by Kate Stewart
“Jesus,” I whispered as the car blazing bullets gained on us. Having no choice, I put the car in reverse and told Amber to get down. I grabbed Leroy from the console and put the barrel against my forehead in prayer. I yelled at Amber on the floor, “Stay down!”
This made no goddamn sense. If Laz wanted me dead, why wouldn’t he do it himself? I had no clue why he would drag me thirteen hours to release the hounds of hell when he could’ve done the honors himself. It dawned on me then. He had no intention of letting me die tonight.
He was playing with me.
And even as certain as I was, the men on the other end of the guns had no idea I was onto them. I stopped the car just as they approached and got out, placing myself between the Chevelle and the vehicle racing toward me. I took aim and began to open fire as bullets buzzed several feet away from me. These idiots were either trying to miss or really horrible shots, and I’d bet my life on my first conclusion.
Laz really should have warned them who they were up against.
I stood perfectly still and took aim with my exhale, opting for a Hail Mary shot to the front tire, and my bullet ripped through it just as an SUV came out of nowhere and T-boned right into them. My enemies repeatedly flipped until they landed on their side. A dark figure exited the SUV and jumped onto the crushed car, pulling open the door and firing inside. I hauled ass back into the Chevelle and pulled away, certain that Laz would not be happy with the outcome and that he’d picked the wrong night to play cat and mouse with me. His enemies clearly had no issue interrupting our game. I ran to clear the path of the tire shredder and then took off like a shot, thankful for my lust for fast cars. I drove aimlessly through roads my GPS couldn’t lead me out of, cursing and keeping my eyes fixed on the rearview.
“Amber, if you happen to know where the hell we might be, now is the time to speak up.” As much as I’d like to think I knew these roads like the back of my hand, it had been too many years. I was completely lost. She stared straight ahead as I tried to snap her out of her dazed state. “Amber!” She leaned forward just as I yelled and emptied her stomach on my dash and floorboard as I went into panic mode.
Two days ago, I was leading the corporate world, with endless resources at my fingertips. Today, I had pulled my gun three times and was toting my sick, meth-addicted sister around the country, lost and completely alone. I pulled the car to a slow stop keeping the car idle as Amber recovered.
“Well, this isn’t exactly how I pictured this would go.” I laughed softly while glancing over at Amber, who was still retching, the putrid smell filling the cabin of my car. I rolled down my window and pulled the fresh air through my nose. “I thought we could start with something simple like ‘Hello, how have you been?’ and then move on to the questions like ‘Are you married? Any children?’” I looked over at Amber, who was staring at me like I’d grown another head. “I can see now those aren’t exactly the right questions.” I was rambling nervously, and it only made the situation worse when I wouldn’t shut up.
“Or how about ‘How’s Momma? She dead yet?’”
Finally, my sister spoke up. “Yes.”
I shot back a little in my seat, taken aback by her words and not sure I wanted the details, so I asked another question.
“How did Laz find out about me contacting you?”
“He looked through my phone.”
I crossed my arms and let out a breath. “Jesus, Amber, you actually socialize with him!”
“He’s been watching over me since you left.”
I turned on the cabin light, grabbed a water bottle out of the back seat, and handed it to her. She drank it slowly and said a quiet “thank you.”
Before I had a chance to ask any more questions, she opened her door and threw up again.
“How long have you been using? Be honest.”
“Years.”
“Jesus, Amber, after—”
She pulled the hair away from her face as she glared at me. “I appreciate the maternal concern and all, but do I really need to point out now is not the time.”
“No, I guess—”
Before I had a chance to register what was happening, I was pulled out of my car by a dark shadow. I struggled and reached for my gun as the words he spoke knocked the wind out of me.
“Taylor Ellison, do you mind telling me what in the FUCK IS GOING ON?!” I paused in my struggle to look into the eyes of my lover and sagged in relief against him.
We walked a small distance away from the Chevelle as Daniello eyed Amber in the front seat.
