Authors: Bethany-Kris
Relief washed through Lucian, though he felt bad about Gio’s beloved Rottweiler. “He okay, now?”
“They’re going to keep him for a day or so, just to make sure there was no damage to his esophagus, but it seems like he’s fine. Whiney fucking mutt didn’t want me to go. Do you know what it feels like to have something you adore look at you like you’re just killing it by leaving? Can’t find a woman to keep me interested, but that dog owns me. It’s ridiculous.”
Lucian laughed at his brother’s sickeningly unconditional love for his dog. Even so, he was still pissed off. Gio might not have been able to contact Dante or Antony that morning because their phones were always turned off during this time, but he had other ways of getting a hold of Lucian.
“Why didn’t you call my condo?”
“I did,” Gio said, sounding confused. “A dozen times after I tried your cells. I thought you were being an asshole and ignoring me.”
After?
“Jordyn should have picked up,” Lucian muttered, more to himself.
“No one answered. It went to voicemail. You didn’t bring her today, did you?”
God, no.
Lucian didn’t answer his brother, though, because he was suddenly really panicked.
“You’re sure you called my condo?” Lucian asked, the words coming out strained.
“
Sì
, Lucian. Rang off the hook. What is wrong with you?”
“Cain’s vet is in Brooklyn, right?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re closer than me. I need you to go to Jordyn’s old apartment and see if she’s there.”
Gio huffed quietly. “Dad’s gonna kick my ass.”
“No, he’ll kick mine,” Lucian replied. “I’ll handle it.”
“Was she supposed to go there?” Gio asked. “That’s fucking stupid of you to be letting her wander around the city alone.”
“No, but we had a fight about it this morning. I didn’t want her anywhere near it. She wouldn’t listen, or maybe I wasn’t hearing what she was trying to say.”
“That sounds like you.”
• • •
“What do you mean you can’t give me the spare keys to my apartment?” Jordyn asked angrily. “It’s my apartment. My things are inside. The rent is paid until next week. Give me the spare keys.”
The landlord of the building shook his balding head. “Listen, cutie. Mr. Suit might have paid for the damages to the door the first time, but he didn’t pay for the second round, okay? That’s coming out of my pocket, because even your damage deposit won’t cover it. Not even close. That’s worthy of an eviction, got it? Feel lucky I’m not going after you for the costs.”
“Mr. Suit?”
“Tall, Italian, hazel eyes, dressed up like he could pull out the cash from his pocket to buy this shithole if he wanted. Mr. Suit.”
Lucian paid for the damages to replace her door and didn’t tell her? Why?
Jordyn brushed off the questions. “What do you mean, the second round?”
Sighing, the landlord eyed her curiously. “Where have you been, huh? Neighbors say they haven’t seen you in a good month.”
“Away,” Jordyn answered vaguely.
“Left right after the first break-in, didn’t you?”
Break in. Right, that was a good term for her attack. Not.
“Around that time, yeah. Just took some time to breathe. Listen, are you going to give me the fucking keys, or what?”
“The eviction is already served. It’s non-negotiable after the whole damage thing. It’s posted on the second new door I’ve had to put on your apartment this month.”
Jordyn tried to keep her cool, she really did. “So let me guess, after Lucian paid for you to fix the first broken door, you slummed around before getting it done. Someone broke in while the screwed up door was still on, and messed up my apartment again. Is that what happened?”
“The door was fixed two days after the first break-in,” he replied tiredly. “Last week, a bunch of denim and leather wearing scum came into the building and knocked the door down again before tearing up the place. Maybe they were looking for something, cutie. You have any idea what that might have been?”
Jordyn’s heart stopped as bile rose to her mouth. “They came back here?”
“I don’t know who
they
are, but someone sure did.”
“And you didn’t think to call the police?”
“Why, so I can lose a half a dozen tenants over the cops coming here for something they can’t fix?”
