by Prince, DD
“Athena.”
I chewed the inside of my cheek and stared at the ceiling. Weird how in a few short weeks he felt like he could use my given name like that to show he was serious. But it worked.
“Answer me,” he demanded and his voice wasn’t friendly. I looked at him. His eyes weren’t friendly either. He jerked his chin up at me.
“I just didn’t know where you were.”
“So you assumed I was off fucking someone?” His voice was calm but menacing.
“We never talked about fidelity, Tommy, and I dunno; you’ve been really nice to me the last few days and I know you need…” I stopped.
He gave me an incredulous look. He was silent for a moment, then said, “We engaged?”
I nodded, chewing my cheek.
“We don’t need to talk about fidelity. It’s a given. I have no desire to be with anyone else. You won’t be with anyone else. Got me?”
“Okay,” I said and looked back down at the floor.
“Whatever it is I ‘need’ I can get from you. I will get it from you.”
“Okay,” A chill crawled up my spine.
“Baby.”
I looked at him.
“It was three weeks between the day I first saw your picture and the day you came to me. I was with no one during that time. The minute I knew you were mine I wanted no one else.”
My eyes must’ve been like saucers.
“I won’t want anyone else.”
“Okay.”
“Ever.”
I nodded.
“I told you if you played your cards right no cock but mine would be in you.”
He got another nod.
“You played your cards right,”
I gulped.
“It won’t be in anyone else, either.”
“Okay.”
“C’mere.”
I stepped closer to him and he pulled me onto his lap. He inhaled my hair and then kissed me on the neck, “I’m yours. Okay?”
I smiled, “Kay.”
“Is that what you want? For me to be only yours?” His voice was husky.
Goosebumps rose on my body and chills ran up my spine, “Yeah.”
He gave me a squeeze, “Already done. I was working on something, working on figuring things out about our fathers. I had to do a bit of a stake out.”
“Any joy?
“Nope.”
“You must be tired.”
“I am. I’m running on empty, two nights with almost no sleep and zero sleep last night. I’ll snooze on the flight.”
He lay down onto the bed, taking me with him, and held me close, “It’s kinda hot that you were jealous,” he whispered into my ear.
That surprised me, “Really?” I asked.
“Mm hmm. Maybe more cute than hot, actually. But more than that, it gives me hope. Hope that you’re really being open about this. If you didn’t want me you wouldn’t care.”
I smiled. That was sweet. Then he added in a warning, “But now that I’ve put your mind at ease don’t accuse me of that again.”
Fear spiked. Why did he have to do that? Go from sweet to like that? I let out a little sigh.
“Hey?” He tipped my chin up and held my gaze. His face looked pissed.
“I understand.” I told him quietly. Then he bolted up and hauled me over his knee. I shrieked in surprise.
“Maybe I need to spank you, so you’ll remember…” Now his voice was very husky. He ran his palm down my back and onto my bottom. He squeezed. Then someone knocked on the door. He let me go and tapped my bum playfully and winked at me.
Phew.
He got up to answer it. James, Tessa’s husband, was at the door. Tommy stepped into the hall and closed the door. I took a deep breath, smoothed out my clothes, and zipped up the suitcase and heaved it onto the floor.
My heart was still thudding hard against my chest wall from that right there. I was relieved that he’d been called away.
About twenty minutes later he was back and got the suitcases. His whole demeanor seemed way off. He seemed intimidating, fierce. Was it lack of sleep, was he pissed at me, or had something else happened? I got my purse and my train case of makeup and beauty supplies and followed him out.
When I stepped into the hall, James was still there. He took my case from me and signaled for me to head down the stairs ahead of him. I smiled at him and he returned the smile. We hadn’t really been introduced but I thought it was odd that he was a member of the family by marriage but yet was carrying luggage to a car for me. I wondered if Luc’s husband was a guard, too.
