Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

Oliver

It had been two weeks since the shootout on the ship, and I spent most of it sitting at home watching movies and playing video games with my brother. I hadn’t returned to the coffee shop or Erodance. There was no telling how safe it was for anyone from my family to be out while things between the Italian and Russian Mafia were being settled.

Even my mother had spent the time home from work. Explaining everything to her had been odd. She’d been aware of my father’s involvement in the Italian Mafia, but not that he had stolen from them, or Nana’s identity as a Russian sleeper agent.

Even just thinking about it two weeks later felt strange. Like the thought was too big to fit inside my brain and I could only examine pieces of it at a time.

After the two-week mark came and went, D’Angelo sent me a request to meet with him, shortly followed by a car to pick me up.

Gavriil was driving.

Maybe meeting with D’Angelo again after everything that happened was foolish, but I wanted closure. Even now that I had all the answers, things still didn’t feel “finished”. I’d been walking around in an almost trance-like state for the last two weeks, going through the motions of living without really feeling it.

Hopefully, speaking with D’Angelo would change that.

The penthouse was almost exactly the same as when I’d been there last, just emptier. Bare shelves no longer held a collection of books, there were no jackets hanging from the coat hooks, and overall, the place felt a little too tidy to be lived in.

“You’re leaving,” I said almost as soon as I stepped through the door.

D’Angelo looked up from his phone, sitting on the couch in the front room and obviously waiting for me.

“Yes. My time in Baltimore was only temporary to manage this deal with the Russians. Things are hashed out, mostly, so I need to move on to business elsewhere.”

“Oh.” I twisted my fingers around each other as I fought the urge to scratch at my scars. Not sure what to do with myself, I sat on the chair opposite him. Although only a few feet remained between us, it somehow felt very lonely sitting by myself when not that long ago I would have eagerly joined him on the couch.

I knew it was only temporary. I’d said it multiple times and never made any promises about the future.

So, why was I so blindsided to hear that he was leaving now?

“I guess it had to happen eventually.”

I could adjust to this. I’d lived twenty-two years without D’Angelo. Learning to live without him again shouldn’t be too hard.

My thoughts were turning over in my head so rapidly, I didn’t notice when D’Angelo stood from the couch and moved over to sit on the arm of my chair.

“Leaving is inevitable. I can never stay in one place for too long. However, I was thinking...”

He trailed off, and the uncertainty in his voice finally caught my attention. I looked up at him, and his hand cupped my scarred cheek.

“I was thinking... that you could... come with me.”

His hand was warm on my skin, but I couldn’t feel it. My entire body seemed to have gone numb.

“Come with you?”

“Yes.” Grabbing my hands, he pulled me to my feet. “My position in the organization is dependent on my connections, so I’m always traveling around to meet with different people, but you could travel with me. Focus on your art instead of working, or just play tourist wherever we go. I don’t care. I promise you won’t be involved with things like you were this time. This was a... unique situation.”

Unique was one way to put it. Finding out my father was part of the Italian Mafia was one thing. Finding out that my grandmother was also a secret Russian spy who’d been left dormant for decades, was a much more difficult idea to get my head around.

The fact that both of them had now nearly killed me at some point, nearly sent me into hysterics whenever I thought about it.

Had anything about my life up until now actually been real?

Well, there was one thing.

“But... my mother. My brother. I can’t just leave them. Rowan needs someone to help take care of him, and his treatment is expensive. I can’t let my mother support him all by herself.”

“Oliver.” He pulled me close. “I wouldn’t expect you to just abandon your family. Nor am I asking this without offering anything in return. I can more than afford to support your family. Your mother wouldn’t have to work at all, unless she wanted to. And your brother... I know you’re used to supporting him on your own, but there are facilities that are specifically designed to handle his condition.”

At first, the idea of sending my brother off to some care facility made me recoil and I pulled away from D’Angelo, so I stood alone in the center of the room.

My family had always taken care of Rowan on our own.

What could some random facility do that we couldn’t?

Then an image of my brother dawned behind my eyes. Rowan sitting in front of the television, with only movie monsters for friends. His only interaction with other kids his age came through his online classes, and he celebrated the days he was able to get down the stairs on his own, so he wasn’t forced to choose between being trapped upstairs or asking for help.

A specialized facility would have a team of medical staff, and other patients like him that can relate to his situation in a way the rest of his family can’t. He’d have social interactions and a chance to build friendships. He might even live longer with better medical care.