“I’m sorry,” Jordyn rushed to say. “I’ll pay for whatever they did. I just really need to get inside my apartment. My whole life is in there … Listen, my mother died when I was younger. All I have of her is in that apartment. I need to get it.”
The man gave her a sympathetic look, but shrugged. “I don’t think you understand. They ruined it all. I’ll let you in, and you have ten minutes before I want you out of this building for good, but I don’t think you’re going to get what you came looking for.”
Jordyn thanked the man before he closed his door. She waited while he got the new keys, and then followed him up to the second floor and down to where her apartment was. Sure enough, a brand new door and frame was installed, right along with the regulation eviction that she ripped as soon as she saw it.
The moment her landlord unlocked the apartment, Jordyn understood exactly what he meant. She barely managed to hold the sudden swirling sickness in her stomach at bay. It wasn’t just a mess, it was a goddamned disaster.
The couch had been flung over, along with a broken coffee table. The two matching chairs for the tiny kitchenette set had been used to punch massive holes in the wall. Glass shards were sprinkled everywhere. The few books she managed to collect over the years were also strewn with pages ripped out and scattered. The fridge had been emptied of its contents, food rotting and leaving an awful smell lingering in the stale air. Any pictures and fake art on the walls were torn down and ruined.
Jordyn’s apartment had never been much. The building was a dive, the tenants could be scary, and she didn’t live in the best neighborhood, but it was still hers. She’d loved it, lived in it since she was eighteen, and it was the one thing she felt The Sons of Hell couldn’t take from her.
But, oh, they had.
Tears welled in her eyes immediately, threatening to spill over.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered to her landlord. “Really.”
“You were here the first time around, yeah?” he asked.
Jordyn didn’t want to, but she nodded anyway. “Yeah.”
“Figured, what with the blood and vomit. They got you pretty bad. I don’t know why you came back, cutie, but seeing what they did the first time, it was why I didn’t try to go after you for damages after this one. You shouldn’t be here if this is what they’ll do when you’re not around and they come looking. Don’t you get that?”
Again, Jordyn nodded bleakly. “Just give me a second to grab my box and I’ll go. I have some money, too, if it’s even here …”
It was only maybe four grand of cash Jordyn had saved, just in case she ever needed it. Clearly she owed a lot for what happened here. It probably wouldn’t cover all of the damages, but it might help.
The landlord stepped back into the hallway as Jordyn moved further into the mess. She weaved through the hazards, going straight to her bedroom. It was there that she hurt the most.
The sheets on her bed were ripped off, exposing a mattress with a cut straight down the middle, opening its insides to let the material spill out. An overwhelming stench of urine soaked the room, coming from the bed. In the very middle of the mattress, the belt Will had used to beat her half to death rested like it’d been laid out for her to remember, dried blood staining the studs.
Her blood.
Jordyn tried for all she was worth to ignore the smell and the sight, tripping over strewn blankets as she reached to open the small closet. The tiniest bit of relief welled at the sight of her memory box on the top shelf where she left it. It didn’t have much inside but her cash, some old photos of her mother, stubs for movies, tickets for the fair, and a necklace, but it was everything to Jordyn.
Absolutely everything.
Turning to leave with the box clutched tightly to her chest, something caught Jordyn’s eye on the wall. A knife had been used to hold a piece of paper to the wall. In thick, black letters, a warning was written.
You took something that belongs to us. We want it back.
Jordyn choked on her terror.
Faster than before, she needed to leave. Jordyn had made a huge mistake, and she knew it.
“Who in the hell are you?” she heard her landlord ask.
“A friend. Move.”
The familiar voice had Jordyn stumbling from the bedroom, her eyes catching Gio’s in the doorway.
“I fucked up,” Jordyn whispered. “I really, really messed up, Gio.”
“Yeah, well, it’s good there’s someone else in the family besides me screwing up every once in a while.” The youngest Marcello shook his head, starting a trek across the small apartment to meet Jordyn’s shaking form. “It’s okay. Come on, we need to go. Lucian called, he won’t be long.”
