by Mae Doyle
“If you don’t hurry up, Hannah, then we’ll be late.” My dad’s voice carries easily across the front lawn. He and my mom are already in the car, but I’m hanging back, trying to enjoy a few last minutes of freedom.
It’s impossible with my brother right here.
“Don’t you want to go meet your new honey?” Mitch grins at me while he waits for my response. I consider hitting him with my purse, but I’m supposed to be ladylike right now, and I’m really struggling with that, so instead I just shoot him a dirty look.
“Shut up and help me with this shoe,” I tell him, leaning back on the chair and holding my foot up for him. Mitch sighs but obediently buckles the side of it before helping me to my feet. I teeter a little but I think that I’m going to be okay.
I’d spent a hell of a lot of time this weekend applying makeup to my neck to make sure that my bruises weren’t totally obvious. That bastard Arlo made my neck sore when he choked me.
Tentatively, I reach up and touch my neck. It aches, but at least I’m the only one who knows what bruising I have under the makeup.
I just have to make it through this meeting. Thank goodness we’re not going to be eating a meal together. Well, not with the families, anyway. Once we all get acquainted and sign the paperwork then I’ll be left alone with him.
Fuck. I still don’t know his name.
Dad honks from the driveway and I wave at him before slowly walking down the steps. I’m a little shaky, but I think that’s to be expected when I’m about to go meet the man I apparently have to marry.
“Come on, Hannah. Move it, or you’ll get us both in trouble.” Mitch grabs my elbow to steady me and helps me down the sidewalk. Each step I take feels like I’m walking further and further away from the life I worked so hard to build.
This past weekend sucked. I spent as much time as possible by myself, but my parents wanted to talk to me about how I was making such a good decision for the family and how much they appreciated it. What they don’t know is that I would do anything possible to avoid this.
I just don’t feel like I have a choice.
All my life, I’ve tried to do the right thing for my family. I was quiet during school and never talked back to teachers, I made sure that I studied hard, and I never messed around with boys. The last thing my parents would have accepted was a teen pregnancy, but maybe that would have been the better alternative.
The car is mostly silent as we drive. Every once in a while, my mom turns around to speak to me, but I can barely respond. I don’t want to talk to her. I don’t want to talk to any of them.
I can’t stop thinking about Arlo and how he felt between my legs. What he didn’t know, and what I didn’t want to tell him, was that he was my first. It was a great way for me to take control of my life, even if just for an evening.
My parents can make me marry this Torenti guy, but I gave myself up when I wanted to. The thought makes my face flush. It had seemed like such a great idea at the time, but how he treated me after the fact…
Fuck. I could have fallen for him, or someone like him, if he weren’t such an ass. But to think that I’m marrying into his family? To think that I may actually have to see him at family functions?
Shit. At least I know that it can’t possibly be him that they want me to marry. He has to be about ten years older than me, and there’s no way they’d sell me off to someone like that. Right?
Right.
I just hope that he’s not here at this meeting today. He could be a brother, or a cousin, or something terrible like that. I honestly can’t think of anything that would be much worse.
My jaw drops open when we pull up on main street and park in front of a familiar bar. The Claw and Crown. Forgetting that I’m pissed at my parents, I lean through the front seat.
“Why are we here? I thought that we were meeting them at their bar or restaurant or something.” I doubt that they can hear the panic in my voice, they’re both so focused on making sure that they make a good impression on this family.
Right. Like selling off your daughter so that they’ll continue to work with you and protect your companies isn’t enough to make a good impression.
Mom turns around and rests her hand lightly on mine for a moment. “We are, darling. They own the Claw and Crown and said that they’ll be able to guarantee that it’ll be empty for us to sit and talk. We figured that this was the best place for all of us to get together without us being interrupted, don’t you think?”
They own this place. My stomach twists and sinks as I realize that he’ll be here. Definitely. There’s no way around it. If I’d only known that they owned this place and that I was going home with a Torenti…
Well, I wouldn’t have lost my virginity that night, that’s for damn sure. Now there’s nothing to do but smooth down my skirt and put a smile on my face to try to pretend like I want to be here when all I really want to do is crawl back into my pajamas and go to bed so this day never happens.
“Aren’t you coming?” Mitch sounds like he’s genuinely interested in my decision, and I realize with a start that all of my family members are standing outside the car on the sidewalk, staring at me. With a sigh, I unbuckle and get out of the car, slamming it hard behind me.
“Hannah.” My dad shoots me a look that clearly says don’t-fuck-this-up-for-me, and all I can do is roll my eyes in response.
“Let’s just get this over with.” Taking a deep breath and ignoring how shaky I feel, I push past the three of them and stalk up to the doors. They’re unlocked, but I still have to lean back with all of my weight to open them since they’re so tall and heavy.
The light inside the bar is dim and I’m barely aware of my parents and brother walking in behind me. One of them says something to me, but I don’t register what it is. I’m too focused on the people standing by the bar.
There’s four of them. The older man and woman have their arms around each other and I instantly know that they’re the parents. Then there are two guys, both older than me, both staring at me like I’m a meal and I’ve just stumbled into the lion’s den.
