Her pussy clenched down on me like a Venus flytrap. It almost reached the point of pain, it was so tight. It squeezed like I was its last lifeline.
Any man would have felt that way with their hands around her tiny waist, thrusting up into her like they had the ability to split her in two. Her nails scraped at my back, her teeth dug into my neck, and I knew she drew blood in some places. She was leaving her marks on my tattoos, and she was probably doing it on purpose.
The sick thing was that I wanted her to. Katalina was more of a permanent mark on my body than any of the tattoos could ever be.
She sped up our tempo as I rubbed her clit and bit down on one of her nipples. She moaned my name like I was the only man she’d ever longed for.
I knew I wasn’t.
I thrust into her harder, faster, rougher. I wanted to make my mark this time, or maybe get my fix.
I wasn’t sure anymore.
But as she orgasmed on my dick, I remembered why I couldn’t leave this woman behind, couldn’t get enough of her. Her venom spread through the SUV like an airborne toxin as I met her with my own high. I moaned her name and cradled her to my chest when she slumped against it. Her vulnerability seeped into my soul.
I smoothed her caramel curls; I whispered sweet nothings in her ear. “God, you feel good. I fucking missed my home.”
“It’s only been a few hours.”
“A few hours too long,” I said, resting my forehead against hers. It wasn’t nothing I was whispering—it was everything. Every moment that passed, I realized I wanted her unleashed beside me.
Her venom was everywhere, and I sucked it up like it was water and I was stranded in a desert.
I wanted her poison.
She sighed in my arms, and I worried for the millionth time over these past few days if we would be able to survive the storm ahead.
And would it be our storm or the city’s? Because we were just as volatile and just as deadly.
A tapping on our window had us both jumping.
She froze when she saw a police officer. “Fuck,” she swore, long and low, as she scrambled off me and started zipping up.
“It’s fine. He can’t see in,” I mumbled, readjusting my still wet dick and trying to shake the fog.
“Roll the window down, Rome! What are you doing?!” she screeched as she wiped at her lips.
I hit the button, and the cop leaned forward, his blue eyes piercing everything he could as quickly as he could. When his gaze found Katalina, I waited a beat to see if he’d find his footing, to see if he’d drop his stare.
I cleared my throat. “Sir, there a problem?”
He didn’t glance my way. “License and registration.”
Fine. We were playing it this way. I reached into the compartment and pulled it out. He’d know soon enough he was wading into water he didn’t want to be in.
“You know it’s a very dark alley you’re both idling in tonight, miss? Any extracurricular activity going on?” One eyebrow lifted as he waited for an answer from Katie.
Her slate eyes cut to him, and her jaw hardened at his insinuation. “Are you assuming something, officer?”
“Should I be?” He sucked on his front teeth.
“Do yourself a favor,” I said. “Check my license and registration.”
He eyed us back and forth. “Don’t think I will,” he mumbled, but the man did something stupid. He pulled his gun like it was protocol. “Step out of the car, miss.”
Katie’s eyes widened right before they narrowed. I saw the fear followed up by the determination.
That woman. She was a phenomenon. I couldn’t tell if she was scared for my life or her own, but her resolve hardened as she stared at the barrel of the gun.
“Officer,” I said quietly, “holster your weapon. Check my registration. I don’t want more blood spilled this week.”
My words held enough warning that he glared at me in question. “More blood? Are you drunk?”
“I’m tired. That’s about it. If you want to go this route, I’ll most likely be more tired from killing you, but I’ll do it. Don’t make me.” I sighed, really not wanting to beg the man for his own life. “Please.”
He took a step back, as if it finally occurred to him that this might not be a good idea. He stalked away, my license in hand.
“We need to go, Rome,” Katie whispered.
“What for?” I shrugged and leaned back on my headrest to shut my eyes for a second. This night was becoming more ridiculous every moment.
“I’m not fucking this dumbass cop because he thinks I’m a prostitute and wants to get his rocks off in a dark alley. If you think I’ll stoop to that level, then I—”
“Don’t ever repeat those words.” I got in her face quicker than I should have. She didn’t recoil at all though. Not like a victim of abuse, not like I’d seen others do. For some reason, Katie didn’t have a preservation instinct with me and it scared me a little to realize it.
“Well, why are we sitting here then? He’s going to shoot you or have me fuck him.”
“He’ll do neither.”
“You realize I’m a mixed woman in a dark alley dressed like a hooker, and a cop with a loaded gun is asking me to step out of the car, right?” The hitch in her voice had me searching past the stone of her eyes, looking for the hint of fear. “I’m not scared, Rome. I’m pissed. I shouldn’t have to be scared, nor should any woman. The imbalance in power is what makes this all so sickening. No woman should have to be nervous when she’s stopped by a cop in the middle of the night.”
“But most are?” As the words left my mouth, I realized how stupid they were. “Of course they are. Jesus.”
“So drive.” She pointed forward, night completely forgotten, and rightfully so.
