Page 574 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

“You’re really gonna blame everything on me?” My voice rises, my body flooded with a mix of lust and anger. Seeing her again, touching her again…it sparked all kinds of feelings I thought I’d buried since the last time we were together.

But they ignited like an inferno the second I scooped her into my arms.

Shit, if I hadn’t gotten up to make that hot chocolate, I would’ve said fuck it to the last shred of self-control I have, stripped her out of those thermals, and buried myself deep in her pussy.

It’s the exact same fantasy I’ve had for the past year. It’s always Chloe’s face I picture when I take a girl home and fuck her senseless to forget what I gave up. It’s always Chloe’s screams I hear when I make these random girls come.

But Chloe and I wanted different things. Neither one of us was honest about that when we started things up and that’s why we crashed and burned. Mind-bending sex can only get you so far.

She gasps. “Do I have to remind you what you did? You fucking lied to me. You used me for sex and then bolted when things got deep. You couldn’t handle it and you had no intention of leaving that…that gangster world. And I would have been okay with it, if you hadn’t completely violated my trust.”

“That’s what you think happened?” I stalk over to her and drop to my knee next to the couch. “That I lied to you? What about what you did? When were you gonna tell me that your parents bought you a condo in Santa Monica and hooked you up with a cush job out therethat you accepted?”

Dots of pink explode into her cheeks. “How did you know about that?”

It’s true. They wanted her away from Vegas so after graduation, they lured her back. And since she thought I had other plans for my life, she went.

I lift an eyebrow. “You think Daddy Dearest wouldn’t have sent me an email along with his parting offer? Just to rub my nose in it?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Come off it, Chloe. He tried to pay me off to disappear. And when I didn’t accept his offer, he took a different tactic and pulled you out of Vegas.”

“I only left because you lied to me. You promised you’d stay away from those crazy killer thugs and then you became their ruler, for Pete’s sake!”

I let out a deep sigh. “I know you were scared. We dealt with some pretty intense stuff.”

“Scared?” She lets out an incredulous laugh. “That is the understatement of the year.”

“Come on, you grew up in Southern California. There’s danger there. Earthquakes, wildfires. That’s some serious shit.”

“Yes, but different from the kind of danger where you can get shot up like Swiss fucking cheese.”

“You were amazing though,” I murmur, remembering her with the bottle of bleach. “I’ll never forget what you did.”

“Great, I can think on my feet. Until I get shot between the eyes and my brain explodes into pieces.” She blows on the steam coming out of the mug. “How long would it have been before I’d been targeted just because I was with you?”

“I’d never let anything happen to you. I told you that.”

“How was I supposed to believe you? Believe anything you told me?” She shakes her head. “When I found out you went after that group of guys who tried to rob the Excelsior Hotel, I knew it was in your blood. You’d never be able to break away, not for anything or anybody.”

“It’s my job to protect the property and to handle people who try to fuck us.”

“If you’d have been honest with me and told me you weren’t going to walk away, I could have learned to accept it because I wanted to be with you. But you didn’t. You just walked away from me.”

“I shouldn’t have done that.” I bring a hand to the back of my neck and rub the knot at the base of my skull. “And I’ve regretted it every day since then.”

Her eyes darken. “What part? Sticking with your work or letting me go?”

Before I can answer, the door opens and more stomping follows.

“Chloe, holy shit! We got back to the lodge and you weren’t there so we panicked, thinking we left you on the hill by yourself. We went back but you were gone.”

Chloe smiles but it’s forced. “Bruno brought me back and got me set up here.”

Lily rushes over to the couch and leans over Chloe’s ankle. “What happened?”

“I tripped and fell over a sign while you and Zeno took off toward the lodge.”

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