“I’m not sure yet. You look sexy as fuck in that dress,” I say huskily.
“You like it?”
“I more than like it, babe.” I reach for her, hooking my arm around her waist and pulling her into me. Before she can react, I’m kissing her like she’s never been kissed before. My tongue dances with hers as I devour her mouth with mine.
“You’re going to mess up my makeup.”
“You don’t need all that shit on your face. You’re fuckin’ gorgeous without it.” A smile tugs across her face before it disappears.
“What the hell happened to your face?”
“Was my kiss that good that you’re just seein’ it?” I tease. I know she isn’t playing. I can see the look in her eyes.
“Had a little issue with the fucker that ran into you,” I admit.
“Did you lose?” I know she’s playing with me. I can hear the tease in her tone but either way it makes me smirk.
“What kind of man do you think I am? I don’t fuckin’ lose, Toni. At anything.”
“Is that right? So, you truly think I’m going to take you to meet my mother with a black eye and a cut lip?” She asks, placing her hands on her slim hips as she glares at me.
“Your mother needs to know that you’re with a man that can handle whatever comes his way. My eye proves as much.”
“I don’t think so. You can’t go looking like that, Leo. You don’t know my mother.”
I chuckle. That’s cute. The way she thinks she has any fucking control over the situation.
“I like your fire, Toni. I like that you think you’re in charge here,” I say stepping into her space. Her head tips back as she looks up at me. “I like that you hold your own but you ain’t gonna win this one, darlin’. Suck it the fuck up because I’m going to meet your mother.”
“No, you’re not.” Her lips call to me like a drug. I want them on me, wrapped around my cock, begging me for more. Instead, I reach up and run my fingers along her jaw and down to her throat. Gently, I squeeze while she watches me intently.
“This isn’t open for debate, baby. Get your fucking purse and let’s go before you make me angry.”
Chapter Thirteen
Antonia
I can’t stop screaming ‘oh fuck’ over and over again in my head as I’m on the back of Leo’s bike, on our way to the restaurant. I still can’t believe I gave into what he wanted, but I know I can’t stand my mother up. She’s the only other person on the face of this planet who understands what it’s like to deal with my father. Hell, and here I thought I’d have this opportunity to destress, when in all actuality I’m still in work mode doing my father’s bidding.
Leo makes a sharp left, running straight through a red light and pulls into the restaurant’s parking lot. “Are you fucking kidding me?!” I scream at him, beating on his back like an outraged chimpanzee. “What in the world is wrong with you?! You could’ve killed us!”
Leo takes off his helmet and sets it on his handlebars, turns his head back and glances at me. “Toni, there was nobody comin’, now will you calm your ass down. We’re at a nice place and I’m about to meet your mother. The last thing we need is you causing a scene.”
Oh, I know this man has damn well lost his mind. I whip off the helmet he let me use and manage to get off the bike in heels, shimmy my dress down since it’s impossible to ride a bike without hiking it up, and then toss the helmet at this guy’s big ole head.
“Hey! What the hell was that for!?”
I shrug my shoulders while glaring at him. “I dunno. Being an asshole maybe.”
“I told you no one was coming! Jesus. Don’t you believe a damn thing I say?!”
“If she’s my daughter, she believes no words coming out of a man’s mouth. Most of them are lies.” My mother sounds as regal as ever, standing in the doorway to the restaurant with her arms crossed in a sea green dress. Antonetta DiMarco has never looked more stunning.
“Mother, a pleasure to see you as always.” I say, straightening out my dress.
Even though I’m speaking to her, she’s staring directly at Leo. “I thought we were having a private dinner, Antonia. I don’t recall stating you could bring a . . .” she waves her hand around, “boytoy.”
Fuck. I don’t want her to think I’m doing something for my father, but I sure don’t want Leo to think I wouldn’t speak up for someone I like. “Leo isn’t a boytoy, Mother. He’s a friend, someone who was so determined to spend more time with me that he agreed to meet my callous, overbearing, royal of a mother.”
