ChloeA faded commotion downstairs wakes me up, my mind taking a few seconds to adjust and understand where I am. It's been a few days since we moved to Vermont, but I still haven't gotten used to this place, or this bed, for that matter. The safehouse isn’t uncomfortable at all, nor inconvenient, but no matter how hard I try, nothing makes me feel the same way I feel at Tony's house back in Staten Island. Which should also be considered my house now too, if he hadn't sent me here.I ponder going back to sleep, deciding whatever’s going on downstairs is probably irrelevant. My mother must be giving orders to Tony's soldiers for groceries or something like that. Since she can't go out by herself, she’d rather ask them to do the chores for her.But when I hear a familiar, deep voice, I get to my feet immediately. What is Armando doing here? Tony sent several men to watch us, but his second shouldn’t be here, not when they’re likely facing a war back in New York.Tiptoeing out of the ro
TonyI can't force myself to answer Chloe. I've been struggling to keep a stoic facade ever since she arrived here. I knew bringing her back was a mistake from the moment Armando suggested it to me, but he was right when he said I couldn't ask what she knew over the phone. Despite spending hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to keep the inner communication of the Saints untraceable, I still don't trust that someone might not be able to hack into our phones and listen to what Chloe had to say.In the end, she didn't give me much information, but it seemed enough for Cal and my men to start digging. Anything that will help me get closer to Mateo at this point is already a win.A part of me also wanted to see her, to make sure she was alright, to make sure she was taking care of herself while being away from me. But the moment she crossed that door, the moment her sweet scent hit me, I knew I made a mistake. I couldn't look at her, otherwise I wouldn't trust myself enough not to
ChloeMy arms voluntarily look for support around his neck. His hands on my waist tighten their grip, my skin burning up with the contact. Our tongues move together in a hungry dance, exploring each other's mouth as if this is the first time.I missed him so much; I can't even put into words what I'm feeling as he guides me backward toward the living room. This is not how I imagined, or even wanted, to reunite with him, but pulling away from him right now might break the spell he’s under and make him regret coming here in the first place.That’s why I follow his lead, making sure to hold him and never let go.Once we get close to the couch, instead of tossing me on my back and climbing over me, Tony turns us and sits down, pulling me onto his lap. I straddle him, immediately feeling his hard cock against my thigh, which ignites something within me that feels primarial and animalistic.My entire body is sensitive right now–any small contact of our skin entices me from head to toe. My c
Chloe"What do you mean?" he asks with a frown. "You can't do what anymore?""I can't do this push and pull anymore. I…." I choke on my words, feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden.So, with pain in my chest, I get up from his lap and start gathering my clothes from the floor and putting them back on. I feel his eyes on me the entire time, but he doesn't say anything. He probably realizes there is no way we can escape this conversation anymore.Tony silently picks his boxers and pants up from the floor and puts them on, and for a whole minute, we're both mute, neither of us daring to continue the conversation.Once we're dressed, I look at him, finding him staring at me from the same spot on the couch."I am tired of not knowing what this is," I finally clarify, gesturing between us. When Tony doesn't answer, I add, "Maybe you shouldn't have come here after all."I don't mean it, but I’m mad at him for always being quiet when I need him to say something, anything at all, to ease my mi
TonyComing here was a fucking mistake.Seeing Chloe did everything to me that I was trying to avoid. It just left me even more confused than before. We haven’t spent more than an hour together, and I still managed to screw it up.Being with her felt natural as if this was the only place I could be. Whenever I’m with her, holding her in my arms and feeling her close to me, everything just seems to go away. Every concern, every fear, every bad thought I ever had… I finally feel at peace.That’s the sort of effect she has on me. But I was not expecting her confession. Hearing her say she loves me and not being able to say it back shattered my heart in ways I can't explain. The look on her face will haunt me forever. It seems to have become a pattern lately. I can't seem to be able to stop hurting and disappointing her. I know what she expects from me, but unfortunately, I can't give it to her.It's clear to me that I have fallen for her, harder than I could ever have expected. It's a f
ChloeI should be dead.I was certain I’d be killed the moment I saw Mateo by the front door.I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look as mad as he looked a couple of minutes ago.Somehow, by the grace of God perhaps, when I saw him approaching me with that gun pointed at my face, I managed to take it from his hand after sparring with him and shot him in the shoulder. I think.I didn’t stay there to confirm. I didn’t wait to see if he was injured or not. I simply ran out of the house, not daring to look back, not even once. It’s been a few minutes, and I’m still blindly running through the neighborhood, trying to think of what to do or where to go. There’s no one on the street that I can ask for help, and even if there were, I’d be so afraid that Mateo would kill them for helping me that I don’t think I would ask for help anyway.It’s cold outside, and I’m still only wearing my shower robe, and even though I don’t dare to look back, too afraid of what I’ll see, I know I’m being follow
