For Fallon (7 page)

He stills and just stares at me for a moment. Luca shakes his head as if he’s clearing his mind of an unpleasant thought, and his eyes darken even more, the green entirely invisible.
“Sei da mozzare il fiato.”
You’re breathtaking. His hands sweep over my body, from my legs up to my narrow hips, over my stomach to palm my breasts. 

All I hear is our heavy breathing. All I feel is his touch on my soft skin. My whole body is on fire from his touch everywhere, and my skin revels in the quiet of his caress.

Luca twists his hand in my hair and leans me toward him to taste my lips again. I pull back from his kiss to undo the upper buttons of his shirt because I’m naked and he’s still fully clothed. He smirks and watches me work his buttons while his fingers gently brush my bangs out of my face. The manner in which he’s constantly touching and caressing me overwhelms me. I push back his shirt over his shoulders and let it flutter to the ground. Luca watches me tracing the outline of his well-defined muscles and hisses when I unbuckle his belt and palm his hardening length through his boxers. I stroke him a few times before he grabs both my legs and pulls me forward. He’s on his knees between my legs, so we’re at eye level. Luca forces me to the edge of the couch by grabbing my behind and pulling me toward him.

Molding my soft flesh, he says between kisses, “I’ve
been wanting to taste you for a while.” And he coaxes me to lie back against the couch with his hand on my cleavage.

I lean back, exposed to him. The coldness of the couch on my back and the warmth of his hands on my body are a titillating contradiction. Luca’s head lowers to lick my nipple. My head falls back, and I twist my hands into his hair, pushing my breast into his mouth. He sucks hard on my nipple and groans against my breast while his right hand trails down leisurely over my stomach and between my legs. His fingers caress me,
then he pushes his middle finger inside me once, twice before stopping. I writhe underneath his passionate touch when Luca licks and bites his way down my body and grabs me behind my knees to urge them apart. As he breathes in deeply, I feel the cold rush of his breath against my inner thighs, making me hyperaware of every moment of his passionate seduction.

My back bows in anticipation of his mouth on me.

“Pull your legs up, Fallon,” he directs me in a lustful tone.

I pull my knees up to my chest and Luca secures his fingers around my ankles
, holding them firmly in place. He hisses in satisfaction as his eyes are fixated on me before he lowers his mouth on me. Moaning loudly, I push back against his face. Our slow seduction has fueled our unbridled craving for each other. I open my eyes to watch him taste me and am met with his lust-filled stare. He’s been constantly watching my reaction to his seduction. Chills run through my body when he plunges his tongue inside me. The pad of his thumb rubs me carefully, yet fiercely, as the tingles start to form in my lower stomach. I’m on the precipice of exploding as he relentlessly pleasures me with his tongue. The powerful circulating motion on my most sensitive part and his silky tongue make it impossible for me to keep my eyes open, so they roll back, and my other senses intensify again now that I’ve shut out the world.

I scream and moan his name before reaching my peak.
“Luca! Luca!” I shudder when ecstasy reaches me, and my body pulsates with the pleasure he’s given me. I ride out my orgasm, only aware of my breathing and Luca’s continuous groans. He continues to lick me leisurely and confidently, until he feels my orgasm subsiding.

He’s about to say something - standing between my legs with his hands trailing up and down my thigh - when we’re interrupted by his ringing phone.

Didn’t he put it on vibrate earlier? And doesn’t he have voicemail?

It keeps on ringing and ringing, so I raise my brows, hoping to prompt him to speak.

He sighs and gets up to answer his phone.

I dress in my panties, pick up my bra and dress, and head to my bedroom. Grabbing my silk robe in the bathroom, I put it on and meet Luca back in the living room. He’s standing by the coat rack with his phone in hand, swiftly typing away. His shirt has been buttoned and tucked back into his pants. One hand tangles through his hair, and his demeanor reminds me of the night we met in the club. There’s a hard edge to him, a contradiction in his actions and emotions that make him equally desirable and unsettling. I take this moment to slowly walk up to him.

Without looking up, he informs me, “I have to go.”

I glance at the screen and notice he has many missed calls and messages. He’s obviously troubled about something. “Okay, you can wash up in the bathroom, if you want?”

His phone disappears in his pocket. “No, I want to smell you on me.”

I scrunch up my nose, but I can’t prevent the corner of my lip from tilting up at his dirty confession.

He laughs at me.

“I’m glad you can still laugh. Is something wrong that you have to leave so suddenly?” I ask him tentatively.

A rueful smile shows on his face before he masks it. “Yes, a situation with a friend of mine.” He cups my chin. “I’ll call you.”

I have no idea what just happened, so I only stare at him with a blank expression.