“Your sister,” he concluded as I turned to face him and nodded.
I breathed in his scent that felt unnatural in the environment we were in and looked him over in the contrast of my headlights. He was dressed casually in jeans, a black T-shirt, and boots, and looked absolutely beautiful. I realized again that I had missed him and knew that was dangerous. The how and why he was here as he stood in front of me were far too much for me to wrap my head around. I hadn’t noticed the Glock in his hand until now, but the curiosity written all over his face was the most intriguing.
As much as the time didn’t call for it, all I wanted to do was melt into his arms, kiss him endlessly, and fuck him until I was covered in the smell of his soap.
Then I realized the SUV that had just saved my ass belonged to him.
“I thought you weren’t going to save me anymore.”
He grinned, suddenly amused as he answered me. “A woman brave enough to step out in front of a moving car full of bad guys while she fires a magnum deserves some help.”
I smiled back as we both chuckled together inappropriately.
“Who the fuck are you, Taylor Ellison?” He didn’t want an answer as he stepped toward me with kind and ever amused eyes.
“Who the fuck are you?” I countered, just as intrigued.
“Amon Daniello Stamatio Di Giovanni.” I cupped my mouth to stifle my laughter.
“I know it ridiculous,” he smiled.
“It’s ridiculous. Or it is ridiculous.”
“I save your life, and you still correct my English.” He gripped the back of my head, pulling me an inch from his lips. “I fucking need to feel this mouth.” I moaned in agreement as his lips crushed mine in a need-filled kiss. I opened for him and gripped his huge biceps as he pulled my taut body to his. Just as I was about to start begging to shed clothes, he pulled away.
“Come, I will take you back to Charleston.”
“I can’t leave,” I confessed, staring at the sharp grass between our feet. “I have to finish this. I can’t have it following me home.
“And what is this?”
I looked up at him with the truth. “A fight I started a long time ago.”
“Tell me,” he urged, taking in our surroundings. We were in the middle of nowhere, the Chevelle lights seeming to beam on forever in the distance. I wasn’t sure what else Laz had planned, but I knew staying idle like a sitting duck was asking for trouble. Sweat began to cover us both in the humid summer air.
“We have to get out of here. I don’t know how many more there are coming.” I paused, knowing my next words would anger him. “Thank you for the help, but you can go. I’ll see you back in Charleston.”
He stiffened, indignant. “I just shot three men trying to kill my woman.”
I couldn’t help but smile again. “And you were upset they were going to beat you to it?”
He looked down at me with intense eyes as he brushed the wind-blown hair from my face. “I saw the blood on your kitchen floor. I did not like the way I felt.”
Before I had a chance to start what was sure would be another argument between us, I saw sets of headlights flip on one by one. A row of trucks stood a quarter mile behind the Chevelle, lighting up the empty field.
“Fuck,” I whispered as Daniello turned to face the intrusion.
I heard the boom of Laz’s voice through a bullhorn on top of one of the trucks as he addressed Daniello.
“You must be lost, partner. Allow me to show you the door.”
Daniello pushed me out of the way as bullets meant to hit us flew by our heads. I made a beeline for the Chevelle, knowing that Laz was no longer playing games. Daniello had killed his men and worsened the situation. I looked behind me to see Daniello pull his Glock and take out several of the headlights on the truck that lit up the field. He dove into the Chevelle as I killed my lights and sped away from the trucks heading toward us.
Amber screamed as a bullet ripped through her passenger side mirror. I was confused by Laz’s attempt to take us out with Amber in the car. He’d apparently spent so many years caring for her, and I wondered if his hatred for me was enough to make him forget all about it. They gave chase as Daniello grabbed Leroy from my console and fired out of Amber’s side, the gun going off like the small cannon it was and ripping through the metal of the trucks behind us. With only three shots left, he took his time aiming carefully and taking out two of them. I yelled at Amber, who was still shrieking with each shot.
“Give him more bullets out of the glove box. Now, Amber, do it now!”
