“Why don’t you talk to your family?” Alessio asks me after a long pause.
I hum in response, trying to figure out how to sum up the fucked-up dynamic of my family into just a couple sentences. It’s easier said than done.
“It’s complicated,” I tell him. “But the gist of it is…they don’t approve of my life.”
“Of this life,” he motions around us, “or this life.” He points from himself to me.
“Both,” I say honestly. “Whether it’s being bisexual or a guard for hire…they aren’t the type to take my side.”
“I can’t imagine not having my family,” Alessio tells me. “They get on my fucking nerves, but this whole thing we do…it relies on being there for each other. Taking each other’s sides when it means the most.”
I nod my head. “My family would probably sell me out for the sake of moral superiority,” I explain. “Well, except my cousin, Fiona.”
“I’m glad you have someone at least,” he mumbles and rubs his hand along the top of my bare chest. “And…I’ll take your side.”
Alessio kisses my shoulder. “Even if no one else will.”
I close my eyes and sigh as I feel his lips slowly draw a line up the side of my neck.
“You’re like no one else,” I whisper to him.
“And I’m yours,” Alessio mumbles between kisses against my collar bones.
When my sensitive length swells up again, Alessio slides on top of me and grinds against me. His own cock rubs against mine over and over again, until we come together a second time, breathless, spent. It lasts only minutes, seconds, but every moment with him feels like an eternity of pleasure.
Only after kissing me with his tongue dominating my mouth, does Alessio finally let himself rest his head on my shoulder and sleep.
18
Chapter Nineteen
Alessio
“Ineed some time away from here,” Rosalie tells us as we all stand in the boardroom of my family’s estate.
“I think that’s a good idea while you’re still healing,” Soren agrees. Carmine is nowhere to be found, which would normally be alarming, but with Eivor out of the picture, I’m not nearly as concerned as I would be otherwise.
Rosalie shakes her head. “It’s not because I’m healing,” she admits. “It’s because I need to get the hell out of here. I need to live my own life. Eivor’s death has made me realize just how little I’ve been living for myself. I’m done with taking orders from anyone, and I know if I stay here, I’ll have to take orders from you, and frankly, brother, that just isn’t going to fly.”
Soren chuckles softly but his brow furrows. “If that’s what you need, I won’t try to stop you, Rose.”
I look to her and see the envelop of papers she’s holding. She steps over to me and I turn to look at her more directly.
“You know, I will miss you,” I say quietly.
She rolls her eyes. “You’ll forget all about me once you’re alone with Damian again,” she teases me.
I can’t say that she’s wrong.
She hands me the envelope and then walks over to Soren to hug him. I open the file folder and pull the papers out partially.
Annulment papers.
I feel a weight lift off my shoulders. The process of getting our marriage effectively canceled will be much easier since we didn’t consummate it, and it’s only been a little over a week.
Not nearly as complicated as a divorce, which would require splitting our assets. Something that I know neither of us are interested in. I want to get this over with as quickly as possible, so I pull the papers out completely and Damian hands me a pen before I can even look around to ask for one.
I lean down and sign the papers one by one. There are only a few, but I read them carefully just to be safe. I wouldn’t put it past Rosalie to pull a fast one on me, but after everything I do trust her more than I expected myself to.
