If that was what he wanted, it was pretty sad because there was no way he was getting one. Anything like family had to be protected, and the only way to protect anyone in his world was to keep them at a distance.
“You’re very wriggly today, girl,” Angelo observed. “And quiet.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “I am.”
“Something I should know about?”
She felt heat brightening her face. “Uhm. I don’t think so.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
“That’s not true. I’m an excellent liar.”
Angelo allowed a small smile, which did not reach his eyes. Gemma knew he didn’t really trust her. If she hadn’t been happy to be here, then he would have been holding her captive.
She felt her heart sink in a way she really didn’t enjoy. Angelo would probably never trust her. She didn’t know if he really trusted Bobby yet, and they’d been together for years.
A second later, Angelo confirmed her suspicions of his mistrust of Bobby.
“You’re also quiet, boy. I get the feeling there’s something I don’t know. I don’t like feeling there’s something I don’t know, especially given we’ve been caught off-guard more than once lately. I don’t think any of us will survive another raid.”
“Nobody’s raiding us that I know of,” Bobby said.
Gemma’s butt was being raided, but she wasn’t going to mention that. It was bad enough having Bobby look over and smirk at her from time to time. The last thing she needed was a knowing look in Angelo’s eyes too. The Vitali men were really into humiliation.
“Gemma.”
She jumped a little in her seat when Angelo said her name unexpectedly. The motion made her ass clench, which made the plug intrude deeper, which made her face flush bright red.
“What? I mean, Uhm, yes?”
She was acting suspicious, thanks to Bobby’s dumb plan to punish her. If Angelo thought there was something going on with her, there was going to be hell to pay, and it would involve more than her ass.
“Time you started being useful, girl,” Angelo said. “You have surveillance and intelligence capacities. You’re going to use them.”
“Me?”
“Yes. You.”
“But I’m… why… would you trust me to do that?”
“I’m not saying we trust you, but we do have you here, and sitting around all day annoying Bobby is not an option.”
“Okay. I want to help.”
She didn’t just want to help. She wanted to get her hands back on a keyboard and use her skills to find out as much as possible about as much as possible. Angelo was right about one thing. They had been caught off-guard lately. Between the Organization and Willow’s mad aristocratic vendetta, the Vitalis had been on the run for longer than anyone sane could possibly stand.
But there was one problem. A butt problem.
“Bobby?” She cornered him after breakfast. He hadn’t come to deal with the plug situation yet, and it was beyond uncomfortable. This met the criteria for cruel and unusual punishment as far as she was concerned.
“Yes?” There was that smug, dark sparkle in his eyes as if he knew all too fucking well how much she was suffering from that infernal rubber intrusion.
“Bobby. I need this out. I can’t concentrate on anything, and Angelo wants me to run surveillance. If I fuck up surveillance, then there will be big consequences for all of us.”
“Nice try, but that plug is going back in after you….”
“Please. Can we just leave it out? I get it. I won’t put you in the position of lying to Angelo again. Have mercy on me, oh great Roberto.”
“If you had any chance at all of getting out of that plug, you’ve ruined it. I’ll see you later.”
With that, Bobby walked away as if he was the lord of all plugs. As if she didn’t have fingers to rectify the situation herself.
Gemma went to the bathroom and tried to defiantly take it out, but it turned out that there wasn’t any defiant way to remove a butt plug. There was just the embarrassingly sensitive way to take it out.
He wasn’t putting it back in, and she made sure of that by dropping it into the toilet. She hit the flush with a satisfied smile, then got into the shower and cleaned up. All traces of Bobby’s seed were washed away, and she resolved to not let him do that again. Last night had been a one-off. She’d submitted to him because it was late and because she’d been curious, and because… because… whatever it was, it wasn’t anymore.
Once she was cleaned up and dressed, she felt better. She put jeans on. Tight jeans, because good luck getting those off, Bobby. Every little bit of resistance helped. Plus, it would annoy him and annoying him put a dangerous little smile on her face.
Angelo had set up a computer terminal outside his office, so he could keep an eye on her. She figured he’d probably have her desktop mirrored on his own, which meant he could see everything he did. At least, he would if he was smart. Sometimes Angelo seemed practically omnipotent. Other times, he was very much an older man who was not entirely comfortable in the new world constantly emerging around him.