Just as the trucks closed in, I turned on my headlights and saw the SUV shoot past us, launching a small arsenal at the trucks. Two of them veered off the road, engines on fire as the others pressed on toward us. Daniello reloaded and managed to shoot out the tires of another truck so that we were only left with one, that I knew Laz occupied. The truck sped in front of us, and I slowed, following it until it came to a stop, knowing that I had to face him again. That if I didn’t end this now, it would never end. Our headlights beamed into the cab where Laz stared back at me through his rearview.
We all stayed still for mere seconds as we tried to contemplate the other’s next move. The silence was broken as the SUV skidded to a stop next to us and Rocco addressed Daniello, who was staring at me from the back seat.
“Wait,” he ordered Rocco, who was once again spraying angry Arabic at Daniello.
I met Laz’s eyes in the rearview, unsure if he saw me watching him. He tilted back in his seat and hung something on it.
“It’s your necklace,” Amber whispered.
“He never gave me a necklace.”
“It was for your eighteenth birthday. He keeps it on him all the time.”
A solid lump formed in my throat as I watched the back of his head. “Laz,” I whispered. It was then that I thought maybe he had loved me all those years ago. That he was just a fucked up kid, as I was, but that he’d wanted to keep his promises.
Just as I thought it Laz pulled away and Rocco waited next to us for the word. Daniello watched me carefully and ordered him to back down.
Confused by Laz’s attempt to keep us engaged, Daniello instructed me to follow Rocco, who seemed to know the way back to civilization. Half an hour later Rocco stopped a few towns away from Dyer, and we checked into a decent motel next to the interstate in amicable silence.
Exhausted and overwhelmed, I sank into the bedside chair as I watched my sister sleep. Was she in on this whole scheme with Laz? She’d told me she needed help, but if he were her protector, why would she ask for my help? I would get my answers as soon as she woke. Muscles aching from too many hours on the road, I opted for a shower as Daniello and Rocco argued in the room next to us.
I stripped to nothing and let the water wash away one of the most fucked up days of my life.
My mother was dead.
I allowed myself to think about her and couldn’t muster one single emotion from the news of her death. I slipped into a T-shirt and shorts and walked out of the room to knock on Daniello’s door. Rocco opened it and pushed past me with his shoulder, his eyes telling me what I already knew. The man despised me.
“Come in,” Daniello said as I watched Rocco get into the SUV and drive away.
“Where is he going?”
“Back to Charleston, and then home.” I shut the door behind me and watched as Daniello pulled an array of guns out of a long, sleek black bag.
“And where is home?” He didn’t answer me as I sat at the table opposite him. He remained evasive as he loaded each gun and placed it back into the bag. I watched him without a word as the lust grew inside me. He bit his full bottom lip as he concentrated, occasionally looking through the scope of a few guns and checking the chambers. He was all too alluring as I remembered our time together, and what his lips and hands could do to me in seconds.
Unable to resist, I lifted from my seat and walked over to his, straddling him and bracing my hands on the back of his chair. He ignored me, working around me, and kept at his task as I began to nip at his neck, breathing him in. He loaded another gun as I licked the divot in his throat, tasting the salty sweat that’d dried on him and went back for more. I began to grind my hips onto his hardening dick and pulled back after a few minutes of working myself up to see the fire in his eyes. Heat worked its way between my legs, and I leaned in to take his lips just as he moved his head to dodge my kiss. With a sigh, I began to pull away when he put the gun he was holding back on the table and grabbed my hips, bringing me back to his lap hard.
“Who is he?”
“Just a man I know who is holding a grudge against me.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t want to stay here. Because I left him here.” Admitting the truth was easy. It was the look that Daniello gave me that was hard to swallow. “You being involved in this is only going to make it worse. I can handle him. I can handle this on my own.”
He gripped my arms as his breath hit my face. “I am not going to leave you here so he can play his games.”
“I’m going to talk to him tomorrow, and then I will leave with you.” I pointed to the table. “We don’t need all of this. No one was supposed to die tonight. He’s sick, and he’s hell bent on making me suffer.”
