Chapter 8 Antonio

The silence of the small apartment makes me feel like we’re alone. Gemma’s living room and kitchen combined are about the size of my bedroom, but the small touches of her personality stand out as I step deeper into her space.

There are digital picture frames of varying sizes which are playing slide shows of images and moments of her life. I can’t help but wonder if I make an appearance somewhere in the background of any of those photos. The Marzano family practically raised me as a son until the fire ruined everything.

The white walls have a chair rail around the entire space. Dark hardwood floors run throughout and creak in certain spots under a cream-colored rug. The navy-blue love seat has a corduroy texture with a black coffee table making the space cozy enough to curl up and binge-watch a good TV series.

“How do you know?” I ask because I can’t see anything that’s out of place. It’s not like in the movies where furniture is overturned, and drawers are pulled out with items all over the place.

“It’s clean.” Gemma squints and runs her finger along the chair rail. I do the same and there’s nothing on my finger, no dust, no grime, just a piece of molding that complements the walls.

I smile, holding back laughter, and try to reason with Gemma. “I know we’ve been through a lot in the last few hours, but do you really think someone broke in and cleaned up? I can walk through with you to make sure the intruding maid isn’t hiding in a closet.”

“Shut up.” She laughs and playfully shoves my shoulder. “It has to be Damian. He cleans when he’s stressed.”

“Wait a minute. Your brother, muscle for the mob, breaks into your apartment and cleans it from top to bottom because he’s stressed? All Ronan does is fuckin disappear for weeks on end and I usually find him in a high roller poker suite in Vegas.”

Gemma giggles, moving a lock of hair behind her ear and smiles. “Natalie has a key so I’m sure he didn't break in. She had to come in to grab some clothes for me and my dusty surfaces must have annoyed him. On top of Bash and Casper going after Frankie without him, I’m sure this is his doing.”

“What’s it like growing up as the baby sister to Tre Fratelli ?” I ask her.

Gemma walks down a short hallway into her bedroom where the cleanliness is noticeable with her bed having been made with hospital corners. She shakes her head as she opens her closet and hisses breath through her teeth.

A soft huff of frustration escapes her as she ignores my question, saying, “He just couldn’t help himself. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but going out isn’t just throwing on a dress and cute shoes. I had clothes everywhere and he put it all away. He started color coordinating my closet. I order it from the most comfortable stuff to what I like to wear out on dates. If you want to know what it’s like to have a neurotic brother, this is what it’s like. Nothing is good enough. And being the baby sister of the infamous Three Brothers of La Familia has its pros and cons.”

“Cut Damian some slack, Gemma.” I can see she doesn’t want to talk about them, so I change the subject. “How do you like to unwind after a hard day? Shit, what does a regular day look like for you after a shift at Booked and Boozy?”

“After slinging coffee, croissants, cognac, and cozy mysteries for about eight hours, I usually come home and zone out to some music. Sometimes I wish I’m back in New York. I could grab some Thai food and a massage with Natalie before we end up curled on the couch watching Halloween movies.”

“The Michael Myers movie or like Hocus Pocus Halloween movies?”

“Depends on the day.”

“Well, I can help with the massage part. Come here.” I beckon her with my finger.

Gemma stands in front of me, our reflections in the mirror sitting on top of her dresser has my mind wandering to delectable fantasies. I spin her slowly so she can watch us through the mirror as I cross my arms in front of her to pull her shirt off. It’s akin to shedding the day. We need a distraction. Her smile and willingness encourage me to continue.

A lace bra holds up her supple breasts and trigger my cock to be ready for anything that may happen next. I use my thumbs to rub small circles on the back of her neck, trailing down the center of her back; each finger applying smooth pressure down her spine. She moans and lets out a sigh of relief when I unhook her bra to set her tits free.

They’re full, perky, and beg for my mouth, but I exercise patience in this moment. I use one of my hands to reach around the front of her body, stroking her neck and down the center of her chest. A slight shudder ripples through her body as my other hand dances around the waistband of her pants.

After unbuttoning her jeans and slipping my hand into her panties, Gemma leans forward to grip the dresser. With a nipple between my fingers, pinching, pulling, playing with it gently, I use my finger to slide between the folds sitting between her thighs.

