Leaning back in my office chair, I really look at my daughter. For eight, she’s already too goddamn mature for her age. I hate that. I hate that I’m the reason for it. She has nowhere to go, but to grow up from here, her childhood is gone.
“We’ll see, darlin’. How about we just be good on our own for now?” I ask.
She sinks her teeth into her bottom lip and shakes her head once then wrinkles her nose. She doesn’t like the sound of that and it makes me chuckle. I shut down the rest of the conversation, standing to my feet and instruct her to gather her shit so that we can go home.
Chapter Four
BELLAROSA
“We’ll be there in about an hour,” Taz announces.
I’m sitting in between the two men that I now know as Taz and Jaguar. They have been oddly nice. Neither of their gazes lingering, or their hands. It’s a very odd sensation for me. They act as if they couldn’t care less that I was even along for the ride, or notice that I’m a woman.
I bite my bottom lip, wondering what could be wrong with me? Why don’t they at least try anything? I know that they like sex, they both enjoyed the women in my old home. Frowning, I look at my hands in my lap.
“You okay?” Jaguar asks when I don’t respond to Taz’s announcement of our arrival.
Lifting my gaze, I look at Taz, then over to Jaguar. “Why don’t you try to fuck me?” I blurt.
Taz barks out a laugh, and Jaguar’s eyes widen. “Let’s just say we think someone else at our club may find you more their type and we don’t want to ruin it for him,” Taz announces.
Looking away from Jaguar, I look over to Taz’s profile as he continues to drive. “I’m not staying,” I breathe.
He snorts. “Bitch, you’ll stay. You’re leverage and what happens if we let you go and they find you?”
Looking down at my lap, I twist my fingers together trying to breathe. If I’m found, if Gavino or any of his men find me, I’m as good as dead. Jaguar and Taz know this without me even telling them.
This is their world too. They have dealings with Gavino and his famiglia. They know that there is no leaving the way that I did.
The only way out is death.
I’m not willing to die just yet. If they want to use me as leverage, I’ll stay until I need to disappear from them as well. I must always stay on my toes, must always be one step ahead of them. Must always stay alert.
This fight is not over and just because these men seem to be nice to me at the moment, does not mean that they will forever stay this way. I have no doubt that they can be as ruthless as any man in Brooklyn, maybe even worse.
“Where are we?” I chance asking, changing the subject.
Taz coughs, but Jaguar is the next to speak. “We’re in Arizona, almost to Egar, where you’ll be calling home. If you cause any trouble, we won’t hesitate to end you, Bellarosa. We’re only bringing you along because both of us think that there’s a chance one of our men may like you for himself. If he don’t, then there are about twenty men that would kill for a turn,” he mutters.
“You act like that’s a threat,” I snort.
His finger touches the underside of my chin and he lifts it up, his dark eyes boring into mine. “It’s not a threat, just an observation. You’re young and beautiful. I’m sure you’re damn good in the sack, too. We’re not much different than the Zanetti famiglia. We keep whores, except we don’t charge for them. They’re for our use and whoever we decide is allowed to play.”
I lick my bottom lip, keeping my gaze focused on his. “I’ve never received a penny for my services, Jaguar. If this is some kind of game, you won’t scare me. I won’t be a pawn, not anymore. I want my freedom,” I say, telling him my truth, my secret.
“None of us is free, babe. You gotta get that shit out of your head, right fuckin’ now. We all owe a debt to someone. Whether it be the man above us, or the Devil. Ain’t none of us without a puppeteer,” Taz mutters.
I close my eyes for a moment, inhaling a deep breath, thinking about his words. Maybe he’s right. Maybe this dream of being free, maybe it was all for absolutely nothing. Letting out my breath in a heavy exhale, I open my eyes to find the truck stopping in front of a gate.
“This is your new home,” Jaguar announces as the gate begins to open.
There are a couple of buildings staggered about, but the one that catches my eye is a large brick one straight ahead. The door is open and there are motorcycles parked in front of it. I see people casually walking around, dressed in what I now know is their normal uniform. Jeans, shirt, boots, and leather vest.