I would have to ask him about it, but if that was what he wanted, then I couldn’t hold him back. No matter how much the thought of letting go of my few remaining family members terrified me.

Noting my hesitation, D’Angelo backed up. An odd, sad little laugh escaped him, and he ran a hand over his face.

“Ha. What am I doing? Offering such things like it’s a trade... I’m basically trying to buy you.”

He turned around and I heard him take a deep breath. I waited, but when he didn’t immediately turn back toward me, I stepped around his body to face him instead.

His expression was hard, but his blue eyes glistened with a little extra moisture.

“I’m not being fair. After everything I’ve put you through, taking care of your family is the least I can do. Whether or not you agree to come with me, my offer still stands. Your family will be taken care of no matter what.”

That took a little of the pressure off, to know that D’Angelo support was already assured, but that still left one very important question unanswered.

“Why?”

His hard expression twisted into confusion.

I stepped closer but didn’t touch him.

“Why do you want me to come with you? What could you possibly get from me that you couldn’t get anywhere else? I’ve never really understood from the beginning, but now that I know who you really are, I’m even more confused. Asking me to come with you is basically like asking me to live with you. That sounds like... that sounds like you want me to stay permanently.”

This time D’Angelo was quick to respond, crossing the physical boundary between us and cupping my face in both hands. “I do. I want you to live with me and I want you to stay permanently. Honestly, I’d give anything for that. As for your other question ‘why you?’...”

He leaned forward until our foreheads touched.

“Is it childish of me to say it feels like fate? I was born of an uncommon union between the Italian and Russian Mafia. I belong to both worlds, yet neither at the same time. Then I find out that you, someone who so perfectly matches my taste, have the same mix of blood flowing through your veins. It’s like you were designed specifically for me.”

It felt good to be held by him and absorb the warmth of his skin pressed against my own. Maybe it was foolish, but I couldn’t imagine living without that comfort.

Feeling bold, I tipped my chin until our lips were almost touching. “One more question. What happens if I change my mind? If I come with you now, but decide it’s not what I want later?”

“Of course I’d let you leave. I wouldn’t want to keep you by force. If you decide that being with me isn’t what you want, then you can return to your family, or anywhere else you’d rather go.”

I smirked, and our lips brushed. “Then what have I got to lose?”

I kissed him, taking the initiative, but it didn’t last long. Almost as soon as our mouths locked together, I felt his hunger and his passion ignite, and he took control of the kiss. His arms practically crushed me as they pulled me close.

It was to be expected. D’Angelo was a very intense person, and that translated to every aspect of his life, even intimacy.

Our kiss was abruptly cut off when D’Angelo pulled away, growling low under his breath. Then in one smooth motion, he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.

I couldn’t help the startled shout that was punched out of my lungs when my stomach curled over his shoulder. With my head hanging down toward the floor, I scrambled to grab anything I could reach, which ended up being his belt.

“Ah. D’Angelo. What’re you doing?”

He laughed. A proper laugh this time. I couldn’t see his expression, but the movement of his shoulders caused me to bounce a little.

“You asked what you had to lose. But this shouldn’t be about loss. I’m reminding you what you have to gain.”

It was no shock when he carried me toward the bedroom, though I pretended to protest anyway, beating my fists against his back.

“You brute. Put me down.”

“As you wish.”

He flipped me back over his shoulder, so I landed on the bed, breathless and dizzy.

“That... is not... what I meant.”

“Oh, really…” He crawled onto the bed until he knelt over me. One finger tugged at the clasp to my pants. “Should have been more specific then.”

Before he could get very far undoing my clothes, I grabbed the front of his shirt in two fists and pulled him closer, so my lips were beside his ear.

“How’s this for specific. Fuck me this time. No toys. No messing around with our clothes still on. Take me properly.”

I could feel his arousal pressing against my leg as he grinned down at me. “Tired of being a virgin?”

“For the love of God, yes.” I started pulling his shirt open, and a few buttons may have hit the floor. He returned the favor, although not as wildly. My clothing escaped unharmed, but one way or another we were both eventually undressed.

The feeling of someone else’s body pressed so fully against mine was still a novel experience. I was tempted to just rub myself against him, but that wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to feel claimed, all the way down to my core, like my very insides had been rewritten with his name.

When D’Angelo pulled away, I nearly snarled in frustration. “Where are you going? Come back.”

“Just getting some things.”

While I admired the view of him rooting through his closet, I would much rather have feasted with my hands than with my eyes.

He pulled out a familiar box and I groaned.

