by Ali Parker
"You touch it." She arched her back, fucking me so good I was lightheaded.
"Good idea," I mumbled and moved to a sitting position in the middle of the bed. I reached around and ran my fingers down her wet slit as she cried out again.
"More. Please give me more, Eddy." She laid her head against my shoulder, turning her face toward me. We'd been at it for a couple of hours and her skin was wet with sweat, her hair dark and tangled.
"God, I love you." I cupped her chin and kissed her hard as I played with her body and lifted my hips to drive in deeper. "With all of my heart." I kissed her again. "There's nothing I wouldn't give you. You know that."
A soft sob left her, making me love her more. "Stop. Please."
"Fucking you?" I thrusted again and rolled my fingers in slow circles around the tight bud of nerves at the top of her pussy. "No more please tonight, baby?"
"Stop loving me." Her voice was strained, the sadness in it threatening to shut me down.
"Never. Not in a million years. I'd wait for death to take me before I gave up on you, baby girl." I moved back, lifting her hips and worked my way out from beneath her before pulling her down onto her back and pressing her to the bed. "Hold onto me. Let me show you what making love looks like."
She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me down, clinging to me. "Just don't let go, okay? Just not right now."
"I told you, Izabella. Never." I brushed her hair back and pressed into her as we locked gazes. She loved me. She was just scared to death of not loving D.
Crazy enough, that wasn't something I ever planned on requiring of her.
I finished showering, my body purring for more of her, but I ignored it. The drive over to the whore house was quick as I was lost in my thoughts. Audrey was waiting on the front porch for me, her long hair in a messy bun, her makeup plain, simple, pretty.
"Hey there, stranger. You got extra room in your front seat?" She smiled and walked toward the car.
"Yeah. I figured we'd go out to the Castaletta mansion and let you meet everyone. I know you were at the funeral and dinner yesterday, but I'm not sure if you got to meet D, Izzy and Joe."
"I didn't." She walked toward the car as I stood beside the driver's side door.
"Alright. Let's go over there for a little while and then we can probably hook up with Marcus."
"I'd like that. I don't know much about him. Fill in the gaps." She got in the car, her mood far better than mine. I couldn't stop thinking about why Izabella had left that morning without a word. It was more than obvious the night before she needed me, yearned for my love the way I did for hers.
So why leave without a kiss? A note? Anything? So fucking typical of her.
"Edward?"
"What? Oh sorry." I brushed my hand down my face. "What's the deal with you getting a place? You need me to put you up in an apartment?"
"What? No." She chuckled and tugged on her seatbelt. "I hate these things, though I get the reason behind them."
"Izabella hates them too." I turned onto the freeway and sped all the way to the Castaletta mansion. Was she out there? Snuggled up to Demetri again? I hated myself for thinking about it, for needing so goddamn bad to know where I stood with her.
"Hey." Audrey reached out and touched my arm as I pulled up to the mansion. "You alright?"
"Yeah. This shit with Freddy just has me a little weirded out." I shrugged and unbuckled before getting out of the car. A guy who looked a lot like Nate nodded from the front door. "I can't shake what happened with the Kallups a couple days ago."
"I get that." She reached for my arm, sliding hers into mine as we walked toward the door.
"Nate?" I extended my hand and tilted my head a little.
"Timothy. Nate's twin brother." The guy smiled and extended his. "No reason to remove your guns. Don Castaletta is-"
"Good with it. I'm aware." I walked in and pulled my arm from Audrey's. All I needed was Izzy to see the girl tucked against me and start to question all of my promises from the night before. "Grab a drink in the kitchen and I'll be there in a minute. I'm going to find Izabella or D."
"Sounds good." She walked into the kitchen, not giving me a second glance. I needed to mention the Julie Parker thing to Izzy or D, but it seemed silly at the moment. What would they care if Audrey the whore wasn't using her real name? Most hookers didn't.