Tommy
Things were quiet on the way to the airport and I nodded off and on throughout the flight. I had a lot on my mind and I was exhausted but couldn’t get my brain to completely rest on a plane, when falling into a deep sleep could mean I wasn’t able to react to something going wrong. She got the window seat and was thrilled about her first plane ride. Then her face lit up when we got to Vegas.
“Slot machines in an airport?”
“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” I told her, squeezing her hand in the limo the hotel had sent, “The city comes alive when the sun goes down. Wait till tonight. I’ll show you why they call it Sin City.”
We settled into a hotel suite and there was an adjoining room with two of my guys who would provide security while we were here. I could handle myself, with the exception of Mexico I didn’t typically use personal security, so I’d leave them both with her when I did what I had to do here.
Right now, Jimmy and Nino would be watching Tia. Nino was the son of Pop’s former right hand man and he was married to my Pop’s former partner’s daughter who was like a cousin to me and I’d filled him and his wife in on who Tia was and I’d filled him in on info I’d just discovered, telling me who her mother was to my family, so I figured he’d be extra vigilant about her. He was eager and had been trustworthy for the past 6 years he’d worked with us. And Jimmy, though still working up the ranks, had proven to be a good guy. He’d been a good friend of Dare’s all through school and was good to my sister. These two were the best I could do for the moment from a peace of mind perspective and I hoped it’d be good enough.
It was like having my eyes off of her for more than a second wasn’t good enough. I had to slow my anxiety. I guess I still wasn’t over the whole Mexico thing. Or maybe it was just my gut was telling me something else wasn’t right. I was sifting through information from Earl about Pop that I wasn’t okay with and there was all the shit Greg O’Connor had fed me, too, to contend with. That, coupled with anxiety about Tia’s safety had me off kilter. What I probably needed more than anything was a solid 8 hours of sleep.
Tia
Our suite was luxurious, with 3 bathrooms (a his, a hers, and another one) separate bedroom and dining / sitting room, and we had a great view of the Bellagio fountains as well as the Vegas version of the Eiffel Tower.
Tommy left shortly after we got there, telling me to stay in the room, to order room service, and just relax for a few hours, that he’d be back for dinner. He had the two guys stay in an attached room that was accessible from the sitting room, to be close in case I needed them. I was given strict orders to not answer the door, only to inform James or Nino if someone knocked on my door who they hadn’t already noticed. He handed me a wad of cash to put in my purse and told me to simply sign for everything and give out around least 25% for tips for room service and for if I have someone from the spa come up to give me a massage or manicure or something.
So the three of us stayed in our rooms while everyone else in Las Vegas had fun and while Tommy was off doing whatever he was doing.
At 10:00 James knocked, then poked his head in, and asked me if I wanted some pizza. Evidently they’d given up on having a break to have dinner, too. I accepted a few slices and watched a pay-per-view romantic comedy by myself. I watched out the floor to ceiling windows and saw that it looked pretty awesome down below; the city did look alive and bustling with a
ctivity. Eventually, I crawled into bed and turned the TV off hoping that tomorrow I’d get to see more of Vegas.
** ** **
Tommy was gone until 3:07am. I’d been fast asleep in what might’ve been the most comfortable bed in the world, when he came in. I spotted the time on the digital clock when woken up because he tripped and almost fell. He staggered a little, getting out of his clothes, and I could smell the alcohol coming off him from the bed. He’d been gone for about 10 hours, never texted or called me, and was now staggering into bed, clearly drunk.
He got in beside me and his hand swept up my side from my hip to my ear and then his fingers were in my hair. He murmured something almost unintelligible against my ear, something about me being lucky, then something about the smell of my hair, and then he was snoring.
** ** **
I woke up first in the morning and when I picked up his dirty clothes off the floor, I noticed red lipstick on his collar. My heart thundered in my chest. I picked the clothes up and laid them on the chair and then slipped the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door handle so that housekeeping wouldn’t come in while he was still asleep.
