Chapter 5 Gemma

A master of finger and tongue, Antonio uses his specialties to inch his way from the inside of my knee to the center of my thighs. Goosebumps erupt across my skin as pleasure heightens with every tender touch of his lips.

The hairs in his beard tickle the flesh between my legs. Pleasurable pressure builds as I pant with anticipation. Antonio’s groans vibrate against me as he finally slides his tongue over my clit. It wraps around the sensitive nub, softly caressing it before slipping down to slide over my entrance.

A whimper escapes my throat as Antonio feasts on my pussy like he didn’t just devour his breakfast. I can barely stand it as he coaxes my climax out of me. My entire core goes rigid as he holds my pussy to his mouth, lapping up my orgasm as I shake from the ecstasy.

Antonio backs away. My pulse races as he brings his face up to meet mine. I can’t stop my fingers from running through his hair, bringing his mouth close to mine where we kiss fiercely. A kiss of possession, like I’ve always belonged to him and will never kiss anyone else.

It’s too soon.

My emotions wash over me as last night and this morning blur into a tornado of passion, fear, rage, and erotic bliss. The strength of his arms wrapping around me lets me lean into him as he picks me up off the counter. My legs immediately close around his waist.

A sturdy erection rests just under my ass, making me wonder what he’s willing to explore sexually. Do we get to have that kind of conversation with our current situation? Or does that only apply if we’re in a real relationship?

Antonio carries me up the stairs to his bed where he lays me down, fishes a condom out of his nightstand and returns his mouth to my pussy. He kisses, licks, and suckles my clit ensuring I’m ready for him. He pulls away from my center and positions his body over mine.

With one of his hands beside me on the mattress, he uses the other to slide my shirt toward my face. I do the rest, taking it off and tossing it somewhere behind me. I glance down at the space between us.

Even at Antonio’s six-foot height, his cock is the perfect size with its thickness just enough to squeeze inside of me. The pressure melds into pleasure as he eases in and out of my warm sheath. There aren’t any words between us as we lock eyes and seal our union with a kiss. The soft firmness of his tongue rolling over mine ignites a sensation that ripples across my body.

Every thrust in and out of me has my back arching into him. Antonio slides his arm under me to roll onto his back and I’m straddling him. It’s one of my favorite positions as he grips my ass to guide my hips.

The more Antonio gets into it, the wetter I get. He spreads my ass to grind his dick inside of me. I plant my hands on his strong chest. His body is like a sculpture of perfection. When his fingers graze my second entrance, my pussy twitches with delight.

The slippery space between us gives him enough slickness to glide his finger through the evidence of my arousal and with a raised eyebrow, he pushes a finger inside my other entrance. Heat blooms across my cheeks as I picture Antonio’s hand gripping me like a bowling ball while he drives his dick in and out of that dark place.

I have to change the visual in my head before I burst into laughter, leaning down to kiss him immediately takes the levity out of the moment. His hand runs up the back of my neck into my hair gripping it just tight enough to pull my focus back to us.

The way Antonio’s presence swarms around me makes me feel safe. I’m able to lose myself in our togetherness as we continue to move our bodies in unison. The enthralling intensity of our passion follows us as we change positions again. With me on my back, he’s no longer pushing inside of both entrances.

Antonio’s face bears a cocky grin as he pushes my thighs apart, using his palms to keep them spread as he thrusts in and out of me with power and precision. We don’t last much longer as we both climax and he collapses onto the bed beside me.

“That was incredible.” Antonio breathes heavily and pulls me in close to him. I lie on his chest, listening to the soft beats of his heart while he runs his fingers through my hair.

“That’s exactly how I expect my fiancé to feel.”

He chuckles. “I’d enjoy starting every morning like this. I have to head into the hospital today. We should stop by your place first, or a shop, to get you a change of clothes.”

“You can go to work Antonio. I can go home. I’m sure it’s fine. I also have a job at this place, Booked and Boozy.”

Antonio sits up. “That brunch spot on Pier 39 where the influencers take up space to crowd out the locals?”

