Page 28 of Little Dove

“You’re an idiot,” Rori mutters, but I don’t know if that’s directed at me or Lazaro. I’m too focused on the glaring match he and I are having.

“You don’t need to be so rude to her,” I scold him. “You also don’t get to dictate what I eat. Or don’t eat, in this case. All you’re doing is depriving your men and wasting food that I won’t eat anyway. And while you and Alonzo are both giants, I doubt your stomachs can handle all that food either.”

“When you are depriving yourself, then fucking right, I’m going to dictate what you eat,” he snaps back. “You’re not starving yourself under my watch, Amara. Ever. Get used to it. I don’t care if you can’t eat it all, but you will eat. Making yourself sick is unacceptable.”

Alright, anger wins. The audacity of this man. “Fuck you, Lazaro.” I seethe. “You have known me for less than twenty-four hours. You think you have any kind of right to tell me what to do? You goddamn fucking don’t. And since you don’t seem to care about airing my business in front of everyone, I’ll do the same for you. You and me? We are not a thing. We will not be a thing.Ever. All the shit you keep spouting about me doing things the way you want because you think you know what’s best for me is a bunch of macho bullshit that I will never subscribe to. I’ve put up with it my entire life, and just like I did with them, I’ll make sure I never give you what you want. You want someone to order around and fuck when you feel like it, go back to Camilla, who clearly wants your attention, and has had it in the past. Anything that happened in that bunker will never happen again. Do you understand?”

His eyes are dark, tumultuous, and his expression hard. Ooooh, someone doesn’t like that. He opens his mouth, no doubt to blast me with more of his bullshit, but Rori must realize just how badly that would end because she interjects, “Quit while you’re ahead, big guy. Amara, let’s go and cool off for a minute, huh? Goliath, you need to talk some sense into your brother, or we’re going to be dealing with a dead body.” Then she gets to her feet, looking at Alonzo expectantly.

Surprisingly, Alonzo doesn’t argue and moves aside to let her through. Hades follows, and they both turn to wait for me. Lazaro still looks like he wants to fight, but he must think better of it as he stiffly gets up and out of the way.

I walk past him without so much as glancing in his direction, and follow Rori toward the back bedroom. A smirk plays on my lips when she stops Hades just outside the door, giving him a simple “Guard” command before she shuts it. No one will be disturbing us unless they can get through him.

The bedroom is just as spacious as the rest of the plane. There’s another desk in here, a small sitting area, and a compact bar that looks well-stocked. Adjoining the bedroom is an ensuite, though I can’t make out much of it with the light off.

“You okay?” Rori asks me, her voice full of concern.

I look at her, expecting to see other emotions on her face, but she looks genuine enough. For a moment, I’d thought she only brought me back here to warn me off or something, but that’s not the vibe I’m getting. “I’m fine,” I tell her. I don’t know this woman, and I’m not going to lay everything at her feet. She might use it against me, or tell the others how to.

It’s happened before. I learned my lesson, and I’m not going to make that same mistake again.

She arches a brow. “Look, I know you don’t know me, and you’re probably not feeling very trusting right now, and I don’t blame you, but you clearly aren’t fine. I know exactly how…overbearing these men can be. It’s overwhelming, and it just makes you want to push back harder. I’m in your corner, no matter what. I’m big on women supporting women, and Sienna is too, so if you want to vent, feel free.”

I want so badly to spill it all, but still, I hold back. “He’s just being an asshole. Since he rescued me, he thinks he gets a say in how my life goes now. He seems to think that I can’t survive without him, that he’s the reason I’ll be able to function in thiswhole mafia shit-storm.” I try to calm my flaming temper. God, I’m so sick and fucking tired of people trying to decide my life for me.

