by Jax Hart
“Time’s up!” A heavy fist pounded on the door.
I pushed against Roque’s chest, feeling his pecs tighten at my touch. “Don’t go far,” he warned.
I spun on my heels, feeling confident as the door is unlocked and light trickled inside where he had me at his mercy. Or was he at mine? I shook my head, confused and angry that despite my loathing of him at every level, he still made me feel desire. Crazy, sick desire.
“Why would I?” I played, “when I haven’t tasted your girl?” I nodded to the blonde behind us, looked at her over my shoulder and winked. Her eyes slayed me, her fists curled, and I just knew if she were to open her palms the telling sign of crescent marks would mark her skin. She wanted what I just had.
He chuckled low in his throat, his chin dropped on top of my head as he pulled me close and whispered into my hair, “She tastes of desperation. It’s a boring flavor. Nothing like yours.”
“Sit back in the circle.” Johnny ordered.
“She’s done playing.” Roque growled back.
The two men glared at each other. I smirked knowing I won tonight. I practically brought Roque Salvatore to his knees and all it took was ten minutes of mad kissing and groping in the dark.
“House rules, Smith.” I whipped my head at Roque and tried not to scream that he’s a fraud. There’s nothing common about him and yet he chose the most boring, common last name to hide behind.
“I made the rules. I can break them.”
Johnny moved his gaze from Roque to me. “She was that good, eh? You’ve never cared before.”
I gasped as Roque slid his arm around my waist, snagging me from behind pulling me into his body. “She’s mine for the night.”
I was tempted to sag against him. Wishing just for one night I could pretend to just be a normal girl at a party… to let myself get seduced and kissed until the early dawn came and turned me back into the girl I’d become.
“But I want to play.” I taunted, lacing my fingers over his before turning in his embrace. I raised a hand to his cheek. Slaying him with doe eyes, I stood on my tippy toes tricking him into expecting a kiss. “You didn’t even let me come,” I whined, sounding like valley girl pissed that her daddy chopped her Amex card.
The room erupted with hoots and hollers. Roque’s eyes turned into the killer I knew he was. “Careful. You don’t know who you are playing with.”
“Actually, I do,” I replied smartly, before spinning on my heel and sitting back down on the floor.
The anger radiating off him singed my back. But I didn’t dare peak over my shoulder at him. “Who spins next?” I lifted my cup from the floor where I had left it and try to replace the taste of Roque in my mouth. But the lukewarm wine did nothing to diminish him.
Roque never returned to the circle. Instead he stood behind me. Almost daring me if I tried to get up and return to the closet with anyone other than him.
Johnny took the bottle next, giving it a quick spin. I held my breath. If it landed on me, my knife was coming out. But the bottle slowed, stopping on the blonde. She practically squealed and hopped into Johnny’s lap. Her sloppy kisses covered his mouth.
Roque was right. She was desperate with a capital D, hoping that he’d care her tongue was down his friend’s throat.
“Who needs the closet?” Rafe snorted, grabbing the bottle and letting it fly. All eyes were glued to it as it went round and round, stopping squarely at me.
“Oh shit!” Le Blanc uttered as he looked behind me at Roque.
"What about it princess. You in?” Rafe asked, holding out a hand to me.
I lifted my cup, taking a measured sip. “Only if she comes.” I nodded to the blonde, hoping to piss Roque off even more. I wanted the man to break in front of his friends… lose one shred of that icy composure of his.
“It’s against the rules.” Johnny fingered the key in the palm of his hand. “Besides, I like her just where she is.” I was too busy watching the spinning bottle to notice the girl’s hands in the fly of his pants stroking him openly.
I started to stand when a large hand pushed me back down. “Game’s over.”
“The hell it is,” Rafe moved forward, jerking me across the circle and into his embrace.
Roque growled and grabbed me by the waist. I was sandwiched between to alpha males and just tried to breathe.