Chloe“Listen,” Tony continues, still focused on the road. The police sirens get more and more distant as we drive away from the city, but I still don’t ask him where he is taking me. “I know you don’t want to think about it now, but I need to know what happened,” he requests in a gentle voice. I hear a hint of pain in it as well, but mostly, I can hear the guilt behind his words.I want to tell him none of this is his fault, but we’ll have time for that later. Right now, we just need to make sure no one else gets hurt, or worse, killed.I inhale sharply, steadying myself enough to share the recent events with him. I am strong, and I can do this, I tell myself. I’ve always told Tony I could handle it all, and even though I was scared as hell back there, I still managed to save myself.I can do this.“After you left, I spent a few more minutes in the office before I headed up to take a shower. I don’t think I was in there too long, but as soon as I stepped out, I heard the alarm go off
TonyI warned Chloe not to even try and convince me of doing anything else other than going after Mateo and his men. I’d been doing my best to act cautiously, to consider every single possible outcome from this war, but after he ambushed Chloe at the safehouse, making her fight for her life, it left me blind with rage.My guilt didn’t help, either.I was so relieved when I found her on that dark street, wearing nothing but a robe covered in blood, that I could have cried when I held her in my arms. She felt so small, so vulnerable within my embrace that the monster dormant inside me snapped to life, and I simply couldn’t put this aside any longer. Even if I die, even if I don’t get to see her one last time, I will make sure to take Mateo down with me, so he never has the chance to lay a hand on my wife again. Or my daughter, for that matter.“Do I really have to go with Cal?” Chloe’s sweet voice asks from the bed, making me take my eyes off the phone and look at her. I promised her
*Cal*Having Heidi in the same room as me this entire time has proven to be nothing but a bad idea. Even though she’s left, her scent lingers in the air, which makes it almost impossible for me to focus on anything other than her right now.I’m glad she accepted my help. Giving her a new apartment isn’t the only thing I wanted to do for her, but it does lessen my guilt to know she’ll be safe and able to get back on her feet with a roof over her head.I wish things hadn’t gone bad for her in the first place, but since I have no control over the past, I might as well accept this is all I can do for her–for now.Sure, I can give her way more than just an apartment, but considering how hard it was for her to accept that, I doubt she will even listen to any other offers. I think I can get her to open up to me eventually, although I have to be patient and careful.She doesn’t seem to trust people easily, and I can’t pretend I didn’t notice how skeptical and suspicious she was around me the
*Heidi*Cal takes me to his office, and I find myself slightly suspicious while at the same time, an anticipation builds within me that has everything to do with the fact that he’s taking me somewhere private to have a conversation.While we were talking at the bar, his barkeep pretended he wasn’t listening to us, but I’m sure he was.Now, we’ll be alone in his office, and that seems… weird. I’m not supposed to be feeling like this. Cal is everything I should keep myself away from in a man. He’s handsome, intimidating, sexy, flirtatious, not to mention he’s mysterious in a way that keeps me wanting to know more about him. If the novels I read have taught me anything, I should know better than to want to have any kind of relationship with Call. I know I came after him for help, but in my defense, I had no idea who he was. After I was already here and made a scene out of myself, demanding to talk to him, well… I couldn’t back down.I’m waiting in his office, admiring his decor and the
*Cal*Heidi follows me as I take her to my office. We stroll across the hallway, heading for the last door on our right. Our footsteps are the only thing I can hear as I guide her, her tiny frame following me closely.I’m trying hard to ignore how good she smells. Her sweet perfume inebriates my senses and makes it hard for me to think clearly.And I have to figure out what I can do for her now that she finally seems willing to accept my help.Seeing how defensive Heidi can get has turned me on more than I’d like to admit, but I can’t say I don’t like it. Ever since she crossed the doorway of my bar, she’s done nothing but surprise me.She yelled, cried, stood defensively and suspiciously before me, showing multiple sides of her in less than an hour. Teasing and flirting with her felt good, but considering how different Heidi is from the women I’m used to dating, I need to be cautious. And more respectful than ever. The last thing I want is to scare her away.Her retorts only added fu
