by Ellie Jean
Yanking on the handle, without warning, I pull it up, taking it out from the skin. I know I should have left it in there, but we need the evidence gone. Dropping it to the floor, blood gushes from the wound. “Push down hard to stop the flow.”
The coat is in arm’s reach and I tie it around the wound, tight.
I’m wired and agitated. Sure this business is about retrieving money owed to us, receiving and distributing merchandise and protecting our name, but these two numbskulls are doing my family a disservice.
Nikko and Con bang through the door, fists drawn ready to rock-and-roll.
“You bastard.” Nikko’s fist pulls back, launching it at me, but I’m too fast. Shifting my feet, I land one in his ribs and Con pummels me from behind. His blows are like mosquito bites. Where the hell did Father get these two from? Their hands glide off my skin and I entertain their assault for a few minutes until they tire themselves out.
I could easily take a punch and knock both of them flat on their backs, but then I’d have to carry them to the car.
“You two finished now?” Hunched over, heaving and breathless, Con nods. Nikko remains obstinate.
I leave them to their stupidness. “What’s your name?”
“Mac.” A grimace stretches across his face
“Mac, where’s this money you said you have?”
Trying to point, he stammers. “Under the… flo… or, under the… des… k.”
“Can one of you Bozos get it? I’m fucking tired.” Rustling occurs and Nikko and Con side step me, letting the door thud behind them.
“Mac, get the injuries seen to and when you see me coming again, I don’t want to be kept waiting ‘cause next time it won’t be those idiots knifing you, you’ll have to deal with me.”
His eyes squint and he nods. “Who are you?”
“C’s the name.”
With a chin lift, I make my way out, pick up the knife and head to the car where the jerks are waiting. “Get in the back.”
“You don’t fucking order me around.”
“Get out of the seat, Nikko.” My voice stays calm even though my blood’s boiling inside. “Or do I have to make you?”
He looks me up and down and makes a wise decision and moves. “Tomme’s going to hear about tonight.”
“I’d be disappointed if he didn’t. You two are a disgrace to the family.”
“What would you know about the Basilio family? You’re new and should be at the fucking bottom of the food chain, not out with us.”
Shit. They have no clue who the hell I am. Tomme has even kept my identity from them.
Slamming my foot on the accelerator, my head pounds.
“You’re right. What the fuck do I know.”
Caroline
“You have brought her back to me. The remainder of the money will be transferred to your account now.”
Lying on the couch in my father’s office because I’m too scared to be without my father or mother, I curl my knees up under the wool blanket. I haven’t been able to get warm since I was taken. Mom decided to go to the spa to relieve herself of the stress after the ordeal. I’m surprised she waited a whole day before she left me. Never one to be worried too much about me, even at my young age of ten, I was more alone in the house than what would be considered normal by my friends. Most ten-year-old girls I went to school with attended the nail and hair salon with their mother. The odd one out at school never bragging about the hideous color nails their moms got or how they loved their new perfect locks. Smiling at their stories, my heart would bounce around unsure which way to commit—hating Mom because she was self-centered most of the time or enjoying my independence and grateful I wasn’t dragged to those boring places.
Dad’s work intrigued me, fast-paced and about shopping. Mom was a master at that too, but watching Dad carefully consider and construct his empire day by day, I was in awe of him.
Today was no different.
Listening to him thanking the person who rescued me, the pain on his face real and his sincerity genuine. He would have done anything to get me back. Dad’s voice soothes me to the point where I drift in and out of sleep. Possibly because I haven’t slept for nights and now I am haunted by nightmares. At least during the day, safe with my dad, I can get some much needed sleep.
“I know. I’ll be forever indebted to the Ferroro family.” With a heavy sigh, he continues, “You saved my little girl’s life. Snatched it back from those Basilio bastards. You know my words good.”
I press firmly down on the blanket close to my ear, if anyone looked at me they would only see my blue eyes and pink cheeks. I need to sleep. I need to get my strength back and I need to get them out of my head for good.
