Page 16 of Driftwood Daffodil 2

Okay, so his dad was watching me too. And not very patiently, either. I could hear the hurry up silently wafting through the air.

“If I don’t do this…” I looked over at Gio, “What happens?”

I needed to be clear on the parameters.

It was Cesare that answered me. “The deal would be broken, and your brother’s debt would be called in.”

“And by called in you mean…”

The look he gave me was all the answer I needed.

Basically, I either did this, or Kato would die. Why did it feel like I just put my brother in a worse situation?

I could do this. It couldn’t be that hard, right? I’d kissed guys before. I’d even kissed Gio… well, he kissed me, but that didn’t matter right now. All that mattered was that I could totally do this.

Oral wasn’t that far from kissing. Both actions were done with a mouth. Sometimes there were tongues and spit involved. Add in some choking and light gagging and it wasn’t that different. It was a small space. Just a tiny bridge to gap. Girls did it all the time. Although that was typically with someone like Simon. Not a photoshopped version of Greek God magazine.

Look at Gio sitting over there in his stupid jeans with bulging forearms. As if he was so strong and masculine. I bet he didn’t even know what real fabric softener smelled like – which by the way was a very comforting scent. I kind of wished I had some right now. But that was alright, because this was no big deal. I was just going from kissing to oral.

With one deep breath, I rose from the chair and took a step.

“Stop,” Gio called out.

Oh, thank god.

“I want you to crawl.”

What?

“Unless,” Gio tipped his head, “Your dignity is worth more than your brother’s life.”

It took everything I had to remain calm when a smug smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“For your information, I don’t have any dignity.”

Ha, take that.

“Then crawling should come naturally to you.”

Smug bastard. Know what else came naturally to me? Bridging gaps. Like say the one between kissing and cannibalism. I could eat a dick. Pretty sure I wouldn’t make it out of this room alive, but Gio’s happiness would die with me, and I was okay with that. Unfortunately, I wasn’t okay with what would happen to Kato.

So, as much as it made me hate myself, I slowly sunk down to my hands and knees.

“That’s right,” Gio hissed in a way too satisfied tone. “Get down where you fucking belong.”

This mother…

That’s when it occurred to me, Gio didn’t say anything abouthowI had to crawl. Just that I had to crawl. And let’s face it, I wasn’t winning any major battles here. Meaning, I’d have to settle for the small victories. Slowly slinking across the floor with my head hung in defeat was not a win. However, crawling as fast as humanly possible was.

My knees clacked off the hardwood, while my palms slapped down, and I fell on my face twice. There was nothing remotely sexy or demeaning about it.

Pain shot up my thighs while the left side of my face stung, but when I jutted my chin up, flipped my hair back, and saw the look on Gio’s face, the only thing I felt was satisfaction.

No one was expecting that. Someone muttered a “what the fuck,” while Gio’s brother stared at me with his mouth open, as if he didn’t know what to say. Needless to say, I had successfully broken the tension in the room as far as everyone was concerned.

Well, everyone except Gio.

He looked down at me, unimpressed, and smacked his lips together, “You enjoy that?”

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