Chapter 19

Tearing down the street, I yanked on the steering wheel and wove around Gio's Range Rover. He yelled something at me through the window to which I responded by flipping him off.

Gio Mancini could kiss my ass.

He'd been a pain in my ass all day. Watching me at work, telling Memphis shit he didn't need to know, and there was Cindy. Fucking Cindy Fassbender walking in the diner and shaking her stuff.

Why the hell did she have to show up? That girl had been ruining everything since kindergarten. Nap time, snacks, the braless look, and now Gio.

We had a perfectly good hate/bully thing going on, until she came along and showed me what he was capable of. Where was the thought in the insults he spewed my way? It was like he didn't even try.

What kind of stalker parks in plain sight? I bet if he was following Cindy around, he wouldn't be seen. Where was my effort?

Gio sped up behind me and honked his horn.

The loud beep graded on my nerves. Know what I got from Gio? A hand around my neck and a sound that a goose could make.

Cindy was still there when my shift ended, so I snuck out the back and peeled away before Gio could follow. It wasn't long before he caught up. We'd been playing a game of road tag ever since. And now he was honking his horn.

Bastard couldn't even put effort into making me pull over. I tried to ram Range Rover twice. Where was his violence?

My phone lit up and started buzzing on the passenger seat.

A phone call? Really?

I glared at Gio in the rear-view mirror. If he wanted to be an asshole to everyone and their dog, then fuck him.

My foot slammed down on the brake, sending a loud squeal through the air as my tires ground against the asphalt.

Gio had no choice but to follow suit and bring his Range Rover to a stop before it hit the back of my truck. Too bad. I would've liked to see his shiny clean vehicle get crunched to bits. Pretty sure my truck would've won that fight. Sheet metal had a lot more strength then whatever new aged crap his Range Rover had. Also, airbags were for pussies.

I sat there with engine running and watched as Gio got out of his vehicle. He did not look happy. Well, he was about to get less happy. I waited for him to take a few steps, then took off down the street.

That's right. I could be a bigger asshole.

Before I left work, Memphis told me that I needed to calm down. That wasn't a great thing to say to a pissed off woman. It was a good thing he was gay. He was lucky I didn't slap him. I loved Memphis but he didn't get.

My trusty truck got it. She purred with as much anger as I felt. We roared down the road like a ball of metal and wrath. She even coughed out a cloud of exhaust on Gio when he once again pulled up behind us.

"That's my girl." I gave the steering wheel a pat and turned onto the Mancini driveway.

Some guy standing on the balcony looked down as I peeled up and screeched to a stop.

I glared back at him and opened the door.

What the hell was his problem? Didn't he have some big boobed bimbo he liked to insult too? I was sure Gio could help him find one.

I hopped out as Gio's Range Rover came tearing up the driveway.

His burning glare locked on me through the windshield.

Awe, was he mad? Good.

"Are you fucking crazy?"

He had no idea what crazy was.

Lifting my chin, I spun around and marched for the house.

"Don't ignore me, Nova."

"Why don't you go find Cindy." I spat back at him. "I'm sure she'll entertain you."

I threw the door open, surprising the two men in the entryway. Why were there always so many people in this fucking house?

One of them cocked a brow while the bigger one smirked.

"Hey there, Sweet Thing. I'm not a fan of the fifties look but…" His eyes dipped down my form and back up. "You pull it off."

I pull it off?

All men were superficial idiots.

I snatched a vase off the useless table by the door and chucked it at his head.

The fact that he ducked, making the vase smash on the wall behind him only further enraged me. The guy was a giant wall of muscle. I should not have missed a target that large.

I screamed, stomped my foot, and stormed towards the stairs.

"Don't leave, Honey," The guy called after me. "I like a girl with fire in her belly."

"Touch her and I'll put a bullet in your head."

And here comes the asshole of the day.

"Nova!" Gio growled. "Get back here."

Fuck him, and fuck that big guy, too.

"Don't you walk away from me."

Oh, I was going to walk away from him alright. I was going to walk my ass right up these stairs to Gio's room and break everything he had.

"You're overacting."

I was overreacting, was I? I'd show him overreacting.

