ChapterTwenty-Five
My scream of surprise was trapped behind the hand that was held tightly against my mouth. A dark figure lost in the blurriness of my eyes hovered over me. Blinking my eyes, I tried to clear the haze from them. My heart was in the throat, and I cursed myself for letting my guard down again.
What the fuck was wrong with me these days?
First Alicen snuck into my bed. Two men got the drop on me in my own fucking apartment. Now someone had creeped into my bedroom without me realizing it. I needed to get my shit together. Death was coming for me, and I wasn’t even putting up a fight these days.
Finally being able to focus on who was holding their hand over my mouth, I released a small huff of relief when I realized it was Jasper. Contempt and caution glared down at me as he took in the scene that was currently in my bed. The blanket had ridden down, or I pushed it down because I was hot as fuck, and Jasper could see every naked inch of me and my two bed partners.
I was a little shocked Enzo and Cole had slept through Jasper coming into the room and waking me up. I guess they were either just as exhausted as I was or they weren’t used to being constantly aware of their surroundings. The ease and contentment I’d found with my friends, and being in one place for longer than a minute had lulled me into a false sense of security. It was the only reason I could come up with as to why I was constantly being taken off guard.
Climbing out of the bed from between my sleeping duo, I grabbed my robe and slipped it on as we moved out of the room and into the hallway.
“What the fuck is going on, Tora?” Jasper kept his voice down to a low level yell, but he was still pissed at the situation he found me in.
“I think it’s quite obvious what’s going on. Enzo and Cole fucked me into a deep sleep. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.” I went about making myself a cup of coffee and refused to look at my best friend in the face.
I don’t know why I was feeling so shy about this. I was a grown ass woman. He knew I’d slept with people before. After all the things I’d done in the past, this was not something I should be shy about.
“You’re sleeping with the enemy. What the hell are you thinking? I know your uncle said to use your body to get close to them, but I didn’t think you would actually do it.”
“If I remember correctly, you said I should think about it too. This was a way to get us where we need to be.” That definitely wasn’t the reason behind last night’s double penetration sexcade, but if that’s the reason he wanted to believe I wasn’t going to correct him.
“I wasn’t serious about it. Nothing good is going to come from this.” He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at me as if he didn’t know who I was.
“That’s not true. The four orgasms I got last night came out of it. That’s nothing to turn your nose up at. I can’t remember the last time I’d cum so many times in one go.” Sipping my coffee, I leaned back against the counter and dared him to say any more on the subject. My sex life wasn’t up for discussion or debate. We had bigger issues to figure out.
“Why are you here so early?” It wasn’t even seven in the morning. We were supposed to meet around nine o’clock this morning. I was hoping that would’ve given me enough time to have another quick round with the boys and then send them on their merry little way. It was the perfect way to start off the day before everything hit the fan and blew up in my face.
None of the Valentino boys were going to touch me once they found out about my trip to see Gio at the lake house. If everything went according to plan, I would get all the answers I was looking for, Gio would be dead by the time I left that house, and I would be riding away in the sunset never to be seen again.
“Gio added something to his agenda last night. There’s going to be a meeting at his lake house this afternoon. It looks like it's one of his firearms dealers. I think we need to get there before that appointment does.”
Well fuck. I thought he was going to the lake house for a little R&R, but that seems to be wrong. I didn’t have the time or the patience for anyone else to fuck up the plans I had for today. If I had to take out one more person and leave them dead on the floor beside Gio, I would. It was time to end this all.
I was tired of waiting. Tired of trying to come up with plans that didn’t work out. Frustrated that I’d wasted so much time in Chicago. It wasn’t too late to find somewhere else to graduate high school. Once that was over, I’d move again to start college.
“Alright. Let me get dressed. Gather up the bags from the exercise room. Everything we’ll need is in them. I’ll meet you at the car in twenty.” I set my coffee cup down on the counter and headed towards the room.
“Are you planning to wake them up?” Jasper asked before I could enter my bedroom.
“No.” My heart clenched a little at the thought of leaving without saying goodbye to them. For some reason I couldn’t put my finger on, they’d come to mean something to me. Something I didn’t understand. It was better this way. If I woke them up they’d want to come with me, and I couldn’t let that happen.
A smile of joy pulled at my lips as I looked at the two sleeping men in my bed. They’d gravitated towards one another after I climbed out, and now they were cuddled up together hugging one another. Enzo had his head on Cole’s chest, one leg thrown up over his friend’s, and his fingers tangled in the chest hair there. Cole’s arms were wrapped around Enzo, hugging him to his body, his head leaned over to rest on the top of Enzo’s. They looked so freaking cute, I couldn’t pass up the chance to take a picture with my phone.
Slipping on a pair of black skinny jeans and a dark maroon shirt, I pulled on my leather jacket and ankle boots. Neither of them moved a muscle while I went through the hassle of getting dressed. One last look at them before I left the room, and I silently said my goodbyes.
“I’ve sent you the blueprint of the house along with an aerial view of the surrounding area. We should arrive in about an hour.” The scenery passing by the car as we sped down the road was bathed in a warm orange glow of the sunrise.
It was time to forget about everything but what waited for us at Gio’s lake house. I couldn’t allow myself to think about Nico or the boys. I stopped all thoughts of what happened last night. The two men, who I still hadn’t told Jasper about, the car bomb, all the shit with Gio’s men, it all left my brain as I looked at the blueprint of the house.
We’d done a little bit of recon before Gio left for the trip. Looking at the schematic confirmed that our initial thoughts of getting into the house through the underground cellar was the best option. No one should be the wiser of us sneaking in through there. It was part of the old original house and hadn’t been updated. Which meant it also wasn’t on the same alarm network as the rest of the house. We should be able to slip in without any trouble. Once we reached the first floor we’d have to be on the lookout for the bodyguards who would be patrolling the house.
“What did you tell Alicen and Milo?” They knew we were heading to the lake house to handle Gio and get answers, but we didn’t tell them exactly when we were going. They’d both voiced their desire to go with us, and I couldn’t let that happen. There was no telling what we were going to encounter once we got into the house. I couldn’t put them at risk like that. I refused to.
“Nothing. I didn’t want to fight with them about coming. I knew you were against it, and since we’re going into a situation where you need all your focus on Gio and what we need to do, I thought it was best to leave them out of this. If I told them they would either insist on coming or they’d follow us and get themselves in trouble. I couldn’t allow that to happen. I need you to come out of this alive.”
He was wrong in thinking I would focus more on keeping Alicen and Milo safe than on the job at hand if they were with us. Hell, I was going to stress enough about Jasper being with me. I knew it was pointless and a waste of breath to try and make him stay in the car. He’d refuse and we’d both end up moving into the house together. Having only one person with me that I had to worry about and watch out for was enough.
Everything was quiet and still as we made our way through the woods towards the house from where we’d parked the car. Jasper was carrying the black duffle bag, and I had a backpack over my shoulders with everything we’d need for this mission. Driving the car too close to the house was too risky, so we’d made sure to be careful and meticulous when choosing what we were bringing with us. The walk through the woods was two miles, and it was made in silence.
Crouching down in front of the cellar door, I pulled out my lockpick set and got to work on the doorknob. After a few twists and turns of the thin pieces of metal I’d stuck in the lock, I could hear the tumblers of the lock give way and the door was open.
Turning to face Jasper before moving into the house, I silently asked him if he was ready to go into battle with me. A quick nod of his head was all the confirmation I needed. We’d been planning this, working towards this, making moves to get here for so long that it was hard to believe we’d come this far.
It was time to end this all.