Dumbly, she waved towards the bedroom. “No, it’s bad. It’s on the wall. I really screwed this up, didn’t I?”
“Maybe. Just don’t admit that to Lucian. He’ll never forget you did.” Gio laughed, trying to cheer her up, but it didn’t work. “Nothing’s going to happen. You’re safe. All right?”
But for how long?
It probably wouldn’t take much for someone to get wind she’d been back here.
Jordyn couldn’t find it in herself to care. There was only one thing she really needed right now for so many reasons.
“I want Lucian.”
Gio nodded. “That’s what I’m here for.”
Lucian found Gio resting on the couch in his condo living room. A look was shared between the two as Lucian pulled off the leather jacket he wore.
“It was bad,” Gio said, glancing down to the floor. “She got what she wanted, I think, but the damage is done. There’s definitely eyes in that building.”
Lucian wet his lips, considering his brother’s words. “How bad?”
“Ruined the place. Completely. Even pissed all through her bed, as disgusting as that is.”
Cazzo
.
“What was the point in that?”
“Humiliate her,” Lucian answered. “Show her what she means to them. She could sleep in their urine, for all they care. To them, she’s worth less than piss that comes out of their cocks.”
Gio made a face. “Jesus.”
Yeah, it was a pretty fucked up mentality to have, especially towards someone like Jordyn. Lucian didn’t even want to consider what the MC would do to Jordyn if they got their hands on her and not just her things.
“I know you were hoping that the MC would think she skipped town, but I don’t think that’s the case,” Gio informed.
“Why not?”
“Because of this.” Gio held up a note for Lucian to see. Even from his spot, he could read the threatening words and he heard them loud and clear. “Also, Jordyn was the one to find it first. So there’s that to think about on your end, too.”
Oh, dolce Christo
. Lucian’s throat was so tight with his fury he could barely speak. “Yeah.”
“You know …” Gio trailed off, clearing his throat and looking uncomfortable. “You can’t really be angry with her for this.”
“I’m aware.”
“Good. I’m just saying is all, because on the drive back here, she kept saying how she didn’t know. She didn’t understand. I couldn’t figure out why you wouldn’t have explained how serious this was and what you were trying to do for her.”
Lucian shrugged, focusing on the wall behind his brother’s head. “I did, in bits and pieces. I was keeping her safe and she knew that. I thought if I just kept her hid long enough, he’d either give up or mess up.”
“But did you do it the right way?” Gio asked.
“Probably not,” Lucian admitted. “For me, sure. For her? That’s a different situation.”
“You’re really on with this girl, huh? I mean, where does she go when we get here? Straight to your bed. Who did she ask for when she seen me? You. They beat her apart and you held her together. Some might call that a hero.”
A deep laugh rumbled from Lucian. “Kind of. Odd, isn’t it?”
“She’s so head over heels for you and she doesn’t even know it, yet.”
“Jordyn knows it. I know it. Fight like we’re in love. We fuck like it, too. You’d have to be stupid not to realize it.”
“Thanks for that,” Gio muttered lowly, rubbing at his eyes.
“It’s just easier not to label it all right now. With the situation we’re in, things like that only make it all the more complicated. Normal things don’t happen this fast. I wanted to give her a chance to be with me outside of all of this nonsense and then see how it worked from there.”
“How is this normal?” his brother asked. “The way you and Jordyn ended up wasn’t normal. Nothing about this is, Lucian. Why do you expect falling love with her to be normal, too?”
“What do you even know about that word?”
“I know I cried all the way to the vet with Cain choking to death on my lap this morning. Wondered what was going to keep me coming home every night if he wasn’t there wanting his food and a walk. Maybe it’s not the same kind of adoration, but I love that dog. I just do. I did from the moment I found him in that shop. He was mine, you know? He knows it, too.”
“Did you just compare Jordyn to a dog?”
Gio’s brow furrowed. “Seriously?”
“No,” Lucian said, laughing. “Get the hell out, and thank you for picking her up.”