I laugh. “It’s more than a social media hotspot, Antonio. But that doesn’t matter. I still have to go to work. I can probably call out today until we get this situation with my brothers handled, but what if Frankie—”

Before I can finish, Antonio’s phone rings, pulling him away from me to answer it. I can hear the anxiousness of the caller and immediately move around the room to get dressed. There’s no sense in lying around when that call will likely have us dashing out of the door.

There’s a ton of light flooding into the condo. The exposed white-brick walls contrast beautifully with his dark furniture and light beige hardwood floors. But just outside these walls, is a world where Antonio came to my rescue and his life is in danger because of me.

I hate that it’s come to this, and we’re being sucked this life I wanted to get away from. Antonio returns to the bedroom where dread etches into every line of his face.

“What’s wrong?” I ask him.

“We have to go back to the clinic. Bash was shot last night.”

My pulse races with fear as Antonio scrambles around his bedroom to get dressed. We hurry out of his condo, and to the car where we speed through the early morning traffic to get back to the clinic.

My knee bounces as Antonio makes calls to move his shift at the hospital to ensure he can work on Bash without interruption. I call Natalie to calm myself.

“Where are you?” I whisper into my phone to avoid.

“Uh, why?” she asks. She’s being cagey but I don’t have time to deal with that.

“I need clothes. I’m still in these fuckin heels from last night. I look crazy right now in Antonio’s sweatpants with a pair of Louboutin’s. Go in my apartment, grab a bag for me and bring it to the clinic for me please?”

“I can be there in about an hour, I’m not at our place,” she says.

“You slut,” I giggle and tease her. “Where did you go after Damian brought you home? You know that asshole Frankie came back after you guys left and started shooting at us? We’re on our way to the clinic, now. Bash got shot a little while ago.”

“Wait a minute, Gem,” she says. “You’re telling me too many things. I’ll grab you a change of clothes and meet you there. Love you.”

Natalie doesn’t typically withhold information about her conquests, but there are other things to focus on as she abruptly ends our call. I turn to Antonio and ask him, “How bad is he?”

“It doesn’t sound life-threatening, but I won’t know for sure until we see him,” Antonio replies with his jaw clenching as we drive back to the clinic.

Once we arrive, Antonio rushes into the clinic where puddles of blood leave a trail from the double door entrance, beyond the small waiting room which is just big enough to seat a dozen people at the most. There’s a short hallway with two doors on each side and one at the back.

My heart continues to thump against my chest as we rush in to see Bash groaning in pain. There’s so much blood and Bash looks pale. Ronan’s standing there with his hands in the air as Bash holds a gun with one hand and his wound with the other.

“Where’s Casper?” I ask him.

“Clean up.” Bash replies with his eyes darting at me and Antonio. It’s a realization in his face, the knowing I’m a woman to Antonio even though in my brother’s eyes, I’m still his little sister.

“Put that shit away,” Antonio huffs as he approaches Bash.

“Not until he leaves. He works for Verducci,” Bash groans.

“I don’t work for Verducci or any family,” Ronan growls. The exhaustion in his eyes is visible. Antonio’s colleague continues to defend himself. “I did contract work for Vito Dacosta. Contract work that required the wounds of his people patched and gave me enough money to cover some of my debts.”

Antonio shakes his head as he works on treating Bash. “You have to put the gun away, man, and relax. Let me see what’s going on.”

“Fuck.” Bash sets his gun on the exam chair beside his leg.

“I have to go, Antonio.” Ronan says in a low tone.

Antonio nods. “It’s fine, go. I got someone to cover the top of my shift at the hospital, but you might need to head in to finish it out.”

“Fine, I’ll try to make it in to finish your shift. Maybe I’ll sleep next week,” Ronan growls as he leaves the room, but turns to say, “Tell Camilla when she comes in that I’m sorry for the mess. Make sure that asshole pays the bill.”

“The oldest Canella sister doesn’t like a free clinic under these circumstances,” Antonio explains as he cleans out Bash’s wound. “Are you going to tell me what happened?”

