Page 79 of Vito

We don't speak; our hands, fingers, mouths, and tongues write out the words.

Our eyes lock as I slide deep into her tight channel, and she wraps around me. Tears glisten in her eyes as I move in her, tenderly, lovingly. As Ireverentlyworship her, I kiss the tears away, whispering that she's mine.

When she comes for me, she arches her back and whispers my name over and over again. Her walls clutch me like they're trying to never let me leave.

As I empty into her, my soul comes, too. Reaching to intertwine hers with mine, and locks our fates and futures together with a finality that should scare me but only fills me with peace and happiness.

Afterward, lying together, I silently vow to protect her, just as I would any member of my family.

Maybe even more.

I'm not sure what I'd have to give up to do that, but I vow I will.

Chapter 22

Eden

Anothermonthisalmostup. Five months since Aiken was murdered, and I became Gilly's owner-operator. Two months of something that was supposed to be one-and-done.

Instead of fucking and screwing Vito Santoro out of my system, I've woven him through every cell and fiber of myself.

Like an idiot, I fell in love with him.

I was well on my way that first month. My subconscious whispered warnings because being with Vito was unlike anything I'd ever experienced. Even that first night, my subconscious knew I was a goner.

Then, after finding the tablet in my office, Vito made the mostexquisitelove to me on a soft, plush blanket. That was when I fell completely over the edge.

Free falling with him…

Where we landed or the state we'd be in at the end…

Well, I can't think about it. Because then I'll have to admit I can only see it ending with blood and pain.

"Ed, could you come over?"

My head snaps up at the question.

I'm behind the bar, doing inventory to order the hard liquor. Lixin waves me over, being the one to have asked the question. He's sitting with the rest of the Chamber leaders.

It's rare to have them all in one place at the same time. When they meet, they usually do so at the Tower.

I stoically consider them, wondering what they want. Ever since Cutt and Jax weretaken care of, I've been extra on edge, especially with Ash. However, being the Golden Globe-deserving actress I am, I never show it.

Of course, Ash knows Cutt is missing. He also knows about my previous run-in with Cutt, where I dressed him down in front of a bar full of criminals.

Ash approached me after Cutt's disappearance, but not with suspicion. He only asked if any of the staff or I might have heard anything about where he went. Cutt is in deep debt with multiple coke dealers in town, which helped point the finger that he ran.

Lixin is watching me, waiting for me to drop what I'm doing.

With my impassive mask in place, I shut the cabinet door, put down my pad of paper, and stalk over there. "What do you need?"

He pulls out the chair beside him. Amazu and Dom looked bored. Massimo eyes me closely, just as he has ever since that day at the house after Tommaso's funeral and Vito's odd behavior. Ash is unreadable, as always, but he watches me.

"Have a seat," Lixin says.

I frown. "Is there something wrong?"

The Chamber leaders never invite me to sit with them—neither individually nor collectively. None of the patrons do. We aren't chummy or friends. I stay on my side of the line while they stay on theirs to maintain the neutrality purpose of Gilly's.

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