Standing, Gio tossed the note Lucian wanted to burn to the couch. “Sure you don’t want me to stay for a bit? She was kind of hysterical for a while when we first got here.”
“No, uh … I think I have some apologizing to do.”
And really, Lucian’s hands were itching to touch Jordyn just to know she was okay. All the anger he thought he felt for her earlier had disappeared in his worry.
Chances were, his brother did not want to hear what came after that.
As Gio walked past Lucian, he bumped his older brother’s shoulder playfully. “So, can we go all out with her now?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean,” Gio said, smirking. “Mom wanted to take her out Marcello-style, but Dad said we had to wait for your okay on it.”
“Really?”
“Jesus, I thought your okay was when you brought her to church and then dinner. Clearly I missed something here.”
No, Gio hadn’t. Lucian was just being a total idiot.
“Got any plans?” Lucian asked.
“Dante bought three private balconies at that opera next month for Mom’s birthday. There’s a whole before party going on for it, too. A charity thing or some nonsense. Politicians, big profile names, the works.”
“That’s a while away, though.”
“True, but that’d be a public way for the family. For us, we just need to take her out and let her have fun, right? The next morning it’d be splashed all over the society columns. Yours and Dante’s birthday party is coming up, too, so that would work.”
Lucian considered his brother’s offers. “Let me talk to Jordyn first. After today, the last thing she might want is to go public with me at her side.”
Gio snorted. “Right. You’re fucking hopeless.”
Once Gio was gone, Lucian heaved a sigh. Staring around his place, he couldn’t help but notice the changes since Jordyn started living with him. Mostly, Lucian’s life was in such a constant state of disarray because he was perpetually moving and nothing ever seemed to really get finished.
Jordyn started to fix that here and there.
Things had never been more organized. As simple as that seemed, it was huge to Lucian. She cared for and about him without it being asked from her. Jordyn just did it because she wanted to. Lucian still couldn’t understand where he’d gone so wrong. How could be have made her feel like she was his whore?
That was a dirty, awful word. Something that was used to describe his dead mother and the relationship she forged with his father. It was also used to shame him because he was a product of them being together.
Lucian would never do that to a woman. It was, essentially, why it had taken him so long to find someone he wanted and could love. The last thing he intended to do in his life was be settled and married with someone he couldn’t care about enough to be faithful and loving to. He didn’t want another family hidden on the side to make up for what he didn’t have at home.
But, he wanted Jordyn. Needed her, too.
As he walked into his bedroom, Lucian noticed an opened box on the bed. He picked through the items carefully, noting what they were and some of the dates stamped on tickets and stubs. A thin, gold chain with a cursive S rested at the bottom of the box. The few photographs of a woman with a much younger Jordyn told Lucian these were private, personal things he shouldn’t be going through without her permission.
So, he packed them back inside the box and turned towards the bathroom where the shower was running. Jordyn hadn’t shut the door. It was a quirk Lucian still couldn’t get over since finding her after the beating. It shocked, amazed, and pained him to know she still kept the doors open for him, even if he wasn’t there. He had a perfect view of her naked figure through the shower glass.
Water rained down, creating a constant cascade of twisting rivulets over her skin. The usual curly locks of her dark hair was wet and waved, fanned over slender shoulders and covering her breasts. Most of the bruises had faded, though a few of the bad ones around the areas where the studs of the belt had broken skin still remained with a yellowish tint. The cherry blossom tattoo moved with the sway of her body, like living art.
Beautiful.
Bellissima
.
His.
She was crying. Soft, trembling cries like that of a kitten were being drowned out by the water. Tears, small and glittering, dampened her lashes and streaked her cheeks.
Lucian hurt so badly for those tears.
Before he even realized what he was doing, Lucian was crossing the bathroom and reaching for the sliding glass door to the shower. Jordyn stopped him. Turning at the sight of him in the space, her hand came to rest on the small inside handle as if to keep him out. It wouldn’t have really stopped him if he wanted in.