Luca takes his suit jacket - which seems oddly heavy - and opens the door. A gentle kiss is placed on my lips, and he immediately stills for a second, making me think that he has surprised himself by initiating this kiss.

I close the door immediately and lean back against it. He had a lot of missed calls. I’m a little confused about why he left so abruptly. I still feel his hands all over my body, and glancing at the couch, I can’t hold the upward curve of my lips. Teagan would be proud of me.

I grab my purse and head back to my bedroom to take a shower, but I stop to look at myself in my mirror. My lips are swollen, my hair is all over the place, and I have bite marks on my neck. I trace the marks with my fingers, a tangible memory. My phone alerts me of a message.

Fallon, I’ll call you later. I had a wonderful evening with you.

Then why leave so abruptly? I can never tell what’s next with Luca. During my shower, I remember I have a busy week ahead, so I text him back when I’m lying in bed.

Luca, I’m actually very tired and decided to head to bed early. I’ll talk to you this week. Night

Silencing my phone, I leave it on my nightstand beside my bed
.

Luca

Luca, I’m actually very tired and decided to head to bed early. I’ll talk to you this week. Night

I read her text and realize that I need to handle this more delicately because I can’t believe I feel remorse over leaving her. And I actually give a shit that she could be mad. Instead of pacifying my desire for her, this date has accomplished the exact opposite.

I connect my phone to the car charger while I’m speeding through the streets to aid Adriano at the warehouse up north. The last money drop-off to our Syndicate regarding Crystal Lake was compromised, and Adriano and I need to find out why.

I’m calling her now. It rings and rings.
And voicemail.

My agitated state disperses when I smell a hint of her on me. A small smile tugs at my lips as I think about how her presence calmed me during dinner. For a guy who can never put his guard down, she made me feel peaceful and relaxed to live in the moment. I lick my lips and adjust my pants thinking about how badly I want to drive myself into her. Watching her climb toward release with my lips on her had me rock hard and begging for relief.

Her soft skin that feels like satin and her breasts that fit perfectly in my palms
.

Focusing on the street, I reach the old, brown-brick warehouse quicker than expected. I’ll handle Fallon tomorrow.

Adriano’s sapphire black M3 is parked to the side. Before exiting my car, I call Adriano to let him know that I’m here and take my compact semi-automatic Smith & Wesson .45 ACP out of my jacket. The door unlocks before I reach it.

“Damian,” I greet. One of our soldiers on Adriano’s team lets me in.

Adriano’s voice is rising in the warehouse. “I’m losing patience with you,
idiota
.”

The scene is set up in the left corner. The warehouse has four rooms on the right for private handlings, but Adriano likes the effect of the big warehouse where his voice can resonate off the walls.

One man, face dripping in blood, is strapped to a wooden chair with his hands tied to the back and feet tied together. The chair has plastic underneath for quicker clean-up, a job handled by the prospects and soldiers.

Adriano’s wearing his white latex gloves to prevent from leaving fingerprints and grips the guy’s hair, yanking his head back in one quick move. An agonizing whine comes from our captive. “Look who’s here,” Adriano says to Jack.

The guy’s eye is almost swollen shut and is turning purple. He looks at me through the slit of his eyelid.

“Luca.”
Adriano gives me an exasperating look. “He’s lying and covering for someone.” Adriano forces the guy’s head back more, stretching his throat as Adriano stands over him. “I brought in the big guns now. Pun intended.” My
Capo’s
mouth twists in a satanic smile. “You’ll be sorry you didn’t confess when it was just me.”

Adriano joins me in front of the guy and hands me a pair of gloves.

“Name?” I ask Adriano while I put them on.

“Jack.” Adriano removes his knife from his pocket.

My gun is stashed in my back pocket, concealing it from Jack. I move closer to him.

“Help me,” Jack begs.

I crouch down in front him to be less intimidating.
“Jack, I can only help you if you give me straight answers.”

He stammers, “Y-Yes, a daughter. You can have her; she’s young and a virgin.”

Fucker. It’s sickening how quickly men cave under torture. He could’ve extended his life if he wanted to protect his family; I might have some sympathy then, but this man only thinks of himself. “I don’t want your daughter,” I keep speaking evenly. “You can choose, Jack. I will ask you one question. If you do not answer truthfully, Adriano will torture you for hours with a blunt knife.” I stand up and resume Adriano’s former position behind Jack. “Or talk now and I’ll let you go.”

Jack doesn’t make a sound.

Adriano drops to his haunches and cuts open Jack’s right pant leg up to his thigh. Without warning, he drives his knife into Jack’s knee and - ever so slowly - slices open the skin to the middle of his shin.

