I was so freaking pissed I wanted to draw and quarter this stupid man. He'd ripped my heart out of my chest and I had been so sure I didn't have one of those anymore. To find out that I did have one and that he could hurt it was enough to make me neuter him. Then force him to eat his dick."Why would I keep you?" I knew why I wanted to keep him. But he better have a damn good reason for wanting to be kept. He jerked and something deep in his eyes broke. I growled low in my throat. "Not like that. Why do you want to be kept?" The varied insecurities of this man were baffling. He was strong and sure when he could be an asshole. But take away his façade and he was nothing but a big gooey mix of sensitivity and emotionality. I tightened my hand in his hair. "Last chance, Raphael. And I mean it."He licked his lips. Swallowed. Or tried to. He winced. Pointed to his throat. I eased the angle I held him at. "Speak."He licked his lips again. "Because I know who I am with you
With my heart as full as I ever remember it being, I looked at my brother. "I still don't want to tell Nik though. Not anyone back home. Not until we finish this." There was a possibility that I didn't come out of this. Didn't actually make it home. Mas stared at me for a long, quiet moment, but then he nodded. Ivan cleared his throat. "I know I not involved, but this much better than dying with Petters. They scum. You not." My mouth dropped open. I closed it. "How the hell did you know what I planned to do?"Ivan snorted. Rolled his eyes. "I not stupid. You try to die a lot." He widened his eyes. "A lot, a lot."My cheeks heated as I remembered my first month with Ivan. I'd done everything I could to make him kill me. Then, when that hadn't worked, trying to get myself killed by other assholes where I could find them. "Oh really?" Nia asked, her voice a particular texture of silk that boded poorly for my release tonight. Ivan laughed. "He not dead. But close." He he
Massimo winced as he tried to adjust the position of his leg.Raphael jumped into motion. "I need to stitch that closed. Hold still. Do you want something? We don't have anything in the kit, but I'm sure Ivan has some vodka you could take a belt of."Ivan sighed heavily. "Yes. I have vodka, but you don't drink it all. I need a warm belly to sleep."Massimo chuckled. "I'm good. The stitching shouldn't be too bad. Just get it done. I want to get off this granite slab."Raphael nodded. He got the suture kit out, laid it out just so. Before he got started, he wiped away all the blood off his brother's leg. Switched into a clean pair of gloves. "Don't move your leg. I like my stitches neat," Raphael declared, a threaded needle poised over Massimo's leg.Massimo nodded. "Just make it fast."Raphael nodded, took the first stitch. I had to look away at that point. I didn't mind cutting into flesh, but the whole needle thing threw me off. Made my belly twist and turn. Ivan
I woke up the next morning feeling like something someone scraped off the bottom of their shoe. Since all I'd had to drink yesterday was milk, juice, and water, I knew it wasn't a hangover. And it certainly hadn't been lack of sleep. I glanced at the clock. Saw that I'd banked almost eight full hours. How could I get so much sleep and still feel like shit? It wasn't freaking fair. A low knock sounded on the door. "Come in." I scooted up, leaned against the frame as I yawned wide enough for my jaw to pop. Nia came in. An oversized t-shirt hem flirting with her upper thighs. "Good morning, Raphael."My dick jumped at the smoke in her voice. I licked my lips. "Good morning, Nia." My heart thrilled a bit at getting to say it whenever I wanted. She narrowed her eyes at me, shook her head. "Not right now, Si."I bit my cheek as my dick sprang to full attention. This was the best wakeup call ever. I couldn't even ask her questions. One of her rules. Again, the feeling of
After rushing through the shower and the delicious meal that Raphael put together for breakfast, I walked into the space Ivan and Klara had set up for me. Everything was as I left it, but that didn't mean a whole lot. Especially in a place I didn't control one hundred percent. Brushing the weird vibe away, I walked to the computer. Booted everything up. Once it was up and running, I went through my process of accessing my cloud accounts. Jasper had set some up for me that weren't the typical commercial kind. Luckily, I'd memorized the process, or I'd be up a creek with zero paddle at the moment. A ReadMe file was highlighted when I got all the way into my account. I right clicked, read through the metadata how Jasper showed me. Recognizing his signature, I opened the file. Ms. Flower~I've attached all of the information I could find re Cucumber Butt and Pretty Mean. You'll find them in the associated files.I snickered at Jasper's sense of humor. That kid was a genius and
Her babies? She had kids? I shook my head. Knew there had to be a different story, but I needed to get her back with me to learn it. I set her down on the chair. Pushed her head down between her knees. "Breathe, Nia." I made my voice hard. As hard as I dared when all I wanted to do was cuddle her up and carry her away. Nowhere was my fierce and strong Dominant. Right now, she was a broken, hurting woman. I would hold her together until she could find herself again. Ivan came rushing into the room, his gun drawn. He lifted it to the ceiling when he saw what was going on. One of his brows rose in question.I gave him a brief rundown of what I knew. Which was damn little. I shrugged when I was out of information to share. Mas came hopping in behind Ivan. He didn't have a weapon, but he did have concern etched on his face. "Who the hell are you?" a voice said from behind me. I whirled around, putting Nia behind my body as I faced the threat that shouldn't be there. A
Day before the gala "Charlie team in position," the man's voice came through the little earbud I wore in my right ear. I kept a tight hold on my fear. My relief. My heart. All of the planning, all of the tears, all of the arguments. It all came down to this. "Delta team in position," Raphael said through my ear. "Foxtrot team in position," another voice said. I still wasn't quite sure who was who by their voice, but I'd done an okayish job of remembering names and faces. The fact that I had a team full of women with me made me like the Amatuccis even more. They didn't discriminate. If someone had the skill and the drive to join the security teams, they were given a position. "Estrogen team in position," I said. A series of clicks came through the earbud. I'd made a single joke about Echo team being full of vaginas. They called us the Estro team now. Since we were collectively badass, I didn't really care what they called us as long as it wasn't disrespectful. "A
Nia came over to me while I was helping drag some bodies away. "Hey Raphael, can you come with me, please?"Foster grunted at me as we got the body up on the catering cart. "Go. I've got this." I nodded, turned back to Nia. "Sure, Nia." She took my hand and we walked from the room. Her hand was trembling in mine. It was only the slightest degree, but it might as well have registered on the seismic scale. "You good?" I asked her softly as we walked down a set of stairs. She said nothing, made no movements except to keep walking. I pulled her to a stop. Made her look at me. "Are you good?" I asked again. Her eyes were wide, as if she were trying to stave off the tears. "Amelie and Anton..." she blew out a breath. "They're t-""The only two people you love in this world." I smiled sadly. "I know, Nia."Her eyelids fluttered shut as a tear escaped down her cheek. Her breath was shaky as she exhaled. "I got them away from here. Put them in with a good woman with a hu