by Cassie May
“Thank you, Rico. I’ll make sure Dom knows the deal.”
“See you later.” With that he ends the call and I see a message popping up on my phone. It’s from Luca stating that he and Sandro are ten minutes away. Sighing I go upstairs again and knock shortly on Jess’ door. The door opens immediately and I look in Dom’s exhausted face. It doesn’t seem as if he has slept at all.
I nod my head to the right and he slips out of the small opening before closing it quietly behind him. “The boss summons us at his condo. Luca and Sandro are going to make sure that everything’s okay with Jess and Val. They’ll be here shortly so you may want to prepare Jess for the fact that she’s going to have a shadow till we have solved this mess.” I tell him quietly and wait for a reaction. He nods and turns around to go to Jess again while I try to come up with a way to explain everything to Val.
“You are leaving? Did you plan to tell me good bye?” Val’s quiet voice snaps me out of my thoughts and I look at her standing in the doorway to her bedroom wrapped in a sheet with sexy tousled hair. She looks exactly how she should look like. As if she had fantastic sex the night before. Everything in me screams to stay with her, but I have to leave. My brother needs me as backup to sort this mess out.
“I have to leave, cara. My brother called me and told me I have to get to him to find a way to solve this mess. Two of his most trusted men are going to keep an eye on you and Jess. I am going to come back as soon as possible and I promise you that I am going to call you as often as possible. Don’t think I want to leave you, but if the boss orders me to leave I have to. This is how la Famiglia works. Do you understand?” Her blue eyes widen slightly but she nods.
“I understand. Just… What… I mean, why are they even protecting us? Only because of yesterday? You said they wouldn’t know where we live.”
I am close enough now to wrap my arms around her and pull her closer. “And I still hope they don’t know, but I need to know you are safe so I can concentrate on eliminating this threat. I need to know that I can come back to you anytime and you are unharmed. Also I want someone have an eye on you in the bakery. You attract far too many men and I don’t share. Ever.” She sighs and looks at me with sudden worry in her eyes.
“So this is it? This is what we are? I am your booty call and you make sure that no one touches what’s yours?” She sounds defeated and I curse my brother for making me leave her so early. I wanted to spend more time with her to show her that she is way more than a fucking booty call for me.
“Cara that is not what you are for me. You are not my booty call. I thought I made that clear. You are so much more to me. I won’t let other women touch me, because I commit to this relationship and I hope you feel enough for me to do that as well.”
Her eyes widen and she nods. “I am. Committed to you that is. Whatever this is.” A small smile curls her lips and I press a kiss on them before we are separated from the sound of a door bell.
“That must be my brother’s men. Please don’t make it more difficult for them than it has to be, okay?”
Val just grins and turns back to get dressed. “No promises, but I’ll do my best. I can’t speak for Jess, though.” Nodding I go down to open the door for Luca and Sandro.
Luca shoots me a questioning glance. “Must be a special woman for your brother to send me to guard her.” I can only nod. Even though Luca is more of a friend than a bodyguard, Sandro is not in my inner circle and he doesn’t need to know more than he needs. Understanding gleams in Luca’s eyes and he presses his lips together. “I’ll make sure to stay with her when you are not here.”
“Thank you. She should come down any moment. Her friend is still asleep, but Dom and I have to go.” In that moment Valerie comes down followed by Domenico who doesn’t look too happy about us leaving the women alone.
Pulling Val closer to me I wrap my arm around her waist. She looks adorable with her hair in an untidy bun thing on top of her head and yoga pants with pink and red hearts on it. “Valerie these are Luca and Sandro, they are going to keep an eye on you and Jess when I am not here. Please do what they tell you if it gets dangerous. Guys this is Val. You are not to leave her alone outside this house. Are we clear?” Both nod and try to look a little less intimidating when Val takes a small step behind me.