Pushing my way inside her walls, I massage her into an orgasm. Her essence coating my finger brings a smile to my face knowing I can help her relax. Another climax at the stroke of my fingers leaves her panting for more.

I help her out of her jeans completely, leading her to the bed where she nudges her chin toward the drawer in the nightstand. There are a few strips of condoms inside that I set on top of it, but I notice the small silicone rose.

I pull the toy out of the drawer and cause a deep shade of red to bloom across Gemma’s cheeks.

“It’s been a long time since—”

I stop her with a hook of my finger under her chin. “You don’t have to explain anything to me. Do you mind if I use this on you?”

Her eyes widen as she moves her head from side to side.

I hold the button down to power the toy on.

“Press the button again lightly to hop between settings. If you hold it down, it shuts off,” she says.

I push the button a few times until it’s a steady stream of vibrations I can hold against her clit while I kneel to eat her out. Her pussy is soft against my tongue like a fresh piece of fruit that I can savor. Gemma rakes her nails through my hair, grazing my scalp and sending shivers of pleasure down my spine.

It feels like every drop of blood is gathering inside my cock as I tear off a condom with my teeth and sheath myself while I use the rose to keep her pussy so stimulated she’s writhing beneath me with the need to come. Her lips glisten as I move upward to slide every inch of my hardness inside of her trembling walls.

She yanks my face down to hers for a kiss that has our tongues swirling around one another as the rose pulsates against her clit while my erection glides in and out of her. The primal urges rising inside of me spark and something dark from the corners of my devious sexual mind creeps into the moment.

My hand moves up to her neck. My chest tightens as I hold myself back from squeezing her pretty little throat. Instead, I hold her jaw and run my thumb over her lips. Gemma takes my thumb into her mouth, sucking it as I use the toy while stroking her into orgasmic ecstasy. I feel like I’m ready to explode.

It’s as if she’s reading my mind, as Gemma uses both of her hands to grab my forearm and move my palm to her neck.

“Choke me, Antonio. Do it. I want you to,” she whispers with desire.

Her eyes dilate as I do what we both need and it sends her body into climactic catastrophe with me restraining her breathing, holding the powerfully vibrating rose against her swollen nub, while my dick dives in and out of her. Gemma’s entire body is rigid with pleasure.

“FUCK!” She spasms, arching her back and locking a leg around my waist to get me to stop moving but I continue to fuck her until I release my own orgasm into the latex barrier.

Sweaty and satisfied, I pull myself out of her warmth and kiss her gently on the lips. Gemma’s eyes are closed as she waves me away with a delicate hand holding her hair back.

“This isn’t fair,” she whispers as I step inside her bathroom.

I take my time rinsing the rose and set it on the sink’s counter to air dry. I notice a slim cabinet beside the mirror and open it to see an array of beauty products. One thing in particular stands out, a glove made of plush washcloth material. Perfect.

I run warm water over the glove, grab a large towel off the bar behind the door and walk back into the bedroom where I take my time wiping our sexual satisfaction from between her thighs.

“This is definitely not fair,” she reiterates. “How am I supposed to go back to not having this?”

“You’ll always have me, Gemma,” I tell her.

There’s a part of me that wants to tell her how much I’ve wanted her from that last night I saw her, when she kissed me, but I couldn’t take it further than that because I was going away. I only came to her graduation dinner to talk to Bash. I wish it was for her, but my loyalty was to her brother at that time. To some extent, it still is.

“When our lives go back to their regular routines, you won’t have time for me, Antonio. You’re a doctor and I know you work crazy shifts. All doctors do.” She sighs.

“Hey,” I turn her face toward me. “Don’t stop our future before it even gets there. Let’s stay in the moment, Gemma. You’re talking to me like I’m going to just walk away from you, from this connection.”

“That’s what happens.” Her voice is quiet, ripe with uncertainty.

I sit on the bed beside Gemma and pull her into my arms, stroking her hair as she rests her head on my shoulder. “Why do you think I’m just going to walk away from you? We may be pretending to be engaged, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make our relationship real.”

Gemma opens her mouth to speak but I see her eyes widen with horror as she lets out a scream and points to the window beside her dresser. Someone’s out there.

Gemma pulls the blanket up to cover herself as I jump from her bed and rush toward the window. The person watching us is running through the back alley behind the connected brownstone homes along the street. I pull my pants on and open the window to chase the asshole peeping into her bedroom.