I’m dimly aware of the door shutting behind us and I suddenly feel a bit claustrophobic, but I push down the choking feeling. I have to get through this.
One of the younger guys is Arlo. My stomach twists even though I knew he would be here. He’s a damn Torenti, for goodness sakes, but it still makes me feel ill to know that I’m marrying into his family.
He’s so hot. So, so, so fucking hot.
And such an asshole.
His expression changes when he sees me. He’d looked calm and collected when we first walked in, but now he frowns and he takes a small step forward, but it’s almost like he catches himself and stands still again.
Interesting. Then again, if that’s his dad, I’d probably be a little afraid to step out of line, too. He looks like someone who could kill a man with his bare hands and not even blink twice, and I feel a little sick. Someone puts their hand on my lower back, pushing me forward, and I take reluctant steps closer to the Torentis.
“Sir,” my dad says, walking around me to shake the oldest man’s hand. “This is a lovely place you have here. Perfect for getting together without any distractions, just like you said. And this – ” Here he turns to me and gestures me forward. I don’t want to move, but Mitch digs his elbow into my side and I walk to stand next to my dad. “This is Hannah.”
I’m cattle at a meat market. All four of them look me up and down, not saying anything. The only difference is that one of them has seen me naked.
Ugh.
Finally, the older man nods. “Good. Glad she could come.” He doesn’t address me, which makes me a little frustrated, and I dig my fingernails into my palms to keep from saying something to him about being rude. “My son can’t wait to get to know his future bride. All we have to do is sign the paperwork.”
This entire time I’m doing my best to not look up at Arlo. I can’t help but wonder if I’m supposed to marr
y him or the other guy. I don’t want to look at either of them, and when I do glance up, he gives me a wink.
Asshole. What was that for?
Mr. Torenti turns to the bar and hands my dad some paperwork. The two of them flip through it quickly and then both sign before turning to me.
“Your turn, Hannah,” my dad says.
I take a moment to look up into his face, surprised by what I see there. He looks old, like much older than he has looked in a while. My mom’s been sick for a long time, and it’s wearing on him, I know that, but it sucks to see him looking like hell.
When I take the pen from him, my hand shakes, but I just bite my lip. This is what I have to do. I love my family and have always said that I would do anything for them. but actually being in the position when I need to put my money where my mouth is sucks.
“Okay.” I exhale, not even realizing that I was holding my breath and scrawl my name at the bottom of the page.
Mr. Torenti gives me a strange look but nods when I hand the pen back to my dad.
“Good. And now you, son,” he says, turning to the two younger man standing with him.
I swear, time stands still. I gave my virginity to one of them, and I hate him for it. But there’s very little chance that the other is a nicer guy.
Fuck.
I don’t know what to wish for. I don’t know who to hope that I’m going to marry. I don’t want to marry either one of them, but I don’t have a choice. All I can do is look down at my feet. I don’t know how I’m going to walk out of this, or which man I’m going to be left with, but I can’t face that right now.
Fucking shoes. My feet are killing me. There’s the scratching of a pen on paper and the men all talking. I know that they’re staring at me, that I should look up, but I can’t bear the thought of looking into one of their eyes, knowing that I’m going to have to marry him.
“Dear, you’re okay, Hannah, I promise.” There’s a hand on my arm and I look up with surprise into the face of the wife. Mom. Whatever. She’s my mother-in-law now, or she will be by next weekend.
“I’m okay. I’m sorry. This is just…fast.” I tell her. My jaw hurts, and when I glance over, Arlo is staring at me.
I can’t tell if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. A muscle in his jaw twitches and I get my answer.
A bad thing.
“Well, we’re done here. Sweetheart, you be good. We’ll see you at the end of the week.” My dad looks happier than he’s been in a long damn time, probably as happy as he was when he found out that Mitch was a boy and would be able to carry on the family name.
“The end of the week? What do you mean?” My voice sound tight and high, but I don’t care if I sound a little hysterical. What the hell is he talking about?
“We mentioned it earlier, Hannah, but you must not have been listening.” My mom steps in front of my dad and smiles at me. The Torentis thought that you moving in with your fiancé would give you two time to get to know each other, and we agreed. You’ll be living with him this week, okay?”
No. Not okay. I open my mouth to argue, but I know right away that it’s not going to do any good. None of them are going to listen to me.
“That’s that then.” My dad claps Mitch on the shoulder and leads him out. Uncertain, my mom turns to follow, but she blows me a kiss at the door. I’m left alone in the bar with the Torentis. The only one of them I know is because I let him put his cock in me.
Fuck.
“Well, I guess we’ll leave you two alone then to get to know each other.” The dad smiles at me and turns back to his sons. “I expect an update each day though. Let me know how things are progressing.”
I can’t look. Dropping my gaze back to my shoes, I try to pretend that this isn’t happening.
It isn’t real.
None of it is.
Chapter 8
Arlo
This makes no fucking sense. There’s no way, in the world with a loving and forgiving god, that the broad who walked through the door looking the part of an animal led to slaughter would be Hannah, my little fuck from the other night.
