Page 31 of The Viper

“I’m supposed to be working today, and I need to let Evelyn know I won’t be in. I told you this yesterday.”

My beautiful girl’s blue eyes look dull and tired, like she’s been through too much. And she has. “Frank,” I call. He glances in the mirror. “To the café.” He veers toward the opposite direction of home.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Rosa.”

“Rose,” she absentmindedly replies as she looks out the window. Her defiance makes me smirk. I can’t drag my attention away from her beautiful, full lips and can’t seem to stop thinking about how they’d look wrapped around my cock. Her on her knees, tears in her eyes as I fuck her mouth. She’d look up at me and silently beg me to ravage her mouth, stretching her lips as a dildo vibrates in her pussy and her ass is filled with a pretty blue-studded butt plug. Fuck. I shake my head as I attempt to dislodge that sensual image from my mind. “I won’t be long,” she says as she moves to leap out of the car. She tries the handle and instantly huffs. “The child lock, seriously?”

“I told you, when you’re with me, you wait.” Marco opens my door, and I round the car to open Rosa’s. I extend my hand to take hers, which she takes and squeezes with all her might. She’s even more adorable when she’s angry.

I step up onto the sidewalk with her, and she turns in surprise. “What are you doing?”

“I’m coming in with you.”

“I can do it on my own, Dominic.”

“Yes, you can.” I continue walking beside her, and when we reach the doors, I open it and step aside. Rosa enters, and I walk in behind her. She turns to look at me and shakes her head. “Hey, Tilly,” she greets a young woman at the counter.

Tilly looks at me, then her, confused. “You’re supposed to be working, but...” She scans a cautious gaze over her body.

“I’m here to talk to Evelyn about that,” Rosa replies. She turns to me and whispers, “Can you stay here, please?”

I don’t like leaving her on her own, especially considering she’s only just been discharged. “Make it quick.” She offers me no more than a small nod. I walk over to Tilly and place my coffee order. “Black coffee, and whatever Rosa usually has.” I take my money clip out of my pocket, ready to pay for our coffees.

“Rosa?” She draws in her brows. “Who’s Rosa?” She lifts her chin to look at me and suddenly she realizes who I’m talking about. “Oh, you mean Rose.” She turns to the guy on the coffee machine. “Hey Finn, what does Rose drink?”

“She has a latte with no sugar,” he replies effortlessly. I hate how he knows something about my Rosa that I don’t. He looks toward me and casts a wary eye over me. “Who are you?” he asks with venom.

I lift my brows and slightly tilt my head to the side. He’s fucking sizing me up, and I have no intention of letting him think he’s anything to my girl other than just a fucking co-worker. I hand Tilly the money and straighten, pulling my shoulders back as I keep my eyes on him. My jaw tightens and I click my tongue, staring at him with hatred.

The thick air between us is palpable, and uncomfortable for him. He shifts from one foot to the other before finally capitulating and turning his head away. I close the distance between us, all the while keeping my eyes on him. He needs to know she doesn’t belong to him. She’s mine...I mean she’s part of my family and I look after my family.

“Okay, I’m ready...to...” Rosa pauses and glances between Finn and myself. What a ridiculous name, Finn. Is he a fucking fish? Fish are gutted, breaded and deep fried. “What’s going on?” Rosa places her hand to my chest and I instantly pull my deadly glare from the fish.

“Rosa, I ordered us coffees.” I snap my gaze back to the fish, then smiling, I turn to her.

“Oh, thank you.”

“Did you speak with your boss?”

“Yeah, she’s giving me some time to recover.”

“Your coffees,” the fish mumbles and pushes them over the counter toward us.

“Thanks, Finn.” Rosa gifts him with a smile, and I find myself squeezing my hands into fists. The fish doesn’t lift his eyes to look at her, instead he offers her a small nod.

I take my coffee off the counter. “Keep your fucking eyes down before I tear them out of your head and force them down your throat.”

“Dominic!” Rosa shrills as she attempts to tug me away. The fish lowers his head further and I see his shoulders shaking. “What the hell is wrong with you? I have to work here,” she murmurs as we walk out to the car. “You can’t do shit like that, Dominic.”

Marco holds the car door open, but Rosa stops walking. “I didn’t like the way he asked me who I am.” Rosa steps back and lifts her hand to twirl the end of her ponytail around her fingers while sipping on her coffee. “Get in the car,” I order and wait for her to slide in.

She releases the twirled hair and points at me. “I need to work here, Dominic. You can’t come in and intimidate the people I work with.”

From behind her Marco tries not to smile. He knows I can do whatever the fuck I want, intimidate, beat, kill. Whatever I want. “Get in the fucking car,” I repeat.

“Promise me you won’t do that again.”

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