Page 33 of Claimed By Him

“See you inside.” Ace walked over to the door, and the bouncer let him in without question, even though there was a long line of girls waiting in the cold. The whole sidewalk was bustling with people, so I sat against the hood of my car and lit a cigarette. I didn’t need to make a call. I just needed a moment alone to clear my mind of everything else, so I could at least try to have a good time inside.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

My eyes slid closed, and my teeth ground together. I wondered if I was just imagining the bitchy tone of Fiona’s voice, but when I slowly turned my head, she was standing there, just outside the entrance to the club.

Why the fuck did she have to be here tonight? I faced ahead again, trying to ignore her. Maybe she would leave in a huff, and I could continue totryto forget she existed. Or that I didn’t feel stupidly excited that she was right here, that her body was within reach again.

Fuck.

“What are you doing here, Tony?”

She walked over to stand in front of me, tipping her head to make eye contact. I pulled on my cigarette and dropped my eyes to look her over. Of course, she looked fucking fantastic; she always did. The tight little dress she had on hid nothing, and my eyes dragged along her wide hips and small waist. I couldn’t help but remember how that body looked entirely naked.

Eventually, my eyes lifted to hers. “Good evening, Fiona. Nice to see you, too.”

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Gio is here.” She pointed to a car across the street, where I saw Gio casually lift his fingers from his steering wheel to greet me. I jerked my chin at him and turned back to her. “So, you can kindly fuck off. I don’t need you following me!”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’m not here for you, Fiona.” I took another drag, watching her face.

“I feel like that’s bullshit. Didn’t you get the message the other night? You’re an asshole, you fucked me, and then kicked me out of your bed. I’m fucking done with whatever this is.”

My jaw clenched involuntarily. I could hear the hurt in her voice, and it pained me not to explain myself. I didn’t need to, though. She knew that “this” could never happen. Besides, she’d already moved on.

“Well, Ithoughtyou were done, Mrs. Marchesi. Yet here you are.” I looked up at the glowing red sign of the club. “Still whoring around while your pensioner husband sleeps off his medication.”

I couldn’t help myself. I knew I was being completely unfair, but getting Fiona worked up was a habit, a pleasurable pastime that I needed to get out of my system. I watched her start to fume.

“I’m not married yet, Tony. I can whore around wherever the fuck I’d like. So, stay if you want to, but you don’t get to touch me.” She stepped closer and poked my chest like she liked to do. “Ever again.”

“Wasn’t planning on it, baby girl,” I murmured, though I fucking wished I could. It would have been so easy to grab her by the ass right now and pull her up against me. With difficulty, I kept my hands to myself. I looked down at her finger on my chest, and she quickly pulled it back.

“Why don’t you go find some more skinny boys to flirt with, huh?” I asked in a harsh tone. “Maybe now that your virginity is gone, you won’t be such a dick tease anymore. Get you some young dick before going home to placid bag-pipes Marchesi.”

Her eyes widened but lost their sparkle. I knew I’d gone way too far. I was in a bad space, knowing that I couldn’t have her even after she’d given me her body. I knew it, yet I still felt hurt when she’d wasted no time before getting engaged. I hated that I wanted her to feel just as crushed as I did that we had no future and that whatever kept me following and watching over her was severed just because she made a promise to some old guy.

Fiona breathed deeply, and I could see the storm building inside of her. I wanted it. I wanted her to throw all her anger at me and break whatever feelings I still had for her. It had to be ugly if we were going to leave each other alone.

She gave a dark chuckle and shook her head. “You know what?”

“Tell me, baby,” I said quickly, edging her on.

“It’s no wonder you couldn’t even keep an easy girl like Liza.”

Woah. I expected ugly, but I hadn’t expected that. Fiona stepped forward again, not giving a shit anymore that she was touching my chest with her fingernail.

“You’re nothing but a washed-up bag of dicks who’s still so deep up his father's ass that you can’t even smell the roses when you see them.” Hatred burned in her eyes as they looked me up and down. “Let me know when you finally grow into a man who takes what he wants without asking Daddy first. Then maybe I’ll have an inch of respect for you.”

Shit.

Fiona turned back to the club entrance and disappeared beyond the bouncer. I was left grinding my teeth together and throwing my cigarette onto the road. I hated that everything she said hit so close to home. It wasn’t true that I asked my father for everything, but it sure felt like it these days.

He was becoming more and more controlling as his resignation grew closer, as though he didn’t want to give up that control yet passing it on to me was the most controlling thing he’d ever done to me. The closer I came to taking the Romano donship, the more I felt like it was forced on me. I might have been gaining power, but I had no choice in how that happened.

The fact that Fiona saw me this way was like a fucking dagger to my chest. I’d always been there for her and protected her against all the bad in the world, her own stupidity included, but she didn’t respect me?

Fuck that.

I wasn’t gonna take it easy on her anymore, we were way past the little girl stage. She was officially a grown woman who could handle herself, and I wanted to see just how well she could do that now that I was throwing down the kiddy gloves.

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