Page 8 of Bastard Prince
“I’ll come with you.”
“No.”
I frowned. “Enzo, I can handle my business as well as you can. I’m getting a little tired of being treated like I’m made of glass, you know? Just once, I’d like to—”
He cut me off, mid-rant, by pressing two fingers against my lips, and I would have bit his goddamn hand off for having the audacity if it weren’t for the sexy and playful smirk he was wearing.
“Babe,” he said, his whiskey voice a low rumble. “I know you can. And I’d never treat you like you’re made of glass.” His eyes darkened. “How can I, when I wanna fuck you like you’re unbreakable?”
Well, when he put it like that.
“I just thought you’d like to spend the afternoon with your brother. You’ve been apart a long time, Francesca,” he said softly, and my heart clenched at his words, his thoughtfulness. Enzo trailed his fingers over my lower lip, his eyes watching the movement as he spoke. “Get to know the man he’s become.”
Leaning in, he kissed me again, this time with more emotion and less aggressive need.
“I’ll swing by the apartment on my way, so text me anything you need, and I’ll grab it for you before I come home.”
Home.
The word hung in the air between us before it settled in my ribcage, feeling like it had always belonged there. I liked the way it sounded, the way I felt when he said it, and I knew that he knew it as a slow smile crept across his face while he watched my reaction to his statement.
He chuckled lightly as he headed to the door, his easy swagger taking him from the room, and I was not too proud to watch his ass as he went.
“Hey, Enzo?” I called, smiling as he turned to look at me. “Don’t you disappear on me either, alright?”
The implication was there, in my cowardly sentence, the one I uttered instead of saying what I wanted to. But he could see it anyway.
He met my gaze, his face resolute, and simply replied, “Never.”
CHAPTER TWO
Enzo
Friday nights atDeuces Wildwere some of our busiest, but not tonight.
Tonight, the place was practically a ghost town.
I rolled into my parking space in the back, driving the Audi R8 that I kept at the house because my McLaren was still at the condo, and headed straight in the back door. There was no one standing guard tonight, but that was because my main crew was inside, waiting for me to give them direction, and there wasn’t anyone in the state dumb enough to think they could come into my house and throw down.
When I strode into the main bar, there were about half a dozen people scattered around, drinkin’ and smokin’ and shootin’ the shit.
Well, all except for Lucky, who sat in the darkest booth, alone, playing with her switchblade as per usual.
She wasn’t exactly what you’d call a social butterfly.
Making my way to the bar, I signaled for a drink, frowning when Benny fetched it for me instead of the person who would usually be pouring drinks behind this bar; Amber.
Not that I was wanting to see her, just the opposite, in fact. As far as I was concerned, that bitch had a price on her head after the shit she’d pulled, but she had yet to show her face around town.
I hoped she wasn’t dead, though. I was lookin’ forward to watching Francesca exact a little revenge.
Claiming my tumbler of tequila and nodding my thanks to Benny, I turned, the expectant gazes of my most trusted circle looking to me for their next moves.
Not gonna lie; that shit felt fuckin’ great. Knowing that this crew, the talented and twisted individuals in the room as well as those that worked under them, were all waiting with bated breath for my instructions was a bit of a mindfuck in the best way. It made me want to be better for them, to not let them down with poor choices or put their lives at risk by making irresponsible moves.
My father had always said there was nothing a man needed more in his life than a reliable team, and I had believed his words whole-heartedly. But today, staring at the faces of the people that had helped me get to where I was in this city, to climb to the top and claim the throne, I couldn’t help but think maybe pops wasn’t as right as I’d always believed.
Because as great as it was knowing these people had my back to the bitter end, just as I’d have theirs, there was something to be said for sitting on that throne beside your queen.