At around 11:00 I knocked on and then entered the adjoining room. The guys were dressed in suits but had their shoes off, both of them on their respective beds and watching a sports event on TV. I asked them what the plan was today and they’d both shrugged, telling me they were awaiting direction from Tommy and informing me that the Do Not Disturb sign was useless, no one would be barging into the suite without their go-ahead.
James said he’d already ordered breakfast up to their room and did I want him to order for me. I told them I’d do it. Apparently they had CCTV of the hall outside of our suite. The room service took just a few minutes and as I pushed the cart into the sitting area, which also had a dining table, I heard noise in the bedroom so peeked in and Tommy stirred in bed and opened his eyes.
“I ordered breakfast for us,” I said, “Not sure if you’re hungry.”
“Call down and ask them to send up some Tylenol, baby?”
“Already thought of that,” I said stiffly and passed him a glass of orange juice and the bottle of pills. He looked strangely at me, took two and downed some juice and then got out of bed and headed toward the washroom. I’d left his clothes purposely in a position near where I was now sitting, on the sofa that would make his lipstick-covered collar obvious, very obvious.
I poured coffee for both of us and when he came back out a few minutes later, he was showered and in a fresh pair of tight black boxer briefs. He reached onto the chair and fished his cell phone out of his pants pocket and started fiddling with it. I saw his eyes land on his dirty collar. He grabbed a bottle of orange juice from the minibar and downed it.
I stared at him over the rim of my cup, looking at his gorgeous body, his broad shoulders, sculpted chest, six pack, his muscular legs, and wondering if he’d let some other woman touch his body last night.
He glanced at me a few times while thumbing away on his phone and then said,
“Got something to say?”
“Nope,” I answered, making direct eye contact.
“I’ve got a meeting soon; I think I’ll grab another hour of sleep first.”
“Okie dokie,” I had trouble hiding the snark from my reply.
He let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Nothing happened. A business associate had entertainment for a post-meeting party but nothing happened. A chick tried to get frisky with me and I pushed her off. Alright?”
I chewed the inside of my cheek, “Alrighty. You were pretty smashed.”
“Yeah, well I’d had about 5 hours of sleep in three days so the alcohol hit me hard. Nothing happened. Didn’t we just go over this yesterday? Do you really think I’d promise to be faithful and then break that promise the very same day?”
I shook my head, “I didn’t accuse you of anything.”
“No but your attitude says different. Believe me, if I wanted to fuck someone else I’d just go ahead and fuck someone. I’d have no qualms telling you the score. Alrighty?”
Each ‘fuck’ was delivered with such venom it churned like acid in my stomach.
I raised my hands defensively. Really nice. His eyes were bulging at me; he looked furious. And rough. I kept my mouth shut for a minute while he continued doing something on his phone.
“So do I have to stay here all day waiting for you?” I finally asked.
He narrowed his eyes at me, “Yeah. Yeah, you do.”
Then he stormed into James and Nino’s room, slamming the door. I sat and seethed. Some fun Vegas would be. I turned the television on and flopped on the sofa.
A while later the adjoining door was thrust open and Tommy came back in and when he caught my expression, which I imagine probably looked pissed off still, his lip curled and he slammed the door shut and locked it and then stalked in my direction and the look on his face and the way he walked had me suddenly holding my breath. He lifted me up by grabbing fists full of my bathrobe just below my shoulders.
Once we were almost nose to nose, my feet not touching the floor, he growled, “Lose the fucking attitude!”
My eyes must’ve been bulging out of my head. He let go of me and I landed on the floor right on my ass.
He stood there over me. I could hear him huffing. I was afraid to look up so I buried my face in my hands and just stayed there on the floor.
A moment passed with me just sitting there and him just standing over me radiating anger.
