Page 59 of Wicked Roses

Before everything became so fucked up.

I tug off my wet hoodie and set out to right my closet. At least pick up some of the clothes off the floor. Leaving them like this would be like letting him win. I’m standing up with a heap of blouses in my arms when I’m yanked backward. I stumble into a taller, broader frame that holds me in place.

“Just what the fuck do you think you’re doing, Phi?” Salvatore growls in my ear.

16. salvatore

“Let go of me!”Delphine screams. She fights against my hold, tugging on my arm banded around her stomach.

I don’t let her go. I clench her tighter, holding her up against me. Delphine being Delphine, she always has to raise hell. Me being me, it’s one of the things I appreciate most about her. Except for times like now, where she frustrates me and makes life twice as hard as it has to be.

When Idorelease her, she wrenches herself away from me. In her rush to do so, she stumbles into the wall of the closet. Anger burns in her gaze as she glares, her chest rising and falling from her heavy, indignant breaths.

It’s a distracting sight. Being out in the rain has left her clothes soaked and sticking to her body like a second skin. Since taking off her wet hoodie, she’s only revealed her even wetter tank top—light gray fabric that’s sheerer the damper it becomes. So sheer it’s giving a preview of the bra she has on. Tiny and black with thin straps and those cups that dip low for optimal cleavage.

If I look closely enough, I can make out the shape of her breasts. I canseeher nipples poking through. Delicious dark beads I miss having in my mouth.

But as much as I’d like to spend the moment admiring Delphine’s tits, I’m pissed and so is she. The way she’s looking at me, you’d think I’d threatened to throw Salt and Pepa out the fucking window.

The pulse in my neck throbs harder the more I think about what she’s done. Once again, she’s disobeyed and gone against our agreement. She snuck off without her assigned security detail. I knew as soon as she called something was wrong. The second she claimed it was nothing and hung up.

Stitches and I were in the middle of disposing of the dismembered pieces of Ralph Mirra’s body. Even after losing several limbs, he refused to give up any more info about who he was working for, so we offed him.

I left Stitches to finish the messy job while I tailed Delphine. I followed her the whole way up to her apartment and she hadn’t had a single clue.

“You going to calm down now?” I ask, my tone rough. “Or can I expect another temper tantrum?”

“You had no right to follow me...again!”

I take a step toward her. “I followed you because you seem to have a problem sticking to our agreement. You have no idea what you could’ve walked into, do you? Ever think this could’ve been a trap to lure you here?”

Her brows pinch together. “And if I asked you to take me? You never would’ve agreed!”

She’s right. I would’ve sent some of my men. That’s what they’re for—scoping out potentially dangerous situations and handling them when necessary.

“There’s no reason for you to be here.”

“You don’t get to decide that! I had my Glock on me. I can defend myself.”

“Is that why I easily snuck up on you? I followed you the whole way here, Phi.”

Her full, heart-shaped lips press into a tight line. “I’m not arguing with you about this. I’m leaving. Don’t youdarefollow me!”

She moves to walk past me, but I grip her shoulder and push her back against the wall. She’s not going anywhere. Certainly not alone. Clearly, she still doesn’t understand the severity of the situation and how wrong it could’ve gone.

“You’re not leaving,” I growl. “Not until you agree to never pull this shit again. I mean it, Phi. This isn’t up for debate.”

“You. Don’t. Get. To. Decide!”

Delphine loses it. A raw scream tears from her throat and she shoves at me with a level of desperation I’ve never seen out of her, trying to force me out of her way. The more immovable I prove to be, the harder she tries, throwing her whole body weight at me.

I catch her in my arms and then I restrain her. I pin her body to the wall, her arms bent on either side of her head, my hands clenched around her wrists to hold them there. A second passes where we’re glaring into each other’s eyes, our bodies pressed into each other, our breaths heavy and ragged against the tinkle of the rain outside.

Jesus Fucking Christ.

I’m hanging on by a thread. I force my eyes to remain on hers and not drop down for an appreciative look at her tits. They feel agonizingly soft against me. Just as soft as I remember.

We’re at an impasse, frustrated by the other. Neither of us are ready to back down.

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