Breathless & Bloodstained (The Chicago War #4)

by Bethany-Kris

  Tommas hooked an arm around Abriella’s waist and pulled her higher again until her ass was level with his steel-hard cock. The tip of his erection drove into the fleshy lips of her sex as he bent down and nipped at the middle of her back. Abriella’s hiss quickly melted into a low moan of pleasure when his fingers dug into her sides.

  It’s better when it hurts, she had once told him. It’s better when I ache.

  Tommas always gave her what she wanted, after all.

  His tongue struck out to taste her skin. Above the spot where he’d tasted, a scar caught his eye. Small and circular, the discoloration was the only blemish on his lover’s body. Tommas kissed the spot where the bullet had entered her back months ago. Abriella stilled until his lips pressed on her scar. A shiver worked its way over her body.

  “It’s okay, Tommy,” he heard her say.

  “It is now.”

  “Leave it alone, hmm. Another time.”

  She backed into his cock, seeking and wanting more. Tommas refused to give it to her until he was fucking ready for it.

  This wouldn’t last forever.

  She still had to go.

  “I miss you,” he whispered against her spine.

  Tommas was sure he had said it too quietly for Abriella to hear, but apparently not.

  A tremor wracked her body.

  “I know, Tommy. I know you do.”

  A tightness circled his chest, making his air disappear for a moment. Tommas got his breath back the second he flexed his hips and found his home between the heaven of Abriella’s thighs. Her wet, tight heat took his length in one long, hard thrust. Her body was made for his. There was no give, she simply took what he gave.

  And it was wonderful.

  Driving his hands into her long hair, he tangled the strands around his fists and pulled her up. Abriella’s back molded to his chest as her body slumped in his hold. He wouldn’t let her go—she wouldn’t fall in his hands.

  Ever.

  “Oh, my God,” Abriella mumbled brokenly.

  Tommas’ exhale came out shakier than he intended. “You take me so well, babe. You’re so fucking full, stretched open with me, Ella. Christ, do you feel that? You’re soaking wet and squeezing me so tight I can’t even breathe.”

  Another flex of his hips and Abriella whimpered his name. Tommas pulled her even closer and slammed into her harder, reaching deeper. Her hands reached back to grasp onto his thighs. The sensation of her fingernails scratching into his skin was enough to drive him downright insane.

  “Keep doing that, Ella,” Tommas said as his pace picked up.

  Her rolling cries mixed in with the sounds of their bodies meeting. The faintest sheen of sweat had gathered at the base of her neck and down her spine. Under his hold, her body vibrated like she was a coil ready to break.

  “Come on, Tommy, give it to me like I want it,” Abriella whispered almost tauntingly.

  “My girl,” Tommas murmured into Abriella’s ear. “So fucking dirty, Ella. Is that what you want me to tell you, huh? How much I love when you let me fuck you like you’re nothing more than a slut? When I use you like this?”

  Abriella sank into his touch, sighing. “Yes.”

  Because in his bed, she could be whatever she wanted. She could be his lover with sweet words and soft love. She could be his enemy with harsh words and a rough fucking. Or she could be his slut … with no fear that he would ever take that private desire of hers outside the safety of a bedroom.

  Simple as that.

  He adored her more for giving it to him, and for letting him have her like that. No one else would understand the way they sometimes loved, but he didn’t care.

  Abriella had always been his.

  “I’m going to …”

  “Come,” Tommas finished for her.

  Abriella nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Get it for me, baby. I want it. Give it to me, Ella.”

  He caught site of his lover’s teeth cutting into her lip as her body began to shake. Tommas let go of the hold on her hair with one of his hands so that he could grab her jaw. He tugged her lip from her teeth, and then Abriella sucked his digits into her mouth.

  In her ear, Tommas’ murmured the words he knew Abriella wanted to hear the most. The things that would make her come fast, hot, and harder than ever.

  Take that fucking cock, Ella.

  My pretty little slut.

  Show me how bad you want it.

  His fingers stuffed in her mouth and his hand around her throat muffled the sounds of her scream as she came around his cock. The feeling of her lips sucking his fingers and her pussy milking him was enough to send Tommas over the edge.

  He came trembling, weak, and with his teeth buried into the junction of her shoulder.

  Abriella came for a third time.

  She loved being used

  Loved pain.

  Tommas didn’t mind providing it.

  Tommas ghosted the pad of his thumb across Abriella’s cheekbone. Her lashes fluttered as her smile grew. Despite the fact that her eyes were closed, he knew that she had been awake for at least a half an hour.

  It had become a habit for Tommas to care for Abriella after sex. He cleaned the traces of their fucking from her body, massaged the spots on her that were sore from his roughness and handling, and did whatever else she wanted or needed.

  This time, however, she seemed content to pretend to sleep.

  Whatever she needs, he thought with a grin.

  “How long are you going to stay like that?” Tommas asked.

  “Maybe a little longer.”

  “You look like a kitten wrapped up in my sheets.”

  Abriella’s eyes opened. Humor danced over her features as she asked, “How so?”

  “You stretch here and there like a kitten would. You grab onto the sheets like they’re a lifeline or something. It’s cute.”

