“We could’ve come up with something,” I said. “We could’ve—”
“There is no ‘we’,” she said, her lips curled into a sneer. “You’re not in this with me. You’re just some hired thug my uncle left here to keep me in line.”
I threw up my hands. “I’m trying to help you.”
“No, you’re not. If you were trying to help, you’d find a way to let me go.”
“You know I can’t do that. You know—”
“You’re just the messenger,” she said, shaking her head. “Whatever, that’s such weak bullshit, and you know it.”
I stood there, my temper fraying. I stared at her and tried to keep myself calm, but she gave me this horrible look, this angry, pissed-off stare, like I was something cheap, something beneath her.
And it pushed me over the edge.
“Fine then,” I said. “You want me to be some stupid brute? You want me to be some asshole piece of shit, mafia scumbag? I’ll do that for you, my pretty little mafia princess.”
She stared at me as I walked to her bed. She flinched back, which only pissed me off more, like I was going to fucking hurt her. I grabbed her sheets, threw them aside, rifled through the covers.
“What are you doing?” she asked. “Get off my bed.”
I threw her pillows on the floor, ripped the sheets off.
“Real mature,” she said. “Real grown up.”
I went to the one nightstand, pulled open the drawer, and grunted in victory. I snatched her phone out before she could stop me.
“What are you doing?” she asked, standing up as I walked to the door.
I powered her phone down. “You don’t get this anymore.”
“Fuck you,” she said. “Give that back.”
“Don’s orders,” I said. “I was thinking about disobeying. But goddamn, you really made me do this.”
“I didn’t make you do anything,” she said, walking toward me. “Give me the phone back, Luca.”
“Sit back on the bed, Clair, before you do something stupid.”
She came at me hard. She flailed her fists and arms at me, trying to hurt me. I’d never seen a girl attack someone like that before, and her fists almost hurt. I caught her wrist and spun her, turning her around. She gasped as I forced her arm up behind her back and pinned her against the wall.
I pressed myself against her body, my crotch against her firm ass.
“You done?” I asked.
“You’re hurting me, asshole.”
I let up the pressure a little. “I’m going to let you go,” I said. “And you’re not going to do that again.”
“Or what? You’ll hit me, big man?”
“I’m not going to hit you,” I said. “But I will pin you down on that bed and hold you there until you stop.”
She turned her head and stared at me out of the corner of her eye. I pressed closer, let her feel my body. I was tempted to kiss her cheek or neck or maybe her pretty little ear.
But then she turned back toward the wall, chin tilted up. “Let me go,” she said.
I released her and stepped back. She stood there for a second, rubbing her elbow, then turned. I thought she might attack again, but there were tears in her eyes.
“You’re such an asshole,” she said.
“Like I said, it didn’t have to be like this.”
“I think it did. I think you like hurting girls. Pushing them up against walls. Is that what you’re into?”
I cocked my head. “Only when they ask real nicely.”
“Asshole,” she said and stormed off to her bathroom. She stomped inside and slammed the door shut.
I stood there and stared at the door.
That wasn’t how I wanted that to go. In my mind, I was going to talk to her, explain why what happened was messed up, explain that the Don wanted to punish her, explain that she’d get the phone back sooner or later.
Instead, I made things worse.
“Fuck,” I said and left the room.
I closed the door gently behind me before going downstairs
I wasn’t good with people. I wasn’t good at sweet talking them, or understanding them, or making them think I cared about them.
I was good at killing them. That was all I was good at.
So I really don’t know why the Don would put me in charge of this girl. It made no goddamn sense to me, and I knew I was only going to fuck things up sooner or later, if I hadn’t already.
But orders were orders, and I had to follow through, even if I didn’t love it.6ClairI spent most of the day in my room. My wrist, elbow, and shoulder hurt from where Luca put me in that restraining move. I kept closing my eyes and thinking about the feeling of him behind me, the pure power and muscle of him, and it scared me half to death.
And it scared me even more that part of me liked it. Some crazy, weird, sick part of me deep down inside actually liked having that monster push me up against a wall.