Page 37 of Blood Lust

Reeling in the wake of whatever that was, I braced my hands on the desktop. Head lowered, I tried to regulate my breathing and calm the beast trying to surface. As I lifted it again, I realized Lia’s new laptop was still open to the cameras.

A frown pulled at my brow as I watched what appeared to be Mario and Antonio arguing. Except when I turned it up, all I heard was Mario shout, “All my hard work, gone to shit!”

Then Mario stormed from the apartment. Though Antonio deserved to get his ass chewed by his capo, it was too little too late. The thing was, something about the exchange didn’t sit right with me.

Antonio took a brief glance at the camera, and worry flickered in his eyes before he turned and walked off toward his room. No doubt he was wondering if anyone had been watching. As I refastened my slacks, I made a mental note to have the cameras recording at all times from now on.

I closed the laptop and grabbed my clothes. That’s when I noticed the mess we’d left behind.

Fuck. No condom.

We hadn’t discussed birth control and protection. I’d used it in Texas, but since everything had unfolded lately, it hadn’t come up, though it should’ve. Using my dirty undershirt, I cleaned it up.

Putting that topic on the list of shit I needed to talk to her about, I left the room.

For a few regretful moments, I stood at the end of the hall leading to her room. Though I knew I should go to her and apologize, I was terrified I’d lose it when I did. So instead of going to her, I spun on my heel and padded toward my room.

When I entered the master wing, I paused at the locked door across from mine. Jaw clenched, I went into my room and prepared for bed. With any luck the demons in my head would let me sleep tonight.

Because not only had I fed them by hurting her, I’d dredged up the crippling blame for Francesco’s death.

“Night Changes”—One Direction

“Wait. So you mean to tell me that your Mr. Gabe Rocked-My-Socks-Off-All-Night-Long was not only from Chicago, but you actually ran into him again, and you’re staying in hispenthouse?” Merin practically shrieked through the phone. No, I hadn’t told her who he was in the world, but I neededsomeoneto talk to.

After the supreme dicking he’d given me in his office, Gabriel seemed to avoid me for several days. Then over the next few days, he cautiously interacted with me, like one would with a wild animal they’d frightened. It had now been a week sincehe had blasted apart my defenses like they were nothing but matchsticks.

It had been a week since he’d lashed out at me in his pain.

It had been a week since I realized that I was in serious trouble. Because, though it initially devastated me, I understood that he wasn’t trying to hurt me—he was only to protect his vulnerable emotions. I’d had the past seven days to dissect the situation and analyze my feelings.

Neither of us was willing to acknowledge what had happened on the desk I worked on every day. Though he did surprise me each day with flowers, delectable pastries from the best little Italian bakery in the world, and let’s not forget that he bought me a new phone and computer. In a way, we’d entered a shaky truce of sorts. Though he found frequent excuses to touch me, he hadn’t pressured me for sex again.

At times things seemed easy and “normal.” Especially at night when we would sit in the library and read. The man was extremely well-read, and I was astonished at the vast range of subjects that held his interest. Everything from classic fiction to modern fiction and science to the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, and he loved to analyze it all.

“So you believe the catacombs were a coverup for supernatural beings?” I asked him during one such discussion. It surprised me that he would have such fanciful imaginings.

“It makes sense. What better way to hide bodies than to pile them in with diseased ones that no one wants to get close to?” He shrugged.

My mouth gaped. “Gabriel De Luca, are you a closet paranormal lover?”

He snorted but wouldn’t meet my stare—and that was answer enough.

I grinned and went back to my book. Our conversations were long and varied, but were always intriguing. It made me wonder if anyone truly knew Gabriel De Luca.

“Yeah,” I admitted with a sigh as I pulled myself from the rabbit hole known as my thoughts about Gabriel De Luca.

“Lia… are you sure you aren’t rushing into this?”

I’d led her to believe we ran into each other sooner than we had, but that I’d been afraid to say anything in case I jinxed it. The truth was too crazy. It was also something I’d been honor bound not to share.

Still, by normal perceptions, itwasfast. Then again, Gabriel’s life was far from normal, and he existed on his own plane, within his own timeline. After all, he was the head of the mafia in Chicago—an organization that lived by its own set of carefully crafted rules. With that came the hard truth that a man in his position ran the risk of his life expectancy being shortened, which made every moment precious. I wasn’t oblivious to that fact, and it made my heart ache.

Though a little voice whispered that if Gabriel was killed, my debt would be paid and my captivity, as it were, would end. Except the thought of that happening was like a hot poker through my chest. Chalking it up to the insanity of mind-blowing lust, I realized I was falling for the beast of a man.

Shit.

Yet he’d shown me a brief flash of his humanity when I found out he was ensuring his dead brother’s child was taken care of. That had to count for something, right? Then again, family was everything to the mafia.

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