Page 47 of Hostile Cravings
It never occurred to me that I wouldn’t make it on time, that I wouldn’t see her again. But when the car finally pulled up to the small airport after the longest ride I’d ever endured, the plane was taxiing. Finch sped, the car screeching onto the airstrip just as its wheels lifted. A pain like I’d never experienced wrenched its way into my chest as Finch stopped the car. Fumbling with the handle, my hands shaking, I burst from the car, running after the plane as if I could stop it myself. Her name tore from my throat, a gut-wrenching sound that left me so fractured I could only stare as the plane grew further away.
She was gone, out of my reach and stubbornly thinking this had been nothing more than the fake relationship it started as. And the fact that she’d acted that way, that she’d been so reactive, so hurt, told me she’d fallen just as hard as I had. That recognition didn’t ease my pain because I knew she was hurting. And I knew she would hide it, burn it away with her anger, just as I had when she’d turned on me.
In one more act of desperation, I pulled my phone out and tried calling her, the call going to voicemail just like I’d suspected it would. I didn’t bother to leave a message. She was too stubborn to listen to any messages I left. In her mind, it was over. I’d used her and hurt her and nothing I said would erase that. She would shield the pain and use her anger to function. Because Angie was the mirror to me and that’s exactly what I would have done. It was what I’d done in the hotel room when I’d thrown her out. When I’d made the worst mistake of my life.
The burnof the alcohol didn’t help to burn away the ache that sat in my chest or the void of not having Angie near me. It seemed unreal that in only two days she’d cracked my defenses and released the heart that had been hers for the taking all these years. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t seem to put it back together because it still belonged to her.
“Your wife took off without you.” I raised my head to see the sexy resort manager standing next to me. “Her loss.”
The tight skirt and form fitting button down with the top buttons strategically left undone would have tempted me in the past, but now that I’d had a taste of Angie, I didn’t think anything could tempt me again.
“Don’t you have a job? What do we pay you to do every day? Because I don’t remember flirting with the guests in your contract.”
I turned back to my glass and took another swig.
“I don’t flirt with the guests, just you.” Shit, I would have broken Mason’s rule just to numb the pain, but I didn’t think it would do the trick. Besides, I could just hear Angie’s wrath if I so much as looked at the woman again and if I slept with her and she found out, there would be no coming back from that. Not that I thought there was any coming back as it stood.
I glanced over at her, and she licked her dark red lips, a move that normally would have had me accepting her offer.
“I can take your mind from her.” She was good, and my impulsive dick lurched a little.
“I don’t think I want my mind off her and I’m not happy you assumed I do. Now turn your sweet ass around and do your job, or we’ll find someone who can do it for you.”
She huffed away, and I returned to my drink. I needed to talkto Mason about why we insisted on hiring sexy women. I was sure if I brought Casey in on the conversation, there’d be some changes. They were too tempting.
Not that anything was tempting me today. Angie had ruined me and all I wanted was her. It was a thought that left me devastated. My phone rang, and I looked down to see Mason’s name flash on the screen.
“Casey and I are home,” he said.
“Home? Already?” It had only been a few hours since we’d spoken. I’d spent the morning staring at the pink suitcases on the bed that Angie had left in her haste before I’d turned to the bar to numb the relentless burning in my chest.
“Angie called Donelli and told him she left you. Without you, there’s no way he can decline Tirenti’s offer to marry her off to Joey.”
I gripped the phone, my nerves on edge. “Marry?”
“Yeah, Joey wants her, and Tirenti wants to use it to tighten his hold on the territory. He knows Donelli isn’t what he used to be and that Tony’s been playing around all these years not paying attention to how to run things. He has Donelli’s hands tied, and so I backed out. Without you in the picture, I’m out of the talks. This is between the two of them now.”
“But if he marries her, he’ll run Donelli down.” Just saying the word was like a dull knife repeatedly tearing into my heart.
“No. He knows I’ve got Donelli’s back and Tides has mine. He won’t mess with Donelli, but having Angie gives him leverage.”
I pulled at my hair, resting my head in my hand. “Joey’s a monster, Mace.” The thought of his slimy hands on her had me sick. He would hurt her. He wouldn’t appreciate her smart mouth, or her witty comebacks, the insults she threw that caused my balls to clench. He would hit her and bruise her delicate features, punching away the things that I loved about her until she was no longer the woman I’d fallen for.
“I know, and Tirenti knows that. If she marries Joey, Donelli will do anything to keep her safe. He’d sell his soul to Tirenti, which is what he’s basically doing by letting him have her.”
“A bargaining chip to keep them both alive? But being with Joey will kill her. If he doesn’t physically do it, he’ll wear her spirit down until she’s lost.”
“Damn, you’ve got it bad, Ty. I always wondered if that irritation at her wasn’t hiding something. Especially when you got that viper tat.”
“Shut up, Mace. This is serious.”
He sighed, and I sensed his frustration running as deep as mine did. As much as we held rule over several families outside our province, that rule was always situated on a house of cards. We were hours away from the three bosses in Armina. They could turn on us at any time, which was why we always took precautions, keeping men undercover in their territories, monitoring their dealings, and always doubling down on security when we were there. Donelli was the only one we trusted but with Tirenti pressuring him, there was a chance he would waiver, especially if his only daughter was involved.
By now I had paid my tab and walked out of the resort, Finch and Creek with me. “So Tirenti and Donelli work out an agreement, Tirenti gets Angie, Donelli thinks Tirenti will keep her safe from his deranged son and not touch Tony. What’s in it for Tirenti?”
“A stronger hold on the territory,” Mason answered.
I kicked the sand with my shoe, watching how the grains scattered as they fell. “No, he’s up to something. I don’t think he gives a shit about Angie. He’s just making his son happy and giving him a new pet.” I clenched my teeth at the thought.
