“I meant to tell you this morning,” she told him. Lila looked him in the eye. “I didn’t keep it from you on purpose. I just didn’t want to deal with John. You can check my phone. I’ve never responded to his messages or calls until just now. I basically told him to fuck off.”
“I believe you,” Marco finally said. “It seems I made plenty of bad decisions today. I never meant to hurt you. All I wanted to do was keep you safe.”
“I get it. I’ve spent the whole afternoon with Sky and Lara. You Severin men can be impossible sometimes, incredibly possessive. Let’s just talk things out more next time.”
Marco gripped her fingers in his. He raised them to his lips and kissed them. “No more lies between us. Ever. I need one person in my life who won’t mince words because they’re terrified of me.”
“I can do that,” she said.
Lila let him pull her into his arms. She hugged him because it looked like he needed it more than she did. She stroked his hair and told him, “Talk to me, Marco. Tell me about what went down tonight.”
“We walked into a trap or rather, I knowingly walked into one and dragged my men, including my own brother, into it.”
“Why?”
“I wanted a fight. I was pissed at a lot of things.”
“At me keeping my texts with John a secret from you?”
“Yes,” Marco admitted.
Lila drew a sharp breath. Times like these, she forgot Marco wasn’t like most men. She’d forgive him for making an important decision without asking her opinion just this once. Tonight, he looked like he couldn’t take many emotional blows.
Marco seemed cold and vicious to most people, including the members of the Familia he trusted, but she knew him inside and out, just like he knew her. His actions tonight would haunt him for a long time. He’d never forgive himself for putting his men in harm’s way.
“Okay,” she finally said. “We’ll move past this. You told me before everyone makes mistakes. So do you. Your brother and your men will forgive you. No one our side, died, right?”
Marco nodded. “Johnny’s in the hospital but he’s all patched up. Nothing serious.”
“There you go,” she said, placing her head against his chest. He held her for what seemed like a long time, breathing in her scent and nuzzling her neck. “Are you hungry? I can heat up some leftover pizza from last night.”
Marco cracked a smile and finally released her. “What did I do to deserve an angel like you?”
“I’m no angel, although you might be the devil in disguise, Marco Severin,” she said in a teasing voice.
She tried to dart away from him but he caught her in his arms again and planted a deep and rough kiss on her mouth. Lila melted against him, got lost in the force of his kiss, his possessive touch. God. To think she’d almost lost her man tonight but then, Marco was made of tougher things. He made her a promise never to leave her alone. Lila knew he’d make good on his word.
Marco slipped his hands under her shirt, well, his shirt, to touch bare skin. She breathed hard when he pulled away.
“Forget dinner,” he told her. Her heart began racing wildly at the heat in his eyes. “Because this devil’s about to fuck you so hard you can barely walk in the morning.”
Chapter Ten
“Do we have an understanding, John?” Marco asked.
Lila’s ex couldn’t get a word out, not with the barrel of Marco’s gun shoved down his throat. He repeated himself. “If you ever enter my city again or contact Lila, I’ll hunt you down myself and force you to eat your insides. Yes?”
Fat tears rolled down John Brown’s face as he furiously nodded. Marco felt no sympathy for the sad excuse of a man, only disgust. Marco only had to knock down John’s motel room door, point a gun at his face, and the fucker sang like a lark.
Money problems had made John contact Lila and come to his city. The bastard didn’t know about him, although it seemed Lila warned John she was something he didn’t want to mess with.
Marco pulled out his gun. It wasn’t one of his, merely a disposable he’d get rid of later on. “Remember your old pal, Crane? He and his buddies are quickly decomposing in the sewers where I left them.”
John’s eyes grew wide at those words. “I’ll never come back here or contact Lila again. I promise.”
“Then go. I don’t want to see your disgusting face again.”
John didn’t hesitate. He bolted out of the room, leaving his belongings behind. Marco heard his footsteps hammering down the stairs. He lighted a smoke while he waited. John had a room on the second floor and one of his windows faced the alleyway below. Marco walked up to that window and saw John’s sprinting figure emerging from one of the motel’s back doors.