The adrenaline was fading fast and I was exhausted. Thoughts of how very wrong this afternoon could have gone flooded my head. Lucky for me, however, I wasn't left alone with my thoughts for too long after being escorted to a precinct along with everyone else caught in the raid. "Care to explain what you were doing in an underground casino, hanging around known members of the mafia, with over 800 million dollars' worth of stolen art in it?" the fed asked. "Look, agent whoever you are, no I don't have mafia ties. I'm not your big whale. I did not engage in any illegal activities. I'm a wedding photographer, that's how basic I am. Also, you're welcome. If it weren't for me tipping my dad off, your bust would have been a bust. How long have you people been planning this raid? Based on how long you dragged your feet before you actually showed up, they still somehow almost one upped you, didn't they? Badge number J638493. If you want me to say another word, that's who I'll talk to," I sai
And it was the worst thing I could have done. The worst part? I was such a fucked up mess that if I went home tonight and she was there waiting for me, I would likely do more. "So I did. Strictly platonic, don't marry some other guy/I might die kisses. Do those really even count?" I said, my pulse climbing as I waited to hear her answer. Why the fuck did I say some other guy, like I wanted her to marry me instead? "Well they did to me. Everything that's happened over the last two days… I don't do stuff like that. You're not just anyone," she said and I could have cried, because it was everything I wanted to hear and everything I didn't. "You know what? I met my dad at the precinct and he wants to have dinner. I might just crash at his place," I said, hating every word. I could feel her hopes dash despite her not saying a word, but I couldn't be around her right now. "Okay. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?" "Sure. Tomorrow." With that, I ended the call and changed my destinat
"To Scott working for Vogue, bitches," I said with a proud beam, as we held our coffee cups in the air. I was so excited for him when I first heard the news that I threw my arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. I had done the same thing thousands of other times when he made progress in his career as a photographer. This was the first time I needed space to recover and get my pulse under control. Things were definitely different now. I found myself wondering if I should be here, waiting for him like this. It's not like I really had a choice, what with me not having a place to stay anymore, but it was more than that. I stayed because I wanted to know that he was okay after seeing his father. "I still don't know if I'm going to do it," he said, deep in thought about the call he got on his way home this morning. "It's nice to be considered, but a fashion magazine is not really my thing.""It's Vogue. The Vogue. All I heard was that my roommate has a stable job. To no more paying th
"Luca sent me. This is for you. Well, all of it is," said Jenny, handing me an envelope, before spreading her arm out towards the room filled with roses. "He can't take a hint," said Scott. I heard him take a deep breath. If Scott wasn't seeing red before, he certainly was now. He snatched the envelope out of my hands. I snatched it back. "Don't be a jerk," I said, not wanting him to get even more ticked off by whatever was in the envelope. "Well? Aren't you going to open it?" Jenny asked, slicing the tension between Scott and I with her voice. "Yes Stace, open it," Scott insisted. "Maybe later. We should get to packing," I said, not wanting to add fuel to the fire. "It's the deed to the apartment," said an excited Jenny, clapping her hands together. "And an invitation to Don Cattaneo's wake."My fingers fumbled over each other as I opened the envelope, needing to see it to believe it. Sure enough, inside I found the deed to my apartment and an invitation to the wake. Buying me
"Are you going to shut that down?" Kenny asked, his gaze going to the bar where Scott and Jenny were getting the second round. Her hand was on his arm and she was batting her eyelashes and laughing her ass off. His back was to me, so I couldn't see what he was doing and they were too far away to hear. Just the same, it was pissing me off. The conclusions my mind was drawing was so out there that he might as well have been making out with her. "Shut what down?" I said, pretending not to see as rage brought with it shallow breaths. "He wouldn't do anything. Not with your sister," Kenny tried to reassure me. Him putting it out there nearly made me throw the glass in my hand across the room. "I don't fucking care. They're adults. Adults can fuck whoever they want," I yelled, raising the glass to my lips, then slamming it back down on the table when I found it empty. "Dammit, how hard is it to buy a couple of drinks?" I looked back to the bar to see what the hold up was. Jenny had sp
