"Might I remind you she is a mafia princess, my friend. She knows about the life. Might I also remind you she will not be here forever. What will you do when she leaves here and finds a man who won't let her go unclaimed?" That was a fucking bullet to the gut. Over my dead body.
TWO
LILY
THE NEXT DAY
I am losing my mind. That is the only explanation. It makes sense, you know. I miss my sisters and am grieving for my father, so yeah, it totally makes sense that I am not acting like me. Well, at least my body is not acting like me. For the last few months that I have been here, I have slowly been building this inferno inside of me, body feverish sometimes and achy, especially at night with visions of Click on top of me, rutting into me, sweating all over me. See! I am losing it. It is the only answer that makes sense. I have never had a reaction like this to a man before, and in the business, my family is in, I am surrounded by them. No. It is something about him. He does something to me on a level I can't explain, which is absolutely nuts, considering he has barely said the equivalent to a paragraph to me since I have been here.
It's weird. At some points during the day, I swear I can feel his eyes on me, searing my skin, blazing his initials into me like a brand, but then sometimes, when I look up, he isn't there. Or, other times, I look up, and he is not giving me a second thought. I don't know. Maybe everyone is right. Maybe I do live with my head in the clouds, and it is finally showing itself. I am going crazy. God, I wish I could talk to Chiara about this, but she has not been answering her phone the last few weeks, and that is also making me nervous. We are twins. Identical, in fact, and she would never ignore my calls. I know something is wrong, but until I can figure out what, I can only wait. The one or two saving graces in this situation are Jewel and little Lorelei. I like Jewel a lot. She is kind, and she listens to me. She doesn't look at me like an immature little girl, no matter what I say, and that is amazing. But that baby, that sweet, cherub little baby is gorgeous and so sweet it makes my heart heavy and light when I am holding her.
"Lily, is everything alright?" Shoot. I totally zoned out. Turning, I smile and look at Jewel.
"Yes, sorry. I was just thinking about my sisters." It's true. At least, it is not a complete lie. "Do you have any siblings?" I ask her. Her face sombers before she smiles at Lorelei.
"No. I had no one before Dario found me and gave me this life." I envy the love and devotion I hear in her voice. I want that more than anything. I also am very nosy and want to ask her how they met, but it doesn't feel right.
"What can you tell me about Click?" My hand slaps over my mouth, appalled and embarrassed to have asked. Her eyes begin to twinkle, and she smiles at me before moving closer.
"Are you interested?" She wiggles her hips in a teasing motion, and I can't stop the giggle.
"I mean, I guess I was just wondering, like, what is his real name? Surely it isn't Click, right?" She hesitates before answering, but then we are thwarted by the appearance of Dario and the very man who is causing my body to turn against me. I watch in a non-creepy way as Jewel goes to her husband and kisses him. His hands find purchase in her hair, and his hold is possessive but shrouded in adoration and worship. Realizing I am staring, I turn my head only to find something in Click's eyes pierce me before he covers it and looks away. What was that? I have no clue, but whatever it was, it once again has me on fire. It is a struggle to keep my breathing even, not giving anything away.
"Click." Jewel calls his attention.
"Boss lady."
"Lily has been nowhere since she came to us. Maybe you should take her somewhere. Get her out of the house. After all, she is our guest, not a prisoner." Oh, God. What is she doing? His shoulders tense for a second before he releases them and faces me.
"Would you like to get out of the house, Lily?" The way he says my name is like hot syrup on a buttermilk pancake. It drips off his tongue and leaves a trail of sugar in his wake, making me feel sticky and wet. "Lily?" He really needs to stop saying my name before I have to mop Dario and Jewel's floor to clean the juice leaking from my pussy.