I pulled my phone from my back pocket as I bounded the stairs on the way to Izzy's room.
Audrey: Shit. I just started my period. I'm going to get someone to drive me to the store.
Me: I'll do it.
Audrey: No. It's all good. I'll catch up with you later.
Me: You sure?
She didn't reply, but I didn't care. I wanted to find my girl and make sure we were still good. Maybe I was a little obsessed, but it was all part of my charm.
Besides, I didn't have the slightest clue how to change it.
Chapter 11
Audrey
Something was off about the situation with the Kallups a few days back, and I intended on finding out exactly what it was. Thomas Kallup had been on my radar for a long time , he and his brother's being a thorn in the side of Chicago like very few crime families had been before.
Where the Castaletta's were refined and slick, the Kallups were dirty and sly. They were the ones that left their dirty laundry scattered about the city streets and didn't give two shits who found out. In and out of jail most of their lives, I could see why they were the way they were, but things had gone a little too far lately.
Way too far.
"Um, do I know you?" A pretty Hispanic woman with a thick accent touched my shoulder as I stood in the hallway, glancing at the office doors in front of me.
"Oh. Sorry." I gave her a soft smile and touched my chest as if she'd half scared me to death. "I'm with Eddy. He told me to grab something from Marco's office, but I've never been here before. I don't know what he was thinking."
"It's right there dear." She pointed to the office slightly to my left. "He's hardly ever in it unless his world is falling apart." She moved around me and knocked softly before opening the door. "Well, it would seem the sun is shining today. He's not in."
I chuckled, trying hard to appear as innocent as I possibly could. "Great. I'll just slip in and grab the letters Eddy asked for and wait here in the hallway again."
"Suit yourself. It's a mess in there and smells like liquor and cigars. Filthy habits." She turned her nose up before walking back toward what I assumed was the kitchen. "I'll be in here if you need me. My name is Maria."
"Thank you." I nodded, not giving my name. No need to bury myself farther should the older woman talk with Edward or perhaps even berate him for leaving a pretty young girl like myself in the hallway.
I closed the door behind me and moved to the window, opening the blinds a little so some sunlight could come in without me having to turn on any lights. The Kallups were playing with fire, but something told me that the fire was being held back by a rat in the Castaletta house. It had to be Edward or Marco. They were the only ones at the warehouse a few nights back, and the Kallups just let both of them live?
"Never in a million years." I walked to the desk and dropped down to a squat, going through the drawers, looking for anything.
Marco Castaletta was the least likely subject as far as I was concerned, but he was the only one with Eddy that night.
A video recorder sat beside several small tapes that were labeled with dates in the bottom drawer, the dates out of order and unorganized as if someone had shuffled through them recently.
"I know... I know..." I could hear a muffled male voice through the door to the office.
"Fuck," I mumbled, grabbed the tapes and stood, searching for a closet or something. Hell, anything I could hide behind.
The thin coat closet at the back of the office opened and I slipped in, tucking myself between a handful of long black coats. The shelving at the top of the closet forced me to bend my knees, which put me a
t a horrible angle for getting a full breath.
I reached up and pushed one of the slits in the thin French door open a little so I could see. It didn't give me much of a view, but at least I was out of view, unless someone decided they needed a heavy coat in the middle of spring.
Weirder things had happened.
Marco walked into the office and glanced over his shoulder. "Close the door and lock it."
"Are you sure? Let's just go somewhere else. I saw my brother's car outside." A beautiful Sicilian woman with long black hair and great lips closed the door behind her, leaning against it and laughing in her chest. She was nervous.
I shifted a little to my right and stiffened as Marco walked toward my side of the room, pulling off his coat and hanging it on the hook just beside the closet where I stood. Every muscle in my body locked into place as my heart shuttered.
What the hell would he think, finding me in the closet? I wouldn't stand a chance of coming up with some bullshit story.
Brilliant. All this work over two years and you fuck it up by being sloppy?