I made it just in time to hear Scott slap Kenny's back and say, "Kenny's an idiot. He accidentally deleted your number and now he's agonizing over it.""I wouldn't say agonizing," said Kenny. "He would, he's in agony, because he really likes you. Despite his clumsy fingers, Kenny really is the best. If you're into it, would you mind giving him your number again? I'll save it myself this time," Scott finished. We all held our breaths for the five seconds it took Marlene to say, "Sure.""Yes," Kenny yelled, pumping his fists into the air. "I mean that's cool," he said, turning into a plank. "Please don't change your mind."Coming in with the save once again, Scott said, "He's not cool, but he's cute" and then held out Kenny's phone to Marlene, who took it with a smile. Kenny saying I was in love with Scott went round and round in my head as I watched this play out, all my anger instantly evaporating. This was the Scott women fell for. Confident, a little goofy, crazy hot and so down t
Five days, six hours and fifty three minutes. That's how long it had been since I last saw either Scott or Jenny. But this wasn't the time to think about that. I was about to surround myself with my old life and then some. Don Angelo would no doubt be coming out for this thing too. I remembered the day my mom and Jenny left home like it was just yesterday. My mother, Collette, was from a wealthy family. She ran away at a young age to be Don Angelo's wife. An event she would regret very early into her marriage. Unlike me, my mother was indifferent to what Don Angelo did for a living. If anything, she probably even liked it. The danger, the risk, the money. All of it appealed to her. Ultimately what broke my parent's marriage was the mistresses Don Angelo had. By the time the affairs started, my mother's whole life was Don Angelo. She fell into a deep depression, slitting her wrists when I was ten. "If you want to die so badly, it can be arranged," Don Angelo thundered, pulling a gun
"You are wise to try and trick me instead of threatening me. I'll give you that. But using my family to do it? Bad move. No man controls what I do or don't do. Not you, not Don Angelo, not even Scott. Whom I will fuck if I so choose. Never make the mistake of thinking you are any different to me than Don Angelo. I did Cattaneo's books for the last seven years. What can I say? Daddy was a show off. If I can feed my own father to the wolves, I can just as easily do it to you," I finished in a huff. "Did you just threaten a don in his own home?" Luca asked, his voice dangerously low. "I don't make threats, I make promises. If you wanted me dead, I would be, but like I said, you're just another Don Angelo. If you want to keep entertaining delusions of us riding off into the sunset together, that's your prerogative, but don't ever, ever come after me using my family again," I said, rising to my feet. "Always a pleasure, Luca."It took effort to walk away in a straight line. My hands shook
"How will you stop me?" I asked her, sticking my fingers back into her pussy before trailing my other hand up her back as she started sucking me off. "You can't with dick in your mouth, baby. You love sucking it too much," I taunted her as she pleasured my dick with her mouth. My hand itched to be on her head, helping her efforts along, but I was on a mission. One fucking year and I still didn't know everything about her body. It was fucking bullshit. My hand trailed up her spine and she shook, her pussy clenching around my fingers. It lasted barely five seconds and she didn't tighten around my fingers as hard as after I fucked her, but she still moaned on my dick while it happened. Taking this as a declaration of war, she started sucking my dick aggressively hard and fast. "So competitive," I teased her, but her holes hadn't been on my dick for a while.
After she got mad about not being invited to watch last time, I didn't touch myself when I was alone anymore. So my dick was due for some attention. I was going to enjoy every bit of it and let her know it. "Kiss me again," she said hungrily, just as needy as I was. I gave my lips over to hers, sitting up to be closer to her while we worked on getting each other off. Why couldn't I fuck her again? Something told me it had to come from her, at least the first time. After that, I'd fuck her senseless every chance I got again. This was our naughty loophole, just like in Prague. Her hand wasn't her pussy, but damn if it didn't feel good sliding up and down my dick. Whatever she was willing to give right now, I would greedily take. "Scott," she moaned, her pussy tightening around my fingers buried deep inside her. Her hand stilled on my dick as her body shook on mine. She moaned my name a few more times. I wa
Talk to her the voice in my head said, but the thrill of having her touch me went straight to my head. "Fuck," I muttered with a little sigh. I turned around to face her, reaching out to cup her neck slowly. "Can I kiss you?" I asked her, like some teenage boy who had a girl in his room for the first time. "Kiss me," she said, her voice light and breathy. I touched my lips to hers lightly, not wanting to be too eager and get carried away. She didn't like that though, instantly deepening the kiss. Her hands trailed down my neck, onto my chest, down to my abs. I knew where she was going, but the interaction felt so fragile, I didn't want to scare her off. So I kept my hands where they were and continued kissing her, devoting all my attention to her mouth. "Don't you like the rest of me anymore?" she asked, taking one of my hands off her neck and placing it
