He bends down and scoops me into his capable, inked arms, holding me tight to his chest as he walks around the edge of the bed. He drops down, sitting up against the headboard of the bed and holds me on his lap, not giving a flying fuck that I’m making all sorts of a mess on his lap.
My head rests against his chest and I listen to the rhythmic beat of his heart as his hand curls up around me, holding me still. “Sleep now,” he tells me, more than coming through on his challenge to make me forget. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll hold you all night long if you need me to.”
And without another word, the safety of his strong arms comes over me and I fall into a long, dreamless sleep, the monsters and demons of my mind finally put to rest.
10
The late afternoon sun shines through my bedroom window, and I squint into the bright light, finding Levi’s arms still tightly wrapped around me despite being asleep for a lifetime. It must be somewhere around five in the afternoon, meaning I’ve been out for at least twenty hours.
“I thought you were never going to wake,” Levi murmurs into the silence, placing his phone down on the bed and pulling me into his chest. “How are you feeling?”
I shrug my shoulders, not really sure how to answer that. “Fine, I guess,” I say, giving him a generic answer that gives away absolutely nothing, but to be honest, I have no idea how I feel. Sure, my life is still just as fucked up as it’s always been. There’s no denying that, but today is a new day and a chance to put it all behind me. Today is my first shot at moving on, and I want to make it count.
Pulling out of Levi’s arms, I scoot to the edge of the bed and get up on shaky legs before rushing into the bathroom and dropping my ass onto the toilet. Twenty hours is far too long for me to go without peeing, and with Levi’s manhood still spread far and wide between my legs, I’m overdue for a cleanup.
After getting myself cleaned up, I step back out into the massive bedroom that has somehow become my own. I walk across the plush carpet and step into the walk-in closet, finding brand new black lingerie dangling from a satin hanger. After ripping off the expensive tags, I watch myself through the floor-to-ceiling mirror as I slip the black lace over my body. It fits me perfectly, and damn, I’m not going to lie, it’s one of the sexiest pieces of lingerie I’ve ever worn.
Scanning over the racks of clothes that once belonged to Ariana, I find a black, silk robe and pull it off its hanger before squishing it between my hands. It’s the softest silk gown I’ve ever touched. I can only imagine how much this thing cost, but either way, I will be living in it from this point on, unless one of those demanding DeAngelis brothers tell me otherwise.
Slipping my arms through the wide armholes, I trudge back out into the main bedroom. “Where are you going?” Levi asks as I make my way toward the door. “I wasn’t nearly ready to let you go yet. It’s been four fucking days, babe. There’s a lot of missed time to make up for.”
Everything clenches deep within me, and I feel the dull, sensual ache between my legs, reminding me exactly where he’s been. I bite down on my lip, his offer to spend the day fucking me more than enticing, but if I don’t eat something in the next three seconds, I think I might die.
Glancing over my shoulder, I give him a sultry smile, watching the way his eyes become hooded and flame with desire. I pause by the door and allow my heated gaze to travel up and down his strong body, his tattoos, dark eyes, and sculpted perfection making my mouth water. “I’m going to need a bit of energy if I have any hope of keeping up with you for the rest of the day,” I tell him. “Do you need anything while I’m downstairs?”
Levi’s eyes glisten with silent laughter as he shakes his head. “Nah, babe. Just make it quick. We can’t risk you running into Marcus. That fucker will sink his claws in and whisk you away with some bullshit promise about blowing your mind with some kind of fucked-up kink.”
Heat throbs below the surface and I clench my thighs again, imagining all the wicked things Marcus could do to me, though when it comes to Marcus, there is no guessing. I doubt even he knows how he’s going to fuck me before it happens. He’s a spur of the moment kind of guy and I love that about him. “In that case, maybe I should run into him,” I tease, though truth be told, I’m more than considering leaving Levi up here high and dry while I ride his brother like a fucking cowgirl downstairs.
Levi’s hand slips down under the blanket and I see the way he grabs his cock, giving it a hard squeeze to try and gain what little control he can. “If I have to come down there and find you, there will be trouble. Is that understood?”