"Hush and close the door. I'm not in the mood to go anywhere else. No one is going to bother us in here." He walked toward the window and closed the blinds. "Turn on the light for us. I wanna see you when you come for me."
Fuck.
"Are you always so bold?" She giggled again and tilted her head, her smile widening.
Think. Think. I closed my eyes and tried to go through the faces in the files I'd studied a few years back on the Castaletta crew. She wasn't a capo, nor was she in leadership.
"You know exactly how bold I can be." He walked toward her and pressed his body to hers, breathing in deeply and trapping her against the wall.
Her moan was soft, throaty. Beautiful. "My brother can't find out about us, Marco."
"He won't, baby, though I'm not sure why you care what he thinks. Your older and he loves me like he loves you." Marco laughed and released her, walking back toward me as he undid the first few buttons on his black silk shirt.
"D loves me more. I'm blood." She followed behind him, reaching for him as he turned and pressed his ass against the edge of his desk.
"Speaking of D. I told him and Izabella about the tapes." He let out a long sigh and ran his hand down the side of her face.
"The ones you said that Izabella found in Freddy's office?" She lost a bit of the flirtiness in her voice as she reached for him and curled up into his hold.
"Yeah. The first few had nothing on them, but the last one was a little damning." He kissed her, the sound of them sharing the pleasure of being so close driving desire down my stomach. How badly I wanted someone to want me.
The tapes. I hoped like hell that he wasn't about to go on a scavenger hunt for them. He'd be furious to know that they were gone. They had to be the same tapes I had in the bag in my hands.
"I don't want to get involved. Whatever is going on with Freddy and your mother is between you and D. Leave me out of it." She kissed him again, and a soft sucking sound filled the air.
"True. Let's leave it that way then, hmm?" He stood up and moved toward the front of the desk, clearing it off and stepping back. "Bend over, beautiful. Chest on the cold glass for me."
"Make me," she whispered and pulled her sweater over her head. She had to be a little older than Demetri, but she was beautiful all the same. Realization washed over me as she slid her hands across the glass and leaned forward, her white bra bringing out the dark tones of her skin.
Catherine DeMarco. Demetri's older sister. She was sleeping with Marco? What did that really matter? Was D against it?
Her moan caught my attention. I glanced up and held my breath as she lifted her chin, her eyes filled with lust. Marco knelt behind her, his body hidden from me as her cries filled the room.
"More," she mumbled and gripped the edge of the desk, her face turned right toward me.
Something inside of me woke up, the part of me that hated being alone and wanted carnality more than justice. The beautiful mixture of pleasure and anticipation on her face was enough to remind me that it had been too long.
"I'm going to come if you-" she lifted up, her body shaking as she cried out in small pants. The low grunts behind her were just as addictive, Marco's deep groans lifting up between the wet lapping sounds of him drinking from her body.
Closing my eyes, I leaned back in the small closet and tried to take myself to another place. Anywhere else. My breasts hurt, my nipples tight, every vein inside of me pumping at break-neck speed. I needed to be Catherine, or Izzy or any of them for a few hours. Just to be the center of a man's intense hunger. A man like Marco or Demetri, not Edward. I figured he would be an easy score, but he wasn't the experience I was after.
I wanted carnality and a little bit of pain in my pleasure.
Stop it. Now. You're trapped in a fucking closet with tapes that you stole from Marco's desk. Chill the fuck out.
"My turn." Marco's voice caused me to move forward and open my eyes. I wanted to see him. Needed to. I was a whore and belonged back at Madam Giselle's.
"It's been a while. Go easy on me." Catherine moved to her back, her skirt up around her waist as Marco worked on his belt, the sexy smile on his lips endearing.
Was he to blame for Freddy and Vivian's death? Surely not. Maybe I was wrong about him and Eddy getting a free ride back at the warehouse. Maybe Thomas and his boys got spooked because more people showed up. I didn't even ask. I just assumed.
