Page 113 of Bitter Poetry
CARMELA
“Get out.”
I shove hard at Dante’s chest. His jaw is locked so tight it’s a wonder he hasn’t cracked a tooth.
The aggression he’s directing at Christian is off the charts. If they’re going to go at one another, I don’t want to be underneath one of them when that happens. He finally redirects his focus to me.
“Both of you, get the fuck out of my room!”
Christian leaves first. Whatever his mission was here, the objective must have been met. I’m guessing he never told Dante about us and decided that today, and while Dante was inside me, was the best option.
What can I say? The man invokes violent tendencies in me. From the look on Dante’s face, he’s feeling violent, too.
Only now the guilt threatens to suffocate me, even though I have no damn reason to feel it.
Dante pulls out of me, but slowly. A tic is thumping in his jaw, and his expression is bleak.
I wince. Christian is not exactly a small man down there, but it’s not like we have sex that often, and either way, I’m yet to be convinced I will ever get used to this.
“I’m sorry,” he says. His voice is measured; his rage banked for now. His eyes are on my pussy before I snap my legs shut. He shoves his cock into his boxer briefs and fumbles to fasten his zipper and belt. “Let me get you a cloth.”
“Save it.” I’m shaking, and a mess of hurt and conflict. But I push down the skirt of my dress and sit up, resolute in the face of no alternative. “I can’t do this now, Dante. And I can clean myself up. As Christian just alluded, I’m used to generously endowed Barone men trying to rearrange my internal organs…”
“Jesus Christ. I’m going to—” He throws a look heavenward and chuckles.
I snicker, too, but the humor fades fast. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t—”
“That you found out like this.” Yeah, I’m done apologizing to the world.
His eyes are on me again, and in them, I see a mix of vulnerability and wrath.
Well, fuck him. “It’s your wedding day. You married someone else. It’s been a really long year, Dante. I regret many things, but surprisingly, Christian is not one of them. Now, pleaseleave. You have to. I don’t think my heart can take any more rollercoaster rides today.”
He nods, turns away, then turns back, takes my jaw in a bruising hold, and kisses me like he hates me.
And then, he too is gone.
I heave myself up and lock myself in my bathroom. Somehow, I’m not dead. Just the lingering soreness where Dante pounded the entrance to my womb and the mind fuck of Christian sitting down to watch.
If either brother so much as breathes in my direction, they better hope I have no sharp implements within reaching distance.
CHAPTER 34
DANTE
Christian is waiting for me in the shadows of the corridor that leads to the cloak room when I come down.
The rage I thought I’d gotten a lid on explodes. I take him by the throat and shove him against the wall. “You were supposed to be watching her for me,” I snarl.
He doesn’t try and stop me, just lets me fucking squeeze. And I swear in that moment I’m ready to do the unthinkable…
I shove away.
His hoarse breathing is satisfying.
My chest is heaving, and my vision is turning dark around the edges.
