Page 67

Rachel

I saw the light shining under Dante’s bedroom door, and walked straight towards it, pushing the door open without bothering to knock.

The sound of the running water told me he was in the shower, and so I sat on the end of his bed and waited for him, picking the skin around my nails as my nerves grew.

I didn’t know why I was so nervous. Dante and I had argued so many times already, so this time should be no different. And yet I couldn’t help but think that there was something more final about this.

Every game had to come to an end, and we were both growing tired of the cat and mouse, will they/won’t they game we had been playing.

If we couldn’t find common ground soon, there was no point even trying anymore – not that either of us had really been trying up to now.

Dante had been right the other night when he said we needed to get to know each other.

We had to learn to get along; we had to find a friendly middle ground, or else we were doomed.

Dante wasn’t the type of person to be content with living in total peace – he wouldn’t be part of the Devil’s Disciples, if that was the case.

And if I was being honest, I didn’t want total peace either.

Some part of us enjoyed the drama, and no doubt we would always goad the other into an argument.

But the situation we had at the minute couldn’t continue.

Every argument was an escalation on the last, and it wouldn’t be long before we did some serious damage – both emotional and physical.

The shower clicked off, and a moment later, Dante entered the room, fixing the towel he had tied around his waist.

My mouth immediately dried up, and yet somehow filled with my own drool at the same time. I had yet to see Dante without his clothes on, and he was fucking magnificent.

His body was covered in tattoos – a tribal tattoo up one arm, a snake slithering around the other.

A small bee rested on his collarbone, with a little beehive underneath.

At the right side of his stomach were two little stick figures, and “Bee and Daddy” written underneath them.

It didn’t take a genius to work out he had tattooed one of Bee’s early pieces of art.

There were scars over his chest, his shoulders, and even a nasty one down his ribcage near his heart.

His muscles rippled with the movements he made, the veins on his forearm protruding.

My blood fired up, and I clenched my thighs together at the immediate heat that raced between my legs as small droplets of water ran down his face and onto his body.

“What are you doing here, Rachel?” Dante asked, frowning at me with suspicion.

“I came to talk,” I replied, clearing my throat before I spoke, and yet it still came out husky.

“About what?”

I gritted my teeth against his hostile tone. “I just wanted to talk.”

“You were asleep ten minutes ago.”

“I woke up.”

“Clearly.” he rolled his eyes at me and walked over to his chest of drawers, pulling out a pair of boxers. He dropped the towel, completely unashamed in his nudity, and pulled them on in one smooth move.

I dragged my eyes away from the impressive bulge and forced myself to look at his face. Thank God he wasn’t paying attention to me and hadn’t seen me drooling over his dick like a savage beast.

“Why are you being so hostile?”

“Am I?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe I’m just matching the energy.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I tried to talk to you earlier, Rachel, and you turned your back on me.”

“I’m here now, aren’t I?”

“So we can talk whilst it’s on your terms?”

“Yes,” I said simply, and had to bite my lip as he swung around, shock flashing in his eyes before it was replaced with a growing anger.

“At least you’re honest.”

“Exactly. I’m a difficult woman, I get that.

I’m not the easiest person to have a conversation with at the best of times.

It’s best to try when I’m in the right mood.

I know my faults, and that’s one of them.

But I’m here now,” I repeated. “So, can we talk?” I asked after he didn’t bother responding.

“I’ve had a long night. Can we leave it until the morning?”

“No, we can’t. I don’t want to start another day with bad feelings. I’d like to clear the air.”

“What is there to clear?” He asked in exasperation.

“You’ve got to be kidding me? How about we start with why you didn’t visit me at the hospital?”

“I did visit you!”

“Not when I was awake! I was left on my own all evening!”

“Not all evening!” He responded in mock horror. “And yet somehow you survived? You fucking warrior! Do the terrorists know about you? I’m sure they’d run a mile when faced with such bravery and sacrifice. A whole evening!”

“Wow,” I said, elongating the word so it came out more like “woooooow.” “I have never seen such a good-looking man look so unattractive. That was… that was quite something.”

“Just leave, Rachel. I’m not in the mood.”

“You brought this on yourself. You could have spent the evening with me and Bee, and yet you decided to go out gallivanting God knows where.”

“Jealous?” He said, flashing a grin at me.

