Page 30 of Hexed
My jaw clenches, but I know better than to talk back.
“Say yes to the hotel, Enzo. Don’t disappoint me, or you won’t like the outcome.”
“Okay, Papá.”
Thisisbullshit, though. I’ve never wanted to be part of Marino Enterprises. That was always Peppino’s thing. He was the businessman, and I was the muscle. Sure, I had a few things going—a drywall company that got the bids on my brother’s projects and a few clubs throughout the city—but I was where I liked it, being immersed in the true foundation of my family’s legacy, out on the streets and with my guys instead of suffocating in boardrooms and staring at dried-up pussy in pencil skirts.
Back then, I was a capo, and my crew wasthework crew of the family. I was the one who got the contracts for the kills and did the shakedowns for people who didn’t remember to send us our cut. But when Peppino got himself clipped, the books opened, and my pops called for me to be the new underboss. I had no choice but to settle into place. It’s my duty tola famiglia.
I stare out over the garden of flowers, watching the sun sparkle off the water just beyond it. “Well, I’ve found Trent’s respect…lacking.”
Pops chuckles. “Then you remind him whose son you are. But youwillbuild a hotel down there. It’s good for business. For expansion. Do your part for this family, you understand?”
“Yes, Papá, I understand.”
“There’s a van that’s been driving by every day, and I know they’re trying to see in my windows and listen to my conversations. Don’t call me again on this line.”
Click.
He hangs up before I can respond, and a hit of annoyance stabs the middle of my chest because his paranoia is always taking my best guys off the streets and having them watch for nothing, just to soothe his panicked brain. Irritation vibrates through me, and I tap the phone against my palm before brushing down the front of my suit.
Christ, it’s hot here.
Aria’s busy today meeting with some party planner, so I have the afternoon to do what I wish. She tried to convince me to go with her, but I’m not wasting my time doing froufrou shit like smelling flowers and tasting pastries.
And suddenly, all I want is to see that firecracker Venesa again. I try to push it down because it’s dangerous wanting something so badly when there’s no rhyme or reason, and she’s something I need to purge from my system before it devours me whole. But if I don’t solve the mystery of why she’s so appealing, then she’ll never leave my head.
So I call Trent and let him know I expect her to meet me at the boardwalk in an hour.
SEVEN
VENESA
Steam billowsaround me as I exit the bathroom. Rubbing a towel on my soaked hair, I make my way into the main area of my studio apartment before glancing at my ends, hoping I didn’t leave the purple shampoo in for too long.
Icy white.Perfect.
I look over to the left and smirk when I see Athena, one of my regular hookups, lounging in my bed with her delicious body on full display, the thin cream sheet barely covering her tits.
Sighing, I continue into the room. “You’re still here.”
Athena smiles, her bright white teeth sparkling, and my gaze traverses her smooth, dark brown skin. She stretches her arms above her head, and her grin grows when she notices my lingering perusal. “Don’t sound so excited.”
I blink, shaking myself out of my stupor. “You can go now.”
She sits up farther, the sheet slipping down her body, and a shot of arousal hits me becausedamnif she isn’t gorgeous.
Fantastic at eating pussy too.
But I’m really not in the mood for this, especially after waking up to the text from Uncle T telling me to meet Enzo at the boardwalk in an hour.
There’s nothing I want less than to be around Enzo Marino. Just like the first time I saw him, when he was unconscious and on the shore of the Hudson, there’s this connection there. One that has me wanting to tell him things. True things, things he can’t know.
Athena saunters over to me and tugs at the corner of my towel until it drops off my body.
“God, you’re so fucking hot,” she mewls, her dainty hands gripping my hips and pulling me into her.
Well, maybe a quickie.I’m already calculating whether I actually have the time, though, which means the mood is severely lacking.
