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8
“Damn, bro. I’ve never seen you lose your shit like that,” Johnny exhaled blowing out rings from his Cuban.
My hands tightened on my lowball as I raised it to my lips, letting the bootleg rum slide through. Courtesy of Johnny’s outfit, the illegal Jamaican rum was of the best quality; stocked in all Manhattan bars bought off the docks not the liquor distributors. It was tax free and smooth but did nothing to quench the rage billowing through me.
“You fucking kissed her.” My eyes cut to Rafe holding a bag of ice to his swelling cheek.
“Why wouldn’t I? We were in the game room. We all agreed if we liked a girl, we’d never bring her in there.”
“I told you it was over. The game. You should have listened.”
He shrugged, “Whatever. Her kiss did nothing for me. I like curvy girls, not the delicate things you like to break.”
A hiss escaped before I could reign it in. Lifting my gaze to the night sky speckled with stars, I shuddered remembering the feel of her in my hands as I touched her in the dark.
Something was brewing between us. Something so strong it blew my mind. She was a storm, raging in my arms as we kissed and touched. She made me feel more alive than I have in years… I haven’t felt such emotions whipping through me like a tornado since that day in the woods when I almost killed the Fiorelli girl.
Ever since that day, I found myself partial to slim, redheads with barely any breasts. I fucked them hard. Sometimes slow, while circling their throats with my palms as I drove into their small bodies on fire for mine.
But none of them seared me with the heat the girl’s eyes had.
That was a lifetime ago and yet that sick day shaped my life. That she-devil of a girl’s taunt never left me. I almost stole her life and in return she never leaves my mind. Her spirit as it faded bled into me. I brought her back to life only knowing I’d have to take it again.
But this girl tonight. She was fire. The hottest fire that stoked the flames the other girl a lifetime ago lit.
This girl was thin but strong. Surprisingly full of muscles for such a petite frame. Her nipples practically made up her whole breast and my mouth watered knowing all of her would fit into my hot mouth.
I wanted to ram my cock inside that tight, little, piece of ass. Feel her take it all. Hell, if I hadn’t lost my head, she wouldn’t have gotten away, and I’d be tearing up the night with my high school girl right now.
“I’ll find her.” Johnny, slapped my back
“It was my fuck up. I’ve already put my security on it,” Rafe chimed in.
I nodded, feeling my throat tighten. “All I wanted was four years to be normal… just a guy in college. But despite the rugby team, the classes, the girls, the whole fucking scene—none of it ever felt normal… not until tonight…in the closet with her.”
“That’s because normal is fucked to us and the fucked-up to everyone else is our norm.”
“Well said,” Rafe dipped his head to Johnny.
“Fuck. I love you, assholes.”
“Love you too, bro. We’ll find her. She’s local. Only a few high schools around the suburbs. Besides, we have cameras on the streets. Every car, every person would’ve been captured.”
“Did you have the night-vision cam on in the closet?”
“Fuck yeah, I did. I rubbed one out watching you with her.”
I cocked a fist and swung in Johnny’s direction. The bastard was too full of liquor and himself to move.
Downing the rest of my rum, I wound up and let the glass fly into the dying flames of the bonfire. It shattered into shards, they burned. Leaving them behind, I entered the woods nodded to Shane, our head of security as I passed.
I might have a room at the frat house, but I didn’t live there. None of us did. We kept up appearances while living double lives. The walk through the backwoods took five minutes. Slipping out the other side along a back road, I took out my fob key and unlocked my ride. The black Bentley purred as I got behind the wheel and drove north to the quiet gated mansion Johnny, Rafe, and I shared. Inside those walls I could shed Ralph and be Roque. Roque Salvatore, devil, mob ruler, and heir to the Salvatore throne of pain, punishment and mayhem.
Too wired to sleep, I unlocked my office using a retinal scanner and got to work finding out just who my mystery high school sweetheart could be.
I logged into the secure network and started scrolling through the recordings from the cameras hidden under trees or tucked into obscure spots around the frat house.
“There you are,” I eyed the screen appreciatively. The first shot I had of her was when she is walking with her friend through the front yard. At least I knew which direction she came. I picked up my cell and called Johnny’s crew. His father’s men had this whole part of New Jersey under lockdown since Johnny convinced his father that an Ivy League degree would make their business appear more legit when he took over someday.
I had no doubt I’d know who she was soon. My finger traced her face zoomed in close on the screen. If I were a man worth any shred of conscience, I’d let her go. She’s young maybe sixteen or seventeen. But I had a taste for forbidden, beautiful things. And my thirst for this one was growing each second I stared at her face. There was something about her that was so familiar. If I were a romantic, I’d swear I loved her in another life. But love is something I’d never give a woman. No woman will wield the weapon of my own heart against me. I have too much to lose and I’ve only just begun to build the Salvatore empire back to the respect my name deserves.