*Heidi*I would never imagine Cal to be the type of man who is attentive and kind while looking so intimidating and cold on the outside. If anything, I imagined him as a grumpy, arrogant, stupid man who thinks he runs the world and that everything needs to be done according to his rules and demands.But barging into his bar and crying in front of him–even though it almost made me die of embarrassment–has proven to be somewhat worth it. I’ve never been the type of woman who was the object of desire for any man. I did have some boyfriends here and there while I was in college, but none of them ended up forming a serious relationship. And all of them eventually cheated on me. Good thing was that I was never in love with any of them, so I can’t say I suffered immensely. But it did some damage to my self-esteem. No man has piqued my interest after I graduated, and it’s been like that for years. But something in Cal makes me feel different. The way his eyes drink me in makes me feel like
*Cal*I have never been good with people crying.Let alone women.To have Heidi sobbing in front of me was not something I was expecting to have to deal with after seeing how fiery and determined she looked a minute ago.I don’t know how to react. I don’t know what to do to make her feel better.The way the tears are pooling in her beautiful eyes is enough to make me want to go after whoever did that to her store and just make them disappear from the earth once and for all.It’s absurd how simply watching her cry is making me visit emotions I’ve never felt before.She is trying to be strong, wiping the tears from her eyes aggressively, but one more look at me, and all her walls break down.I glance at Ian, who is now pretending he isn’t even here, and I consider what to do. I don’t want to invade her privacy or do something she might find disrespectful, but I feel like she needs comfort right now.And if I can do that for her, it might be worth a try.“Come on, let’s have a seat,” I s
*Heidi*I wasn’t planning on barging through the bar door across the street when I left my aunt’s apartment this morning. My initial goal was to stop by the bookstore and see if there was anything I could do to make the insurance company just give us the money faster so we can start rebuilding it as soon as possible, or at the very least, relocate. They are taking so long to get back to us, to let us know what can and will be done to help us rebuild the store. I don’t even know if they will pay us or not. I know that the end of the year is slow and bad to get things done, and no one is really making an effort to solve things quickly. Not to mention that getting someone to rebuild an entire establishment during the holidays won’t be easy. If possible at all.That’s why I’m getting so worked up and anxious.Other than the fact that I lost everything. That’s why, as soon as my eyes fell on what used to be my grandfather’s biggest achievement in life, an anger I’ve never felt before was
*Cal*It’s been almost a week since the fire, and every day I’ve been coming and going to the bar, sitting in the same chair in the corner, just across from the window where I can watch the bookstore that is now just a pile of ashes and burned wood on the other side of the street.The police surrounded the place with yellow tape, which in my opinion serves no purpose; it only attracts more attention than the burnt out building already did by itself.New Year’s is around the corner, and ever since I saved that woman on Christmas Eve, I can’t make myself relax or move past the explosion. To say I’m pissed would be an understatement.My men still haven’t figured out who attacked us, and even though I have my own suspicions, I can’t act on instinct. I need proof to make a move. I can’t afford to make more enemies by blindly attacking in the name of revenge.Ever since that day, I haven’t heard from “Book girl”. Hell, I don’t even know if she survived. She hasn’t come to check on the shop
*Heidi*I open my eyes, struggling to adjust to the bright, white walls and ceiling surrounding me. I have a major headache, my eyes sting, and I feel a tightness in my chest that makes it hard to breathe.I inhale sharply, and that makes me cough. A lot.My throat burns, and when I think I can’t handle it anymore, someone walks into my room, offering me a glass of water.There’s some sort of oxygen mask in the way, so I move it aside a bit and take the glass, gulping down the liquid, instantly feeling relief. “How are you feeling?” the kind nurse asks in a sweet voice.I cough a few more times and return the glass to her. She sets it on the table next to my bed.“My chest feels heavy, and I have this awful headache. My throat is also bothering me, but other than that, I feel okay,” I tell her.“That’s expected since you inhaled a lot of smoke. The doctor said you should recover soon, but you will need to spend the night in observation,” the nurse explains. That’s when my memory sta
*Cal*Normally, I’d hesitate before jumping through a curtain of flames. Even to save someone’s life. If it was one of my men in there, what would I do? I wouldn’t think twice before trying to save them.Why am I seriously considering letting that pretty girl die by herself, a victim of something she shouldn’t even be involved with in the first place?That thought seems to renew my determination, and finding a breach in the fire, I climb through the broken window and step inside the store, immediately covering my nose with my arm.The place is a fucking mess already, thick black smoke covering the tall shelves of books. I look around, frantically searching for the woman who was in this exact spot a few minutes ago. Did she manage to escape before the explosion? Did she even see it coming?The front door and the back door seem to be blocked, so I don’t see how she could’ve escaped in time to avoid the fire.I wish I knew her name so I could call for her, but when I was in here a few