A sparkle hits my eyes, and I hold back a grin as I lower my chin and look up at him through my thick row of lashes. Innocence washes over my features as I watch him through big, wide eyes, knowing just how much my little act affects him. After all, a man like Levi loves nothing more than taking a woman’s purity and claiming it as his own. I’d bet Levi was the dude in high school going around collecting girls’ virginities like he collects murder trophies. The silk robe slips off my shoulder, exposing my creamy skin below. His eyes quickly glaze over it, and as his tongue rolls over his bottom lip, he squeezes his cock just a little harder. I let those two teasing words fall from between my lips. “Yes, Daddy.”
Levi’s eyes widen and I bolt from the room as a throaty laugh tears from my chest. Fuck, he’s going to make me come through on that. I always suspected that he had a bit of a daddy kink but seeing the way his eyes lit up like fireworks only proves my theory.
I race down the hallway, my silk gown flowing out behind me when I hear his deep tone booming through the hallway. “You don’t know what kind of beast you’ve just unleashed, Shayne Mariano,” he roars. I reach the top of the stairs and clutch the railing as I glance back, finding him hovering in the middle of the walkway down by my room. His eyes sparkle in amusement but there’s something so much deeper there, something so raw that it makes my pussy clench with undeniable need. “There ain’t nowhere you can run from me.”
My bottom lip catches between my teeth and I wink back at him just moments before a wide, cheesy grin cuts across my face. “Watch me.”
I fly down the stairs, feeling as though I just got away with murder, though I’m not fooled. I’m not as clever as I pretend to be. If Levi wanted to catch me and put this new daddy kink into practice, he would have, but he’d prefer to see me fed and healthy over everything else, even if it means getting around with a wicked case of blue balls for a few hours.
My feet hit the bottom step just as Marcus walks through to the dining room and pauses in the entryway, waiting for me to catch up. “Hey,” he says, his eyes quickly skimming over my body and blazing with need as he takes in the black lingerie barely covered by the silk gown. His arm falls over my shoulder and he pulls me in close to his chest, pressing a kiss to my forehead as his hand sails low and rests over my ass. “You good?”
“Just hungry,” I say, looking around the massive dining room and finding Dill and Doe resting in the corner of the room, both of them laying in doggy beds. While Doe looks her perfect normal self, Dill looks far from it. His tongue hangs out of his mouth as he lays on his back, his bandages on display for the world to see. His eyes are closed, and his violent snoring tells me just how out he really is. Dill never lets his guard down, even while sleeping. He’s the perfect example of sleeping with one eye open, but right now, an elephant could come in here and shit all over the room and he’d just keep snoring with his tongue draped halfway across his face.
I hate seeing him like this, but I’m glad his pain medication seems to be doing the trick.
Walking deeper into the room, I find myself absolutely hating it. I’d gotten used to the boys’ castle but being in Giovanni’s home still feels wrong. Though, I can hardly expect the boys to rule over an empire from the confines of their prison castle a million miles away. This is where they need to be, where we need to be.
Marcus’ hand sweeps over the silk gown, trailing over the subtle curves of my body. “Me too, babe,” he says, his voice dropping low with his double meaning.
I gently push against his chest, a grin pulling at my lips. “Stop,” I laugh, knowing all too well that while I have a million monsters inside my head and I’m still trying to put the past few days behind me, there’s no denying that the boys are making me feel alive for the first time in days. They have a way of making me forget, making me live for the moment and plastering unexpected smiles across my face. Roman definitely doesn’t count in that … most of the time. The chip on his shoulder keeps him from living life to its fullest, but I don’t blame him. The shit he’s had to endure is like nothing I could ever imagine, and something tells me that I’m only aware of the smallest portion of it.
“Not possible,” he says, watching as I stride across the room, dropping down into the seat at the head of the table, the seat that used to belong to Giovanni. I pick at a bowl of grapes and lean back in my chair, kicking my feet up on the very edge of the table and allowing the silk to slip open, revealing more of my thigh than I would have ever been comfortable with before meeting the boys.
Marcus’ gaze lingers on my thigh but seeing the savage way I inhale the grapes, he pulls back on his wicked thoughts and starts loading up a plate of food. “How are you feeling?” he questions, placing the plate down in front of me. “You were asleep for a while.”
I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know,” I tell him. “I haven’t really had a chance to think about it, and honestly, I don’t want to. I’m just … I’m angry, and every time the slightest memory flashes inside my head, I’m left with this overwhelming need to viciously slaughter your father like a fucking wild animal.”