Page 57 of Lies like Rubies, Part Two (Savage Jewels)

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SOFIA

Fucking men,giving me whiplash as they gave and withdrew affection. I’d slept so deeply in Nico’s arms, and then in Dante’s cage, only for nightmares to plague me when I slept alone last night.

I needed to prove Sergio hadn’t changed a thing, and most of all, I needed control. I would prove to myself and these men that I was fine, once and for all, and I was going to use sex to do it.

“You all right, baby?” Nick had asked me over coffee.

I looked at him with flat eyes. “I’m tired of you all being so fucking careful with me, and I hate sleeping alone. But I’m still so fucking pissed at all of you, I don’t know what to do with myself.”

He raised an eyebrow, surprised, then grinned. “Ready for your punishment then, are you?”

No. Yes. I buried my face in my hands. Fucking hell, I didn’t know what I wanted. Why were they even punishing me? For walking away with a bodyguard?

Sofia, you’re an idiot.Punishment was Dante’s and Nick’s way of telling me they cared about me.

Lorenzo poked his head into the kitchen, “Ready for class?”

Despite our brief kiss the day before, he hadn’t pushed. I respected him for that, but I was desperate for the connection we’d spent so many years avoiding. I wanted to shed this facade of steel that I’d been showing the world since my captivity, and I needed them to help me push my trauma aside so I could truly be strong.

I was tired of these men treating me like I’d shatter if they looked at me wrong. I’d made it through the interrogation earlier in the week, I had only a few days left until finals, we were no closer to finding Sergio, and?—

I was ready to explode out of my fucking skin.

Nick followed the direction of my gaze thoughtfully. “Do you have plans tonight?”

“Other than world domination? No.”

“Classes end at three?”

I nodded. He swiped his thumb over his phone and began sending texts as I sipped my coffee.

“Dante’ll pick you up. Miss Carolina will take Lizzie to Ginevra’s for the evening,” he said.

My eyes shot to his, hopeful and terrified at the same time. “Just for the evening, Sofia,” he said. “Your sister and her husbands are not going to hold her hostage.”

My lips twisted. Goddammit.Goddammit.He was right, if there was anyone outside of this group that I trusted with my daughter, it was Ginevra and her husbands.

Nick reached over to me. “Trust me?”

Yes. If there was anyone I could trust to help me drag the scattered pieces of my soul back together again, it was him.

And now, after a long day of classes, I stood in the living room, Dante before me, dressed more casually than I’d ever seen him before in bare feet, silk pajama pants, and no shirt,every contour of his rock-hard chest on display. I licked my lips before I could stop myself, and he laughed quietly, offering me his hand.

I was nervous about how he’d react to bringing Lorenzo in, since we hadn’t really hammered out new boundaries since I’d escaped from Sergio. I was especially nervous about what Lorenzo would think about me when confronted with the kinkiness I’d discovered within me in Dante’s arms, and Nick’s.

Our brief kisses notwithstanding, Lorenzo and I had never talked about what bringing him into our kinky polycule might actually look like. Dread settled in my gut at the idea that he might not take part, that he might turn away from me again.

Dante’s eyes warmed, the sooty black heating to a deep chocolate brown. “Brave kitten,” he murmured. “Why don’t you take a shower?”

Ten minutes later, I returned to find Dante had left a beautiful silk robe on the bed, navy blue and painted with birds of paradise. I slid the cool fabric over my heated skin and finger combed my dripping hair, loosely braiding my blonde tresses.

Immediately upon my arrival in the living room, I knelt at his feet. “That’s my good girl,” he praised, stroking his fingers down my hair, over my cheek. I closed my eyes and let go of my stress, the need for control, everything.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” he asked me, jolting me out of my reverie.

“No,” I answered hoarsely. I wasn’t sure. Not at all. I wanted to be, wanted to go back to the person I was two weeks ago. It was hard to believe that I considered Dante belting me while I wore kitten ears a more innocent time.

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