She scoffs, “Please, I’ve never witnessed you bring a man to meet me. What’s so different about him?”
I look Leo up and down, knowing all I can say is the God’s honest truth. “Everything. He’s the type of man who doesn’t back down from anything, even if it means defending my honor and handling someone who disrespected me.”
She lifts up her chin, peering at Leo from where she stands. “Is that how you got your black eye?”
“It is.” Leo confirms.
“Hmmf. I suppose I can deal with your presence considering the circumstances. Come along, both of you. I have a private table in the back reserved.” My mother heads in a good bit in front of us, while Leo slides his hand around my back, he dips his lips next to my ear.
“What the hell is your mother?” Man, what a question.
I look directly into his baby blues and before I even realize what I’ve done, the truth comes flying out. “My mother runs things in Roma.”
“Hold up. You mean like . . .”
“Leo, don’t play coy. It doesn’t suit you. Whatever is crossing your mind right now I’m sure is accurate.” I walk ahead of him, going through the double doors and following the path through the restaurant. Two of my mother’s most trusted guards stand outside a set of French doors, so I continue in that direction with Leo. Once we’re both through they shut the doors behind us.
“So, how did you two meet? For a man in a suit you seem rather . . . ah, I can’t find the word in English.” My mother immediately starts interrogating Leo, but that’s just her personality.
“Leo and I met at a party. One his club was having.”
My mother pushes her glasses back and stares at Leo intently. She smirks lightly, “Now I see what seems so familiar about you. The motorcycle club lifestyle. Tell me, Leo, are you a vile snake like my ex?”
Leo laughs at first before his expression grows stoic. “No, ma’am. I’m a bastard through and through, but one thing I don’t do is slither around in the shadows. When I want something, I’m the one walking straight up to the door, demanding it. It wouldn’t be a man’s way without facing things head on.”
Mother’s eyes shift over to me as she presses her lips together and shrugs, “You know, he’s not a bad one. He’s ballsy and I like this for you, Antonia.”
“Antonia, huh?” Leo snickers.
“My friends call me Toni,” I grumble with an eye roll.
“And her father’s minions call her Ant, like a bug that can be squished.”
Leo blinks a couple times, his eyes widening as he stares at me, and I know something is seriously wrong. “Ant.” He repeats my name once, and it’s enough for me to realize he knows exactly who I am now. He’s heard about my father, and there’s nothing I can do to salvage this mission.
Then again, what am I actually working for? He’ll never give me what I’m owed. Just like he’ll never give me the title I want. At the end of the day I’m a woman in power and that’s the thing he loathes the most.
He’s been using me as a mole to transport information, and it’s never been more clear.
I’m only a means to an end for him.
Chapter Fourteen
Leo
My mind has been running a million miles a minute. Ant. Fucking Ant. I know that name. A shiver runs down my spine as I let it all sink in.
Toni’s mom talks and talks but it’s mainly about nothing I care to hear. I zone out, losing myself i
n my drink that seems to keep being refilled in front of me. I roll my shoulders, feeling on edge now that I’ve heard her name, or her street name that is. Something rolls in my stomach as I grab my glass and down what’s left of it.
“Would you like something stronger?” Her mother asks me. Without even thinking about it, I nod my head. She smirks and raises her hand, calling the waiter back over. In no time my glass is being replaced by something else. I don’t bother to look at what it is. I grab it as soon as it’s set in front of me and down it letting the burn coat my throat.
“I’m going to assume you didn’t know who her father was by the way you’re drinking,” her mother says with an amused chuckle. I raise my eyes to meet hers.
“Am I makin’ it that obvious?” Toni starts to open her mouth but I quickly raise my hand, not wanting to hear it. Much to my surprise she doesn’t try to speak again.
“So, she didn’t tell you that part?”