Bash continues to grunt through the pain while he speaks. “We caught up to good old, Frankie. We had a polite conversation about how to respect women and not drug them when he got offended and took a shot at me. I took a few more shots at him, but I was the one to walk away. Casper’s cleaning it up.”

“Better him than me,” Antonio huffs.

Bash grips him on the forearm. “Thank you, Toni. You know I’m going to cover this for you, right? All of my debts get paid.”

Antonio grimaces. The history between them is more like myth and legend whenever I hear about it. I don’t know the details but I can see the frustration in Antonio’s eyes. He works feverishly to stitch the open gash across Bash’s ribs.

Bash chuckles between deep breaths. “This is going to match the other scar. Did you ever get the tattoo to cover yours?”

When he says that, it makes me flash to our moment this morning. Being so lost in the connection between us, I didn’t pay attention to any scars on his body. With every replay of our time together this morning, the less I remember of his back. What scar is Bash talking about?

The way Antonio cuts his eyes toward me and back to treating Bash makes me wonder what he’s hiding about his past. It’s obvious he and Bash have a shared history but how much of that will affect our relationship?

I don’t have much time to dwell on it as Damian and Natalie show up together. I don’t know what to feel about this because it answers the question of why she wasn’t at our place this morning. I walk away from Bash and Antonio, heading with Natalie to a bathroom in the waiting room.

“What the fuck, Nat? Damian! Really?” I hiss at her. “You know how I feel about my brothers, who they are and what they do. I don’t want you any more caught up in this shit than you already are.”

“It’s not what you think, Gemma,” she assures me as she hands me a small duffel bag of my clothes.

“It’s not? You were into Damian while you lived in New York. I know that much,” I tell her, happy to not think about myself or Antonio, or this shit situation which seems to be getting shittier by the minute.

“Gem, I love you, but you’re so annoying about your brothers. I’ll admit that Damian is hot. I’m attracted to him, but we haven’t slept together. We’re not dating or fooling around. I know the kind of guy he is, but you need to remember that we have a lot in common. I’m a songwriter and he’s a talent manager.”

“Natalie Marie Bersani.” I say her full name to make sure she’s paying attention.

“Gemma Marie Marzano,” she replies, equally snarky.

“You know why he's a talent manager."

She sighs as I slide on a pair of jeans and slip my feet into some sneakers. I take off Antonio’s shirt to slip into the bag and catch Natalie smirking because she knows.

Natalie shakes her head. “We’re a mess. I know why Damian’s a talent manager, but that doesn’t change the connections he has that can actually help my career. You need to see what he pulled off that club’s security footage, too. How was your night with the doc?”

“The night was quiet, but this morning was more than I ever imagined.” I admit. Heat flushes my cheeks as replays of my first time with Antonio whirl around my mind. Even with my brother in a room close by.

“Don’t fall for him, Gem,” she warns me. “Falling for him would be as catastrophic as me falling for Damian.”

“I don’t care if you and Damian hook up. What I care about is this lifestyle putting you in danger.”

“I can take care of myself, Gem. I’ve been doing it since we were kids.” Natalie’s childhood experiences don’t hold a candle to what she could go through dealing with one of my brothers. Let alone all of them. Once you belong to a man of the Marzano family, by association or by blood, you belong to all of them.

I continue to tell her my worries. “Everyone those guys care about becomes a liability, a weakness to be exploited. It’s not the same with me and Antonio. Antonio’s not a part of La Familia . Damian, Casper, Bash, they’re made guys. For fuck’s sake, my brothers are split between two cities until things are settled over here. Natalie, I love you. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I know,” she says, and pulls me in for a hug. “Don’t worry about me. Let’s talk to Damian.”

We leave the bathroom to find my brothers huddling together with Antonio looking on as Damian plays something on his phone. The looks on their faces are unsettling to say the least.

“What now?” I ask with exhaustion rippling through my tone.

“Frankie didn’t drug you, Gem,” Damian says.

“So, I shot the wrong guy?” Bash groans in frustration

“No, you didn’t,” Antonio says. “He still pulled her into that back room.”

“Fuck Frankie!” I shout at them. “Who the hell put something in my drink?”