Taz drives the truck to the side of the building and straight toward a metal shed. It looks much like the one in Brooklyn that I broke into. It has a large rollup door that raises as soon as we arrive. We drive inside and then Taz cuts the engine.
“You ready for this, babe?” Jaguar asks as he climbs down.
I look over to him. He has one arm extended, his hand palm up and he is waiting expectantly. Then a noise causes me to jerk and my gaze moves from his hand to over his shoulder.
Wolfe is standing behind him, his eyes are on me and he looks livid. “What the actual fuck?” he hisses, his gaze never leaving mine.
Shifting over, I take Jaguar’s hand and allow him to help me down onto the cement ground. “We had a little stowaway on our trip,” Jaguar chuckles.
“Send her the fuck back,” Wolfe growls.
I don’t let his anger affect me, at least on the outside. Inside, I’m absolutely terrified of them doing just that. I can’t go back. I would rather end my own life than live through whatever torture they would dish out to me.
“Sorry, I’m thinking Dragon needs to be the one to make that kind of decision,” Jaguar announces.
He wraps his hand around my bicep, his fingers holding me firmly but gently. Without a spared glance back at a very pissed off Wolfe, he tugs me out of the warehouse and toward the brick building. I can hear Wolfe behind us, his boots crunching with each stomping step.
“She don’t belong here, she isn’t ours to have,” Wolfe calls out behind us.
Jaguar doesn’t stop walking, his strides are cool and collected, long and without pause. “Dragon can make that decision,” he repeats, continuing to pull me behind him.
Once we’re inside of the brick building, he walks me to the center of the room and then he stops. The entire space is completely quiet. Slowly I lift my head, my eyes crashing with gray ones that cause my knees to weaken.
My breath hitches without my being aware of it.
He’s the most beautiful man that I have ever seen. He’s rugged and rough, nothing that I’ve ever been exposed to in my entire life. He’s the exact opposite of every refined man that I’ve had in my bed. Just the sight of him causes my knees to become weak.
DRAGON
My entire body locks up solid. Her dark hair is long, her body too thin, her face too fucking young, but when those blue eyes meet mine, they destroy me on contact. I don’t know who she is or why she’s here, but fuck me, I want to know.
“Pres,” Jaguar’s voice calls out, taking me out of my thoughts.
My head jerks and my gaze moves from her to him. He’s standing too fucking close to her side, his hand wrapped around her bicep and if he doesn’t move it, I’m going to cut it the fuck off.
“Office,” I grind out.
Turning my back on them, going against everything inside of me, I walk toward my office. I hear them shuffle behind me, but I keep my back to them. Once we’re inside, I make my way over to my desk and sink down in my chair. I hear the door close, then the lock is flipped into place.
Lifting my gaze, I look up to them. Taz, Jaguar, and this girl are standing in front of me. Taz has a smirk on his lips and Jaguar looks far too fucking smug. The girl, she looks downright terrified beneath her blank expression.
“She stowed away in the truck,” Taz announces.
Tilting my head to the side, I take in the girl, again. She’s young, really
fucking young, but that doesn’t make my dick any less hard at the sight of her. She’s curvy, but her body slim. Her tits are small, her ass too. She’s nothing like Journee or the girls around here. She’s a fucking knockout.
“And she is?” I ask.
Jaguar clears his throat. “She is Bellarosa,” he says as if that explains everything that I need to know.
Deciding I’ve had enough of these two fuck faces, I lift my hand. “Go,” I say, dismissing them with a wave of my hand.
Taz doesn’t waste a second, he’s gone before anyone can say another word. Jaguar, unfortunately, doesn’t leave immediately.
“Pres, she’s innocent, just hear her out.”
I snort, tilting my head to the side. Then a thought crashes through me. Is Jaguar into her? Fuck, wouldn’t that be the icing on this cake? I fucked the woman he’s into while he was gone and now he’s going to try to get the one that, for whatever reason, makes my cock ache at first glance.