“No. Would have been nice to have known it though. Excuse me,” I say before shoving myself out of my chair and turning on my heel. I need a minute. I need to breathe. I need to focus so that I don’t do something that I regret later.
I walk through the restaurant, finding the bathrooms at the back. I shove the door open and step inside, heading for the sink. Then I look at myself in the mirror.
“How the hell did you fuck this up?” I ask my reflection. “How didn’t you know who the hell she was?”
“I didn’t offer it up.” I close my eyes when I hear her voice. I don’t bother to look over at her, I’m too angry right now.
“I’m sorry, Leo.”
“You’re sorry? You’re fuckin’ sorry?” I ask angrily. I turn my head and look over at her, seeing the look in her eyes. She might be sorry but I’m pissed.
“I can explain this,” she tries but I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear a fucking word that she has to say. Aces of Night MC. She is the daughter of the President! I can’t believe this. I let her into the clubhouse. I let her around my brothers, my family. I let her into my heart!
“I can’t do this, Toni.”
“Leo, let me explain things,” she says stepping toward me. I can’t think straight. If she was a man, I would have snapped her neck. I would have taken my anger to a new level and fucked her world up but she isn’t a man. She’s mine. What the hell is wrong with me?
“I don’t want to hear you talkin’, Toni. Take your panties off,” I growl. She looks almost shocked that I’d ask her to do that right now but I need a release. I need to focus on not hurting her.
Toni slowly pulls her panties off and kicks them to the side before walking toward me. When she’s close enough, I grab her dress and hike it up her thighs and around her waist before undoing my pants. Lifting her, I set her on the edge of the sink before sinking my cock inside of her. She gasps for air, clawing at my shoulders as I fuck her. Everything seems to hit me at once. My head is a mess and she is making it worse. I failed my club. I failed me. Instead of voicing it, I take it out on her body.
“Leo,” she cries as I come roughly inside of her. Her nails claw at the back of my neck, no doubt leaving marks. I want them. I want the reminder of what I’ve done.
I pull out of her and pull my pants back up and buckle them as she sits breathlessly in front of me. There’s so many things I want to say to her but I can’t, I won’t.
“Since you’re a fuckin’ princess and all I assume you can get your own ride, yeah?”
“What? Where are you going?”
“I’m goin’ home, Toni. I’m goin’ back to the people that don’t lie to me. To the people that have my fuckin’ back when I need it.”
“Leo, if you’d just let me explain things,” she begins but I cut her off once more. I step toward her, grabbing her chin with my fingers and forcing her gaze to meet mine.
“No more, Toni. No more lies,” I say shaking my head. “No more bullshit. I thought what I was feelin’ for you was real. I thought . . .” I let that sentence trail off before pressing my lips roughly to hers. When I pull away, I hear the soft cry fall from her lips. I turn on my heel and walk out of the bathroom leaving her to her own mess.
It takes me no time to make it outside to my bike and I’m both happy and pissed that she didn’t follow me out here. I suppose a part of me wanted her to while the other part begged her not to.
Taking a deep breath, I blow it out as I look into the night sky and roar, “Fuck!”
Chapter Fifteen
Antonia
“He left you here, didn’t he?” My mother snidely laughs, coming up beside me as I stand in the corridor that led to the private room where we were eating.
Turning my neck, I glare at her. “You just had to go and screw things up for me, didn’t you?” Sure, I’m deflecting her question by giving her one, but I really couldn’t give a damn.
“The only one who screws things up for you, sweetheart, is your father, and it’s best you not forget that.” My entire life she’s tried to cause a rift between my father and I, or at least that’s what I thought when I was younger. As I grew up, I realized what she’s been doing is pointing out the parts of my relationship with him that bring me the most heartache. “He treats you like a tool, not like his child.”