Turning around to have a last minute with her I motion for them to go in the kitchen. “I have to leave, cara, but I will call you later today. Make sure that you rest today. I want you to be absolutely at your best when you go back to work tomorrow.” She only smiles over my worried thoughts and wraps her arms around my neck.
“I will be okay, don’t worry. It’s not my first day there, you know. But you. Please be careful whatever you are going to do. I have only just found you and I feel too good with you to let you go already.” Her eyes cloud over for a moment, but I press a kiss on the tip of her nose and smile.
“I will be careful. I promise. And I’ll come back to you, so keep me something of that fantastic Panettone you bake.” That makes her laugh again and I kiss her one last time before opening the door and leaving with Domenico. His silence tells me that the whole situation doesn’t sit well with him either, so I keep my mouth shut and stick to my own thoughts on the way to my brother’s condo.
***
Entering my brother’s condo I already hear Clara’s high pitched voice. Raising one eyebrow at Dom I show my surprise. She almost never ventures this far down from the Upper East Side to the business side of our family. It is too low for her to make her hands dirty in the rooms where the fates of men are discussed. She prefers staying downtown, shopping and lunching with the other mafia wives. “I don’t understand how he could talk you into doing that? Are you sure that your brother is not the thief? He is really close with that Domenico who manages Sin, don’t you think? What makes you so sure they didn’t plan this together? He brought up your uncle, didn’t he? What if…”
“That’s enough. I won’t ever tolerate you shaming my brother like this. I trust him more than I trust you and it would do you good to remember your place. You. Are. My. Wife. And nothing else. Not my friend, not my confidante and now leave. I don’t want to see you anymore.” My brother’s voice sounds ice cold and I feel the need to announce our arrival to him. He is in the right mood to not only shoot the messenger, but skin him alive and throw him to the wolves afterward.
Clara pales when she sees us and storms out of the condo without another word. Sighing Rico motions for us to take a seat. “I really hope you two know what you are burdening yourself with. Women are nothing but trouble. Annoying sluts every one of them.” I don’t bother answering that. We all know that Clara is a special sort of bitch and Rico would have long since got rid of her if he saw a chance to get through with it.
“Do you have new information or do you only need what we have, boss?” Dom decides to change the topic and the tension in the room lessens a little bit.
“Well, I know that one of the women with you was drugged yesterday. The Mexicans were nice enough to let me know that it was their work. Stupid amateurs. I spoke to Vitali this morning. He agrees with me that we need to take care of this problem once and for all. We can’t have them destroy our hard work from the last years, just because those little bastards get greedy. We agreed to combine our forces to put a stop on everything they do.”
Wow. I didn’t expect that. Vitali, the head of the Russian mob here in New York and my brother are polite acquaintances nowadays. They tolerate each other as long as no one oversteps the imaginary lines that divide the city and the different things we deal in. To cooperate like this they really have to see a problem in the Mexicans. “Okay, can we do anything to help? I suppose you already have the surveillance material from yesterday?”
Federico nods and continues talking. “Yes, I have. What he did was dumb, but no camera has captured his face. We have to talk about upgrading the whole system later. We need to be able to identify every damned visitor in the club not only because of oth
er gangs but also because of the police and shit.”
“I’ll take care of that, boss. We will have the additional surveillance this evening.” Dom stands up and leaves the room, his phone already in his hand to call our security firm. Now I feel my brother’s eyes rest on me. “So this woman? She is it?”
Shrugging I have the sudden urge to weasel out of answering his question. I’m still not sure what Valerie really wants and I don’t want her on my brother’s radar more than necessary. Being on Rico’s radar is either really good for you or really bad and I don’t want to find out which one it is with Val. “I don’t know. Our dates are too chaotic to tell if she is it.”
A small smile curls his lips. “Don’t worry, I won’t harm her. Not if she is important to you and not if you break up, because it doesn’t work out. She or her girlfriend have nothing to fear from me. Not with the way you keep smiling like an idiot every time someone mentions her.”
“What do you mean?”