I had mixed emotions when I got back to the house half an hour later. Choosing to focus on the positives, I stashed the ring and folder in a closet of one of the unfurnished bedrooms. Then I went looking for her in the study to share the news about Don Angelo being awake and her immunity deal. When I had searched the entire house and she was nowhere to be found, my mind spiraled and my heart dropped into my stomach. I couldn't do this shit again. The emotional turmoil alone nearly killed me last time. I stood before the bedroom door, trying to calm myself down. It was stupid to get so worked up without at least checking the bedroom. Even if she hadn't been next to me in bed in over a week. "Stace?" I called out, opening the door slowly. She didn't say anything, but she was indeed lying in the bed. I breathed a sigh of relief before I started stripping. Sliding in under the covers next to her, I could feel the delicious warmth of her bo
"Is that an engagement ring? She nearly gets you killed and you want to marry her?" Jeff's judgemental voice asked from behind me. Was I the only one who still thought she was my forever? "I just want her so damn much I don't know what to do with myself. I don't even know if she wants me anymore and everyone seems to think we should break up. It's all just—" I said, panicking about the night's events. "Easy, kiddo," he said, patting me on the back before he slid into the stool next to mine. He ordered us each a beer, waited for me to take my first swig, then asked, "Did they ambush you? Tell you to leave her?" "Jee dad, nothing gets past you. No wonder you're the director of the FBI," I said, cracking a smile. "Fucking smartass. I'll let that slide though since you did call me dad. This time without an agenda," he said, grinning back at me. "Look Scott,
"Do you know why we even thought you were cheating in the first place? Because you fucking self sabotage, man. Every relationship you have ever been in—" Kenny mouthed off and I shut him down. "Don't you know why? I thought you of all people would understand why, Ken. I self sabotage for her. I let every other girl go for her. I met the love of my life eight years ago, only I was too stupid to see it. Despite how fucked up I was from everything with Jeff and my mom, from the moment she spoke to me for the first time, I loved her. I spent seven years trying not to need her, but nothing stops the yearning. I love her so much that no other woman could compete. When she went to Chicago for months at a time, I felt so fucking sick that I could barely function. How am I supposed to be without her forever, Ken?" I implored, trying to make him understand. "Scott, I love Stacy. I loved you guys for each other from the getgo. You know that, but this isn't healt
I wanted to get us back on track, hopefully in time to propose in two days. That was probably wishful thinking, but I so desperately wanted her to be on the same page about us as I was. If she wasn't though, it would be okay. The proposal could wait. I just wanted my girlfriend back. Being so wrapped up in it all, I didn't even have the energy to see Kenny, despite having nothing but time. So when he called and said the engagement ring was ready, I was happy about seeing a friendly face. Even though we hardly spoke, I didn't like leaving her alone in the house for too long. Hanging out with Kenny and Marlene for an hour or two was probably okay though. I could always see Jeff tomorrow at lunch instead of meeting him for a drink tonight. I texted Stacy about where I was before I rang the doorbell. When the door swung open to reveal not just Kenny, but also Willow and my mom, I knew I was in for a bumpy evening. Willow and my mom hadn't called Stacy once
It had been a week since Stacy and I got back from Chicago. We were crashing in the cottage since it seemed to give her peace of mind. She was under house arrest, so she couldn't exactly change her mind now anyway. She went straight back to hitting the books after we slept for a day, only waking up to eat and drink. Their deal was still in limbo as we waited for Don Angelo to wake up, but Jeff still accommodated Stacy taking her exams as part of their arrangement. He sent over an FBI escort to take her to campus and bring her home after as needed. Adjusting was hard. For the first few days, every time I touched her, all I saw was that gun in her hand while she stood over Joey's still body. I kissed her head and laid my hands on her shoulders when I took her meals anyway. She didn't touch me back, but I could tell she wanted my presence. Expected it. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. Either way, she had to eat and she certainly wasn't feeding herself. I had to
So much for not letting the emotions in. Scott could have died out there. I would have done anything to save him. To get back to him. Fuck anyone who said I did something wrong while saving him from Don Angelo and his henchmen. "They got to him just in time. Miraculously, barring any complications in surgery, Joey is going to live. He may lose a leg and possibly a testicle, but he'll live," he said, softening with the mention of Scott. I breathed a sigh of relief. There was so much blood, I was sure Joey was a dead man. Scott wasn't forgetting the images of me standing over a near lifeless Joey anytime soon, but at least I didn't kill him. That was a start. I knew I read you right, Jeff. You may have fucked up, but you do care about Scott, don't you? "Even if I could make everything else go away, you and your father are high profile criminals. The DA will push to try you for first degree murder if Don Angelo doesn't mak