“He’s a friend who wants to fuck you. This discussion is over.”
“I’m sorry, were we discussing? It sounded a lot more like you telling me shit.”
I seethe and get up so fast she jumps out of my grasp when I reach for her. I get her though, securing my arms around her middle. The sheet falls off as she tries to hit me. I take her right back to bed, lay her down and pin her hands over her head, laying her out like a delicious meal with her gorgeous breasts on show.
“Let go of me. Get away,” she cries, but I hold her down.
“Emelia, this is bullshit.”
“How is it bullshit? I just want to talk to my friend.”
I have a mind to mention Gabriella and ask her if she’d be alright with me talking to her, but it’s not the same thing. Gabriella is a former bed friend. Jacob is not, and I know that for certain. It was me who took her virginity, not that prick. I bet he wanted to though.
She’s naïve and innocent. She doesn’t know the dirty shit a man can conjure up. I’m doing it now as I watch her struggle beneath me.
“I’m not going to be okay with you talking to a man who wants my girl,” I say. It’s only then she stops trying to fight me.
I release her hands and back off the bed, away from her. She eases up onto her elbows and stares at me.
“I could have put a tracker in that phone, or some shit to keep tabs on who you speak to. I could have given you a new one with a new number. I chose not to because I wanted you to have some element of privacy,” I explain. “When it comes to those two people, however, the rules change. You will not call either of them. You ask me not to spoil this. I’m asking you the same. If you betray me, you will not like it, so don’t do it. You don’t want a problem with me.”
I walk out and leave her on that note, staring after me.
She was quiet the whole journey to my father’s house, just as I knew she would be.
She barely spoke to me ba
ck at the house when I went to pick her up. I was too absorbed in how she looked to note that she was pissed at me.
She looks beautiful in a strapless cocktail dress that accentuates her breasts and her curves. Her hair is down, just the way I like it, and her face is made up in a way I’ve never seen it before, with smoky eye shadow.
As I park the Bugatti on my father’s drive and look out to the other parked cars, I get nervous too. It’s an important night for me. I will be boss over these people. Today is the first time I need to garner that respect.
It starts with her and the presentation of her.
I look across at her sitting next to me and notice how nervous she is. “You look beautiful,” I tell her, and she faces me.
Her face softens from the anger she exhibited this morning. “Thank you.”
“That all I get, Princesca? No kiss?” This is the most playful she’ll get from me. She knows I was right about Jacob, but she’s pissed because she can’t call him. I need her to shake off that funk.
I lean in closer to her, and she kisses me briefly. It will have to do.
I take a lock of her hair and watch the ends curl about my thumb. “We’ll finish that later, Princesca.”
When the twinkle returns to her eyes, I know I have her back, if only to calm her from our disagreement.
I get out of the car and open the door for her. When she steps out, I take her hand. This is the first time we’ve been out together. We look like we’re going on a date. I’m wearing a suit and a dark shirt underneath, while she’s in her dress. I catch a glimpse of our reflection in the car window. We look good together.
I glance across at her and see she notices too, but she looks away.
We walk up the rest of the drive. It feels like I’m carrying her to the electric chair. I’m always happy to visit my old man. This is the first time that I wish I could reschedule.
As usual, Mario, Pa’s butler, opens the door before I can reach it. He was our butler too when I was a boy. After we lost everything, we had to let go of our staff, but the first things we found were those people. People like Mario, Candace, and Priscilla.
“Buonasera, Master Massimo,” he welcomes me, dipping his head for a curt nod.
“Buonasera, Mario. This is Emelia, my fiancée,” I say. It’s the first time I’ve introduced her as such.