I tilted my head down as Marco and Catherine started fucking, thinking about what I might find on the tapes in the bag dangling from my fingers.
How were the tapes damning? Did they pin the murders on Freddy?
Why did I care so much? I was there to shut the Castaletta's down, not solve their internal mysteries and help them route out a rat in their own camp.
I had my own battle to fight with them. A battle for my brother's name, for justice to be served to whoever offed him.
"Deeper," Catherine groaned, and I glanced up again, lost to trying to ignore them.
Marco hovered above her, his dark hair slick and silky looking. His soulless eyes were filled with passion, the intensity in his gaze enough to make my body wet with desire.
He couldn't have been involved. I was wrong. All of my police training screamed otherwise, but watching him make love to his woman left me pointed in a different direction.
Lucky for me, I had the evidence in my hands, it would seem. I didn't have to make a judgment call. I could figure things out by simply following the breadcrumb trail that the tapes would provide.
I was digging for one reason - to find something that might help Demetri or Izzy and thereby give me an elevated position in their world. I needed to get closer to find the last little bit of evidence to shut them down.
That, and I wanted more than anything to know who killed my older brother. They'd get what they had coming in the way of a well-planned accident via a bullet to the head.
"Hold on tight and wrap your legs around me, Cat. Scream when you come. Scream my name, baby."
I pulled out my phone and searched through the texts from Eddy reiterating me working with Marcus Blaine. Marcus's contact information was in the text, and I quickly texted him, letting him know that I was looking forward to working together, but I needed a ride.
From where?
The Castaletta Mansion. Stat.
Chapter 12
Demetri
"Pack something nice for the dinner with Adam. I'm not sure he's going to grant us his time or a meal, but we can hope for the best." I stood at the entrance to Izabella's bedroom as she threw various things in a small suitcase.
I wanted to ask her about sleeping with Eddy the night before, but I didn't really want the answer. I already had it by the way she was glowing. It sickened me, and yet, I'd forced her into someone else's arms. At least she didn't love the prick.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay here?" She tossed a pair of stringy red panties into the
suitcase and turned to watch me. "I can handle Adam, and honestly, he might be more receptive to me being the one asking questions and making demands."
"It's your father that should be doing the talking." I let my eyes drag down the front of her, the tight black yoga pants and white cotton t-shirt looking almost too good on her.
"See something you like, D?" Her voice was playful, like a sex kitten.
"You know I do. Finish up and let's get going." I turned and walked into the hallway, bumping into Edward.
"Hey man. She in there?" He looked a little overwhelmed.
"Yeah. Leave the door open. We need to head to the airport soon and I don't want you making us late with your begging for her attention." I smirked and walked away, feeling like a teenage boy with his dick caught in his fly. Had I really just jabbed at Eddy because he was sleeping with my girl? I should kill him.
It would be much easier if I just put a bullet in his skull. No, skinned him alive.
"D. In here, please." Joe motioned for me to come into his office.
I glanced to the left, not quite sure my eyes were playing tricks on me. Looked like Marco was in his office, but the lights were still out. Weird.
"Hey boss." I walked in and closed the door, undoing the button on my black jacket and taking a seat as Joe bid me to do.
"We're leaving for California soon?"
"Yes. The plane is ready, as are the staff taking us there. I have me, you and Izabella going." I leaned forward and pressed my forearms to my thighs. "Timothy has taken Nathaniel's place as head guard and is at the door. He's on a forty-eight hour shift until we get back."
"Good." Joe ran his fingers through his salt and pepper hair before letting out a long sigh. "I told Izzy and Marco the other day, but you should know too. I killed Terrance Cooper for sleeping with Vivian. I'm sure all this shit points back to that."
I nodded. I knew a little more than he thought I did, but that was thanks to my brother, Drake being a little closer to Joe than I was in the past. They were blood and Joe treated him as such behind closed doors.
