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
"She needs to sleep, mom. We better head up," I said, letting my exhausted girlfriend lay her head on my shoulder."I'm fine," Stacy said with a yawn, her eyes closing."Please don't give her that kind of power. We'll never sleep and I'm so—" Willow groaned."So what, Willow?" I said, daring her to tell our blissfully unaware mother how drunk she was.She was sober enough to know to keep to the shadows and not out herself to our mom, but I knew all her tricks."I'm going to make more coffee. You don't mind, do you Stacy dear?" my mom asked, heading back into the kitchen.Being the angel she was, Stacy said, "I could go all night" completely without the intent of making my dick twitch.How fucking sweet was my girl? She could barely keep her eyes open and my come was probably dry on her legs by now. Ther
"So exciting. My first gift from my daughter in law," said my mom.Choosing to pick my battles, I let that one slide and turned my suspicion on my girlfriend instead."I better not regret getting on that plane with you, Kendrick," I said, as I watched my mom unwrap her gift with bated breath."Don't worry, you'll like it. Hopefully she does too," said Stacy, her urgency to leave the room forgotten as my mom pulled a scrap book out of the box.Stacy went over to where my mom stood, nervously wringing her hands as my mom flipped open to the first page and explained, "It's a detailed record of my friendship with Scott, as well as our relationship. The photos are mostly his. You're always sharing your stories about him with me. I just wanted to share mine too. I hope that's okay," Stacy said, looking at my mom, holding her breath."That's lovely dear," s
"Told you so," I said, turning to her as the car came to a halt in the driveway. "That's a bedroom light. Maybe she just forgot to turn it off before she went to bed?" said Stacy, but I could tell she was having regrets. "Nope. That's her studio's light. She's painting. The kitchen light will go on in three two one," I said, watching Stacy's nervous face as I counted down with a grin. The nerves were an improvement from the distant cold eyes I'd been getting since we left Willow's school. I don't know what to say to her that will make us running off together okay in her head. Willow was never going to forgive me for missing graduation. Plus I wanted Stacy to know how special she was to me by having her meet my mom. I thought bringing Stacy to Ohio would appease everyone, but clearly that was an error in judgement on my part. All Stacy seemed to see was what I was giving up for her. It's been fucking with her head all night. Knowing that has been fucking with mine. Sure enough, a
"What was that?" he teased me, kissing my lips as he moved sweaty strands of hair out of my face. "What was what?" I said, playing dumb, responding to his light, little kisses. "Are you claiming ownership over my dick, Kendrick?" he asked me with a cocky grin. "It is a really great dick and it's going to worship my pussy for life," I said shamelessly, probably still a little horny as I laid back against him. "I think that makes it mine. Do you have a problem with that?" He reached around my neck, touched his mother's pearls and I felt like such a whore for letting him fuck me while wearing them. "Not even in the slightest. My dick only enjoys your pussy anyway. Just remember you said for life," he said, calling me out. I stayed in his arms, glued to that chair despite the wet, sticky mess between us, completely speechless. I was scared out of my mind. Not about going on the run. I had made my peace with that. Going back to Don Angelo wasn't what I wanted. Whatever the cost for
"This is so fucking dirty. We shouldn't be—" "Fucking in a public place?" he asked with a chuckle, pulling the strings behind my neck that I had warned him not to. "Little late, Stace. Been there, done that," he said, letting the dress fall forward. "Fucking at your sister's prom," I said, meaning to admonish him, but he had unhooked my bra and gotten his hands on my breasts and I was moaning while I said every word, now slamming down hard and fast on his dick. "I won't tell if you don't," he said through pants, pulling my body up against his. His hands were on my breasts, clawing at my flesh, as I bounced up and down his dick. He surrendered control to me, letting me have my way with him. "Fuck me like the dirty girl you are," he rasped into my ear, egging me on. "You love being in control of that dick, don't you? Stroking it up and down with your pussy. Kinky little freak," he said, kissing me over my shoulder. "Scott, fuck, I love it so much. So good," I grunted, fucking him
True to his word, probably not wanting to hurt his mother's feelings, Scott snuck me into a high school prom. I got to watch him claim Willow's first dance while he gave her date shit. Watching him with her made my heart melt. Could he really give them up for me? "What a dipshit," said Scott, complaining about Willow's date. "All teenage boys are," I said, overwhelmed with emotion when he took me into his arms.Being with him and his family all day was going to my head. He was surrounded by so much love. How could I just take it all away?"They probably would have lined up for you if you went to school. I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to make things weird. We don't have to stay if you don't want to. It's just, when Willow put those pearls on you, for some reason I didn't want them to come off. It's stupid, I know," he said, wrapping his arms around my waist as mine went around his neck. "No, I get it. I know what you mean. Same," I said, touching the pearls around my neck be
"Shut up and wear the fucking pearls," Scott whispered into Willow's ear."I don't want to wear the fucking pearls. Stacy is loaning me this diamond necklace," said Willow, showing off the bing around her neck."What the fuck? Mom is going to flip. You know how she feels—" Scott ranted and I grimaced, shooting him an apologetic look."I got this," said Willow, taking the pearls clean out of Lisa's hands when she walked back into the room with them and laying them around my bare neck. "So much better on her than me," said Willow, clapping her hands together after she tied the clasp behind my neck.The frustration left Scott's face and he stared at the pearls around my neck, awestruck."But it's prom. You have to wear the family pearls. I wore them to my prom and on my wedding day. So did my mom and her mom," said Lisa, looking betw
"He's carrying her like a bride the first time he brought her home to meet his mom. This is a sign, right?" said Lisa's voice."That they're doing marital activities? Sure," said Willow, both women standing in the front door, watching us fool around.I pulled away from Scott's face, beaming at him as he set me down on my feet, his ears reddening. So much for us surprising them."Hi mom. Willow. You guys know—""Let me get a good look at you. You're gorgeous," said Lisa, taking my hands in hers, her whole face lighting up with excitement. "You know he's never brought a girl home before. That must mean wedding bells are ringing soon."Willow went into stitches, grabbing onto Scott's shoulder while I sucked in my lips trying not to do the same."Stacy," Scott finished, burying his face in his hands. "I did warn y
"Fuck me dress," said Scott, coming to stand behind me. I was standing in his childhood bedroom in front of the mirror, trying on dresses from the bag he had packed for me for Vermont. Willow and his mom Lisa would be home soon. We landed in Ohio an hour ago, but they didn't know we were here as he wanted to surprise them. "What are you talking about? Because it's backless? It's stunning and modest. There's like no cleavage," I said, defending my choice. "Not because it’s backless, but that helps," he said, running his hands up my naked back. "There's this," he said, piling my hair onto one of my shoulders and kissing the back of my neck before he pulled the strings secured around my neck and pulled the front of the dress down. "Easy access, so much better than cleavage," he said, laying hands on my strapless bra clad breasts and squeezing them, before whispering huskily, "Fuck me dress.""Then just don't pull the strings. Problem solved," I said, my breathing quickening. He slid