“Then I will handle him.”
“It’s not your place.”
“I am not asking your permission!” He lifted from his seat, forcing me off his lap and leaving me stunned at his anger.
“Please,” I begged, knowing the outcome if the two men ever faced each other. “Please, just give me a day. I’ll come back to Charleston with you.”
“You continue to gamble with your life, Taylor, as if it means nothing. Why are you so intent on dying?” He pulled his shirt over his head and slipped off his shoes as he waited for my answer.
“My mother used to convince me I wouldn’t live long, and after she’d said it enough, I began to believe her, to accept it.”
He remained silent as he watched me, trying to figure me out.
“I need to go check on Amber.”
“No, you do not. She will not wake.”
“What do you want from me?” My voice was gravelly with exhaustion. He crossed the room wearing nothing but his jeans, his ripped chest begging for the stroke of my tongue. He hovered over me, masculine, dangerous, and beautiful.
“Fuck me,” I pleaded. “Please, just fuck me.”
Without hesitation, he pushed me against the door, his arms braced above me. “Why?”
“Because I want you.”
“And your affection for this man…Laz?”
“You’re jealous?” I saw his anger and couldn’t help the full feeling expanding in my chest. He gave me little time to bask in my victory as he leaned in and bit my neck. A cry of surprise erupted from me as I clawed at his bare chest. He stilled my arms, soothing his bite with soft lips.
“God, please don’t make me wait.” He pulled me toward him, his lips still attached to my neck, and pulled my clothes off in a rush. I breathed out his name as he pushed two fingers through my waiting, dripping pussy. I leaned into his touch, thankful for the reprieve of my busy brain.
“Do not go numb on me, Taylor,” he hissed as his digits explored me and a third finger slid into my back entrance. He caught my gasp with his mouth, his tongue stroking velvet licks against mine. Intoxicated and completely full of him, I moaned into his mouth as I kissed h
im. We melted together, our movements unrehearsed but perfectly synced. I pulled his cock from his pants, rubbing the silky tip with my thumb before stroking its thickness.
He pulled his fingers from me, and I sank to my knees, kissing down his manicured chest, keeping a firm hand on his cock. Once there, I worshiped him as I heard his steady exhale. He began to fuck my mouth hard, moving his hips and gripping my head possessively. Without warning, he pulled me up by my hair and gripped my hips, impaling me. I screamed out in a mix of pain and pleasure as he nailed me to the wall in rough, thorough strokes. My back slid up and down the rough surface as he punished me, his eyes as penetrating as the muscle he was fucking me with.
He gripped my bare breast with his teeth and bit down hard before sucking it deep into his mouth. I clawed the crown of his head, pushing him away as he pounded into me without mercy, my body tightening to the point of pain before I exploded my release. I heard the sound of our sex as Daniello flexed and moved inside me, never slowing, never stopping. Our bodies covered in sweat, we exchanged needy tongues, fueling our hunger.
On the floor minutes later, my back screamed at the feel of the rough carpet. Daniello moved inside me, fucking me, owning me.
I heard his grunt as he pulled away from me sharply, fisting his cock and spewing his hot cum all over my chest. He brought his soiled hand to my lips, and I licked it clean as he rubbed his orgasm all over me.
“Beautiful,” he rasped out as he circled my nipple with his drenched finger. “You are the only woman I see.”
A large part of me melted in that moment as he looked at my body in awe. His fingers drifted down to my sex as he again pushed them inside of me. I moaned in protest, sore from his brutal cock, as he began to kiss me. Minutes later, I shuddered with release as he fingered me to the point of orgasm, twice.
We showered together, and for the first time, bathed one another with gentle hands and shared long tongue-filled kisses. We toweled each other off with soft smiles and spent the night in the dark motel, confessing from our separate pillows, my leg wrapped around his torso.
“My home is in Italy,” he murmured as his fingers strummed my thigh. “Barga.”
