could hear my voice over the music playing in the club.

  I could see that he hadn’t gotten dressed up for the party. He was still in those jeans from the morning, and the same tight t-shirt and dark leather jacket.

  “You’ll just have to wait a bit, I’ll let him know you’re looking for him,” he said, holding his hands up.

  “It’s always business that comes first with him, doesn’t it? Family means nothing!” I snapped and before Leo could say anything, I grabbed his wrist and started tugging him towards the dance floor.

  “Isabella! What are you doing?” I heard him shout, but I didn’t stop. I kept dragging him to the dance floor.

  He was stronger than me, more powerful, and it didn’t take him long to yank his hand away from me.

  “If I’m not getting attention from Papa, then you’re going to have to give it to me. Now, dance with me!” I snapped and I could see Leo squaring his shoulders, his chest rising and falling. He was at a loss for what to do. I was asking him to do something that was in clear defiance of Papa.

  But right now, all I wanted was for him to hold me. I just wished he would hold me in his arms.

  ***

  “Isabella, I can’t dance with you,” I heard Leo say as we stood on the side of the dance floor. I felt like a teenager again, looking up at his face, craning my neck. I didn’t know what being rejected by a man felt like, but ever since I’d met Leo that morning, all I had experienced was rejection.

  “Why?” I asked, and my lips quivered. The music in the club was loud and we were both shouting to make ourselves heard.

  “Because I’m supposed to keep an eye on you, not dance with you,” Leo replied.

  “Do you always do what Papa says?” I asked and I saw him clench his jaws.

  “Yes,” he replied and I reached for his hand again. This time, I wasn’t going to let him get away so easily.

  “Well, Papa isn’t going to like it if he hears that you didn’t do what I asked you to do,” I said and I lightly touched his hand, guiding him towards the dance floor. This time, Leo followed me.

  The dance floor was filled with people already, and I squeezed my way through, Leo fast on my heels.

  I found a spot that I thought would be perfectly private, hidden by other people who were at the club. Even though I had forced Leo to dance with me, I didn’t want him to get into trouble with Papa, either.

  We stood facing each other, me looking up at him and Leo’s eyes fixed on me. I reached for his hands again, this time placing them on my hips. I was surprised to find that he didn’t flinch and he didn’t take his hands off me.

  Instead, he grabbed my waist with his hands, yanking me closer to him. I gasped, my mouth falling open. I could breathe in his scent, I could feel the strength of his grip on my waist.

  I moved, rolling my hips along to the sensual music. My hands rose up and I ruffled my hair. Leo moved slowly, just keeping pace with the music. He clearly wasn’t an extravagant dancer. Instead, he was more focused on watching me and I was fine with that. I enjoyed it when he looked at me with those deep dark eyes of his. I could see him thinking, undressing me with his eyes, his gaze dropping down from my face to my cleavage. I could feel my nipples hardening under the dress, pebbling and throbbing.

  His hands remained on my waist as I moved my hips. They were big and warm, with long thick fingers. I tilted my head back, exposing my neck to him. As I danced to the music, I pressed my eyes closed, visualizing what it would feel like to have those hands on my breasts, his thumbs teasing my nipples.

  I had seen him without his t-shirt on already. I knew the six-pack chiseled abs he was hiding under his clothes. I’d seen those biceps bulging just moments before those men took their punches.

  Leo yanked me to himself again. I straightened my face, opening my eyes. I could feel his hot breath falling on my eyelashes.

  “Isabella…you…” he began to say and I parted my lips. Every cell in my body was aching for him. I wanted more than just his hands on my hips, I wanted them on my ass, I wanted them on the insides of my thighs. Leo leaned in closer, his lips grazing mine and I gasped again. He was finally going to kiss me!

  The sound of the gunshot filled the air and a cry rang out in the club in unison. I cried out with shock too and Leo placed a hand over my head, pushing me down. He had covered me with his body.

  I wrapped my arms around his torso, breathing hard, trying to see past the people running. Who shot their gun in here?

  “Leo, Papa!” I cried and he turned to see what I was seeing. A gang of men waving guns in their hands were pushing and squeezing past the panicking people towards Papa’s table.

  “We have to go to him!” I screamed, trying to wriggle out of Leo’s grasp.

  “No, we can’t go there now. We need to get out of here,” Leo wrapped his strong arms around my waist and lifted me up. I struggled in his grip, trying to get free so I could go to Papa. I could see the men closing in on his table now. There was going to be a shootout. Was Papa going to die? Was I going to lose my father too?