Tommy
Damn it. She was on the floor looking so small and afraid. Her beautiful silky hair all messed up and hiding her face, her hands over her eyes, and just this white pool of terrycloth fabric surrounding her. I felt like the biggest asshole in the world right now. I was the biggest asshole in the world. I kept fucking this up. Why did I keep fucking this up?
Her shoulders started to shake a little and I knew she was crying. I got down in front of her on my knees and reached for her and she flinched.
“I’m sorry.” I pulled her to me. She kept her arms around herself instead of putting them around me and I could hear that she was trying to mask crying. I sat down on the carpet and pulled her onto my lap and held her tight, “I’m a dick when I’m hung over. I’m sorry, baby.”
She stopped shaking and wiped her eyes with the sleeves of her bathrobe. She looked up at me for a second and then looked away, pain on her face, her eyes red. I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. I tipped her chin up so she’d have no choice but to look at me and then I kissed her lips softly, “I have to go out for just a while today and then we’ll go do something, okay?” I tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
She shook her head and her voice was small. “I know you’re here on business, not to entertain me. Maybe you should’ve left me back at your place.” She still wasn’t looking me in the eye.
“Our place. And no, I want you here,” I let out a sigh and tucked her head under my chin and rocked her for a minute. Then I got up, taking her hand to lead her back to the sofa. I pulled her on top of me so that she was laying on me with her head on my chest. I wrapped my arms around her. She was so warm. My head was fucking pounding so hard.
“I need to close my eyes for a few minutes, Tia. Stay with me?”
She didn’t answer but she didn’t try to move away. I closed my eyes.
Tia
I could reach the remote on the coffee table, thankfully, and found something else to watch on TV once I heard his breathing even out. He had me on top of him and he was snoring. His arms were tight around me and I wasn’t going anywhere without waking him so I just made myself comfortable and watched TV with my head on his chest until he woke up a little over two hours later to the sound of his cell ringing.
So much for breakfast. I tried not to think about what’d happened. I didn’t want to think about that temper and what it might mean for my life going forward. I didn’t want to think about it so I just let it feel good to be in
his arms. I let him comfort me with his arms around me, which was beyond bizarre because those same arms had lifted me up by my bathrobe a little while ago and were attached to a man who was hollering right in my face. I closed my eyes and focused on the sound of his heartbeat but I didn’t fall back to sleep. I let myself get caught up in The Wizard of Oz, which was on television. I’d never get sick of this movie. Ever.
He didn’t reach for the ringing phone, though; he started running his hands under my robe, gripping my rear end. I felt his lips in my hair. Bile rose in my throat. Sex was the last thing on my mind right now. His phone started to ring again and at that same moment there was a knock on the adjoining door. We got to our feet. He grabbed his phone and I decided to go into the bathroom and get a shower, and get dressed.
I didn’t know what was on the menu for plans today, so I wore a pair of nice dressy cream colored walking shorts, a frilly tan peasant blouse, and some sandals. I put make-up on.
I couldn’t find my tweezers to clean up my eyebrows, which were looking a wee bit unruly, in my train case so I started to go through my purse and that’s where I found the travel make-up bag that Sarah had put together for me when we were in Mexico. I’d used it at the farm, too, and I knew there was a manicure kit in there with tweezers. I rifled through it until I found the kit and my eye caught something shimmery. It was Tommy’s silver chain with the crucifix. I lifted it out and looked at it. Then I remembered Tommy said I could call to have the spa people come up. Maybe I’d do that today while he was out and get my eyebrows and girlie bits done.
He came into the Hers bathroom, just walked right in. He grabbed his toothbrush from my train case and then his eyes landed on the necklace in my hand. He made a face I couldn’t quite read.
“Um, I could’ve been doing something embarrassing in here,” I said.
He rolled his eyes at me but he didn’t answer as he squeezed toothpaste onto his brush and started on his teeth.
“Next time I guess I’ll lock it,” I mumbled.
His eyes narrowed and he spat toothpaste in the sink, “Don’t ever try to fucking lock me out of anywhere.”