Four days have passed and my thoughts are never far from the way Chuck orchestrated my body to perfection. My breath hitches and my pussy clenches with the mere thought of his light fingers drifting over my skin and his hard cock pumping between my legs sending me to the highest peak attainable. But every minute, I am thinking about more. I miss the warmth radiating from his voice and arms. I go through each sentence he has spoken to me and messaged me, melting inside with his sincerity. My heart aches knowing I sent him home when I finally felt important to someone.
He was giving me space.
Chuck could have questioned me, but he grabbed his clothes, kissed me on the cheek and respected I asked him to leave without an explanation. With unusual breathing, and a stone face, there’s no way he could say I looked like the love struck fool I’d been minutes prior. But if he asked, there’s no explanation anyway.
That’s until now.
A word, a gesture, or innuendo caught me off guard. Sickness filled my stomach, my body went rigid and my smile turned to a hardened straight line lying beside the man who showed me how good fucking could be and what more would be like. I’d known him for a few weeks, but I’d trusted my gut feeling on more than one occasion and it hadn’t let me down yet.
I had to trust it.
And it had been right.
Existing with a brick in my stomach, chills and a bass drum banging in my head, it took its toll on me physically. I couldn’t sleep, think or eat.
My hand itched to call Chuck, but I talked myself out of doing it every hour. A weakness washed over me, my heart beat rapidly when I tried to call him the next day. My hands clammed up and a knot formed in my stomach another time and when I got my fingers ready to work and hit the call button, my body went into an uncontrollable shake so I abandoned the call fast the next.
Messages came.
Listening to them, torturing myself, he was playful. He wasn’t angry. He wants me, although I ignore him.
Dread eating me alive. I was ruining what we had. What I’d been searching for.
Four days passed, with no idea why I reacted like a fool until during the night I sat drinking wine by myself and wafted off into a deep sleep. My nightmare hadn’t visited me for some time but back full force, there it was, the name.
Basilio…
Heartless, hard and revolting men who took me, a small innocent child for their benefit with no regards to the life of a young girl. Subconsciously I screwed a lid shut tight on my kidnapping, never to be reopened.
It had taken one word from a half asleep man to shatter my lid into tiny shards, exposing the truths I keep hidden from myself for survival.
A new fear awakes in me, turning me into a crazy loon who is now speaking to herself on a minute by minute basis. I’m agitated, sick to my stomach and unable to get myself motivated to do the simplest of things. Going over and over pieces of information to do with the kidnapping and then obsessing about Chuck and the tingling sensation which cascades over each fiber of my skin when I think about him is exhausting and confusing.
It’s been fourteen days.
Three hundred and thirty-six hours since I asked him to leave.
Ten days since I realized who he was.
And I still haven’t worked out what to do with this info
rmation.
Chuck is one of them.
How did I let myself be seduced by one of their family members? How did my gut not protect me? How will I survive without touching him?
“Shit.” Yelling at the top of my lungs in my apartment I haven’t left since that fateful night, I’m drunk.
Scrolling through a list of over twenty messages, I take a large mouthful of my bubbly wine.
Chuck: I’m thinking about your gorgeous ass Blossom. Call me.
Chuck: Are you dreaming about me?
Chuck: I want to hear your voice. Call me.
Chuck: “Hey. It’s clear I’ve done something wrong. I want to make it right. You’re my special Blossom. I’m sorry I was rough. Let me show you more of me. Please.”
Chuck: How can you ignore this buff body?
Drool forms in my mouth looking at his delicious abs and strong arms that held me so close to his beating heart weeks ago. My pussy clenches, missing the width of his cock inside me. My finger drifts over the screen, but it’s nothing compared to his skin.
Chuck: Send me a picture of your beautiful face. Or any part.
