Page 50 of Dangerous Games of Trust

“I… I was worried about you, big guy. Last night was… I’m so sorry you were hurt because of me. I never should have run.”

“No shit!” he mutters dismissively. He runs a hand over his face, trying to wake up, then lets out a pained groan.

My hackles rise. I’m fucking sorry for running, but they made me. “You assholes made me watch that fight and scared the hell out of me. How did you expect me to react?” I snap back.

His intense gaze meets mine, his forehead furrowing with deep concentration. I narrow my eyes and shoot him a defiant glare. I was ready to grovel, but now I’m pissed all over again. Neither of us say anything else. Eventually I’m sick of the silence and move to get out of bed. Maybe he needs some time to simmer down away from me. I could do with a shower and something to eat now that I know he’s going to live. But hisfingers find my wrist, and he pulls me back into bed with him. Wrapping his arms around me, he draws me in close, smelling my hair.

“Be careful of your injury,” I whisper.

“I’m fucking fine, temptress,” he snaps back. Even though we both know he’s not. He brushes my hair over my shoulder and kisses my neck. “You scared the shit out of us last night,” he admits. Making me feel terrible all over again.

“I know, I’m really sorry. I never meant for anyone to get hurt, I just wanted to escape all this. I was scared, and I reacted on instinct.” I move in his arms so I’m facing him, needing to see his handsome face. “I won’t do it again, I promise. Seeing you hurt and knowing it was my fault is eating me alive. You have been so good to me, and I…” Tears slip from my eyes as an awful pain gets lodged in my chest. I know how I feel about him, but saying it out loud is almost impossible for me. “I love you, Maddox. I don’t want to imagine a world without you in it. And I’m not sure how we move forward from here, but I’m not doing it without you.” I exhale, feeling a wash of relief coming over me. Those words have been rattling around in my head for way too long. It feels good to have finally told him.

He sighs heavily, and I see the subtle wince of pain as he moves his arm around me. His hand trails up my arm before landing on my chin, the pad of his thumb running over my bottom lip. “You stayed and fought with us, you put yourself at risk to save me. What you did last night was dangerous on so many levels, but you proved who I am to you.”

His bedroom door abruptly opens, and Alessandro and Ricky stride into the room in a wave of expensive suits and fresh aftershave. How can they look so fine after what we all went through yesterday? I go to pull back from Maddox, feeling the energy shift, but he holds me close. I figure he needs it, so fuck it, and I snuggle back down with him.

Alessandro marches around to my side of the bed. He’s fuming, I can already tell from the dark look in his eyes. “You signed a motherfucking contract with Geovani. He fucking owns you now!” he growls out, and I feel Maddox’s arm that’s wrapped around me flinch.

The harshness of his words sends a shiver down my spine, making me stiffen involuntarily. In typical Alessandro fashion, I’m having a nice moment with Maddox, and he has to mess it up with his dramatics.

Maddox releases me, and I slide out of bed, coming to stand in front of Alessandro. “I did what was necessary to survive.” I tilt my chin up defiantly. “It wasn’t like I had any other choice, now did I. Since you were insisting I marry you and Enzo had other ideas, like selling me off to Carlo, signing a work contract with Geovani’s company seemed like the lesser of two evils to me. Don’t you think?” My snippy attitude is back in full force, but what did he expect? Can’t he just have a normal conversation, why does everything have to be a big show.

“That’s where you’re wrong, princess. He fucking owns you now.” His voice booms off the bedroom walls. I know by the silence coming from the other boys that they agree with him.

I take a deep breath, trying not to escalate the situation. This is hardly the place. “No, he doesn’t. No one owns me,” I remind Alessandro. “Not you and especially not him. I work with him, and he’s helping me and Marco run my papa’s businesses, that is it.”

“Can you two take this lovers’ quarrel elsewhere? I need to check Maddox’s vitals,” Ricky finally interrupts us, and I’m grateful for the distraction.