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Rori huffs, moving to sit cross-legged on the bed, resting her hands on her knees. “I’m quickly coming to understand that the way the men in this life act is not the norm. Take Sienna and Alessio, for example. He walked into her apartment and informed her that she was the long-lost daughter of the De Lucas, and that he was there to take her back to her family. Oh, but not before implying that she would be required to fulfill a marriage contract because her sister married another guy. She bolted, and he spent the next however long chasing her around Europe trying to bring her back with him, because he wasn’t taking no for an answer. Considering he’s Alessio’s bodyguard, Lazaro is probably going to be a lot like him.”

“Lazaro told me that the marriage contract was done the moment Gia married her husband. So he lied to me about that?” Why am I not surprised?

“No, he didn’t,” she assures me. “But Alessio thought it was funny to mess with Sienna, and it backfired. The man is completely obsessed with her, just like she is with him, though she tries to play it down. My point is, when these men see something they want, they go after it hard, and they’re direct. If Lazaro wants you, he’s not going to hide it. Clearly, he’s said as much. But the important thing is that he won’t force you. They may be a lot of things, but from everything I’ve seen, they aren’tthat.” She gives me a cool smile. “If they were, they wouldn’t be for long. I have connections.” She winks.

“He obviously hasn’t gotten that memo because he ignores everything I’m saying and just continues on as if I haven’t even spoken, acting like he can tell me what to do and demanding thatI eat more. I’m going to punch him in the balls again if he doesn’t cut it out,” I vow.

“Wait, you punched him in the balls?” Rori gapes, laughing uproariously. “Oh, fuck, I wish I was there to see that. Please tell me you yelled ‘timber’ or something when he crashed to his knees.”

“No, but I did think it,” I admit with a smirk.

Rori wipes her eyes, smearing her mascara a little. “Good. Sometimes, you need to remind these guys that you’re not helpless, and there’s nothing like a nut shot to get that point across.” She takes a breath to get herself under control before she adds, “But I will tell you that when it comes to any of the men, they take the safety and comfort of the women around them very seriously. That’s why Alonzo lost his shit when he realized I hadn’t stayed in the SUV and was shooting at those guys back in that town. He doesn’t care about my skills, he only cares that I’ve put myself in harm’s way. Lazaro is doing the same thing with you now, because he’s worried you’re going to make yourself sick if you don’t eat enough.”

“You sound like you’re defending him.”

She shakes her head. “Nope, just explaining. I’ve been around men like them in one way or another my entire life. The only difference is that they won’t truly force you. I’ve known men who will literally tie you to the seat and force-feed you until you choke. Or, worse, strap you down and sedate you so you can’t fight back, then put a feeding tube down your nose.”

I stare at her, horrified. “People do that?”

She nods. “You see a lot in my line of work. I’m a big advocate of bodily autonomy and personal choice, and I wholly agree that you should get to choose what you eat and what you do, but Lazaro is going to be a tough one to convince of that.” Then she gives me a curious look. “You don’t have to tell me, but are youfighting him because you really don’t like him, or because you like him too much and you’re terrified of what that means?”

“I…I don’t know,” I mutter, not sure if I’m ready to admit the answer even to myself, let alone her.

“Well, you have time to figure that out, but I want you to know, Amara, that you can always count on me in your corner. And if you need a buffer between him, or your cousins, then I’m that person. Or even his sister. I will be that person if you need me to be.”

“Why? You don’t even know me.”

“Because I’ve been in places where I don’t know who to trust, and I desperately needed someone. I also know how hard it is when your whole life has been turned upside down and you’re left floundering. You’ve been taken away from your home and your business, and thrust into a world that the majority of people think of as dark, dangerous, and taboo. On top of all that, you suddenly have this whole new family you’re about to meet a part of, some of whom are even darker and more dangerous than you’d ever believed to be possible. Not Sienna and Gia, of course. I know you’ll like them, but you’ll see it for yourself.”

“If you say so.” I sigh. “I’m honestly just too tired and stressed to think about it.”

She nods and smiles. “Well, how about I go out there, get us some food, and you and I sit in here and you show me how to do some fun styles with my hair? I’m always up for new looks. And then you can tell me your ideas for when you eventually get to do it.”

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