It takes me a minute to shimmy through the opening, landing on my bare feet, and I take off in a full sprint. I get to the cross street where pedestrians walk by and ogle me like a crazy person. Every face looks harmless, nothing like the shadowy voyeur, but my eyes dart around in a desperate search

Shirtless, shoeless, and sweating makes me look savage, I’m sure. My pulse races and it triggers my body into thinking I’m in the gym. Rage and adrenaline tend to fuel my workouts and so will chasing down some asshole who thinks they can watch Gemma and I through her window. I have to calm down and go back to Gemma.

I walk around to the front of the house where Gemma lets me in and is clearly shaken up.

“You need a security system for that back yard area. Motion detectors on the windows and doors, and a system inside here to get the cops over here in case of an emergency. Until we get that done, I want you to stay with me. Tell Natalie it’s not safe to stay here.”

Gemma sighs, shaking her head. “This is all my fault. We should never have gone to Trips. Who knows how many people are looking for Frankie?”

“I don’t know, Gem.” I shake my head. “A random guy who makes it obvious they want you to see them isn’t very mob-like. Something else has to be going on. Have you noticed anyone following you? That guy from the security footage at Trips doesn’t work with Verducci. He and Frankie would have said something to each other.”

“I’m shitty at paying attention to my surroundings. I’ll be honest, Antonio, being in New York was different. I didn’t have to pay attention because I was protected. It’s taking such a long time to get used to this new city, I don’t have places I can hide out or people I can call at the drop of a hat.”

“You can always call me, Gemma.”

“I didn’t know you were out here. I thought you showed up when my brothers did.”

“I’ve been out here since that night you graduated. Don Armande wanted a doctor while he and Vito were negotiating some sort of truce. I owed your brother favor for keeping me mostly safe.”

“My brother kept you safe? When? What happened?”

It’s clear she doesn’t understand, and I won’t hide the kind of man I’ve had to be.

I nod. “I went to prison for that fire me and Bash barely escaped from.”

“Wait. You guys were what? Sixteen?” she asks.

“Yeah, the guard on duty at that construction site was hurt and ended up dying. Someone had to take the fall. Unfortunately, I’m the orphan, you know? No family, no one to fight for me. Bash tried and even your father tried to use his connections to help me. I had to serve the time, but your family made sure I was protected inside.”

“Is that where you got this?” Gemma runs her finger across the top of my scar. The skin is no longer horribly discolored, but the scar is noticeable. The slightly raised area buckles in some places and lies flat in others as it travels from the top of my shoulder and stretches across my back like a stream carving its way through a valley.

My anxiety spikes when she touches it, and I take a step back. I’m not ready for her to see and feel that much of me. I reach for my shirt and pull it back on, telling her, “Yeah, Bash has a similar one. We got it when a piece of the scaffolding fell while we dragged the security guard out of the fire.”

“And they sent you to prison for that?”

“Well, yeah, we set the fire. Arson is a felony. The guard died from his injuries weeks later, but it looked good that we tried to save him and we were fucking kids. We were only supposed to set the blaze, and the owner of the property would be forced to file an insurance claim. The money would go to La Familia. We didn’t know anyone was at the site.”

“But now you’re a doctor.” She smiles with her eyes bright and cheerful for what I’ve accomplished. “That’s amazing, Antonio. Most people don’t get the chance to do something so life changing after what you went through.”

“Yeah. It was strongly recommended that I spend every free moment taking the college courses offered to me after I earned my high school diploma behind bars. I think your cousin, Julian, and his father pulled some strings out here for me too. He was a judge back then and helped get my record sealed since I was a minor when I got convicted. Rest in hell, Charleston.”

“Did anyone like him?” she asks. “All I heard were horrible stories about Julian’s father.”

“He was a necessary evil establishing the Marzano crime family on this coast, but we can talk more later. Grab some stuff and come stay with me.”

“What about my job, Antonio? I can’t just uproot myself all over again. This place was just starting to feel like home.”

“You’re coming back, Gem. Let me get a security system in place before you do. And talk to Natalie. Tell her to find somewhere else to stay as well.”

Gemma huffs out a breath as she gets up to search for her phone. “She’s not going to like this one bit.”