I turn back to face Ricky, knowing Alessandro won’t give me the answers I need. “Is any of my old stuff still here? I desperately need a shower and a change of clothes.” I offer a halfsmile, hoping he’s not on the hate-Harley warpath again along with his brother.

“You’re set up back in your old room, baby doll.” He smiles, but the warmth doesn’t reach his eyes like it normally does when he smiles at me. They’re all pissed with me still, and I know after last night, I have a lot of groveling to do to fix my mistake.

My shoulders sag under the weight of the heavy burden. “Thanks,” I mutter, taking off for the door. I have no intention of getting into some massive fight with Alessandro this afternoon about what I did while I was staying with Geovani. For a start, I’m not even sure what I’m allowed to say, but clearly Geovani has been running his mouth, or Alessandro wouldn’t know I signed that contract.

I glance back at Maddox. “I’ll come and check on you later.”

“I’m not finished with this conversation, princess,” Alessandro calls after me.

I turn back toward him, feeling a rush of anticipation in my chest. “That’s a shame, because I am. If anyone wants me, I’ll be in my room.” I walk down the hall and slam my door shut. I’m back.

Chapter 26

When I get outof the shower, I dress in the white tank top and torn jeans I grabbed from my wardrobe. It’s so eerie being back in this room. What’s even stranger is it’s all set up back to what it was before they took all my furniture away. I have my own space again. Who knows for how long because I can’t imagine Geovani is going to let me stay here, but I enjoyed my shower and scrubbing the filth of yesterday’s street fight from my skin and hair.

Before I leave the room, I gently towel dry my hair, allowing my curls to fall loosely over my shoulders. I collect my dirty clothes from yesterday and throw them in the hamper. As I do, something falls out of the pocket of my cargo pants. A black flash drive. What on earth? I didn’t put that in there.

I wander into the room and don’t even react when I see Alessandro sitting on the edge of my bed in his fancy suit. I guess I was expecting it. His gaze travels up and down my body, hunger overpowering his anger. It’s been a long time since we were alone together. A part of me wonders if he’s about to flyacross the room, pin me down, and fuck me for having the audacity to sign some work contract with Geovani. We both know he’s just pissed because he didn’t know anything about it, and he craves control. Especially over me. Honestly, this is on him. If he’d come to me in the first place and offered to help me with my family businesses like Geovani did, he could be the one benefiting right now. Instead, he kept all that stuff from me and tried to control me.

Instead of approaching him, I choose to stop and pull the curtains back so light floods the room. It’s a stunning day outside, and I need the sun on my skin to make me feel alive again. I also slip the flash drive discreetly into my back pocket, not sure I want him to see it. “What can I do for you, boss?” I ask as I watch one of the new guards patrolling the yard.

I am aware of Alessandro standing up and moving across the room, coming closer to me. I don’t bother to turn around. Instead, I close my eyes and let the sunshine warm my face. He places his hand on my hip softly, and I hear him take a breath, maybe trying to calm his crazy before he opens his mouth. We can both only hope because he knows as well as I do if he starts in on me, I’m going to give it back to him.

He drops his head closer to me, breathing me in, and for a second, I lean back into him, remembering how nice things used to be between us. How badly I craved his touch. “Geovani wants to see you downstairs,” he murmurs softly, but there is no sense of urgency in his words. He could stand here all day holding me just like this, and I would let him. Because it feels so damn normal.

Eventually I swivel to face him, staring up into those dark eyes that captivate me so much. Something passes between us, a buzz of electricity, and I want to reach out and wrap my arms around him, pull him into me, and have his big strong arms cradle me while he tells me everything is going to be okay. He used tofeel so safe to me. But there is too much pain between us now. Too much uncertainty. “Okay,” I mutter, wanting to say so much more but not finding the words to even start. I wish I knew how to fix us, but maybe it’s not possible.

Just as I’m about to leave, he quickly places his hands on both sides of my waist, keeping me close. His haunted eyes meet mine. “Look, Harley, I should have listened to you last night. I could see you were scared; I should never have tried to force you to get in that car.”

---