Bend Me, Daddy

My temper flared before I could control it and I had to take a few deep breaths so I didn't snap at one of the few true friends I had. My father was the last person on this fucked up earth I wanted to turn to for help. It was a testament to the friendship Tristan and I shared that I managed to keep the volume of my voice level. "No. I'll handle this myself. This is between me and Mario. My father has made it clear he's not getting involved, even if I wanted him to. He won't choose between his sons." The mafia boss apparently did have a weakness after all. After all these years of him lecturing me about how disgusted he was by my own, he wasn't such a hard ass himself. Not when it came to his family. However, he'd also made it very clear he wouldn't interfere, as long as I kept Mario alive.

That was going to be hard to do this time around.

"Look. I'm here for you, Luca. What do you need me to do?"

I stared into the amber liquid that filled the glass in my hand and felt my mouth twist with fury. "I needed you to fucking protect her, that's what I needed you to do."

He was smart enough not to respond this time. I mean, it was a stupid thing to say. I'd taken Veda to that club so I could put a bullet through her head in front of my brother. Just like he'd done to Maria, the woman I'd loved years ago. Accusing Tristan of such a thing was ridiculous. But I needed to lash out at someone. And he was in the room.

I downed what was in my glass and immediately refilled it from the bottle of whiskey on my desk.

"I'm going to go find Enzo and see if he had any luck talking to his contacts."

"Yeah," I told him without looking at him. "You do that."

Tristan got to the door and stopped. He didn't turn around, but only turned his head enough that I could hear him. "You know I would protect Veda with my life, even from you, if you'd only given the word. Not because I give a rat's ass about her. But because I do give a shit about you."

I glanced up at him. Tristan's large form filled the doorway, and I could tell by the tense hold of his shoulders that I'd hurt him with my careless words. "Fuck," I mumbled. Then I took a deep breath. "I apologize," I told him sincerely. "I'm just..." Scared. Hurt. Angry. Ashamed. "...tired."

He nodded once and went to find Enzo.

"Fuck. Fuck!" Slamming my empty glass down on my desk, I dropped my head into my hands. What the fuck was wrong with me? Making an enemy of Tristan wasn't a good idea right now. I needed him on my side. Always. If anyone else had mouthed off to him the way I just had, he would've taken out the window behind me with their airborne body.

Luckily, he'd known me long enough to know how I am. He also knew I was one of the few people who could match him in a fight. He accepted my authority only because he had no interest in it himself. Not that that was an excuse to accuse him of not having my back. I knew how lucky I was to have his loyalty. I was only one of two people in the world who did. Enzo being the other. And I almost felt bad for the fuckers who didn't. Almost.

Disgusted with myself, I got to my feet. The room spun around me, and I had to acknowledge that he was right. I was drunk, and I'd barely slept since Mario had taken Veda. I had all of my best guys on the hunt for her, but so far, there hadn't been one single hint of where he could possibly have taken her. But I would find her eventually. And when I did, I couldn't be strung out on whiskey and going on an hour of sleep a night. I needed to be sharp. And I needed to be ready to fight my way out of there with her if need be.

Moving slowly, I left my desk and made my way upstairs to my bedroom. As I passed by the kitchen, I heard water running and the click of the gas stove, which meant Lisa was already in there getting her tea before she prepared dinner. Enzo and Tristan sat at the far side of the room in the chairs near the patio doors that led out to the back deck and the pool. Both of them had their phones to their ears. Tristan glanced up as I passed, saw I was headed toward the stairs, and went back to his conversation.

Even with other people in the house, it felt cold and empty without Veda's raw energy filling it. She warmed it better than the hot Texas sun. Made it into a home. A home I never realized I was lacking until she came into my life. A surge of frustration made my head pound. She would warm this house again. If I had to lock her inside for the rest of her life to keep her here, I would. I had no doubt she hated me after everything I'd put her through. But her hate was better than this constant chill in my bones. This constant ache in my chest.

When I got upstairs to my room, I paused in the doorway. Without conscious thought, my head swiveled toward the room Veda had chosen for her own. Before I knew what I was doing, my feet took me down the hall.

As soon as I opened the door, her scent hit me full in the face, forcing a groan of longing that started somewhere within the hole in my chest and pushed its way up and out of my parted lips. I closed my eyes and inhaled her into my lungs, holding her there like a hit from a joint, craving the high only she could give me.

I wouldn't allow Lisa to come in and clean or change anything since Veda had last used this room. The bed was still unmade. Her clothes were still lying in the chair where she'd thrown them. The closet door was wide open, the items inside split between what she liked to wear on one side and what her sister would wear on the other. The clothes I'd forced her to buy. Forced her to wear. The person I'd forced her to become.

My feet moved until I stood at the foot of the bed, the door softly clicking shut behind me. I stared at the blue comforter, still rumpled from the last time she'd slept here. The night I took her to the club. I'd allowed her to stay in here in an effort to put some distance between us. To get her out of my blood. It didn't work. I still remembered how soft her skin was as it slid against mine. The smell of her. The taste of her.

Unbuttoning the top three buttons of my dress shirt, I reached over my head and pulled it the rest of the way off, leaving me bare chested. I kicked off my shoes and dropped my black jeans and boxer briefs to the floor to join them. Naked, I crawled up into her bed and yanked the comforter up over my head until I was surrounded with Veda's scent. I inhaled and exhaled slowly. Once. Twice.

My hand found my cock, already half hard. Closing my eyes, I let myself remember...

Veda lying beneath me that first night, my blade pressed into her cheek. The taste of her blood on my tongue.

Veda sprawled face down across my lap, her sweet ass pink from the palm of my hand.

Veda straddling my lap with my cock deep inside of her, her head thrown back with abandon, her gorgeous breasts filling my hands like they were fucking made for me and me alone.

Her gray eyes filled with defiance. The way she would kiss me with all of that passion locked up inside of her. Her sweet ass in the air as I pounded into her pussy.

Pleasure shot down my spine and concentrated in my balls. I could practically taste her pussy on my tongue, hear her moans in my ears, feel the way she hung on to me when she was about to come like I was the only thing keeping her on this earth...

"Ahhh!" I came hard, rolling to the side as my come shot out in spurts, coating the sheets beside me. Afterward, I laid there in a daze as I caught my breath. Exhausted, my scent mingling with hers under the warmth of the comforter, I closed my eyes and finally fell into a dreamless sleep.

Some time later, Enzo found me there. My eyes shot open as soon as I felt his hand on my shoulder. I blinked against the light coming in from the hall. "What is it?" My voice was gravely with sleep and my mouth tasted like something had died in there. "We found her."