Page 29 of Blood Money

“Yes.”

The fear in his eyes made my dick jump. I wanted him again, but I needed to make sure this situation was taken care of properly. If it wasn’t, my father would get involved, and that would be bad for all of us.

14

LIAM

Val walked me to the dressing room and offered to take me home, but I didn’t want him to know I’d been evicted so I assured him I’d be fine. I was lying. As I sank down onto a bench by my bag, my head was spinning after all that had happened: Val breaking through the glass and killing a man because he’d touched me, the most amazing blow job that blew my mind as much as I hoped it had his, and then realizing I’d forgotten the dead man and all I wanted was to stay with Val. Fuck. What was wrong with me?

I knew I’d gotten in over my head with the asshole I’d accepted as a private client. I should never have agreed to come on his side of the glass. If he’d wanted a lap dance, I could have told him I only did those out front, but I wasn’t earning money as fast as I’d wanted to. I convinced myself I could handle the man, but if Val hadn’t come in when he did, I don’t think he would have stopped with wrapping a hand around my dick. Now he wouldn’t be touching anyone else. I probably should feel worse about that, but maybe Val was right. Maybe the fucker needed to die.

I wished I hadn’t seen his body, though. The angle of his neck was just wrong. I was probably going to have nightmares for a long time. And the dreams I might have about Val. They could be nightmares or the best fantasies of my life. Was I really better off giving him a free pass to have me any way he wanted than I’d been taking chances with customers? Would he really have me watched so closely I couldn’t earn anything on the side?

Yes. Yes, he would.

I shivered thinking about it. I was in danger no matter what path I took, but at least with Val, I’d enjoy myself some of the time, right? How far would he push me? Maybe I should be a lot more scared that I was. And Val’s father? I hoped I never had to meet him. The rumors I’d heard about Dominic Marchesi were chilling. Some said he was immortal and couldn’t feel pain. That might not be true, but I believed the people who said he never hesitated to kill when someone crossed him.

I gathered my things and forced myself to stand. I needed to get out of here. Maybe if I did, I’d stop seeing that man’s broken body lying on the floor and the look on Val’s face as he slammed him into the wall. Val had become pure aggression, fury personified. I wanted that to terrify me, but no one had ever fought like that for me, and it made me feel warm all over. I wanted him even more than I had before.

I was in so much trouble.

15

VALENTINO

My phone rang as I tore out of the parking lot. It was Vito. I wanted to ignore it, but I knew better. If he was determined to talk to me, he’d keep calling until I answered, so I hit the button on the car’s screen and his voice boomed out of the speakers. “You didn’t hurt him too bad, did you?”

Did he know what had happened? “What are you talking about?”

“Bro, don’t tell me you forgot we can all log into the surveillance anytime we want.”

“Vito, if you?—”

He chuckled. “I cut away as soon as you broke in. It’s not like I want to watch you fuck him.”

I gripped the steering wheel so hard my hands hurt. “I told you I’m not going to?—”

“You don’t have to play with me, Val.”

There was no way he was going to believe me. I never could keep secrets from him. “Fine.”

“I also got a call when you ordered a code red cleanup. I assume that’s for the guy I saw groping Liam.”

“You’d be right.”

He sighed. “What are you doing, Val? You said yourself that you don’t break Pops’ rules.”

“There’s no reason why I can’t take a dancer to a private room. It’s my damn club.”

“Except that dancer happens to be paying off his debt to the family, and Pops is a stickler about that rule.”

Did he really have to make me feel even worse about my lack of control? “There’s no need for Pops to know.”

“You know he always figures out everything.”

I took a turn much too fast and nearly slid off the road. “It’s not going to take that long for Liam to pay off his debt.”

“He’s that good, huh?”

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