I’d looked at this message close to fifty times over the week, desperately wanting to show him all of me, tempting him and driving him insane with need, like he does to me. Being weak isn’t in my nature but each day I scroll back to this message at some point, sometimes late in the night after drinking, or early in the morning when I feel positive with the start of a new day, or when I sit in a bubble bath and want to show him my delectable skin I crave for him to ravish.
The delete button became my worst enemy. But it saved me from making a complete idiot out of myself. There is no place in my world for a member of the Basilio family.
Tears form in the corner of my eyes. It’s over before it can seriously begin. The four wines I’ve consumed aren’t helping, I’m sniffling looking at the message received two days ago.
Chuck: Meet me. At our spot. Eleven pm.
Our spot…
My insides melt and my breath hitches. The same reaction like the last ten times I read it. My hand shakes and wine tips out.
Crap. Wiping it with my finger, I lick it. God, I’ve really had too much to drink.
I should have gone, my heart begged my head to let me. But the quaking in my limbs, the sweat springing from nowhere even though my bones were chattering inside as though they were in a blizzard all prevented me from pouring my fervent words out to Chuck and going to see him.
Another message came at eleven-thirty. It was his sexy voice caressing my ear.
“I’m not letting you go that easy, Caro. You’re on my mind constantly, playing with it, and I can’t fucking concentrate. Sal and Nizo yell at me in frustration because my focus is shot. I think they’re drama queens, I’m still the best in the world and soon everyone will know it but I need to see you, touch your silky skin and run my tongue over your pussy tasting your sweet juice. I will find you. I know where you live and I sound like a fucking stalker and perhaps that’s what I will be driven too if you don’t call me. Tell me what’s inside your head, keeping you from me. My head is used for a punching bag, but my brain’s intact and I saw a problem on your face the other night. Call me. Or you will leave me no choice and I will have to put Plan B into action.”
Two days have passed and I’m hoping like hell, Plan B is being implemented soon cause deep down in I know Chuck wouldn’t hurt me. He was only a year older than me when I was taken. My instincts tell me he’s a decent, hardworking, honorable guy. But I need the choice taken away from me because my head won’t let me free from the reality, he is a Basilio.
I want weakened knees, breathlessness, fluttering in the stomach and reddened cheeks. I want to be someone’s special. I miss the jolt when we fleetingly touch, the cyclone when we fuck, the flirting and my smirk. I need his eyes roaming my body, his thumping chest next to mine and his lips kissing me passionately.
Grabbing my cell, I message Chuck.
Caroline—Implement Plan B.
Chuck
“Get out.”
Pulling up abruptly next to the curb, I reef the handbrake on. Con slams into his seat belt.
“What the fuck, man?” Nikko grunts from the rear.
“You heard me, get your sorry asses out of this car.” Stabbing them with my eyes, a bright light on my phone alerts me to a message.
Two weeks I’d been waiting, and I wasn’t going to waste any more time.
“This is my vehicle, you dick.”
“I’ll say it once more, get out of the car.” My voice is steady, controlled. “Now.” My tone develops into a growl and Con understands me. Wildness is teetering on the edge of breaking loose. He’s a smart man recognizing it. Nikko, on the other hand, a complete moron. Con pulls open Nikko’s door from the outside.
“Let’s go. I’ll call someone to come get us.” With a satanic glare, Nikko slowly gets out.
Pushing the pedal down, the door’s not closed completely when I accelerate away.
“You fucker.” A thud echoes through the car and I’m on my way to Caro.
She’s made a move. And like a queen on a chessboard, I’m going as her king to assist her win her battles.
I won’t let her distance herself from me anymore.
Caroline, she’s blindsided me. Coming out of nowhere and literally taking over my body, mind and soul. Tonight I need to teach her a few things.
Plan B is nothing complicated. See her, take control of her body, leave her wanting more. Making it clear what she does to me and means to me. And if she leaves me hanging again, there will be consequences. Hopefully, I won’t have to think of any and she meets me on the same page. Consequences could be fun though?
Stepping out of the car, I try to steady myself or I will ravage her.
