Page 6 of Secret Baby for the Italian Mafia Don

She doesn’t even blush.

Damn, she’s different than I remember. Can this really be the girl who was afraid of her own shadow? She’d jump when toast popped out of a toaster, her cheeks always like some off-brand Crayola color, Perpetually Pink.

Fresh from the clutches of a dozen men in this lawless hellhole, how is there nofearin those eyes? I take her by the jaw,force her to look at me. There’s something off in that bold, reckless expression. Like dark matter, swallowing all the light. Something twisted up and broken. I grin in the face of that cold look. I’d like to sink my teeth into it, just to see how it fucking tastes. We’re so close, my words ghost against her lips.

“It’s a cute act, sweetheart, but you were about to get spread out and stripped down under a dozen different men. We both know what they would’ve done with you. The humiliating, ugly game they would have made of it if they’d gotten the chance. Now stop being a little freak for two seconds and let me see if they hurt you.”

Ava huffs, but she doesn’t stop me.

“What do you care?” she asks as I start checking her over.

I ignore the question and reach for her arm. I search for bruises or breaks in case the adrenaline is keeping her numb. She’s scratched up here and there, but it’s not too bad. Not like I thought it’d be when I saw her get swallowed up by that crowd.

I feel my way along each limb, my rough hands running along her soft skin. Fuck, I’d forgotten how soft women are. How warm.

“I’m fine, Nico.”

“Yeah, you fucking are,” I mutter, slowly sliding my hands around her tight little ribcage, just under those full tits straining against her bra. She goes stiff and still, her breath frozen as I scrape my thumb against the side of her breast. “Couldn’t help but notice it myself. When did that happen?”

“You want me to take my pants off, too?” she whispers in the same tone, fucking with me. “Feel around in my panties? Maybe I sprained my pussy. You better check.”

“Goddamn,” I breathe, so close now that our foreheads almost touch, her eyes boring into mine. “What did they do to you, pretty girl?” I mutter, scrubbing my thumb against her jaw. “What happened to you while I was gone?”

Her eyes glitter, her breaths going still as I call out her bullshit for the damage that it is. For one naked moment, the truth is written into her expression.

The silence lingers, stretches too long.

Where are those clever little retorts now?

Somewhere in the New York underground, the subway blazes through, rattling the room. The light overhead sways and flickers, the whole world trembling around us. My eyes drop to her softly parted lips. I’m so close, I could lick that blood right off them. Grab her by the hair and shove my tongue between her teeth.

I bet that icy expression would melt under my heat, bet I could latch onto Ava’s pain and suck it out of her like a poison. I lean in, only for her small hand to come up and press against my chest, keeping us apart a few precious centimeters.

“Nothing you can fix,” she finally answers. The subway passes, brings the moment to a sudden stillness and silence.

Ava pushes away from me and stands up, running from the intimacy of the moment like something has finally got herspooked. I lick my lips at the thought of that. Being the thing that makes her run.

“I still don’t understand how you’re here.”

“Mysteries of the universe. Some things are just better left unknown.”

She glares at me, those eyes still shadowed with distrust.

“I need to go find Frankie,” she says. “She’ll be worried, if she’s not already breaking somebody’s kneecaps over all this.”

“Yeah? You gonna walk back out there with your tits out, give everybody a round two?”

She frowns, but she doesn’t have another solution.

“Come on. I got something for you.”

I bring Ava back into the changing rooms with me. After all this time, seven years, there’s still a locker with my name on it. So far, that’s the closest thing that’s felt like home. In here, it’s just the two of us. The fights are over, half the lights already shut off for the night.

I strip down out of my shorts, underwear and all. Ava reels away with a furious, breathy, “Jesus Christ!” as I strip naked without warning.

“Glad to know something still gets a reaction out of you.”

She says nothing, crossing her arms and facing away from me. I’d bet money she’s glaring into the other side of the room,hoping I don’t see the heat turning the back of her ears pink. I toss my shirt over her head.

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