“You’d be right about that. We have done more than our fair share of bad shit. Even knowing that you don’t want to hurt us. Not really.” It was his turn to gravitate towards me. The backs of our hands brushed together, and goosebumps spread up my entire arm from that point of contact.
“Someone thinks very highly of themselves.” I wanted to say that he was wrong. That I would hurt them without any hesitation, but I knew it wasn’t true. It was seeming like it would take a whole hell of a lot to get me to go after them in earnest. Thoughts of any one of my boys hurt by me make a sharp pain start in my chest and stomach bottomed out.
My mind was all kinds of fucked up with thoughts of them. Everything was a jumbled tangled mess inside my head, and I was no closer to figuring it all out now than I had been when Jasper busted into that warehouse and pulled me out.
“We could go back and forth about this all day, but there’s a reason I brought you in here. Nico wants to have a sit down with you.”
I wasn’t sure if I was up to having a meeting with them right now. There were still too many things I needed to figure out. Things that didn’t have anything to do with them or Nico’s father. That had everything to do with the shady dealings that have been going on with Uncle Tony.
It wasn’t like him to give me bad information. Especially if that information could derail my plans to go after Gio. He might not like or agree with how I’m handling the betrayal and death of my parents, but he didn’t understand me. He understood what I was doing and why. He knew how important it was to me. All the ways I’d almost killed myself in the eleven years to get where I am. He wouldn’t send me on wild goose chases for nothing.
With all that in mind, it didn’t change the fact that he had given me bad information. There were also the strange phone calls he’d been taking and then ending abruptly when I entered a room. Not to mention that photo I found of Gio and my parents in the yearbook. I found it hard to believe that he didn’t know anything about that.
He’d also been avoiding my phone calls while he was out of town for work. I hadn’t thought too much about it at first, but I slowly started to notice that when I called I wouldn’t get an answer. Sometimes he didn’t even call me back. If he did, it was days later when he was already on his way home.
There were just so many damn unanswered questions. I wasn’t generally the type of person that was afraid to ask questions when I needed to, but it was my uncle Tony. There had never been complete trust between us, but I’d also known I could count on him. Now I wasn’t so sure.
“Look, I’m not going to go after any more of your men. You can tell them they can rest easy. I don’t think there’s any reason to meet with Nico right now.” The fire that flashed in Enzo’s eyes at my rejection flickered through the flames that were smoldering in my lower stomach. I wanted that fire to be directed at me for a completely different reason.
Perhaps a meeting wasn’t completely out of the question.
Tora, get your shit together! No meeting them tonight. You’ve got shit to do.
Jasper and I already had plans to do a little recon on Gio tonight. He was attending some gala function and we needed to scope out his bodyguard situation. If I wasn’t going to use Nico like I’d planned before, we needed to come up with a different plan. Snatching him while he was out on the town might be an alternative we could use.
When I told Jasper what I’d planned to do tonight, he’d insisted on coming with me. Recon was something I did alone, but I think he was still having some issues with me being out by myself. If he could figure out a way to be in school with me during the day, he probably would. I know he’d had a talk with Angel and Dom about keeping an eye on me. That was the only explanation as to why I kept finding them loitering around me today. They didn’t say anything or get too close, but every time I looked there they were. Standing off in the distance.
“You don’t get to decline the invitation. You’ll be coming with us after school even if I have to pick you up and put you in the car myself.”
His hands clamped down on my hips, and he pulled me tight against his chest. My breasts pulled tight and grew heavy as they rubbed against him. Every place I felt his touch burned me with awareness.
I wasn’t going to lie to myself. I wanted him.
“I will meet you outside of your last class to walk you to the parking lot. Don’t even think about trying to ditch me. I will find you, and I’m not sure if you’ll appreciate the way I punish you.” His lips brushed along the shell of my ear as he whispered to me.
Before I could even respond he released me and moved out of the room without a backwards glance. If I hadn’t been aware enough to notice the nice sized bulge in the front of his jeans while we’d been pressed against him, I would be tempted to think he was unaffected by our nearness.
It would seem I was going on an adventure with the Valentino boys tonight. I couldn’t wait to tell Jasper. He was going to throw one hell of a hissy fit.
Today was going just great.