Droplets of water fell as Jordyn shook her head. “Just … don’t.”
“I’m sorry,” Lucian said, needing to get it out. “I should have listened to you this morning, but I knew what kind of a day it was going to be and brushed you off. I didn’t want to fight with you. What I said was true, but I could have said it in a better way.”
“Lucian—”
“Just let me apologize, Jordyn. I don’t want you to be someone else. I don’t need you to be anybody but exactly who you are. Maybe the way I’ve gone about this whole thing has made it seem like it, but I want you for you. I’m sorry you can’t go back. I’m sorry that bastard has taken so much away from you. I’m sorry if you’ve ever felt alone even once standing beside me. I’ll give you everything—
anything
—to replace what you don’t have because that’s nothing less than what you deserve. It’s not because I’m paying for you, or us.”
“I didn’t want to go back,” Jordyn whispered. “I just wanted the things you couldn’t replace.”
Lucian nodded, finally understanding that fact. “I’m sorry I didn’t hear you when you told me that the first time. It escalated into something different and I only heard what wasn’t important. You scared the hell out of me today, sweetheart.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. I didn’t explain to you well enough about what was going on outside of us. Frankly, I’ve been more concerned and focusing on you to care about any of that. I thought that’s what you needed.”
“It was,” Jordyn replied quickly. “I know I’m safe with you. I do.”
“But you need more, too,” Lucian said gently. “A life, because you already had one I uprooted you from and it doesn’t revolve around me. I can’t expect it to, either.”
Jordyn sniffed, glancing away. “He knows you have me, doesn’t he? That’s what that note meant.”
“Just means I don’t have to keep you hidden anymore. That’s all.”
“I screwed up going down there.”
“No,” Lucian rushed to say. “Jordyn, don’t blame yourself. You only did what I wouldn’t give you. Nothing happened, and you’re fine. That’s what matters.”
“Is it, though?”
“For right now it is. It’s a day by day thing, just like it always was.”
“I don’t want him to hurt me again.”
Lucian’s heart broke. “He won’t. You know I won’t let that happen.”
Finally, she let go of the inside shower handle. Lucian opened that glass door faster than he thought possible. Not even thinking or caring about the rushing water from the spray, he stepped inside the stall to grab what he wanted the most.
Jordyn.
Instantly, her back was to the wall as he pressed her against it. Lucian cupped her face, kissing her harder than ever before, passion covering every stroke of his lips to hers as their tongues found a familiar, searing rhythm. Water soaked his clothes straight through, but he didn’t mind a bit.
Jordyn arched into his body, gasping Lucian’s name low, soft, and filled with need. It made him ache from the inside out. Her chest heaved with every breath she took. Her breasts were hot under his touch and her pink nipples pebbled into hard little buds as he grazed over them with calloused thumbs.
“I want you,” Lucian ground out through clenched teeth. “On me, soaking me, fucking me like you do.”
“Now,” Jordyn demanded.
“Only you.”
Pretty blue eyes flicked up to meet his. “Just me.”
When her fingers fisted into his wet shirt, yanking it upwards, Lucian didn’t stop Jordyn from taking the sopping material off. The pants and boxer-briefs he wore were undone and shoved down roughly around his hips, freeing his erect cock to Jordyn’s hand. Gently, she stoked him further awake, pulling him closer with every tightening of her fingers.
Lucian groaned low when she dropped to her knees without warning and took him in her mouth. Silken, wet heat enveloped his shaft. Flicks of her tongue hit against the throbbing vein along the underside of his cock. Lucian found he couldn’t think with her lips tight to his dick and her hand slipping under to palm his sac.
Cazzo
, her mouth was amazing.
Saliva slicked up his cock as she took him deeper into her throat, over and over. Lucian was losing it faster than he ever had before. A low hum building in her chest vibrated all the way through his shaft and straight down to his balls. She watched him through thick, damp lashes, her gaze burning into his.