  “Isabella, don’t struggle! I have to get you to safety. Those are my orders. You can’t help him now!” Leo was running out of the club, dragging me along in his arms. The doors closed on us as we burst out into the night air,
people storming out around us, screams ringing everywhere. Complete and utter chaos.

  Leo didn’t stop—he ran with me all the way to his parked car. With one hand, he yanked the front door open and threw me inside. I could feel the hot tears rolling down my cheeks as I stared out of the window.

  Why had I come back here? In one day in Naples, I had seen more violence than I had seen in the past thirteen years in America. What had possessed me to come back to this place?

  Leo jumped into the car beside me and he revved up the engine and charged ahead without stopping once to look back.

  “Are you okay?” he growled, driving us out of the parking lot at top speed. I didn’t know what to say to him. I didn’t know how to answer that question.

  Chapter 5

  Leo

  I drove fast and it wasn’t before I believed we had driven far enough that I stopped the car on the side of the road in the dark and called Marco. Isabella was breathing hard beside me, like she couldn’t catch a breath.

  Every time I asked her if she was okay, she only mumbled a response. I could sense that she was still in shock. Marco’s phone rang a couple of times before he finally answered, and I felt relieved.

  “It’s me,” I said.

  “Leo! Where are you? Is my daughter with you?”

  “Yeah, I took her out of the place. What happened?”

  “We were under attack, that’s what happened. Fuck this! I’m going to murder them!” Marco was barking into the phone.

  “Do you want me to get back? I can drop Isabella off at the house,” I suggested.

  “No. Keep her away from me tonight. You need to keep her safe, you hear? Make sure she doesn’t come anywhere near me tonight!” Marco continued to bark.

  “Let me talk to him! I want to talk to him!” Isabella screeched beside me and she snatched the phone out of my hand before I could stop her.

  “Papa! Where are you!” she screamed into the phone.

  I gripped the steering wheel hard, listening to her scream at her father.

  “Why can’t you tell me where you are? What happened back there? We could all be killed! Me, our friends, you!”

  I couldn’t hear what Marco was saying to her, but I could sense that he was failing to placate her. He was only pissing her off even more.

  “What are you talking about? How can I be calm when we all nearly died?” she screeched some more.

  Then there was silence. She was listening to what he was saying, her breasts heaving up and down. That beautiful navy dress she had picked out that morning looked a little torn in the struggle. Her hair, which she had loosely pinned in a bun at the side of her head, had now come undone. Her long chocolate colored strands were falling delicately around her face.

  “Fine. Whatever!” she snapped and threw the phone at me. I could see that she’d ended the call already. I slipped it back into the pocket of my jeans and we sat together in the car in silence. I gave her a few moments to catch her breath.

  “He wants me to stick with you tonight. He doesn’t want me to go back to the house,” she said finally in a quiet voice after we had been silent for a while.

  “Yes, I know, that’s what he told me too,” I said. Isabella kicked her foot in her seat. She growled and banged her fist on the window in anger. I clenched the steering wheel tighter. I wanted to help her. I wanted to find a way to make her feel better but I didn’t know how.

  “Isabella.” I said her name in a deep voice and she turned to look at me. Some of her mascara was running down her cheeks now, but she still looked beautiful. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

  “Tell me what I can do to make you feel better,” I said and she gulped.

  The fierceness in her eyes dimmed a little now and she licked her lips quietly.

  “Take me to Mama’s grave,” she said quietly. I stared at her, mulling the idea over in my head. It wasn’t a good idea. It was the dead of night, and I had no backup. Taking her to the graveyard at this time would be a risk, it would open us up to all kinds of attacks.

  “Please?” her voice cracked as she said it and I started the engine again. If that was what she wanted, that was exactly what I was going to give her.

  We drove in silence to the graveyard. I could see from the corner of my eye Isabella dabbing at her eyes with her knuckles.

  When we arrived at the graveyard, she slowly got out of the car and I followed her. She knew exactly where her mother was buried and I kept my distance as we walked.

  Isabella looked tragically beautiful in the moonlight, her dress glittering in the dim silvery light with every step she took. Her skin shone pale as she wrapped her arms around herself. I could hear her sniffling in the dark as she walked ahead of me and then stopped when she reached the site where her mother was buried.