Pausing at the top of the stairs, I kicked a potted plant down at him.

Gio dodged to the right as it smashed on the wall beside him, causing dirt and ceramic to fall on the stairs.

"How's that for overreacting?" I snarled, then promptly spun around and headed down the hall for his room.

Gio's footsteps weren't far behind mine. "I'm gonna tan your fucking ass."

If I wasn't fueled solely by rage, then I might've paused at the growl in his tone. But I didn't give a shit about repercussions. All I cared about was getting to the door in the hallway to the right and slamming it as hard as I could. Which was exactly what I did.

I marched into Gio's room and threw the door shut with as much force as my little body could muster.

The sound vibrated through the walls, causing a picture on the left to clatter onto the floor. Then, to add insult to injury, I clicked the lock in place. Because why not?

The irony of the situation wasn't lost on me. I was trying to escape Gio by going into his space. But it wasn't like I had another option. I wasn't given my own room in this hell house. No, I was forced to share one with him. Asshole.

"Nova." I ignored the fist banging on the other side of the door. "Open this door."

Yeah, that wasn't happening. But…

My eyes locked onto a clock sitting on the corner of his dresser. That looked breakable.

"I'm not fucking around!"

Neither was I.

I walked across the room and picked up the clock. It had a decent amount of weight for something so small. Meaning it should pack a nice punch.

"You have three seconds to open this door."

I could do a lot in three seconds.

"One…"

"Two, three." I finished for him.

Next thing I knew, a bang rang through my ears as the door burst open and slammed against the wall.

The man standing on the other side would've scared most people. The scowl etching a line in Gio's forehead was deeper than I'd ever seen, and there was a coldness in his eyes that I could feel from across the room. He was ready to tear someone's head off, and all I could think was, good.

"There's nowhere for you to run now, Gattina."

"What makes you think I want to run?"

His eyes dropped down to the clock in my hands. "So that's how it's gonna be?"

"Yup." Was he expecting something else?

"Alright." He rolled his neck and kicked the door shut. "Let's do this."

The clock was sailing through the air before he could take a single step.

I let go after that.

Screaming, I rained my fury in a hail of random objects. Shoes, watches, pictures, and anything else I could grab were thrown at Gio as he charged across the room. Some hit him, some didn't, and a lot broke.

It was mayhem. In a matter of seconds I'd covered this room in a mess that would horrify someone like Maw Maw. And not even that could stop Gio.

He rushed forward, pushing past every hit, and scooped me over his shoulder like I weighed nothing.

That's when I resorted to clawing and slapping. I flailed like a wild animal, striking him anyplace I could.

I'm not sure which one of us fell first, but we both wound up on the floor in a tangled ball. He was trying to contain me and I was releasing all the anger I'd repressed over the years.

Gio got everything. The pain of seeing Veda broken in that hospital room, watching my brother get drug away in handcuffs, the wrongness of our justice system, and finally him.

That was the worst one. Gio Mancini was thing that angered me the most. Not because of who he was, but because of the storm of confusion he made cloud my mind.

I tried telling myself that I didn't miss him when he wasn't around. I didn't like his smell, or the the stupid snide comments he threw my way. I hated how it felt when he touched me, and that I didn't want him to do it again. And I didn't care that he gave his attention to Cindy, because I hated him.

I hated Gio Mancini.

I hated him for making me like him.

"Fuck you, Gio." I threw my arms up, slapping his face and clawing at his skin.

He took every strike. "That's it Gattina, get it out."

"You ruined everything." I snarled past the tears streaming down my face.

"I know."

"Go find Cindy!"

"Fuck Cindy, that bitch can die."

I wanted him to die. I wanted Gio to go away so things could go back to normal where I didn't have to care about anything. Because no one saw me. No one looked at me like he did. I wanted to go back to being alone.

My arms flailed as I lashed, I threw everything I had at him until I had nothing left and my limbs fell limp to the floor. My entire body hurt.

My chest was heaving, sweat coated my skin, I was angry and exhausted, and Gio was still there. Staring down at me with those deep jade eyes that haunted my thoughts. Like a goddamn plague I couldn't escape.

"I hate you."

He lifted his hand and gently swept the hair off my forehead. "No you don't."

