Page 41 of Pain and Pleasure

I wanted to be in here. I wanted to be in here.

I have to be able to handle these situations, there's no other option. The threat of death will always be breathing down my neck and I need to be able to face it head on.

"How many men?" Dante asks and the man is silent.

I can feel the frustration leaking from Dante's pores because I too am growing frustrated by the pace of all of this.

"We know his location. And I'm ready for bed. So spare us all the waste of time and just give him the answer, for fuck sake," I say, surprising myself.

Dante is surprised too because he glares at me from the corner of his eye. I already know I'll be hearing about this later, but I could care less. It's my life being held in the air right now, it's my every move that's being watched by a bunch of random hawks and I'm so exhausted from not having a say in anything.

"More than who's in this room," the man says. "He's been recruiting more as well. Some from across the border, some from sister cities. Enough to carry out a plan that he's been fine tuning for over a decade now." He wipes the drool on his shoulder once more, staring directly at Dante and then me when he speaks again.

"Enough to kill you and that little bitch you've been fucking." He laughs a sinister laugh and I hear a gunshot ring out immediately after he says it.

I cover my ears and look down at my legs, taking deep breaths and doing everything in my power to not look up and see a dead man's head blown out and all over the table. I hear the man shout and scream and look up in confusion. He's still alive, but blood is pouring from his hand, and I see that Dante has shot one of his fingers off.

I clamp my jaw shut so that my mouth doesn't hang open in shock. Dante puts his gun back into his belt and pulls a linen out from his pocket, walking slowly over to the man before wrapping it around his hand. The man hisses and curses at Dante, but he just clicks his tongue in response.

"Thank you for your frustrating cooperation. Sergio will drop you off near your boss’s compound. Be sure to tell him that I'll be seeing him real soon. I'll take this as a parting gift." He holds up the man's finger and places it inside a bag, handing it to one of the guards before grabbing my hand and pulling me up.

We walk out of the room and back out onto the dance floor. Dante's grip on my hand is tight as he leads me through the main floor of the club and out the doors, into a car that Benjamin has waiting for us. We climb in and Dante buckles my seatbelt for me. I stay silent as he clips me in and orders for Benjamin to drive.

His hand is on my thigh the entire ride home. I stare out of the window and look at all the lights of downtown LA disappear behind us as we descend into darkness. The ride is quiet, but my mind is racing. My thoughts bounce from death, to Dante's fist on the table, to the sight of blood pouring from the man's hand as he stays bound to a chair. Just a month or so ago I was waiting tables and thought that cleaning up broken beer bottles was bad.

I feel helpless in this moment, even with Dante's protection and security team. I feel like a walking target who's going to catch a bullet any minute and the thought unravels me. My whole life I've had numerous threats on my tail with no guided defense for myself. I've been walking through it all blindly and I'm done with that.

"I want a gun and for someone to show me how to use it," I say into the quiet car.

I feel Dante shift beside me and I turn over to steal a glance at him. He looks at me weirdly, but his eyebrows are furrowed, dark hair is sitting over his nearly black eyes. He shakes his head slowly at me and I immediately get angry, pulling his hand away from my thigh as I scoot out of his reach.

"A man just said that I have several people out to see me dead, all under the direct orders of my father," I say, and Dante leans back to look at me.

"I can't just rely on you or your security team to keep me safe, I need something to protect myself. Because like it or not Dante, the threat will not go away until he's gone," I say once more, looking at my crossed legs.

It is so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. The air feels somber, and I look up at Dante to see recognition in his eyes. Recognition of the fact that this is my reality, no matter how much he tries to change it. As long as my father is alive, people will try to kill me.

"I pick what you get and you only use it under direct orders. I can't have sloppy hands in my business," he says darkly and it burns me. He really can think so little of me?

"I think we both know I'm not going to just start shooting people for the fuck of it. There's a reason why I don't know how to handle a gun in the first place." I hiss at him, crossing my arms and staring back out of the window once more.

Minutes go by and I feel his hand on my thigh, gripping me. I turn to look at him and notice a bit of sadness in his eyes, and it softens me a little.

"I never wanted this for you, Emmie. I never wanted you to learn how to use a gun or carry one. I never wanted you to be a part of any of this," he says earnestly, his eyes wide with truth.

I touch his knee and look at him deeper, seeing the sadness dissipate as something else comes forward.

Something that looks a whole lot like love.

19

Esmeralda

He's lickingat me furiously, his tongue lashing against the swollen folds of my sex.

I arch my back from his mattress and cry out, a fifth orgasm now rushing to the surface. As soon as we got home from the club, he pulled me from the car and carried me to his bedroom. He had my dress pushed up and my panties ripped down before I could even hit the mattress, eating me with a passion that melted my bones and turned my body into a live wire.

I come around his tongue and beg for him to fuck me, my body thrashing as he licks me through yet another climax. I'm pulling at his hair and coaxing him up when he finally gives in. He pins my hands above my head with one strong hand as the other goes to his belt and zipper. Within seconds, he's pushing inside me at a pace I've never known, fully seated to the hilt and pushing against my cervix as soon as his cock is out. I cry out and he kisses my lips, stealing my sounds and eating them up.

---