Now it’s his turn to shrug. “You look exactly how dad looked every time he thought of mum.” With that he presses his lips together and leaves me stunned again. Our parents have been in love since they were sixteen. Our mother still loves our dad even though it has been years since he was murdered. I know she always wished for Rico or me to find that love, but the day Rico married Clara she decided to move to Italy. She hates Rico’s wife so much that she won’t even call her by her name.
I decide not to press the topic. My brother knows exactly that his marriage is not what it should be, but he can’t do anything against it. A divorce wouldn’t look good in front of the Family and it is not so easy anymore to let your wife disappear. Not even in the mafia. Hiding my frown I am thankful for the vibration of my phone that indicates an incoming message. “Found something. Come alone. No Rico.” My eyebrows rise involuntary when I read my uncle’s message. For him not to want Rico with me when he tells me his first suspicions is huge. Rico is the boss and keeping secrets from him can lead to a very fast, very brutal death.
“I have to go. Something came up, but let’s talk later about how to handle Vitali. You can’t go from acquaintances to friends without any changes in the city’s structures.” Standing up I head to the door, trying to ignore Rico’s raised eyebrows.
“Okay. I’ll call you later if I have more information.”
With that I am dismissed and head outside to drive to my uncle.
Chapter 10
Valerie
When I come out of the shower after reluctantly washing off Matteo’s smell all over me I hear Jess’ shriek and then her voice shouting for me. “Val? What are these strange guys doing in our kitchen? Who let them in and how did I get home yesterday?”
Wrapping myself in my fluffy robe I hurry downstairs to make sure Jess doesn’t do something stupid, like starting something with the guys who are supposed to guard us. When I enter the kitchen I see her scowling at the two men that obviously fight the grins that threaten to spread over their faces. What happened here?
Jess gestures to our two bodyguards and scowls at me. “These obviously gay guys seem to be deaf and dumb. They can’t answer my questions and I still don’t know how I came home yesterday.” Both guys cough in their coffee their eyes bulging out. Obviously Jess tried to make a move on them. Should have known that this wouldn’t start so well.
“Jess, these are Luca and Sandro. For the indefinite future they are going to make sure we are safe wherever we go. They are neither deaf nor dumb and I don’t know about the gay part. Please try to make their job not harder than it has to be. You were drugged yesterday at the club and Matteo and Dom think this has something to do with them, so please take this seriously, okay?” The moment she realizes that I am serious she pales even more and grabs the counter to stabilize herself.
“Did I… I mean… Did something…”
I rush over to her and wrap my arms around her shaking body. “No, absolutely no, Jess. Nothing worse happened. That… guy sent you back to our booth and we went home after that. Matteo and Dom are just overprotective.” I lead her to the living room and push her on the couch. “He stayed with you the whole night, you know? He was really worried.” I add quietly and her eyes shoot up to mine.
“Domenico? Why would he do that?”
“Because he is a good guy and he was worried. Don’t tell me you didn’t want him yesterday?” Because she did. And I think the fact that he made it hard for her annoys Jess so much that she is going to give up.
“He is a hottie, but I think he is way too complicated for my taste. You know I don’t want something serious, Val.” Slowly I nod. She only confirms what I knew all along, but I think she is going to be surprised how hard Dom can make it for her. More so when he always knows where she is with her bodyguard.
“Okay, Jess. But no matter what you think of Dom, please take Sandro with you when you go out, okay? Do it for me, because I really was worried yesterday.” Her eyes soften and she nods.
“I promise. I don’t like the feeling to lose control, not like this at least. I’ll make sure to take him with me, but tell me, what did your hottie do during the night? Did he stay with you? In your bed even? Or did he stand guard in front of the house?”
Blushing I don’t even try to hide what happened from Jess. She knows me better than anybody else and would know if I tell her a lie. “He stayed the night. In my bed. And we had sex.”