I muffle Jack’s tormented screams by roughly covering his mouth with a white cloth. His head’s frenziedly swaying from side to side. Red covers his leg and blood pools on the floor beneath Jack’s right foot.

I signal for Adriano to stop. “Ready to talk, Jack?” I remove the cloth, and Jack hyperventilates through his cries yet stays silent.

Adriano moves his knife lower, slicing open more skin, and I smother Jack’s cries again.

“Ready now?” I taunt.

Jack nods his head slowly. “You’ll kill me anyway after I’ve given answers.”

“I might, or not. Do you want to take that chance? Adriano can keep going if you want.”

“NO. Stop. I can’t take it anymore.” Jack coughs up spit mingled with blood.

Adriano steps back just in time so the blood doesn’t splash on him. Revolted, he wordlessly begs me to finish this quickly.

“Talk.
Why were you interfering with the last money drop-off at Crystal Lake? You only get one shot,” I warn him.

“
Leggia paid me to botch it up.” Jack’s voice is growing weaker. Blood is leaving his body, fast. “That’s all I know. He gave me ten thousand to make sure you wouldn’t receive your last payment for Crystal Lake.”

This is interesting.

I release Jack’s head, letting it slouch forward, and go to Adriano. “Did you find money on him?”

“I found ten in the trunk of his car. This could be true. We still don’t know why
Leggia wanted Crystal Lake.”

I reach for my gun.
Shit.
I left the silencer in my glove compartment. “Have a silencer on you?” I ask Adriano.

“You forgot?” he answers in disbelief.

I was distracted by Fallon. I never come unprepared to the warehouse, except for today. I raise my brow impatiently. “Yes or no.”

“No, not for that one.”
He signals to my Smith & Wesson.

“Give me yours.”

Adriano hands me his gun and reaches for the silencer from his back pocket.

I attach it to the barrel of the weapon and stand beside Jack, aiming the gun at his temple. The infinitely small part of my conscience that’s left feels sorry for ending this man’s life. Who am I to be judge and executioner? I have no answer for that question. All I know is that in this Syndicate, it always comes down to
you
or
him
. And I’m selfish enough to choose myself repeatedly. Every time I kill, the face of that first associate I finished off pops up in my head. As I pull the trigger, the thwack resounds through the warehouse, ending Jack’s agony with one bullet.

Adriano removes his gloves and takes two shirts from a garbage bag he brought with him. My collared shirt has blood spatters, but my pants and shoes are still clean. We change our shirts and ditch the bloodied ones in the bag, along with the gloves.

I instruct Damian when he comes up to us. “Burn the garbage bag. Dispose of the body on Crystal Lake ground.”

“Yes,
Padrino
.” Damian begins cleaning the evidence.

Adriano and I leave the warehouse.

At our cars, Adriano expresses his concern. “How do we know it was Leggia for sure? We don’t have anything to back Jack’s story and you’ve already killed him.”

We lean against his car, and Adriano reaches for his pack of cigarettes in his pocket.

“I went to
Francitalia
for dinner with Fallon. Guess who was there, out in the open, following me? One of Leggia’s men. I’ve only seen him once before, at Leggia’s house months ago. I never forget faces. He’s up to something.”

“But disposing of the body on his turf will start an all-out war.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose and tiredly say, “I think he already started the war.”

“So he saw you with Fallon?”

My lips thin and I say with bite, “Yes. He clearly saw her too and is most likely doing a background check on her as we speak.”

“Luca, this is bringing her deeper into our messy world. What does she think you do for a living?”

“I told her about our company, of course. You almost blew my cover, by the way. I took both phones with me to her apartment and forgot to silence the disposable one.”

“You seem agitated, yet not. Tell me you didn’t…”

“I was interrupted.”

Adriano grins. “What is it with her?” He inhales another deep puff of his cigarette. “Tell me this. Was it good or not as good as you thought it would be?”

I slowly nod my head. Never have I waited this long before becoming intimate with a woman. But this night has already made the wait worth it. “It was fucking better. I didn’t want to leave. Your timing sucked.”

Adriano doesn’t know how to respond.

I’m breaking my rule to not get attached, but at this moment, I don’t care. “I need to be careful - Fallon’s smart. She was visibly unhappy when I left.”

“That’s women for you.” Adriano lets out a half-hearted laugh, followed by a puckered brow. “Is she suspicious?”

“I don’t think she’s consciously suspicious yet. She did clearly see me silence my smartphone in the car, and then the disposable one rang when we were inside. She also eyed my suit jacket which was holding my gun.”

Adriano flicks his cigarette butt away. “I’m just going to repeat myself - be cautious.”