A guy and dog approach and I give way to them, pulling in deep breaths. Tonight’s got me riled up more than I’ve felt in a long time.
“Chuck?” A greyhound steady by his side. “Is that you?”
“Yeah. Hey Dex.” I motion to him if I can pet his dog, and he nods. “What’s got you out here on this cooler night?”
“You know, sometimes a man just needs peace and quiet.”
Licking my hand, his dog makes me relax. “I hear you. A man and his dog walking. Great therapy you can’t get in trouble for.”
Grinning, Dexter Truitt dressed in his polo shirt and long pants looks far from a rich CEO. “How true. Bandit loves a walk.” Moving my hand back, his nose nudges my leg for more attention but Dex replaces my hand with his, Bandit sits back down and enjoys his rub. “You love that, don’t you?”
Ruff.
“I swear this dog’s been the best medicine. I talk to him about anything and it’s like he understands every single word. Don’t you, Bandit?”
Ruff.
Dex is right, he answers like he can understand English. Examining him, it blows my mind and a laugh escapes.
“Tell me, any news on the fight date. I have the promotion material ready to go and funds ready to transfer when given the green light. I’m still in.”
“Thanks Dex. Once I hear any news, you’ll be the first call I make. Appreciate what you’re doing.”
Bandit moves to the side of his master and pulls on the lead, trying to smell something on the sidewalk. “Keep me updated. Looks like I’m being bossed around again by the dog. I better keep moving.”
“I will, and enjoy your night.”
Nodding his head toward Caroline’s apartment, he smirks. “Enjoy your night, Chuck. Be careful with that one. She seems tough as nails, but inside she’s a teddy bear.” Turning before I can ask how he knows so much about her, he leaves almost jogging to keep up with his pet.
Shaking my head, clearing it, my shoulders are relaxed and my breathing is normal. There should be a doorman on, but someone’s watching out for me tonight, there isn’t one. Within seconds, my chest rises and falls quick, approaching the door. I’m the fittest man I know. My body
has been taken over again thinking about Caroline. I dial her number and wait, thudding takes over my ears. Caro better pick up. It’s late, but there will be no excuses after the past couple weeks of hell she’s put me through.
There’s a click and I pounce with a commanding voice. “Open the door.” So much for being calm.
“What?” She’s startled.
“Open the door, Blossom.” I hang up and wait.
Shuffling comes from inside the apartment and I continue to wait, spiraling into a tyrant with each second. I have to stand away from the door before I kick it in.
Shifting my weight from foot to foot, my teeth clench. Heightened to each small noise, I lean my hand on the wall trying to calm so I’m not like a wild beast being released from its cage when she opens the door. And she will open it.
There’s rustling of metal and a snap and the door opens painstakingly slow. I smirk casually, feeling anything but.
“Too long, Blossom,” I whisper with an edge, piercing her with my stare and taking her cheek in my hand, caressing it gently. A silence falls over us, I search her face for any signs of fear. There’s none. Only longing. Mimicking mine. Watching her pulse thump in her neck, mine doing the same, I ache to wrap her in my warm arms. But a rage flows through me and before I know what is happening, my other hand pushes her toward the nearest wall. I kick the door shut with my foot. “I’m so angry at you. If you don’t like something, tell me, if you have questions, ask it, if you don’t want to fucking see me again, inform me.” Although, it wouldn’t be possible for me to stay away now.
My hand lowers to her throat, constricting it slightly. Her skin turns a slight shade of pink and it looks beautiful on her. My jeans tighten. “Gotta say, my dick is so fucking hard for you right now.”
Her eyes bright but wary, Caro nods.
“This is going to be hard. Fast and rough.”
“Okay,” she murmurs and my fingers feel her neck muscles tighten beneath my hold. I loosen my grip marginally.
A slight tremor takes over her body when I use my spare hand to pull down my jeans and her panties. Thank Christ she has skimpy PJs on.