“Don’t worry about her, get your ass outta here,” I grind out.
Jaguar hesitates before he releases his hold on her arm and quietly slips out of my office. Bellarosa and I watch one another without saying a word. Her face is a blank mask, but her eyes, they tell me everything that I need to know. Not only is she scared shitless right now, she’s excited.
“Lock the door,” I softly demand.
I stay planted in my chair, even though I want nothing more than to go to her and pound into her body until she’s screaming my name and coming on my cock. Instead, I watch as she practically floats over to the door, switching the lock into place, then turns back toward me. Slowly, she makes her way back to directly in front of my desk, expectantly, hesitantly.
“Why did you run?” I demand.
She lifts her chin, her eyelids lowered as she looks down her nose at me. I don’t mind it, she looks expensive, high class, and fucking perfect. She is better than me, too bad I’d never admit that out loud in my life.
I watch as her tongue peeks out to taste her plump bottom lip, then she inhales a deep breath as if to gather more courage, more of her mask, more of everything that is inside of her. She’s beautiful in her bravery. Stupid, but beautiful.
“I don’t want to be a whore the rest of my life. I want my freedom.”
I burst out laughing. I’m unable to control myself and miss the way her face crumples before she pulls her shit together and adds some more brick and mortar to her walls. Once I’ve controlled myself, I look at her pretty young face and snort.
“Fragolina,” I coo, watching her face contort into shock, then full out fear, when she realizes that I called her an Italian term of endearment.
She doesn’t know, nobody does. She has no fucking clue. I keep my shit locked down tight, for good fucking reason. This operation of mine, this club, my dad didn’t start it just because.
He had a reason, a good fucking reason. He wanted out of the family business, but not because he didn’t like it, he fucking loved it. He wanted it all, for himself, with freedom from his father. Selfishly my father wanted his own organization to run without the rules of the famiglia.
My road name was given to me at birth, in fact, if anyone bothered to look, my real name is Drago. My father literally named me Dragon. He wanted me to be fierce, to breathe fire, and to fuck up anyone who threatened me or my family.
It was the right choice of a first name for his one and only son.
Bellarosa narrows her eyes after she’s recovered from my calling her a little strawberry. I don’t know why I picked that, maybe because her lips look like a sweet strawberry. Maybe because I imagine her pretty pink pussy is as ripe as one, just as fucking juicy too.
“Who are you?” she asks.
I debate not telling her. I’ve kept it to myself for the past thirty-nine years. However, something tells me this girl can be like a dog with a bone.
“Drago Ricci,” I state.
Her eyes widen and she takes a step back as she gasps. My gaze locks in on hers, looking deeper than the surface and I see nothing but absolute terror staring back at me.
Good.
She should be fucking scared.
She wants her freedom and she’s never going to have it.
Chapter Five
BELLAROSA
Just the last name Ricci sends a chill of dread down my spine. I’m sure that this man, this Dragon, can see the sheer terror in my eyes. There is no way for me to hide it.
Thoughts of Mauro Ricci, the way he brutally raped my ass, made me bleed and kicked me when I was down to send a message float through my head.
I take a step back, unsure of where to go. I have nowhere to run, not in this office. I can’t even go anywhere when I leave this small room. I’m stuck, stuck with this devil. This demon dragon who is staring at me like I’m going to be his next meal.
He stands, his moves graceful like a panther as he walks around his desk toward me. I think that he’s going to touch me, to grab me, to possibly hurt me. I don’t know him, I don’t know what he’s capable of, but if he’s related to Mauro Ricci, I have a feeling I don’t want to know either.
Instead of touching me, he leans his ass against the front of his desk, crossing his ankles out in front of him. My eyes betray my mind and roam over his entire body. My tongue licks my lips, doing the same, my entire body is full of absolute betrayal.