No I didn't.

Our heavy breaths mingles as we lay there watching each other.

Gio's large form loomed over me. Our legs were tangled in a weird knot of thighs and feet, while one of his elbows was braced by my head. His other hand hovered by my face, as if he wanted to touch me. Confusion tugged at his brows as he stared down at me.

What was he looking for? What did he see when he stared at me like that? What did I see?

I searched the golden flecks in his eyes for an answer, or explanation. Something that would make all of this okay. But none of it was okay.

Gio Mancini was the brother of the man who destroyed everything I loved. Gio didn't have remorse for Veda or care about what happened to my family. Kato was in prison because of what Atlas did, and I couldn't stop my body from purring at the feel of his weight pressing down on me. I couldn't stop watching him watch me.

There weren't many memories I had of my father, but I remembered how he looked at my mother. Adoration and desire shone bright in his eyes. Just like they were in Gio's. I didn't like it. I didn't want him to look at me like that. I didn't want to like him looking at me like that, but I did.

"Why can't I hate you?"

I should. I should want to kill him, not cuddle in closer.

"I don't know." Gio's eyes floated over my face, tracing the angle of my jaw up to my lips. "I've been asking myself the same thing."

Was he searching for the same thing I was? Did he feel the same wrongness I did every time we were together? Was he lost too?

I don't know why, but I found my head lifting off the ground to press my lips to his.

The kiss was soft and didn't last long. It was nothing more than a light grazing, but it was enough to shock us both.

Silence hung in the air as Gio stared down at me and I stared back at him.

Then his mouth slammed down on mine.

This wasn't anything like the kiss I gave him. It was feral and hungry. An angry ball of lust and clattering teeth. I fought it at first. We'd been here before and I couldn't down that road again. I squirmed and bit his lip, hoping to get away, but the second Gio's tongue touched mine, my mind was lost.

Everything else faded away until there was nothing left but the angry demand of his mouth. Desire churned in a deep dark pool low in my belly. I don't know how my fingers got in his hair, or when I arched up into him, but I didn't care.

I needed more. More of his taste. More of his anger. More of the wrongness to fill my empty soul. Except it wasn't wrong. It felt right. Like the void left in our heart could be filled with the other.

Then Kato's face flashed through my mind.

Suddenly Gio's solid body wasn't heavy, it was suffocating. His woodsy scent and heat were an overwhelming force I needed to escape.

I tore my mouth away and smacked my palm across his cheek. "Get off me."

If Gio was phased by my reaction he didn't show it. He didn't move either. He stayed where he was, hoovering over me and not saying a word.

"I said get off me." I hissed.

Still, he didn't respond. Gio just tipped his head and pulled his blazing stare down my neck to my heaving chest. The way he was looking at me made me wonder if he could see my heart beating, because that pulse was all I could hear. It was a frantic whoosh whoosh whoosh that echoed through my mind like a war drum.

His finger trickled down my neck to the swell of my breasts, amping up the wild pulse in my chest.

"Gio…"

"Do you have any idea how many times I've imagined fucking you in this dress?"

He did what? "You're crazy."

First off this dress was horrible, and second, we were not doing that. No matter how much a part of me wanted to go for it. There was no way in hell.

"All I wanted to do today was bend you over the counter and fuck you in front of everybody."

Okay, this was getting a little too detailed. It was time to lighten the mood.

"Oh, so you're an exhibitionist now."

I meant that as a joke, but it wasn't taken as one.

"Only when it comes to you."

Gio shifted and shoved his hand under my dress. I quickly tried to clamp my thighs shut, but my legs were too entwined in his. There was nothing I could do to stop him from cupping my mound.

"I want the world to know you're mine." He pressed down on my clit with the heel of his hand, making me gasp back a groan. "Every man who's ever looked at you will watch you come apart in my hands."

I bet my lips as his hand ground against me.

"I'll fuck every hole you have while they watch. And then…"

He slipped his hand under my panties and rolled my clit. It felt way too good. I couldn't stop the moan from coming out as my back arched off the floor.

"When this hot little cunt is full of my come…" he pinched my clit while another finger circled my entrance. "I'll rip their fucking eyes out so they can never look at you again."