“I told you, no toys. Just you.”

Laughing, he rejoined me on the bed and set the box aside.

“I know. I heard you. But we still need some supplies.” From the box he pulled out a bottle of lube and a few condoms.

The lube he set next to us within easy reach, but the condom he placed in my hand.

“It’s up to you. I’m clean, and I know you’ve never slept with anyone else before, but if you’d feel better with protection, we can still use it.”

Contemplating the condom for a moment, I eventually tossed it aside. “If I can trust you with my life, then I can surely trust you with this.”

He kissed me so hard that I fell back flat against the mattress. Clinging to his shoulders I breathed with him, trying to consume him as he consumed me. This lasted for several minutes, tongues dancing and lips passing whispered promises back and forth, before we parted, gasping for air. Even apart, we stayed close enough that a string of saliva still connected our lips.

One of his hands slipped down between my legs. At some point, while I’d been distracted, he’d coated two of his fingers in lube, which he now used to rub against my tight hole.

“Eeep.” I jumped at the startling sensation of cold liquid against hot skin.

He kissed me again, much quicker this time. “Sorry. It’ll warm up soon. Try to relax.”

One of his fingers slipped inside me, and I arched my back as I dug my fingers into the meat of his shoulders.

“Relaxing is the last thing on my mind right now.”

His finger inside me didn’t hesitate. He slowly pressed it farther and farther, until eventually it was as deep as it could go.

I shivered and moaned low in the back of my throat when D’Angelo’s finger brushed teasingly against my prostate, never quite pressing down.

He pressed a line of kisses against my throat. “If you don’t relax, this is going to be a much rougher ride.”

“I don’t...” I gasped as a second finger breached my tight pucker, making its way inside me. “I don’t think I can.”

The second digit was soon as deep as the first, and D’Angelo started scissoring the pair inside me, opening me up and giving my tense muscles no choice but to relax.

“Hmm?” D’Angelo sat up just enough to look down at me. “Fine then. Don’t relax. I know you secretly like it rough.”

He suddenly pulled his fingers out, leaving me heartbreakingly empty. I whined and writhed, desperate to be filled again. My own hand crept down between my legs, but before I could reach my goal, he grabbed both my wrists in an unyielding grip.

“Oh, no. You don’t get to do that. Pleasuring you is my job.” His smile turned dangerous. “If you can’t control yourself, I’ll have to help you out.”

From the box, he grabbed a familiar length of nylon rope. I thought he was going to tie my hands to the headboard like last time, but instead he merely bound my wrists together. It didn’t seem particularly effective when my arms were still free to move around, but then he gripped my shoulders and abruptly flipped me over, so I was lying on my stomach. My wrists were trapped under my own chest. Even if I wiggled my arms free and extended them above my head, it wouldn’t do me any good. There was nothing useful to hold onto. At most, all I could do was hold the bed sheets with the tips of my fingers.

Grabbing my hips, D’Angelo pulled them up, so I was braced on my knees. The position drove my chest and shoulders harder into the mattress, which also trapped my wrists even more efficiently. Burying my face against the sheets, I tried to hide the sound of my desperate whimper.

“There,” D’Angelo cooed as he slipped his fingers back inside me. “That’s much better. Easier to reach.”

He fingered me slowly at first, each movement smooth and deliberate as he coaxed me to open up for him. I continued to moan and whimper into the mattress as arousal built in my stomach and made my hips tremble.

Gradually, he began to speed up. His fingers plunged in and out of me faster and faster, until he was basically fucking me. My internal muscles automatically clenched down around the digits each time they pushed inside, trying to keep them there, and each time I was abandoned as they pulled out again.

“Such a little slut,” he breathed against my skin as he bit my hip. “Already so desperate, and I’m not even actually inside you yet.”

“Then hurry up,” I panted, though my words were muffled against the mattress.

His laughter danced over my skin as a puff of air. “Such a tempting invitation.”

I couldn’t tell if he was sincere or mocking. At that point, I didn’t care.

His fingers pulled out, and I groaned in disappointment, but he quickly pressed his hips against me. Shifting to get himself into just the right position, he brushed his cock against my puckered hole a few times, like he was asking for permission to enter.

I couldn’t figure out how to form proper words, so I just moaned and pressed back against him. That seemed to do the trick.

One hand stroked my spine, like he was trying to calm me down, while the other gripped tightly to my hip to keep me in place. Very slowly, he pushed against me until the head of his cock slid inside my entrance, breaching the tight ring of muscles.