Dragon is long, his body wide at the shoulder and narrow at the waist and hips. His legs are thick and long, he’s at least a foot taller than me and for whatever reason, I’m curious to know how he would fuck me.
Would he manipulate my body into positions that would cause my muscles to burn? Would he demand control, or would he give me leeway? My lips part and I wet them with my tongue at the thought of this bear of a man inside of me.
He chuckles, my eyes snap to his and I notice that his mouth is turned up into a smile and his white teeth are showing beneath his thick beard. A shiver rolls through me at the idea of that beard against my skin.
I’ve never been with a man who has more than just stubble. I should not be thinking about being with him, but I can’t help or stop myself.
“You won’t have your freedom, Fragolina,” he murmurs, his voice rough and hoarse.
Pressing my lips together, I inhale before I ask, “I won’t?”
He shakes his head. “You stay here, you whore. That’s the way of the world.”
“Whore?” I whimper.
His eyes darken, they turn almost black, but I can’t read them. I don’t know what it means, what the look on his face means. He wears a mask, an unreadable mask.
Clearing his throat, he grunts as he pushes off his desk to stand directly in front of me. He’s so close that I could reach out and touch him, I could feel his hard muscle that I know without a doubt lays beneath his screaming tight shirt.
“We aren’t much different than from where you came. Except, our whores are here for our members. I’m sure that Jaguar explained this?” he asks.
I gulp, nodding my head as my eyes slide closed. “He did,” I exhale.
“Not what you were hoping for?” he asks, arching a brow.
I shake my head, looking down at my feet, then slowly lifting my gaze back up to his. “I want my freedom,” I say, straightening my spine.
“Nobody is free, Bellarosa. The sooner you realize that, the better off you’ll be.”
“You’re free,” I state.
He snorts, looking down to the floor then back up to me. “How old are you, little girl?”
I bite my bottom lip, not wishing to tell him the truth. He already knows that I’m young. I look young today, too. I didn’t put any makeup on this morning, haven’t worn it in days. I look even younger than nineteen without my makeup mask firmly in place.
“Old enough,” I shrug.
He shakes his head, not liking that answer at all, I don’t blame him, I wouldn’t like it either. He lifts his hand, but I don’t flinch away like I probably should. The backs o
f his fingers brush down my cheek, then his hand wraps around the side of my throat.
“I’m the only one keeping your ass here right now. At a simple command, you’ll be shipped back to Brooklyn to deal with your fate. Maybe you should be a little more fucking agreeable, Fragolina.”
His voice is harsh, hard like steel and I gulp from his warning. He smiles when he feels me swallow. He knows I’m scared, he can see it, somehow, he can see behind my impassive expression.
My papa always told me to hide my emotions, to give nothing to anyone. Yet, here Dragon is, seeing everything without my permission. I hate it. I wish I hated him, too. I wish I didn’t want to throw myself at him, kiss him, and sink to my knees to find out what he tastes like.
His thumb traces my bottom lip, his eyes searching my own, waiting for something, maybe for me to break, I’m not sure.
“You won’t send me back,” I state.
His brow arches and his lips twitch into a small smile. “I won’t?”
Shaking my head, I touch my tongue to the pad of his thumb. “You want to fuck me too badly to do that, to let them kill me. You know that they will, insubordination is not tolerated, neither is breaking a contract.”
Dragon doesn’t pull his thumb away from me like I expect, instead, he slips it between my lips. My tongue touches it again, tasting his salty skin as I suck his digit. Keeping my eyes on his, I watch as they darken and his lids lower just a touch.
He hums, then slips his thumb from my mouth. “Any woman who is unmarked under this roof is a whore. Plain and simple. I made the rule and I won’t change it because you make my cock twitch.”
“Show me my first client,” I challenge.
He growls, taking a step back. His teeth are bared and he looks very much like a wild animal right now. I don’t say anything else, too afraid to poke the bear, or dragon, in this case. Then, without a word, he turns and walks out of the office, slamming the door behind him.
UNCHAIN ME: SAVAGE BEAST MC 3 Page 5