She’d mentioned that she was dealing with family drama, but there was no way in hell that I could ever assume that that meant she was about to be sold off to my family.
For me to marry.
And impregnate.
From the moment she walked through the door, I had to focus hard to keep my cock from throbbing and ripping through my pants. She’s just as hot as she was Friday night, especially since I know what she has going on under her clothes.
I know about her hot little cunt.
Her perky tits.
Fuck. I have to make it through this meeting without trying to rip her clothes off of her body, and that’s going to be damn hard. Hannah keeps looking up at me with a scared look on her face, and that makes me even more thrilled.
There’s something about a broad being a little afraid of you that will get things revving in no time. We sign the paperwork and our families leave, and she still won’t look at me.
“Hannah.” Nothing. She’s standing as still as a fucking statue. What the hell is wrong with her? She didn’t seem to mind being with me when I had her screaming out my name the other night.
Without thinking about it, I close the gap between us and grab her chin, lifting her head so that she has to look at me. “Hannah, what the hell? Why won’t you look at me?”
She jerks out of my grasp, her eyes wide.
What the fuck has gotten into this broad? I’m not exactly thrilled about having to get married either, but I could do a hell of a lot worse than taking her to bed each night.
Fuck. The thought sends a jolt through my body and now my cock really has woken up. I know for a fact that Roque has fucked someone in the Claw before, and there’s nothing stopping me from taking my future wife and doing the same.
Well, except for the sour fucking look on her face.
“Did you know? The other night? Did you know that it was me when you…”
“When I what? Make you scream out my name while you were cumming on my cock? No, honey, sorry, I had no idea that I was going to get the pleasure of marrying you this weekend.”
She doesn’t look happy.
“That’s not…I meant…when you choked me. When you kicked me out. Or is that just how you treat all of the girls you take home?” She looks up at me and I see a flash of anger in her eyes.
Oh, that’s what this is about?
“Come on, Hannah, I know that you liked it.” She steps to the side, like she’s going to walk around me, but I move in front of her, blocking her path so that she can’t get past me. “I know you like it because I had to wash my sheets.”
She doesn’t smile. “Let me out of here, Arlo, I’m not marrying you. Not a chance.” She reaches up and slams her fist into my chest, like that’s going to make me move, but I just chuckle.
“Newsflash, Hannah, but you are. You’re going to marry me, and you’re going to fucking like it.
She shakes her head and that’s when I realize that I’m not going to be able to stop myself any longer. Before she can move out of the way or try to insult me again, I grab her by the shoulders, pulling her to me. My cock is hard in my pants and I know that she feels it when I press it against her because she gasps.
“Arlo,” she warns, but I don’t give her a chance to say anything else. I’m hungry for her and I crash my mouth into hers, forcing her lips to open so that I can slip my tongue into her mouth.
She tastes just as good as she did Friday night. Better, maybe. I can feel her anger coursing through her body, and I love it.
When I lean back to get a breath, she plants her hands flat on my chest and shoves me away. “Stop it! I hate you!” In her hurry to get away from me, she steps backward and trips on the leg of a stool, falling on her ass in the middle of the bar.
I laugh, throwing my head back at her. She’s ridiculous. If she would just calm down, then she’d realize that she could ha
ve this all a hell of a lot worse. I may not be what she thinks that she wants, but I’m going to take care of her.
I’ll have her screaming out my name every fucking night if that’s what her little cunt wants.
Hannah scoots away from me and I calmly lean down to offer her a hand up. There’s no reason why the two of us can’t try to get along, even though I have the distinct feeling that she’d rather eat glass.
“Come here, Hannah. Get off the damn floor and let’s go somewhere to talk about all of this.” I still want to fuck her. Bending her over the bar and ramming into her from behind sounds like heaven, but I’m not so stupid to think that I’m going to get that right now.
Not when she looks like a fucking feral animal. Her eyes are wide when she looks up at me.
“Is that blood?”
When I look down where she’s pointing, my eyes fall on some blood splatter on the hem of my pants. Fucking dammit, I didn’t realize that I was so close when Roque shot her cousin in the head. His blood must have splattered onto me then.
I’m going to have to get them professionally cleaned to get the blood out, and that’s just one more hassle that I don’t want to have to deal with.
“Get up, Hannah.” I don’t want to play her fucking games, especially now that I know I have to get my pants cleaned.
She shakes her head. “It’s blood. I know that it is. What were you doing? Dad said that you guys were going to take care of a problem for us, and – ” She cuts herself off when she realizes what she’s saying.
Yeah, we took care of a problem for her family.
Yeah, it was her cousin.
Looks like she’s not as stupid as she’s acting right now.
“Fucking hell, Hannah,” I say, bending over and picking her up. She’s a tiny thing, even though she is deliciously curvy, and I toss her over my shoulder easily. “I told you that we would talk about this, so there’s no reason for you to freak the fuck out, okay?”
“Talk about what?” She slams both of her fists into my back. “How you and your family killed someone? How you killed my cousin?” Her voice is getting higher and shriller and we’re fucking lucky that there isn’t anyone else around.