  “Tommy.”

  “What?”

  “Be quiet,” she mumbled. “I need quiet.”

  “Whatever you want, baby.”

  Abriella’s smile grew when his thumb trailed over her soft lips. She kissed the tip of his digit and closed her eyes again.

  “You know I’m yours, don’t you, Tommy?” she asked softly.

  The statement took Tommas by surprise. It wasn’t like Abriella to say things of that nature. It was too close to the walls she kept firmly stuck around her heart, a place she wouldn’t let him touch all that often.

  “Yes,” he replied.

  “But I don’t feel like it sometimes.”

  Ouch.

  Tommas hid how that cut at his soul, but barely.

  “What have I done that makes you feel that way, Ella?”

  “Nothing,” she confessed. “But I don’t get to be yours outside of this. I want to hold your hand, I want to stand close to you, and I want people to know. I can’t have that, and it kills me.”

  Maybe he got it then …

  At that moment, Tommas figured he might have finally understood why Abriella kept three little words from him. Sure, she might have to take them away someday, but she was doing her damnedest to never have to take them from herself, either.

  “Abriella,” Tommas said, catching her chin between his forefinger and thumb.

  Through thick lashes, she watched him silently.

  “I love you more than you could ever know,” he told her. “I love you far more than the breath in my own body. I have always loved you, sweet girl. You are the light in a mostly dark life. This …” Tommas waved between them. “Abriella, this is what you’ve chosen to give me and I’ve taken it because I can’t do without it. Don’t you understand that? I’ve only taken what you’ve given. If you want something else, then give me more. Tell me you want something beyond this.”

  “I do,” she said so low he strained to hear. “I just don’t know how to give it.”

  “That’s it?”

  “It’s everything to me, Tommy.”

  “I’ll give you whatever
you want, Ella.”

  “I know you will. That’s what scares me the most.”

  Unsure of how to respond, Tommas rolled onto his back. The only thing separating the two was a thin sheet. Tommas felt the tips of Abriella’s fingers glide over his chest before her palm settled on top of his heart.

  “You deserve everything you want, Tommy,” he heard her say.

  “Do you even know what it is that I want?”

  “I think so. I know who you are and the things you could be. You’re so sure of me and us that a lot of other things are forgotten about. There are other things—more important things—than us.”

  “Not to me.”

  “The Outfit?” she asked. “Being the boss? Isn’t that a part of what you want?”

  “I already told you.”

  “It’s nothing to you without me. I remember. But you can’t rip everyone else apart in the process of trying to get what you want, Tommy.”

  Couldn’t he?

  The moment Tommas woke up in his bed, he knew he was alone. The coldness of the sheets and the ache in his chest told him that he had passed out for a while and his pain meds from the morning had worn off.

  Rolling over to check the digital clock, he saw his cell phone resting where it hadn’t been before he went to sleep. Abriella had taken the phone the night the bomb blew. She must have brought it for him to have. He also found a small note on top of his gun. She obviously carried the weapon into the bedroom before she left, too.

  I had to go.

  You looked too good to wake up.

  Next time.

  Soon.

  E.

  Falling to his back, Tommas rubbed at his forehead and stared at the note a while longer. Frustrated that he hadn’t gotten to say goodbye, he dropped the note on the sheets and pushed up from the bed. His sleep pants had been folded up and placed at the foot of the bed. Tommas tugged the pants on, stood, and searched the room for any other sign that Abriella had been there.

  Nothing.

  She was far too good at coming and going from his life.

  Before he could dwell on that nagging thought any longer, his home phone rang a shrill tune. Tommas grabbed the cordless phone from the cradle and picked the call up on the second ring.

  “Rossi speaking.”

  “Cousin, we’ve got a problem.”

  Tommas perked at Damian’s voice on the other end of the call. “What in the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “Stuff about the club. I just got word, and we need to chat before your friends from the hospital make a trip to your house to talk about it.”

  Friends from the hospital?

  The detectives, Tommas realized.

  Goddammit. What now?

  “What is it, D?” Tommas asked.

  “We need to meet up and soon. It shouldn’t be talked about over the phone. Are you good enough to leave your house or what?”

  Nothing that Damian said made much sense to Tommas. It only aggravated him more.

  “Yes, I’m fine. Better than I was this morning.”

  At least that wasn’t a lie.

  “Good. Meet me at your downtown restaurant. Twenty minutes?”

  “Is whatever it is that bad?” Tommas asked.

  “It could be. I don’t want to talk about it over the phone. The cops are around too much.”

  “Yeah, I got it. Also, I’ve got my cell phone back from Ella. No more calls on the house phone. Twenty minutes, Ghost.”

  “Sounds good,” Damian replied.

  The call hung up without either man saying goodbye. Tommas made quick work of cleaning his face in the attached bath, tossing on an acceptable suit and pair of Italian leather shoes, and gathered his things to leave.

  Downstairs, he stilled at the sight of something missing from the hallway table. Abriella must have taken the bandages he’d left resting on the furniture.

