Bend Me, Daddy

LUCA

"Luca, can I talk to you for a sec?"

Tristan was waiting for Enzo and me when I got out of the SUV. I was just getting home from my newest club, I was tired and hungry, and I wasn't really in the mood for whatever the hell it was that made Tristan have that look on his face. Some shit had gone down between one of my guys and a member of the cartel who was in town to make a collection from me. The bartender called me as soon as things started to get heated, and I'd gotten there just in time to keep my cousin from getting shot. I didn't need this shit right now. I had other things to worry about here at home.

"Can it wait?"

"No. I don't think it can." He and Enzo exchanged a look I couldn't quite read.

My stomach growled. I was anxious to get inside to see if I could coax Veda into having dinner with me. "Can we at least go in the house?"

Tristan put a hand on my arm as I went to walk past. "Luca, just give me a minute here."

I stopped, glancing back at him over my shoulder. Something was seriously bothering him. "Okay." Putting my empty stomach out of my mind for the moment, I turned to face him as Enzo took up a position beside him in a show of solidarity. "What is it?" I asked, glancing between the two of them.

It was Tristan who spoke. "I want to talk about Veda."

Instantly, my gut clenched. He didn't need to say anymore. I turned and started back toward the house, shouting over my shoulder, "What happened? Is she alright?"

"Luca! Wait! She's fine. Nothing's happened."

I swung back around. "Then what the fuck are you making me stand out here in the heat for?" Holy shit, I was so fucking ready for summer to end.

Tristan stood silently, waiting for me to come back.

"Luca," Enzo said. "You might want to listen to us."

But the thing was, I didn't. Because I could tell by the way they were both looking at me that whatever the fuck they had to tell me was about to change things between me and my vita. And, goddamn it, I'd just gotten her back. I let none of this show on my face, however, as I walked back to them. I crossed my arms over my chest. "I'm listening."

"Don't you think it's strange that your brother just suddenly gave her back to you unharmed?"

"She wasn't unharmed," I corrected.

"Did she say something to you?" Enzo asked.

"No." I shook my head. "But she's not okay. She's not herself."

"She was alive," Tristan said. "That's all that matters."

I looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "Mario is a fucking psychopath. I have no idea what he did to her while she was there, but I can guarantee the time she spent with him wasn't something any of us would like to go through. So no. I wouldn't say that she was unharmed."

"He didn't kill her," Tristan repeated. "Why do you think that is?"

"Because it was more fun for him to give her back to me the way he did. So I would go fucking crazy wondering what happened."

"Did you ever consider that he turned her?"

My eyes snapped to Tristan.

He held up his hand. "Hear me out."

"What the fuck are you saying?" I asked him. "And you'd better think very fucking carefully before you answer that question."

But Tristan wasn't intimidated by my tone or the tension in my shoulders. He never was.

"I'm saying how do we know she isn't a spy for your brother?"

My fist flew through the air and smashed into the side of his face. I hit him so hard his entire body fell back into the SUV. I didn't think before I did it. I just reacted to the eruption of red-hot rage in my blood. "Hey! Hey!" Enzo jumped between us, but I shoved him out of the way.

Grabbing Tristan by the hair, I yanked his head up to mine. "Don't you ever fucking talk about her like that. Do you hear me?" Then I shoved him back into the side of the car.

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Tristan spit a wad of blood onto the ground. "You don't think it's true?"

"No," I ground out. "I don't."

"Then what are you so fucking mad about? Huh?"

Enzo stepped between us. "Luca, just think it through before you go flying off the handle."

"Little late for that," Tristan muttered.

"You." I stuck my finger in his face. "Shut the fuck up."

"Jesus Christ, would you stop?" Enzo yelled.

I spun on my heel and paced a few steps away. I couldn't get enough air in this fucking heat.

"Luca, I don't think Tris is out of line. It's a possibility, and you know it."

"If Veda is a fucking rat, then why the hell hasn't she come out of the bedroom?" I challenged them. "Why doesn't she ever ask me any questions? I don't think she even knows what I do. Not really. No." I shook my head. "No. She's a victim of this fucked up relationship between me and my brother. That's it."

Tristan caught my eye, and my attention was immediately diverted to him. I closed the distance between us. "You ever say shit about her again, and I'll cut out your fucking tongue. Comprendere?" I knew I was only focusing on him because he was the one who'd actually had the guts to say what they both were thinking, but I didn't give a fuck. "And you stay the fuck away from her from now on."

He stood toe to toe with me and didn't back down. "You're being unreasonable," he said calmly. "Thinking with your cock instead of your head."

With a roar, I shoved him back into the car and hauled back my fist to hit him again. But Enzo caught my arm and pulled me away from him. "Get off of me!" My eyes never left Tristan. I couldn't have said why I was so hellbent on kicking his ass. All I knew was it made sense in my twisted head.

"Not until you calm the fuck down," Enzo told me. When I continued to struggle, he held both arms behind my back. "Look what you're fucking doing, Luca! You're trying to beat the fuck out of one of the only two people who've stuck by you. And why? Because he's trying to look out for you? This guy, who took a fucking bullet for you. More than once! How does this make any fucking sense?"

It didn't. I knew that. It made no fucking sense at all. But right now, the only thing I wanted to do was get him on the ground and beat his face into a bloody pulp in the dirt.

Tristan walked up to me and got right in my face. And it wasn't because Enzo was holding me back. He'd do this shit even if he wasn't. "You wanna kick my ass, Luca? That's fine. We can take this into the gym if it'll help you get all this pent-up anger out of your system. Because you're not fucking mad at me. It's Mario you want to go after. I know that. And you know that. But I'm here for you, either way."

He was absolutely right. "Let me go," I told Enzo. "Let me go!"

"Go ahead," Tristan told him.

Stepping back, he held up both hands as I yanked my arms out of his hold.

"We're just trying to look out for you, man," Tristan told me.

"She's not a fucking rat."

He nodded. "Okay."

"She wasn't fucking turned."

"Okay."

"She was fucking hurt."

"All right."

"And we're gonna pretend like this conversation never fucking happened." I looked back and forth between the two of them, making sure they understood. Tristan nodded as I heard Enzo say, "Got it."

"Are we done here?"

Tristan looked over my shoulder at Enzo, and then he nodded. "Yeah, man. We're done."

"Good." Leaving them both standing there, I went into the house and headed right to the gym. I was still fucking starving. But right now, I didn't want to see their fucking faces. Or anyone's.