He opens his mouth, his cheeks flushed with anger, but stops. With a deep breath, he states, “I understand. And he is good with Roman. I…do not quite understand how you’re alright with multiple pairings, but it’s not my business.”
I laugh. “Oh, you’d better learn quickly if you do love Allesandro. Lio and him will always belong to each other. While you may have succeeded in putting yourself above us Boys when you came back, I suspect you’d overestimate yourself if you tried to do that again. From what I hear, Sandro may no longer be ourMaster, but he will always be in our corner. It’s up to you if you can accept that or not. If you can’t…I suggest you get the fuck out.”
Cristian stiffens, but otherwise, doesn’t say anything. I can tell they're not the words he wants to hear, but it’s the truth. He’s fucked if he thinks Allesandro will chose him and only him. Can he be the better man now and understand that love has no limits, that it’s not meant to be contained within a box? Or will he repeat his mistakes and let jealousy consume him?
“I’ll let you get back to your workout. You’ve given me a lot to think about.” His words give me no indication of which way he’ll go, but I hope for Allesandro’s sake that he considers them carefully.
I don’t have the anger toward Il Padrone that the others may have. Perhaps because he earned my loyalty instead of truly breaking me. Either way, I know it’s because of him that I’m even alive. I’d hate to have to kill Cristian for looking at Lio wrong. Well, no, I wouldn’t. But I’d regret it, if only because it would hurt Roman.
There isn’t much time between Cristian exiting and Jayden entering. I suspect Jayden was waiting even closer than he indicated. I try to give him a smile, but fuck, I’m tired. With a click of the tongue, he shakes his head.
“Alright. We’ve had enough for now.”
“No, I still need to complete my exercises,” I argue, even though a nap sounds fucking delicious.
“And we’ll get to them. After you rest. You’ve put your body—and mind—through enough today, Princess.”
I shiver as he layers his Dom voice over the command. Fuck. My dick is too tired to do anything more than give a passing interest, but yeah, he does it for me. From his smug look, he knows it too. I ruthlessly push it aside. Roman. He’s what is important, first and foremost.
I let Jayden help transfer me to a wheelchair and guide me back to my room, but my mind is far from my body. It’s with the man who holds my existence in his hands. I hope he’ll let me in soon… Or hell, any of his lovers or friends. Just someone to be with him to remind him that he’s the most important person in the world, and it would be too dark without his smile.
“Ihate this.”
I squeeze Soren’s hand. “I know, but James will be with me. It’ll be fine. Javi might be…strange, but he won’t hurt me.” Maybe. It’s been a long time since we last saw each other. So much has changed… All I have now are the rumors of his reputation—a reputation that makes me proud as hell. I always knew he would do amazing things. Which means getting him on my side will be difficult, knowing what I do about him and his…methods. Still, the fact he’s meeting me at all is promising.
“Just come back in one piece.”
I lean in and kiss him. “I will, Daddy.”
Soren sighs, then reaches up and grabs the back of my head, holding me in place as he kisses me deeply. I can feel his worry,but there’s not much I can do to ease his concern. This is too important to ignore the rules set in place.
“I love you, Baby.”
“Love you too, Daddy. It won’t take long.”
Pressing one last kiss to his lips, I gather up everything I need and knock on the window so James can open the door—I’d do it myself, but I don’t need to be lectured by my best friend and my Daddy about safety measures.
“I still protest everything about this,” James says as we head to the door of the diner.
“Your concern has been noted. So has Daddy’s. Hell, so was Carter and Hollis’s, but Lio needs this, and so does Hollis.”
I ignore the sigh in my ear from the hacker, but we all know he needs more support than Dr. Ranlen and I can give. And hell, maybe a probable serial killer—if the rumors Leandro and James uncovered are to be believed—is what Hollis needs to keep him in his place and actually get him to take his meds like he needs.
James wrinkles his nose as soon as we step into the restaurant. I don’t know what he has against the place. Yes, it’s a little more…run-down than our usual tastes, but at least it seems clean.
“Stay here,” I tell James.
“Ash…”
I give him a look. “Please. We agreed you can come in with me if you stay back.”
He sighs. “Fine, but if he makes one wrong move toward you…”
“Yeah, I know. Trust me, though.”
James side-eyes me but takes a seat at the counter, turning on the stool so he can watch as I cross the diner to where Javi sits in a booth towards the back.
I study him as I close in, noting how he sits almost casually in his seat, taking in every facet about him, seeing what’s changedand what remains of the boy I once knew. He’s wearing a bright orange shirt—that does nothing for his complexion—underneath a black and gray flannel, looking like every other person in the restaurant, except we both know differently.