Except Mr. Cop was back already. “Um, I’m so sorry, sir. So sorry to have wasted your time. I apologize.” The man pointed to Katie, but his eyes were downcast.
“Seriously?” she whispered.
I knew our licenses were marked. Armanellis were rarely pulled over, and when we were, we didn’t get tickets.
“Officer, tell the lady you apologize for any disrespect too.” I couldn’t help myself. Katie shoved me as if I was taking it too far. So I took it one step further. “And when you apologize, look her in the eyes and mean it. Be the man your other officers expect you to be. Don’t terrorize women.”
He looked her straight in the eyes and mumbled so many apologies, I had to cut him off and tell him to leave us to our alley.
As he drove away, Katie watched him go, then punched me in the arm. “You had that up your sleeve this whole time?”
“I don’t use it on command, woman. We don’t ever want them to pull our licenses.”
“I’m telling Bastian I want one.”
“You don’t need one.”
“I definitely need one.” She readjusted the latex on her body. “I’m in a systemically racist, patriarchal society. Literally every woman should have one.”
I stared at her in her fiery rage, ready to school anyone who countered her argument. “You’re fucking beautiful. And one day—not today, but one day soon—I might have to tell you I love you and watch the chaos that ensues.”
“Why does it have to be chaos?”
“Because I’m the protector of the mob. I can’t have distractions.”
“I’m a distraction then?” she asked, head tilted with pain in her eyes.
“You’re the biggest distraction because I may put you before everything, even the family.”
She nodded and turned to look out toward the brick walls steeped in darkness. After a moment, she whispered, “Thank you.” She cleared her throat and dragged one finger along the windowpane. “You didn’t have to make the cop say sorry. I appreciate it.”
I wanted to tell her that’s how life should be, that a man should stand by his woman.
But I couldn’t rightfully claim to be her man until I came clean about the secret we all knew.
Her head fell back on her headrest as she sighed, ran her hand over her face, and then chuckled as she looked up toward the car’s sunroof. “Honestly, I sort of want to ride you like a horse all over again after that display of chivalry. Is that what I just witnessed?”
“You witnessed a real man, Kate-Bait.”
“Real men take me out, Rome.” She winked at me. “We going to your club or what?”
I intended to take her there, but Cade had texted that we needed Georgie’s laptop. I pulled away from the alley and took two more turns.
“What are we doing here?” she whispered like we were still being watched.
“I have to get something from Georgie’s place.”
“He’s got security and—”
“I’m well aware of his layout, Kate-Bait.” I cursed my bad idea. We should never have left my place, not when I was always supposed to be available to the family.
“I’m going with.” She grabbed her coat.
The hell she was. “No.” I shook my head, my voice low and final.
“I’m not staying in the car after what just happened, Rome. Not an option.”
I swore under my breath and glanced down the alley, but I already knew I wouldn’t leave her. I didn’t know who would be around after what we’d encountered. This night was going to shit, especially since I hadn’t told Bastian, Cade, or Dante to have us watched, because she wasn’t supposed to be out of the damn apartment in the first place. “Wear that in with the hood up. I don’t need cameras catching our identities.”
Her hands were already placing the hood on her head. It cloaked her face in such a way that the city lights danced over her strong bone structure. I glanced away to scan the perimeter and remind myself that we were targets at all times, that I couldn’t have my dick control the situation tonight.
At least, not anymore.
“Let’s go,” I grumbled as we swung open our doors. We moved into the shadows quickly, where Katie didn’t have to be told to follow close behind me. She let me lead without question, like she knew our places in this.
I wondered if she knew her place with me when it came to our personal relationship. Because I was starting to think I needed to know it more than ever before. Starting to think we needed to lay some boundaries.
Bombs needed to be secured.
“He shouldn’t be home,” I whispered once we were in the elevator. “Be quiet in the hall. I’ll pick the lock, and we’ll move in and get out.”
She nodded and whispered back, “There’s a security system right when you walk in. I have the code.”
Who knew she’d be handy? We moved well together down the hall and into the apartment when I got the door open. She went straight to his bedside where the laptop sat in a drawer. We were about to get out of there with no issues when we heard a key in the lock.
“I got this,” she whispered as she shoved me into the closet. “Let me handle it.”
I shook my head that it wasn’t a good idea, but she’d already spun around to stand in front of the door.
Fuck me.
She tried for nice; I heard her pleading with him that she’d missed him, that everything was a misunderstanding.
But Georgie had smartened up. He was done falling for her. “You think you can keep lying to me and playing with my emotions, girl? Your mom was just as much of a bitch right before we killed her.”
He’d gone off in an emotional rage and thrown out the one thing I had needed to tell her.
“What?” Katie whispered, but the sound wasn’t meek. It flew from her mouth like a demon ready to wreak havoc.
I was across the room, hidden in that closet, but my body felt hers. The way she punctuated the T, the way the air whooshed from her lungs and then hung there. The room was pregnant with her pain and anger.
I winced at my missed opportunity to be the one to tell her.
