Page 11 of Brutal Legacy

She watched me come closer and wet her lips. Was she nervous? Her little pink tongue darting out and swiping over her full red lips sent my blood pumping downward.

“So, Elio, for the sun god? What are you named for?” she asked, a hint of nerves in her voice. Ms. Confident could be flustered, too, then. That was interesting.

I tutted and shook my head. I had reached her. I leaned a hand on the back of her car, the metal hot under my palm, and shoved the other into my jeans pocket. A denim handcuff to keep me from touching something that would get me fired before I’d even worked a day.

The prosecutor’s daughter.

“No, my mother didn’t hold with the Greeks. She was a superstitious woman, and her gut instincts were never wrong. She named me Elio for the Latin…alius.”

Georgia considered that, tilting her regal head an inch as she mulled over the word.

“Alius? Other. Different… right?” she finally asked.

I nodded. “Clever girl,” I murmured, genuinely impressed.

Few bothered studying the classics anymore; fuck knew I certainly hadn’t. But Georgia was a Renaissance woman. The whole package. Beauty, brains, and moxie.

I was a fucking goner.

Then a heavy hand landed on my shoulder.

“Georgia, darling, time to go and study. I’ll show Elio around the place. You two needn’t interact much. In fact, you’ll hardly know he’s here.”

Georgia nodded, her cheeks flushed a delicate pink I couldn’t tear my eyes from.

I watched her walk into the house, and her father watched me watch her.

“Lay so much as a fingertip on her, and I’ll make you wish I’d dropped you off at the police station.”

I glanced at him.

His jovial face was serious.

“My daughter is forbidden. Touching her means a fate worse than death for a punk like you… got it?”

I swallowed the knot of anger and resentment in my throat and forced myself to nod.

“I hear you. She’s off-limits. That’s the rule,” I muttered.

Alfredo nodded, patting my back consolingly.

He didn’t know I’d never been very good at following rules.

3

GEORGIA

Now

“Hold still, or I swear, you’ll know what pierced nipples feel like,” I warned past a mouthful of pins.

“Ha! More fool you, I’ve always wanted pierced nipples, oh, and a Venus piercing, too… if you happen to get near my clit.” Erica, my friend, muse, and pain in my ass giggled at me.

“Pass. Something has gone seriously wrong with this design if I stick a pin anywhere near your pussy.” I sighed, pulling the last pin from my mouth and tucking the sweetheart neckline of the gown. I stepped back and eyed the design critically.

Erica turned around and looked at the floor-length mirror behind her, and gasped dramatically.

“Oh my God, I’m a goddess,” she murmured reverently.

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