  I stood some distance away from her as she stared down at the headstone. There were no flowers at the grave and I knew that Isabella had noticed it, too. In fact, I couldn’t think of one instance that Marco had spoken about his late wife. Most of us had forgotten she had even existed.

  Isabella crouched down to touch the mound with her fingers. I could hear her crying and I felt the urge to hold her, to make it all right for her.

  “Hello, Mama, I’m back,” I heard her whisper in the dark. She sounded like the saddest girl in the world and I could feel my body stiffening. I’d never felt this way before, this desperate urge to hold someone, to make their pain go away. I didn’t even know Isabella, but I already knew that she deserved better. That she deserved to be happy.

  She stood up again and turned to me.

  “I’m cold. We should go somewhere warm,” she said. She hadn’t even bothered to wipe the tears off her cheeks this time. I nodded my head and led the way back to the car. She was walking beside me now, keeping pace and from time to time, I glanced at her.

  I knew I was falling for her all over again.

  ***

  I brought her to my apartment because that was the only place I knew I could keep her safe. Isabella walked in, looking about her curiously, while I checked all the windows to make sure they were locked and we weren’t being watched.

  After visiting her mother’s grave, she had spoken very little and I let her grieve the way she wanted to. After I was satisfied with the safety of my apartment, I offered her some water.

  “You should get some rest,” I suggested when I brought her the glass of water. She took it from me and drank some and didn’t acknowledge what I had just said.

  “Tell me about your family, Leo, given that you know so much about mine,” she spoke gently. I could see in her eyes that she was genuinely curious. I didn’t talk about my parents; nobody ever asked because everyone in the family already knew the story of how Marco had saved me.

  “My parents died when I was a kid,” I told her and I started leading the way to my bedroom. Isabella followed me and just when I was about to open the door to the room, she placed a hand on my shoulder.

  “Leo…I’m sorry,” I heard her say and I turned to look at her.

  “Don’t be, I don’t remember it. I don’t remember them, either. I was in the accident too and I had a severe head injury,” I said and Isabella’s eyes grew wider. I could see her feeling sorry for me and that was the last thing I wanted. I didn’t want to be pitied.

  “Oh, Leo…” she cried and I shook my head.

  “It’s okay, Marco took me in, he gave me a place to stay and recover and gave me a position in the family,” I said and turned from her and walked into the bedroom. She followed me in.

  “Maybe you should talk about it, talking about it might help,” she suggested. I whipped around to her.

  “Help with what?” I snapped and Isabella gulped.

  “With whatever’s troubling you inside,” she spoke in a quiet voice.

  “Nothing is troubling me, I’m fine…I’m in the best position a guy like me could be,” I said and I pulled the covers off my bed, making space for her to get in.
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br />   “You can sleep here, I’ll take the couch,” I snapped and I made to walk past her, but she placed a hand on my arm and stopped me in my tracks. Her touch was like electricity, like I was frozen to the spot.

  “Please don’t go, I can’t be alone tonight,” she said and looked up at me with her pleading large green eyes. I felt my throat go dry and I gulped. Before I could say anything, she stepped over to the edge of the bed and slid herself under the covers.

  “Lie down with me here, please, I won’t be able to sleep if I’m alone,” she said, pulling the covers up to her neck. I couldn’t say no, even though I knew it was wrong.

  I walked over to the other side and got in, sliding into the warmth of the bed and pulling the covers over me. I made sure that we weren’t touching, that she didn’t think that I was going to take advantage of this opportunity. I still had a job to do.

  I could feel the warmth of Isabella’s body emanating beside me. Her dress grazed my legs as she moved in bed to make herself comfortable. The lights were out in the room and the moonlight filtered in through the thin white curtains on the window.

  “Leo…” she said my name softly and I said nothing.

  “Thank you for everything. I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here, if I didn’t have you,” she added and I turned my head to look at her. She stared back at me in the dark, her green eyes shining.

  Our faces were so close, her lips so deliciously tempting. My brain told me to stop, to hold back, but my body won the war. I stretched my arm towards her, grabbing her cheek in one hand. She leaned towards me, close enough for our lips to graze and she parted her mouth.

  The kiss felt like it came out of nowhere even though I’d been wanting to kiss her all day. Her mouth tasted delicious and she moaned lightly as I used my tongue to part her lips. My tongue slid in and I explored her mouth while she weaved her fingers into my hair, holding me tight.