“Your mother had her little side piece.” There was a pause. “Dougie. Douglass, to be exact. What a proud name for a proud man. I remember your dad’s way, how he walked around with his head held higher than God, like he thought he could tame her, like he thought their love would transcend her bloodline. Pride had him cutting lawns, breaking his back like his fathers before him. And for what? You?”
“Georgie, my dad—”
“Oh, baby. Don’t look like that. I didn’t know much of you then. And you had me fooled real good up until a little while ago. Damn, I almost thought I loved you. Maybe it was my love for your mother. She was hypnotizing, I tell you. And I may not have got a taste of her, but I like to think you tasted just as—”
I lunged for the closet door just as I heard the guttural sound leave Katie’s mouth. As I whipped it open, her arm was swinging so swiftly around, I knew Georgie would be too slow to stop her momentum. The small knife she must have hidden on herself was pointed directly at his throat.
He saw it too late, tried to dodge, but she outmaneuvered him like she did most people in her life.
The knife punctured the side of his neck, hitting the arteries and larynx. Georgie’s eyes widened, and the gun I didn’t know he was holding clattered to the ground as he grabbed at his stab wound.
Katie wasn’t done, though. She twisted and then shoved the knife away from her, slicing his back.
He mouthed “Katie” as they stared at one another.
“Oh, no, Georgie. You of all people seem to know that my real name is Katalina. Let it be the last name you say as you bleed out on the floor. I wonder if you’ll like the taste of my name on your lips mixed with your blood as you choke on it.”
“Fuck, woman.” I grabbed her wrist and pried the knife from her hands. “We were just supposed to get the laptop.”
Eyes of gray mist filled with questions and pain glanced up at me. “Did you know?”
I took a breath, pulling my phone from my pocket. “Doesn’t matter now, does it?”
“It does. You knew. You all knew, and you didn’t tell me.”
I threw her knife just out of reach from Georgie and turned to dial Dante’s number. “We need a cleanup at Georgie’s.”
“A cleanup? We don’t got shit on the schedule. I’m in the middle of—”
“This time Katie hit Georgie. I got her here. We need a cleanup. Now.”
“Fuck, man. Bastian know?”
“I guess I’ll be the one telling him.”
“Maybe call Mario first.”
“Mario’s not the one we answer to anymore.”
“Don’t be a fool, Rome. You and Katie answer to no one. That’s the problem. It’s about to be our whole family’s problem.” The line went dead.
We stared at Georgie. His voice was gone as he writhed on the ground, struggling to breathe.
“I’m certain he deserves more pain than this, but I don’t enjoy seeing anyone grapple for one last breath. Is there a way to . . .?” Her voice trailed off as she lifted a shaky hand to her mouth.
I nodded without needing her to finish. I knelt in front of him and snapped his neck swiftly.
Katie hissed at the sound, and her chin shuddered. One lone tear rolled down her cheek. “I’m not sad to have lost him or that I took his life. I’m just . . .” She let out a breath and closed her eyes. More tears escaped, and I wondered if there was a way to capture them in a jar, sell them to the highest bidder. Katie didn’t cry.
The Katie I knew didn’t care enough to cry, not about a single thing.
“I’m just more lost than I ever thought I could be, and I’ve always been okay with that, been okay with being empty. Now, there’s you. And I figured that was good, right? We were doing good in your apartment, Rome.”
“We are good, Katalina.”
“No! No. This is all a lie.” She motioned between us. “You built this on a lie, Rome. And now, I’m mad and empty all over again, except that this asshole plants a seed of purpose here.” She pounded her chest. “My heart all of sudden doesn’t feel so lost. It feels full. Full of anger and revenge and longing to know what the hell happened to my mother, to my father, to get the real story beneath it all.”
“Katie, stay fucking lost,” I growled. “We can be happy with that.”
“It’d be easier that way. But we’re just scraping by, Rome. What’s a life without a purpose?”
“A carefree one?” I tried.
She shook her head and went to pick up her knife.
“You need to get rid of that knife, not keep it.”
“It’s mine. It doesn’t really matter anyway. I’m done hiding.”
“Katie, you’re staying with me. We’ll figure things out—”
She spun around and pointed the blade my way. “I’m staying where I want. I’m going out in the light of day. I’m tired of this bullshit. You’ll help me, and so will the family. If you won’t, I’ll climb over both you and Bastian, or—”
“Or what?”
“Or I’ll die trying. My blood is your blood, right? You’re either with me or you’re against me, Rome.”
The line had been drawn, and she stood there with blood splattered on her neck, red dots around the gold Cleopatra necklace she wore, the one I’d fetched for her because she couldn’t bear to be without it. She’d become her now. I knew it. It was her time. And my time to stand by her.
I stalked up to her and took her mouth in mine. I tasted her power and gave her my surrender.
After this, I wanted to help her. After this, I was taking her.
Katalina, in the light and the darkest of the dark, was mine.
And there went that bomb.
Tick, tock.
Boom.