I looped my arms around Rafe’s neck, surprising everyone by gifting him my kiss out in the open, in front of everyone. His mouth opened under mine. He was good but there was no rush of danger as his tongue danced with mine. The hairs on the back of my neck stood. Hot breath moved against my hair, “You will pay for this,” Roque whispered, as his friend kissed my mouth. I heard the door open, then slam so hard the window rattled.
“My turn.” Le Blanc’s huge hand gripped the bottle, but he never let it go. Instead he moved it in a circle, deliberately pointing it at Tati.
“Cheat,” she giggled.
He grinned wickedly and stands holding a hand to her, “You coming?”
“I hope so.”
I rolled my eyes at how pathetic she was. They moved past and Johnny took out his key, inserting it in the lock behind them. He snaked an arm around the blonde and cupped himself ordering her to take care of him. Getting up, I walked to the window disgusted by everyone, even myself.
“Who are you?” Rafe asked, joining me at the window.
“No one.”
“Yeah, right,” he snorted. “No one, wouldn’t get under Ro—Ralph’s skin like that.”
“Ralph?” This time I snorted as I lifted a finger to the glass tracing my finger along the cool pane.
“Are you a freshman?”
“Maybe.”
“Transfer?”
“Perhaps.”
“Don’t be all coy. You know who he is… who Johnny is… who I am.”
“Yeah I do,” I finally lifted my face from the fray below, “total players.”
“Guilty.” He raised his hand, trying to decide if I was just some stupid girl or something more.
Thankfully, his thoughtful gaze on my face was interrupted when three giggly, sorority type girls entered the room with flushed faces and bright eyes.
“He’ll be back. You better stay put and be good,” Rafe warned as he welcomed the fresh meat and sampled them one at a time.
“Can I leave to pee?”
“By all means,” he gestured toward the door. I didn’t waste time leaving. I needed to plant more surveillance. No one was up here. It’s as if there was an unspoken rule that this level was off limits to guests. But as I peered around the corner and down the bannister of the stairs, I spotted a beefy looking goon that definitely looked as if he was a part of the Lamatti crew.
Pretending to be stumbling and looking for a place to go, I tried each doorknob, but all the rooms were locked. I decided to go down the stairs and tapped the goon on the shoulder. “Hey. I need a refill, but I intend on rejoining the game.” I wiggled my brows and pointed behind me. He nodded and I made my way to the kitchen. Any good bit of gossip always goes down in a kitchen. I reached up on my tippy toes, pretending to grab a roll of towels from a top the fridge and dropped my listening device. Then, I ditched my warm wine for a bottle of water. It was time to grab Tati and go while we still could.
In about twenty seconds, I was back up the stairs and entering the den of sin. I shook my head in disgust and crossed the room. Johnny carelessly left the key on the floor and was too busy getting head in a dark corner to notice me taking it and unlocking the closet. “Time’s up.” I knocked twice before opening the door.
“Can’t be…”
“Sorry, Romeo,” I reached past him, practically dragging Tati out. Her shirt was above her armpits, her bra was unhooked, but I didn’t care as I whisked her away from Le Blanc and out the door we were marched into an hour earlier.
“Wh-at? Why D? I don’t want to go.”
“Fix your clothes. We’re out.”
“I was having fun
. I didn’t even get a chance to exchange numbers.”
“You exchanged plenty. Let’s go.” I didn’t slow my roll, as I dragged my protesting friend down the stairs, through the crowded room and out the front door.
I feel his searing gaze at my back and walked faster. “Hurry Tati!” I looked back over my shoulder, meeting the thunderous gaze of the man I scorned and left to burn. The dangerous heat in his laser-like gaze and purposeful gait as he moved after us promised sweet retribution.
Thinking fast, I raced around the bonfire straight into the thick smoke the wind made turn and headed back around to the other side of a crowd. Slowing to a walk, I tried to blend in as I dropped to the ground pretending the lace of my shoe was untied. I knew if I moved to the street, he’d make us.
“What the fuck, D?”
“Shut up, Tati. Just shut the fuck up and let me think,” I hissed.
I half crouched, seeing the back of Roque’s wide shoulders as he jogged toward the road, right where I left the Explorer.