“Of what?” I made a point of looking at the digital clock on the table. “You were gone only a few hours. Hardly a raunchy marathon, was it?”

“Can’t beat a quick and dirty roll in the hay once in a while.”

“If you’ve got issues with premature ejaculation, you can just say that. You don’t have to dress it up all fancy.”

“I didn’t hear you complaining.”

“I’ve got low standards.”

“That makes two of us,” he fired right back.

“Like I said, you made the choice to go out tonight. You lowered your own standards.”

“Touche,” he grinned, and my body relaxed as some of the tension left the room. I didn’t really believe that he had been with another woman tonight. My gut told me he wasn’t that kind of bloke, and since I really didn’t know him that well, my gut was the only thing I could trust.

But still… I had to push a little. I had to know for sure.

“Besides, you can’t handle me on my own. I don’t think you’ve got it in you to handle two women.” I joked.

Half joked.

Me and my big mouth.

I should have known better than to mess with a man’s pride.

“I can handle you just fine. I could always tie you up again and repeat my night with Beth.”

“Who the fuck is Beth?” I bit out, watching the blood drain from Dante’s face as he realised he’d said the completely wrong thing.

I wasn’t a jealous woman, that much was true. But if someone was going to throw it in my face that they had slept with another woman, I was going to react.

“Beth owns the Greasy Spoon,” he said simply.

“And what does she have to do with this?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all. You’re right. What did you want to talk about?”

“Nah, mate, that’s not how this works. You brought her up, have the balls to finish what you were about to say. What does Beth have to do with this?”

“I was just being a dick, Rachel. Me and Beth used to sleep together, that’s all.”

“But you said you would tie me up and repeat the night with Beth.” I persisted.

He visibly cringed. “Can we just forget what I said? I don’t—”

“You slept with Beth after bringing me here, didn’t you? You’re fucking unbelievable.”

“What? We weren’t together – we’re still not together!”

“Oh, I’ll go fuck Malfoy then, shall I? In fact, where’s your friend Vienna?

Now that is one fine looking man. I’ll happily take a ride on his—” Dante grabbed hold of my arms and launched me on the bed, throwing his body down on top of mine.

My head hung off the edge, and he grabbed my hair in a tight fist with one hand, pushing my head forward until we were practically nose to nose.

“Don’t even fucking think about repeating that,” he snarled, grabbing hold of my face and forcing me to look at him.

“If it’s good for you, it’s good for me.”

“You belong to me!”

“And yet the first night I was here, you slept with someone else! Fuck you, Dante! You absolute fucking hypocrite, bastard, cunt,” every word I said, I accompanied it with a punch to his chest before I gave up speaking and just rained punch after punch down on him.

“What was the fucking point? You wanted me so badly you had to kidnap me, and yet once you had me here, you couldn’t wait to run off elsewhere!

Get off me, you fucking brute!” I all but screamed.

“I swear to God, I will sleep with every fucking member of this club by the time I’m done here! ”

He let go of my head and gathered my hands, pulling me down the bed as he pinned my arms to my side.

“I didn’t fucking sleep with her,” he snarled in my face. “And if you ever even think about sleeping with someone else ever again, so help me God, I will skin you alive.”

“Is that supposed to intimidate me, Dante?” I hissed back at him. “Jokes on you. I’m fucking into that shit. Go on, give me another threat. Get me all worked up so I can go find Vienna.”

“Get out of my sight before I do something I regret,” he growled, pushing himself off the bed with such force my body bounced against the mattress.

“Now who’s jealous?” I laughed, jumping to my feet.

“It’s got fuck all to do with jealousy. But once I say something is mine, it stays that way until I decide I’m done with them!”

“I was never yours to take in the first place,” I hissed, storming over to the door. “Come find me in the morning. I’ll be the blonde in Vienna’s bed, having been ravished to within an inch of my life. Something which you have been incapable of doing.”

The door was slammed shut before I even had it open an inch. He grabbed my elbow and spun me around, trapping me between his body and the door.

“Vienna wouldn’t bother,” he hissed at me. “He knows damaged goods when he sees it.”

“And yet he’s got to accept these damaged goods as his VP’s old lady. Make it make sense, Dante.”

“Everyone is allowed to make mistakes. But unlike some of us, I’ll see my mistakes through to the end.”