His cock was much bigger than a pair of fingers. It even felt bigger than the toy he’d used on me before. I trembled as he slowly forced my body to accommodate him, making space for himself inside me. Taking deep breaths, I focused on the feeling of slick skin and penetrating heat, the almost overwhelming sense of fullness. Pleasure burned up my spine, making my back arch, and I cried out when he hit a particularly sensitive spot deep inside me.

“There. Right there. Fuck.”

His laughter sounded breathier than normal, like even he couldn’t keep his composure.

“You get... mouthy when you’re being fucked. Wonder if... you’ll be able to keep that up.”

Before I could reply, he pulled out much quicker than he’d entered the first time. Then, just before he was all the way out, he plunged back in. He set a quick pace, driving deep into my body over and over. His hips slapped against my ass cheeks, filling the room with the sound of slick skin and vicious panting. I began to babble as each trust made my brain short circuit.

“Fuck. Yes. I. There. Like. That.” I was barely forming words let alone sentences, yet I also couldn’t seem to stop.

D’Angelo leaned forward so he draped himself over my back, then picked up his pace. In this position, he couldn’t pull as far out, but in return he was able to push even deeper.

I screamed into the mattress as my legs gave out, but an arm around my waist kept my hips in their upright angle. Kisses peppered the back of my neck, but I barely felt them. The feather light touches couldn’t compete with the electric ecstasy running through my nerves.

There was no gradual build up like before. One moment, I still seemed far away from finding my end, and the next I was tumbling over the edge of orgasm like I’d been teleported. Every muscle in my body locked up, and I clung to the sheets below me with both fingers and toes.

D’Angelo kept thrusting for a moment, driving my climax higher until I felt so sensitive that it almost hurt. Then, pressing as deep into me as he could, he spilled into my ass. By then, I was already coming down from the high of my own peak, so the sudden heat that flooded me felt relaxing and nearly sent me to sleep.

We lay together for a few moments, both catching our breath. Once we were able to move again, D’Angelo slowly pulled out of me, which felt odd without raging hormones to distract me from the slimy texture against my skin.

I shuddered, but another kiss to my neck instantly soothed me.

Lying together in bed, he wrapped me in his arms as we both stared at the ceiling. The shadows had changed their angle, meaning a significant amount of time had passed, but I had no idea how long it had actually been.

Minutes?

Hours?

It didn’t really matter.

“I need to leave in the next day or two,” D’Angelo said, breaking the silence that had fallen over us.

“That’s... quick.”

His hand stroked my hair. “I understand if you need more time than that. I can’t delay, but I can come back to collect you once you’re ready to go. Assuming... you still want to.”

Frowning, I threw a leg over his hip and pulled myself up until I sat atop his waist, and I was looking down at him for once. “Losing my virginity didn’t change my mind about coming with you. In fact, I can probably be ready to go in two days. One of the good things about being poor. You don’t have a lot of things to pack.”

“Don’t say things like that.” D’Angelo sighed and ran a hand up my arm, tracing the scars there. “It makes me want to spoil you. Just wait. Soon you’ll have closets full of fancy things. So much so, you won’t even know what to do with everything.”

“Yeah?” Grabbing his hand, I laced our fingers together. “Is that your love language? Gift giving?”

“Just... taking care of someone in general, I guess.”

“Hmmm.” Leaning down just far enough, I pressed a quick peck of a kiss to his lips. “So, you’re saying you want to take care of me.”

There was no hesitation in his voice when he responded. “Absolutely. You’ll never want for anything.”

Licking my lips and kissing him again, I kept my questions to myself.

How could he make that promise when I didn’t even know what I wanted?

I wanted to focus on my art. That was obvious. But beyond that... I had no idea. My ambitions for life had never gone beyond taking care of my brother and keeping my family going day by day.

Maybe, it was time to set my sights on bigger goals.

Pouting, I sat up and lightly slapped his chest. “Well, you’re already failing. I want a bath, and yet I’m not in a bath. You made a mess of me. I’m gross. Take responsibility.”

I was only teasing. I didn’t expect him to take it so seriously. But the moment the request was out of my mouth, he stood from the bed, literally picking me up in his arms, and carried me toward the bathroom.

“If you want a bath, then you’ll get a bath. Anything you want, just ask for it. I’ll take care of it.”

Wrapping my arms around his neck, I leaned my head against him. “You’ll take care of me?”

On the threshold between the bedroom and the bathroom, he stopped and pressed our foreheads together again.

“Of course. Always.”