I want to be sassy and snap back some well thought out reply, but I can’t. I’m too fixated on what Leo’s feeling right now, how betrayed he probably feels, how he’s most likely hating me for not being honest with him. “I wish I could say you’re wrong, but you’re not.” The truth hurts, but she’s right.
“I wish he’d stop being such an old, power hungry bastard, but he never will, Antonia. He’ll continue using you to get what he wants, and let me guess, he promised you something for this, right?”
I stare into her eyes and give her a curt nod. “Yes. He said if I proved myself, I’d get the club when he’s ready to pass the gavel down.”
She cackles, crosses her arms, and takes a step closer to me. “Tell me you didn’t honestly believe him.”
I don’t say a word.
“He will never give any woman power willingly, Antonia. Even if you’re his daughter, he won’t care.” I close my eyes at her words, trying to see some sort of possibility, something that would make me feel he isn’t just using me to do his dirty deeds again, but I can’t. Instead, the only thing settling deep within me is confirmation. I’m just a tool to him, a faithful, diligent tool that will do whatever he asks as long as he tells me what I want to hear.
“I’ve always hoped for much more from him. Yet he finds a way to disappoint me every single time.” I mutter, opening my eyes again. My mother puts her hand on my shoulder and gives me an encouraging squeeze.
“Men only let us down, darling. It’s best you see that now. Even your Leo will do it at some point. Men always do. They’re only good for one thing.”
I shake my head, “No. I refuse to believe that. I know you’ve had horrible interactions with men and they started with Dad, but . . . I’m not going to give up on finding happiness or that forever kind of love. I refuse to be as bitter as you and Dad are, and I’m sorry if that sounds crass. You know I’m always so respectful to you, but, I don’t want the cruelty of the world to rip me up like it has done to you.”
“So, I’m ripped up, am I?” A smile tugs at her lips.
“I didn’t mean it like that, and you know it.”
My mother is almost always a callous bitch, though she does have a good sense of humor and loads of invaluable insight. “Relax, I’m only picking on you. I can’t help but hear the passion in your voice. Does this Leo actually mean something to you, or is he merely a means to an end?”
I’m caught not even needing a moment to think about what she’s asked me. “I’m not someone who uses people like him, even if I’m trying to. I suppose I started to like him from the moment we met . . . or maybe after. I’m . . . I’m not sure, but I do know I like him.”
“He is quite a handsome man, and he doesn
’t remind me of your father, so obviously I approve. He has balls. Did he really get hit for defending your honor?”
I nod once.
“Well then, you’d be a fool to let such a passionate man pass through your fingers.”
“You’re right. I need to go. I’m sorry for cutting our dinner short.” I turn around swiftly and go grab my bag from the table, but as I turn around and start to head out of our private room, my mother grabs my hand.
“What are you going to do?” She darts her eyes back and forth, surely trying to see if I’m doing anything risky. I am, and I’m sure what I’m about to do will only cause more of a rift between my father and I, but it needs to be done. I need to show Leo I wasn’t just using him, that my feelings are real, and I’m going to tear the rat out of his club by his fuckin’ tail if I have to.
“I’m going to make things right.”
She nods, “Fine, but be careful. Be very careful. I wouldn’t put it past your father to harm you in some way if you betray him, but if he does, you know I will always be here to back you up. No one ever harms my child.” She brushes her fingertips against my chin delicately and gives me a swift peck on the cheek. While she is known for being the most ruthless woman in Roma, she still is my mother, and I’m damn lucky to have her on my side.
Chapter Sixteen
Leo
I’ve been to three different bars in the last three hours. Each one holding nothing of interest to me. That’s how I ended up back here at the clubhouse. It’s pretty quiet right now, only a few of the girls and guys wandering around. Leaning back in my chair, I lift my glass and bring it to my lips, taking down that amber liquid in one gulp.
“Are you wearing a fucking suit?” I turn my head and see Grinder strolling toward me with a bottle in his hand.
Sharp Edges (Full Throttle Book 2) Page 5