It was not fair how well he could play my body. It was my body!

"God, I hate you."

"I think you like me just fine. You're sopping wet."

Pfft, what did that prove? "My vagina does not speak for me."

"You sure about that?" He pushed the tip of his finger in, causing me to wince at the stretch that spread across my delicate flesh. "You pussy is begging to be used, Gattina, and I'm inclined to give it what it wants."

His finger felt thick enough. There was no way I could handle his dick. Unfortunately, I didn't think that would be a valid reason as far as Gio was concerned. So I said the only thing I could think of.

"We can't. We're not in the back of a cheap car, nor are we in a bar parking lot."

If I was going to lose my virginity, then I was going to lose it the right way. Where I was full of drunken regret.

"That can be arranged." I grimaced as Gio pushed his finger deeper. "Your truck's outside and there's a bar down the street."

Damn him and his logic.

The low throbbing ache of being breached spread warmed my insides, morphing the pain into something else. An urge that caused desperation to seep in.

"I'd rather go with Atlee."

Desperation caused people to do stupid things, but anger was easier to deal with than this.

Gio yanked his hand away and got off me, letting me breathe a sigh of relief.

My relief was short lived.

I was plucked off the floor and dropped down on the loveseat in the corner of room before I knew what was happening. After that I had about two seconds before Gio flipped me and folded my body over the back.

"You want to keep playing the Atlee card, fine."

Dread set in as my stomach pressed into the cushioned back of the small couch. But panic took hold when I heard the soft jingle of a belt buckle. I shot up, but Gio grabbed the back of my neck and held me in place.

"You won't be thinking about Atlee in a minute."

Technically, I wasn't thinking about him. Atlee was just and easy way to piss Gio off. I didn't think pissing him off would result in this though.

I kicked my leg out, hoping to push him back. It didn't work. My tiny feet were no match for Gio's stupid strong legs. Since he was holding my head down, and was too far back for my short arms to reach, I couldn't hit him either.

All I could do was dig my nails into the muscular forearm pinning me in place, which didn't faze him in the least.

I was trapped with nowhere to go. The only thing I had left was my mouth.

"Gio–"

"Shut up." He growled and slapped my ass, hard.

I yelped at the sting and bucked into the loveseat. But even that pain couldn't drown out the sound of a zipper. Each tick of the teeth echoed through my ears. Then came the sound of fabric dropping onto the floor. Heavy fabric, like denim.

Gio's grip on my neck prevented me from being able to look behind me. I was effectively blind to what was happening, which made it so much worse. My other senses amped everything up.

The dip in the loveseat when he wedged his knee between my legs. Air cooling the back of my thighs when the skirt of my uniform was pushed over my hips. Then again, when my underwear was torn away. And I meant torn. Gio ripped them away, causing the fabric to bite roughly into my flesh.

That's when I knew I was screwed. Cotton was strong, and he tore it part with one hand.

The cuts on my hip ached, my heart thundered against my ribs, and the air being pulled in my lungs was coated in his scent and flavor. Gio was everywhere. All I could feel was him. Even the temperature around us warmed with his angry desire.

But none of that compared to the fear that sliced through my heart when something large and impossibly hard pressed up against me.

Nope, this is not happening.

"Stop–"

That was as far as I got before Gio took his hand off my neck, shoved his fingers in my mouth, and held my bottom jaw with the heel of his hand.

"Shut up." He hissed while lining up the head of his cock. "Just shut the fuck up."

Then he pushed in.

He groaned.

I bit down on his fingers and screamed. The pain was unreal. I was being impaled by sharp stabs of agony, and he was getting off on it.

"Fuuuck," Gio growled and forced some more of his girth inside me. "You feel that Gattina? That's my cock stretching you open. Not fucking Atlee's."

I'd never felt more sorry for pissing someone off in my life. If his fingers weren't gagging me, I might've apologized. I didn't think it could get any worse than this.

I was wrong.

Gio bucked his hips and tore past my virginal wall.

This time when I screamed, my fingers dug into the top of the loveseat. The fabric bunched up under my nails as my teeth clamped down on Gio's fingers. I could taste blood, but didn't care. I couldn't see anything past the pain. It hurt so bad that I thought I was being split open.