Grabbing Tati’s hand, we moved to the back of the house. “Are we staying or going? Make up your mind.”
“Listen Tati. I know you don’t want to hear this, but all those guys are bad news. Dangerous criminals. Their families kill for the sport of it. We don’t want to be on their radars, trust me.”
“Seb isn’t like that.”
“Seb? I’m saving my eyeroll until after we get out of here.”
“Whatever. Maybe I’ll be the mystery girl he won’t be able to forget although something tells me that’s you, not me for someone else.”
“Le Blanc totally wanted you Tati. That was obvious.”
“Wanting is easy. It’s the keeping that’s hard.”
I didn’t reply. Johnny burst out the backdoor with his cell pressed to his ear. Rafe wasn’t far behind. The two men studied the crowd, searching.
“Shit. We really need to get out of here.”
“Hey.” Tati curled her hand over the bicep of a guy waiting to play cups.
“Hey,” he grinned down at her.
“I’m cold. Can I borrow your coat?” The dude had it off and wrapped around her in seconds. “My friend is cold, too.” His friend offered me his hoodie and I smiled sweetly as I yanked it on.
“Now what?”
“Hair. We need to cover it.”
“That cap is so cute.” She touched the bill facing backward on frat boy’s head. He takes it off and plops it on hers.
“Looks cuter on you.”
Now my eyes definitely rolled. The guy was so bombed he had no idea how stupid this whole conversation was.
“Thanks.” Tati tucked her hair into a bun under the cap before she pulled it down low.
“What about me?” I wailed sounding totally annoying and giggly, but they ate it up.
Frat boy number two handed his over. I followed Tati’s lead and hid my hair inside.
“Ooh, I gotta pee so bad! Be right back!” Tati blew a kiss and grabbed her crotch, distracting the two dunces as she walked backward.
“Slow. Walk slowly like we don’t care where we are going.” Luckily, a group of friends were walking the same way. Right under their noses, we made it to the road and I let out a huge breath as we reached the Explorer.
Climbing in, I started the engine and slowly pulled out, all the while checking the rearview.
Tati took off the cap, rolled down the window and chucked it out. “Okay. What the fuck was all that?”
I shook my head. “Destiny. That was destiny.”
“Then why did we run?”
“Because sometimes your destiny isn’t always a good one.”
Tati rolled her eyes. “Ralph Smith was fucking hot, D and totally into you.”
“He’s not Ralph Smith. He’s the devil. And I want no part of him.”
“Yeah you do. You want every part of him.”
I couldn’t answer.
She was right.
I wanted every last little piece of him, tied-up, bloodied and at my mercy. The problem is I might want more before I got him to that point.
8
“Damn, bro. I’ve never seen you lose your shit like that,” Johnny exhaled blowing out rings from his Cuban.
My hands tightened on my lowball as I raised it to my lips, letting the bootleg rum slide through. Courtesy of Johnny’s outfit, the illegal Jamaican rum was of the best quality; stocked in all Manhattan bars bought off the docks not the liquor distributors. It was tax free and smooth but did nothing to quench the rage billowing through me.
“You fucking kissed her.” My eyes cut to Rafe holding a bag of ice to his swelling cheek.
“Why wouldn’t I? We were in the game room. We all agreed if we liked a girl, we’d never bring her in there.”
“I told you it was over. The game. You should have listened.”
He shrugged, “Whatever. Her kiss did nothing for me. I like curvy girls, not the delicate things you like to break.”
A hiss escaped before I could reign it in. Lifting my gaze to the night sky speckled with stars, I shuddered remembering the feel of her in my hands as I touched her in the dark.
Something was brewing between us. Something so strong it blew my mind. She was a storm, raging in my arms as we kissed and touched. She made me feel more alive than I have in years… I haven’t felt such emotions whipping through me like a tornado since that day in the woods when I almost killed the Fiorelli girl.
Ever since that day, I found myself partial to slim, redheads with barely any breasts. I fucked them hard. Sometimes slow, while circling their throats with my palms as I drove into their small bodies on fire for mine.
