Page 98 of Wicked Tricks

He grabbed me by the shoulders, shaking me, “Rome!”

“Okay!” I shouted, pushing him away from me, “okay, fine! What do you want from me, Antoni? You are the embodiment of everything I hate. I hate what you do and what you stand for. I hate what you’ve mademedo, and how you make me act. I hate how weak and out of control I feel around you.”

He put his hands in his pockets, nodding, looking down at the ground next to me.

“I hate your snarky smile, I hate the way you look at me like you love me, and I hate your stupid fucking hair.”

He smirked that stupid fucking smirk, looking up at me with his dark eyes still serious. Everything in my core, in my being, hated this man.

“I don’t know how to say the words you want me to say, Antoni. I don’t know how to let myself admit that to you! But of course I fucking want you, I don’t know how to tell you that I fucking like having you around, okay?”

He sighed, walking towards me slowly.

I didn’t realise how tightly I was gripping onto the handle of the gun until he wrapped his hand around mine. He looked down at me as I stared at the ground beneath his shoes. He tilted my head up to look at him, and I exhaled deeply.

The weight of the words I had been carrying, lifted instantly. I didn’t realise how heavy it was, how hard I had to subconsciously fight within myself to ignore what I was feeling.

To ignore the truth.

He kept his eyes trained on mine, and took the gun from my hands. I didn’t flinch, letting it slip from my grip. He leaned down, and kissed me once, softly, on the lips. He then flung the gun into the dense scrub beside us.

“No more games,” he whispered against my lips, “no more tricks,” and I nodded in agreement.

“Just us,” he said.

26

Chapter 26

Rome

We walked into Lilith’s together.

Every girl inside did a double take as they saw me with the large man that was Antoni. None of these women had seen me with a man before, especially a man like him.

I was probably even more surprised than they were.

“Well, well, well,” Bea smirked from behind the bar, “I see that you found her.”

“I did,” he smirked down at me, “thank you for your help, Bea,” Antoni said, wrapping an arm around my waist. I pulled away from him, because old habits die hard.

“Soyougave him my new number?” I narrowed my eyes at Bea.

“Oh shut the fuck up, you survived didn’t you? You should be thanking me too.”

I rolled my eyes, “where’s Diana?” I asked, and she pointed towards the office.

I straightened my posture and walked over to the door, Antoni followed a few paces behind. I was nervous, but not in the way I usually was when it came to Diana.

For so long, she had taken the place as my mother figure, and like most people, I hated disappointing her and letting her down.

But this time, she was the one who had let me down.

Antoni had wanted us to leave it all behind, to forget about it and let Sierra deal with the consequences herself - but it wasn’t in me. I couldn’t let it go.

I knocked hard on the door, and opened it before she had a chance to respond. She was sitting behind her desk, her reading glasses perched on the end of her nose as she scrolled on her computer.

“Rome,” she said simply, not looking up from her screen.

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