And my misery only continued as Gio slowly forced himself inside me. Inch by agonizing inch. It was too much. My tiny little body couldn't take it. Gio was so big that I couldn't breathe. All I could do was hang on. Helpless didn't even begin to describe how I felt.

Just when I thought it would never end, Gio's pelvis smacked against my but and stilled.

The fucked up part was the masculine groan he let out after. That deep tone vibrated through my bones and into my very soul. It was a powerful domineering sound that made a part of me want to melt.

Gio took his hand out of my mouth, leaving me with lingering taste of his blood, and pet the back of my head.

"Shh." He hushed. "It will get better, just relax."

I laid there, with my head on the back of the loveseat and hiccupped past the pain while he stroked his fingers through my hair. The motion was oddly calming, and soon I found my muscles relaxing.

After that the ache radiating through mu body began to subside until there was nothing but a strange full feeling.

"That's it," Gio breathed and pulled out a bit before pushing back in.

The movement made me gasp. Then moan when he did it again.

Some sick, dark thing inside me loved the ache. There was twinge under it. A tightness that coiled every time Gio moved. The strange sense made me panic a bit.

"Something's wrong."

There was a lot wrong, but this didn't feel right.

"Yeah," Gio flattened his palm on my head. "You haven't come yet."

That's when he fucked me.

I'd never felt anything like it in my entire life. Gio's gruff grunts combined with the rough way his hand pressed down on the back of my head was darkly erotic. I don't know why, but I liked it. I liked being used by him.

The harder his fingers twisted in my hair, pulling on my scalp, the more I moaned. The pain was still there, but it mingled with everything else in this intoxicating elixir I couldn't get enough of.

"This fucking pussy is mine!" He thrust in deeper than before, making me squeal and clammer to get away.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" His hand clamped down on my hip, fingers digging into the cuts in skin. "I'm not done with you."

"Please." I whined, although I wasn't sure what I was asking for.

"I fucking love it when you beg."

Was I begging? Maybe I was?

I rounded my back to ease the deep ache of his cock going too far, and let out a low moan when he thrust back in. That felt good, like really good. Until his palm cracked off my ass.

"Arch your back."

"It's too deep," I whimpered.

"I don't give a shit." Gio growled and pressed down on the small of my back, forcing me to arch how he wanted.

Then he drove into me, hard and rough.

Pain ebbed through my body in sharp stabbing slices that made me cry out as my walls clamped down on him.

"Good girl." Gio groaned and snapped his hips forward. "Keep coming on my cock."

I didn't even realise I was orgasming until he said that.

"Fuck you." I growled through the white dots blurring my vision and seizing my body.

This wasn't like the other times I'd come. This was painful and violent. A roaring rage of euphoria that slammed me on the jagged rocks at the bottom of that blissful cliff. And it wouldn't end.

Every time Gio's cock speared into me, I was thrown back up into that cloud. I was trapped there in a place between pleasure and pain, until he eventually slammed deep inside me and roared his own release.

My soul floated back to my body as Gio collapsed on top of me out of breath. I could feel his length twitching as something warm sprayed on my walls. He came inside me. For a second I freaked out, then remembered I was on birth control.

My heart began to calm down and I allowed myself to lay there and listen to our heavy breaths. I was exhausted, sore and had no idea how to feel. Did I like it? Did I not? It hurt. My pussy felt like it was on fire, yet I kind of enjoyed the feeling.

Gio let out a satisfied huff and lifted his upper body off me. If I thought that would be the end of it, I was wrong.

My hand was forced down between my thighs, where Gio wrapped our fingers around his wet shaft.

"You feel that?" He jarred his hips, pushing our entwined fingers up to where we were joined. And I could feel it. I felt how his thick rod speared into my warm flesh. It was an odd contradiction, his hard to my soft. And for some reason sick and thrilling at the same time.

"That's my cock in your pussy. If you ever throw another man in my face, I will gut him where he stands. Got it?"

Correction, I knew exactly how to feel.

"I hate you."

He kissed me on the cheek, said, "Ditto," then got up and walked into the bathroom.