But none of them seared me with the heat the girl’s eyes had.
That was a lifetime ago and yet that sick day shaped my life. That she-devil of a girl’s taunt never left me. I almost stole her life and in return she never leaves my mind. Her spirit as it faded bled into me. I brought her back to life only knowing I’d have to take it again.
But this girl tonight. She was fire. The hottest fire that stoked the flames the other girl a lifetime ago lit.
This girl was thin but strong. Surprisingly full of muscles for such a petite frame. Her nipples practically made up her whole breast and my mouth watered knowing all of her would fit into my hot mouth.
I wanted to ram my cock inside that tight, little, piece of ass. Feel her take it all. Hell, if I hadn’t lost my head, she wouldn’t have gotten away, and I’d be tearing up the night with my high school girl right now.
“I’ll find her.” Johnny, slapped my back
“It was my fuck up. I’ve already put my security on it,” Rafe chimed in.
I nodded, feeling my throat tighten. “All I wanted was four years to be normal… just a guy in college. But despite the rugby team, the classes, the girls, the whole fucking scene—none of it ever felt normal… not until tonight…in the closet with her.”
“That’s because normal is fucked to us and the fucked-up to everyone else is our norm.”
“Well said,” Rafe dipped his head to Johnny.
“Fuck. I love you, assholes.”
“Love you too, bro. We’ll find her. She’s local. Only a few high schools around the suburbs. Besides, we have cameras on the streets. Every car, every person would’ve been captured.”
“Did you have the night-vision cam on in the closet?”
“Fuck yeah, I did. I rubbed one out watching you with her.”
I cocked a fist and swung in Johnny’s direction. The bastard was too full of liquor and himself to move.
Downing the rest of my rum, I wound up and let the glass fly into the dying flames of the bonfire. It shattered into shards, they burned. Leaving them behind, I entered the woods nodded to Shane, our head of security as I passed.
I might have a room at the frat house, but I didn’t live there. None of us did. We kept up appearances while living double lives. The walk through the backwoods took five minutes. Slipping out the other side along
a back road, I took out my fob key and unlocked my ride. The black Bentley purred as I got behind the wheel and drove north to the quiet gated mansion Johnny, Rafe, and I shared. Inside those walls I could shed Ralph and be Roque. Roque Salvatore, devil, mob ruler, and heir to the Salvatore throne of pain, punishment and mayhem.
Too wired to sleep, I unlocked my office using a retinal scanner and got to work finding out just who my mystery high school sweetheart could be.
I logged into the secure network and started scrolling through the recordings from the cameras hidden under trees or tucked into obscure spots around the frat house.
“There you are,” I eyed the screen appreciatively. The first shot I had of her was when she is walking with her friend through the front yard. At least I knew which direction she came. I picked up my cell and called Johnny’s crew. His father’s men had this whole part of New Jersey under lockdown since Johnny convinced his father that an Ivy League degree would make their business appear more legit when he took over someday.
I had no doubt I’d know who she was soon. My finger traced her face zoomed in close on the screen. If I were a man worth any shred of conscience, I’d let her go. She’s young maybe sixteen or seventeen. But I had a taste for forbidden, beautiful things. And my thirst for this one was growing each second I stared at her face. There was something about her that was so familiar. If I were a romantic, I’d swear I loved her in another life. But love is something I’d never give a woman. No woman will wield the weapon of my own heart against me. I have too much to lose and I’ve only just begun to build the Salvatore empire back to the respect my name deserves.
9
I finally let out the breath I’d been holding since we left the party, I shut off the engine and let my head fall against the wheel. It was after two in the morning. Tati was too wired to go home so we went to a twenty-four-hour diner and ordered some food. Although, all I did was push my pancakes around and around my plate.
With heated cheeks, I kept replaying my time in the dark with him. My first kiss. Anger came back in spades. I gave him too much of me as it was over the years. All my hate, all my loathing, most of my thoughts and now I gave him that?