  Smart girl. He would have wrapped his rib the moment it started aching again. She took away the option altogether. Abriella was dirty like that, but Tommas didn’t mind. She kept him in check.

  Chuckling to himself and forgetting that she had left without saying goodbye properly, Tommas opened the front door to his home and stepped outside. It was the first time he’d left his house since he got out of the hospital the second time.

  Tommas wasn’t the least bit surprised to find Nate already waiting for him with the car.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The moment Abriella stepped out of the cab, she knew that she had made a very terrible mistake. A familiar black car was parked beside her Hummer. Her throat constricted with panic as she grabbed onto the cab’s back door and considered jumping back inside the vehicle.

  “Miss, I gotta go,” the cabbie shouted.

  Abriella barely heard the man. She was too focused on the driver’s window of the black car as it rolled down a few inches. It was just enough to give her a glimpse of a very pissed off enforcer sitting behind the wheel.

  How had he found her?

  She’d been careful and smart like always.

  Right?

  “Miss,” the cabbie barked.

  Abriella released her hold on the cab door and stepped away. The cab’s tires screeched when it pulled out onto the busy street.

  Tossing another look at her waiting enforcer, Abriella kept her expression calm. She didn’t want the man to know that she was worried. If she acted like she had something to hide, then he would search for it. Not that skipping out on him wasn’t hiding something, because it was.

  Excuses could be made for that.

  Something that wouldn’t lead back to Tommas.

  Abriella readied something appropriate to say as she strolled across the parking lot and tossed her messenger bag over her shoulder. The enforcer opened his car door and stepped out with a severe scowl that was dark enough to send a weaker woman running.

  Trentinis didn’t know how to be weak.

  Certainly not Abriella.

  “Darryl,” Abriella greeted.

  Standing just a few feet away from the man, Abriella was forced to look up at him. He towered over her by a good few inches. The guy was built like a linebacker, and he usually seemed as stunned as a football player that had taken too many shots to the head. He wasn’t necessarily a handsome guy, but he was a mean looking motherfucker.

  Abriella still wasn’t scared of him.

  Men didn’t have that effect on her.

  “Where in the fuck have you been?” the enforcer asked.

  “Shopping,” Abriella lied.

  “Where are the bags then?”

  Abriella shrugged. “Didn’t find anything worth buying.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “Prove it.”

  Darryl’s lips thinned in his frustration. “That little show on the highway earlier was ridiculous, Abriella. You nearly got me fucking killed when the eighteen-wheeler behind me almost introduced the trunk of my car to the back of my head.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t drive so fast. Reaction times and all.”

  “That’s enough of your smart mouth.”

  Abriella held back her smirk. She had the guy right where she wanted him. Darryl was good for scaring people, but he seriously lacked the wit to have an argument with Abriella. That, or the man just didn’t have the patience.

  “You know the rules,” Darryl continued angrily. “You make sure that your vehicle is visible, that I can follow behind at a safe distance, and that you don’t pull shit like you did today.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I wanted to go shopping.”

  “You told your brother that you were studying and playing catch up for school.”

  “Did I?”

  Darryl’s gaze narrowed. “Stop playing word games, you little—”

  “Careful,” Abriella interjected swiftly. “Your next words might very well be your last. If I broke the rules, prove it and I will handle it, but your disrespect will never be tolerated.”

  “O
h, you think?”

  “I know.”

  Darryl grinned a cruel sight. “What I know, Abriella, is that your brother has very little patience for this sort of bullshit. I know he expects you to be above all reproach and act the same. You stepped out of line today. As far as my language, if you’re going to act like a bitch, then you’ll wear the title like one.”

  Abriella’s jaw clenched so hard her molars ached. Silently, she reminded herself to play nice with the man to keep him from running his mouth to her brother. It didn’t help much.

  “What are you going to do, run to Joel and tell him how you can’t manage to keep up with little old me?” Abriella asked sweetly.

  “No.”

  “I didn’t think so.”

  Darryl shrugged, and his smile deepened. “I don’t have to, Abriella, because your brother called me. You fucked up today. You left your phone inside the Hummer.”

  Abriella stiffened in the cold air. “So?”

  “Didn’t you realize?”

  “Realize what, Darryl? Stop messing around.”

  “When you had your phone updated to the newest version last month, Joel paid for an added locator feature in the apps on the account. Because he has control over the account, the app can be downloaded wirelessly without him even needing to touch the phone. It could have downloaded while you were sleeping. You probably didn’t even notice it since it just looks like a regular preloaded app in the list that you would scroll right on past.”

  Abriella’s heart stopped. “He didn’t.”

  GPS on her Hummer was one thing.

  She had never let her brother touch her phone. She would go to the store, pick out a new one, and the account would be charged.

  Jesus Christ.

  How could she be so stupid?

  Quickly, Abriella went over her travels for the past month. Darryl had said the GPS app had only been on her phone for that amount of time. She had a habit of leaving her phone in the Hummer when she left the vehicle. It was one thing in her favor. The night she had gone to Tommas’ club, she had left her phone in her bag in the Hummer parked at her sister’s apartment.

  She was positive there was nothing else.

  Right?

  Fear choked Abriella silent.