Her high pitched squeal sends both men running out of the kitchen guns ready and obviously thrilled for a fight. Jess only rolls her eyes. “Nothing happened, ladies. My bestie here is just telling me how she got laid by your boss last night.”
Snorting a laugh I avoid looking them in the face, afraid of what I might see there. I don’t want them to think they are only here because I am warming the bed of their boss. I think they would be here even if I haven’t slept with Matteo. I come to understand that even though they are the mafia, those guys live after a special code of honor that tells them to protect and guard the weak ones.
“So tell me, was it as awesome as I think? Did he give you the big O or was he more selfish?” Jess continues, not even the slightest bit bothered by the two hunks in the room that groan quietly and slip away in the kitchen again. I feel my blush deepen to a beet red and hide my face in my hands.
“Jess, you are unbelievable. How can you ask that when those two are in the room? This is just so embarrassing!”
She makes a flippant noise and throws her hands in the air. “Nonsense. It’s not like they don’t know you shanked the bossman. So tell me, since I obviously didn’t get lucky yesterday.”
“It was awesome, okay?! He made me come more than I have come in my last relationships combined. He really knew what he was doing!” I blurt out and then clap my hand in front of my mouth to keep more words from spewing out uncontrollably.
Jess’ eyes widen and then she bursts out laughing. “Okay, okay. Great. I am so happy for you, hon. You deserve a real man in the sheets.”
Shaking my head I stand up. “Yah, yah. You were right. Okay. Do you want something for lunch? I feel like I am starving right now and I don’t believe our two guests have eaten today.”
Jess jumps up. “Absolutely. I’ll go and shower, make sure you make enough. Those two look like they could eat a lot.”
Nodding I make my way over to the kitchen while Jess skips upstairs. I decide to get changed as well, before I accidentally flash those two while cooking. After I put on comfy yoga pants and a loose fitting shirt I get down again and take a look in the fridge. Taking out several ingredients I decide to make a breakfast casserole and maybe bake a cake afterwards. I feel the need to do something, because I have the bakery closed today.
Soon a delicious scent wavers through the whole downstairs area and Jess saunters in the kitchen directly followed by the two hunks that obviously took turns in making rounds in and around the house. They kept mostly to themselves, but it makes me nervous to have someone in the house who doesn’t interact with
me.
“Come on, sit down guys. There’s enough for everyone and I’d like to talk about some house rules why you are here.” The guys look uncomfortably at each other while Jess grabs a plate and heaps a huge amount of casserole on it. She pushes the plate at Luca who grabs it with quick reflexes before it falls on the floor and continues to fill a plate for Sandro. After both men reluctantly sit down on the kitchen table Jess joins them and I get my own plate.
After a few minutes of comfortable silence I start: “So, how does this whole bodyguard thing work? Are you going to sleep here? Are you even allowed to sleep? Can we go to work and shopping and do whatever we like to do?”
Both men drop their forks and Sandro looks at Luca for confirmation. Luca smiles at me and nods. “You are going to live exactly like before. We don’t think you are in real danger, it is just a precaution the boss decided to take, because he knows you are important to his brother. You are going to work and Jess is going to university just like every day, only we are coming with you. We are going to drive you and stay near by wherever you go. Yes, we are going to sleep here, even though we will take shifts in staying awake, to make sure no one can break in or something like this.” His deep voice has only the slightest hint of an Italian accent and I don’t doubt that he has a string of women following him when he goes out.
“So, does this include going to the toilet as well? Where are you staying then? In the bathroom? Inside the stall? I think this might seem like sexual harassment at the university. Just wanted to make sure that I can act accordingly.” Jess rests her chin on her folded hands and seems totally innocent while posing that question.
Chuckling Luca takes it in stride. “So you are the trouble maker here, aren’t you? We won’t follow you in the bathroom. We are going to wait in front of it and you damn well make sure to come back out in a reasonable time, are we clear? I am sure Sandro has no problems with cleaning out every bathroom you want to go, just to make sure he can go in with you to guard you.”
