Speak Easy (Speak Easy 1)

“That’s how you want to seal it?”

“Of course it isn’t. But you have a fancy, remember?”

He smiled ruefully but took my hand and squeezed it. “If you change your mind, I’m going to stay in the room next door tonight.” He let himself out and I locked the door a moment later, my heart tripping faster. He shouldn’t have told me he was staying next door.

I wished there was a way to lock myself in.

Chapter Nineteen

The clock on the bedside table told me it was just after ten when Enzo left. For a moment, I forgot what day it was, and then realized it was Friday—the club downstairs was probably packed. I was amazed I couldn’t hear the music up here and wondered if Evelyn had come back with her new friend. How nice would it be just to meet a handsome guy at a club? Share a drink, a dance, a laugh, a kiss, maybe more... My head still ached and my limbs felt heavy as I crawled between the cool white sheets again and closed my eyes. I was exhausted.

But I couldn’t sleep.

He’s right next door. One wall away.

Did he wear pajamas or slee

p naked? I felt that weightless swoosh in my belly, the one I got every time I thought about Enzo’s body.

Don’t think about it.

I punched the pillow a few times and put my face in it. How absurd that I wanted him even more now that I knew he had a fiancée. Maybe we can be together just once more, I thought, desire seeping beneath my resolve. One more time won’t hurt anybody. And I’ll never stay here overnight again, so I won’t be tempted like this in the future.

I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed.

Should I?

Of course not!

“But I want to,” I heard myself whine softly.

A clicking noise at the door sent a chill up my spine. It opened and slammed. Before I had time to react, someone was upon me in the blackness, thrashing around and fumbling with my chemise. I couldn’t see anything, but the bulky chest told me who it was before he even spoke.

“You little whore.” Raymond shoved me onto my back. “I know Enzo was in here. For once he wants what I have and I’m not gonna let him take it.” He dragged my slip up to my hips. One hand clamped down on my mouth and he used the other one to undo his pants. Frantically I fought him off, bringing one knee up sharply into his groin. “Bitch!” He slapped me across the face and grabbed his crotch, and I used the momentary pause in his aggression to wriggle out from underneath him. I just needed one good breath to get a scream out, but he was back on me in a second, bearing down with a force I couldn’t overcome. I twisted and kicked and pummeled him with my fists, anything to keep him from touching me where he wanted to. When he leaned over me, I butted my head into his chin.

“Ow!” he yelled, lifting his chest off me slightly. But he managed to get his knees between my legs and pry them open. The hand returned to my mouth. I needed him to stop moving if I was going to get another solid knee to his balls, so I went still, as if I were giving up.

It worked—he was surprised and stopped moving. “There, see?” He put his hand on my thigh. “I bet you’ll like this.” Suddenly a ray of light streamed into the room and he was lifted off me.

“Bastard!” Enzo threw Raymond into the dresser and punched him in the face so fiercely blood spurted from his nose.

I scrambled to my knees and scooted backward on the bed. The two brothers fought hard, punching and kicking and tumbling to the floor. Someone bumped the lamp and it went over with a crash. I hated watching, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Raymond had the advantage of his hefty size, but Enzo was in better shape and quicker with his hands. At one point, Raymond was knocked backward onto the bed and I squealed, jumping to the floor. When I spied a smaller lamp on the bedside table, I shocked myself by having the wherewithal to grab it, yanking the cord from the socket. I hurried to the foot of the bed, where Enzo had Raymond pinned, his head toward me.

I did the only thing I could think of—clocked Raymond in the temple with the metal base of the lamp as hard as I could, on both sides of his big fat head. Then I backed up until I hit the wall, and black clouds swarmed my vision.

#

“Tiny! Are you OK?”

I opened my eyes and the kneeling figure of Enzo emerged from a gray haze.

“No.” I was still holding the lamp.

“Come on. Let’s get you out of here.” He took the lamp from my hand, pulled me up and led me to the room next door, where he gently pushed me onto the bed and told me to stay put. He left, shutting the door behind him. I sat in the darkness, listening to myself breathe. My entire body shook violently. Bringing my knees to my chin, I wrapped my arms around my legs. Men’s voices in the next room filtered through the wall, and the door thumped several times.

After a while, Enzo re-entered the room and switched on the light. His sleeveless white undershirt was spattered with blood. So were his hands. He washed up in the bathroom, behind a closed door. When he emerged, his skin was clean and his hair was damp. A bruise was forming on his right cheekbone, and he had red marks on his throat, but his face still made my insides tighten. He sat next to me on the bed.

“Did he hurt you?”