Chapter 6
Angel
Ididn’t remember what dinner tasted like after Gaven made me come all over his hand. I didn’t even remember the drive home. It wasn’t until the front of my house came into view that I seemed to return to my body. The second the car was stopped and one of the men always standing outside the front came to open my door, I rushed past him, straight for the house, not caring what I must have looked like. It didn’t matter if I seemed crazed or not. All I knew was that I needed to be alone.
I feared that if I didn’t lock myself away as soon as possible, I would combust right there in front of my father’s men. Moments later, I dashed into my room and slammed the door behind me, turning and placing my back against the solid wood. It kept me steady and grounded as my knees buckled and threatened to take me to the floor.
Gaven Belmonte was twice my age. He was a stranger. A monster by society’s standards. To work with my father, he had to be. Yet, I’d just let him … no, I hadn’t just let him touch me. I’d resisted. I’dtriedto, but he’d forced it on me. The pleasure. The orgasm. Heat burned through my body, into my face, and down my limbs. How the fuck had that happened?
Resistance scorched my insides, but I couldn’t lie to myself. I’denjoyedhis touch. I’d responded to him. In fact, even now, I could still feel the remains of what that same touch had done to me between my legs.
Panting, I locked the door and lurched away, stumbling across my room to the bathroom, needing to clean myself. However, the second I stepped into the luminescent interior of my personal bathroom, I paused as I caught sight of my reflection. Cheeks flushed pink. Eyes watery and lips pouting, I didn’t look like someone who didn’t want to marry Gaven Belmonte.
What had he done to me?
In my reflection, my hand raised and touched the side of my face before my eyes fell on the necklace around my throat. The diamond choker glittered against my skin. An innocent person, unknowing, would naturally assume it was a simple piece of expensive jewelry, although I knew the truth.
I touched the necklace, circling the space above and below it where it connected with my flesh. It was heavy, an expensive piece, beautiful in its own way. A shiver stole over me, racking my body as it slid up and down my spine. This was no gift. It was a collar. A marking. This was an act of possession.
Soon, I was to become Gaven Belmonte’s bride.His wife.
All of my dreams of leaving this family were dying, disappearing in the face of my reality. College? I could forget it. A life outside of Gaven and the Price Empire? It was fading fast and there was no way out.
I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to think. What could I do? Was there a plan that could get me out? I was smart. Hell, the number of scholarships I’d applied to and the computer science program I was set to join in the fall was a testament to that, wasn’t it?
Even if I did manage to call off this wedding, what would that mean for the future? Would I ever be able to see my dad again? Would I ever be able to come back? Or would rejecting Gaven mean I’d have to leave my family behind too?
My eyes opened, but I wasn’t focused on the room before me. Gaven had been there seven years ago. He’d been the one I’d sought out, the one I’d looked to for my deepest, darkest desire. Revenge on the killer who’d taken my mom from me. Even if I wanted to reject the cruel dark world of the mafia, I had to admit that everyone—including myself—had the capacity to be a criminal.
There had never been anyone like Gaven before. No one had ever expressed such a singular interest. If I was honest with myself, I had to admit that at least a small part of the reason I was so hell-bent on leaving the Price Family was to leave behind the mark of sacrosanctity that had followed me my whole life. Jackie had sought out affection, but once I’d discovered the truth behind our mother’s death, I’d wanted nothing to do with our family’s business and life in the shadows. I’d overheard some of the men say that it was because I looked more like our mother, which was why our father had always preferred me. I didn’t like the thought. Jackie, despite her shitty personality, was still my sister and my father was fair in his affection. He loved her just as much as he loved me. Still, despite our half-American heritage, both of us were mafia princesses—tied to the world by the strands of our blood. I hated that.
Was it too much to want someone to want me for me, and not because of the power I could give them?
Gaven didn’t exactly want me, though. He was practically guaranteed that power the second he married me and it would solidify if and when he got me pregnant. My hands fell to my belly and I looked down as I smoothed the tips of my fingers over the flat surface. I imagined what it would feel like to be swollenwith a baby. I was my mom’s last child, so I’d never seen her pregnant and there’d been no female in our household who had ever worked or been allowed in while they’d been pregnant. I wondered what it felt like. Would it hurt? Would it feel magical? There were so many differing opinions of it on the internet. In theory, I knew that each pregnancy was different.
If Gaven was guaranteed power, though, so long as he married a Price daughter, he had a choice. He could have married Jackie. She certainly would’ve been happy about it, but he didn’t. Instead, he chose me. Maybe he did it because he wanted me. He’d said he was attracted to me, but that couldn’t be enough to build a marriage off of, could it?
With my mind full of confusion and lingering sparks of desire, I turned away from the mirror and headed for the shower. I jerked the handles down, letting steaming hot water spurt out of the shower head before stripping out of my dress and letting it fall to the tiled floor. When my fingers went to the necklace, I paused.
I knew the precious jewelry shouldn’t be exposed to the hot water, but as I tried to reach back and around to undo the clasp, I found it difficult to remove without help. Another thing Gaven had no doubt taken into consideration. With a grumble, I left it and finished divesting myself of my underwear and bra before stepping into the already foggy glass stall. Steam quickly filled the room as I let the water run over my scalp and through my hair. When the scalding water didn’t assuage the twisting of my insides and the lingering desire, I fumbled with the handles and flipped the water from molten to ice cold.
Shuddering under the downpour as the water slid over my skin, I closed my eyes and pressed one palm into the tile before me as my other found its way over my chest. My breasts felt heavy and I wondered what it would’ve been like had Gaven taken them into his hands. Would he have been rough, or wouldhe have been gentle? Would he have taken my nipples between his fingertips and rolled them until they were tight little buds like the men of my books did to their women?
I did that now, wanting to remember the feeling of him against me in a new way. Closing my eyes again as I sunk into my imaginary world, I pretended that none of the reality of our situation—Gaven’s and mine—was there. I imagined what it would’ve been like if we were just two people, a man and a woman, who’d met somewhere on the street.
I palmed my breasts, heaving them in my grip, and pinched my nipples as I flipped around and pressed my spine against the tile with cold water raining over me. It did nothing to quell the quickly rising arousal pouring through me.
My lips parted as I pushed my hands further down, over the soft curve of my belly and to the place throbbing between my legs. Just as it had been at the restaurant with Gaven, I found myself soaked through in a way that had nothing to do with the shower. Wetness dripped from my core down the inside of my thighs. My clit fucking pulsed with need. My pussy felt empty without Gaven’s fingers sliding into their depths.
Soft panting breaths escaped me as I slowly lowered my hand further and then brought a single finger to my clit, rubbing the little bundle in a circle as I closed my eyes and imagined that it wasn’t my hand there, but Gaven’s instead. He’d been so hot in my ear as he’d whispered harsh, dirty words to me and made me ride his fingers. I wanted more than to stand here and touch myself to his image in my mind.
If things had been different, I might have let him do more to me than simply shove his hand in my panties. If things were to continue down the path we were careening down, he would inevitably be allowed more liberties. I wondered what it would be like to have him fuck me. In my mind, he would cover me with his naked body, all muscle and tan skin. His short beard wouldscrape my flesh, making me shiver with anticipation the way his long stubble had when it’d touched my throat. Gaven’s body would be weighty as he pressed me back against the tile.
Are you hungry, little girl?I could practically hear him whisper the words into my ear. I’d respond with a whimper. I’d open my mouth and beg for another kiss.
You want something more, don’t you? You want my cock to fuck this sweet little pussy.
I’d nod and open my mouth only to be stopped as he slipped two thick fingers inside.
