My home office was a small room filled with files. They were mostly backup files from the ones at home or the construction office. These ones were for everything I controlled, like Palazzo, and a couple of smaller stores. Nothing in the files could pin the family for fraud or anything illegal. The office wasjust as messy as the one at the restaurant. I sat in my fancy reclining chair, legs up on the desk, my eyes staring at the open door into the hallway, listening to Kalen’s continued begging to be let free.
I needed Kalen to break, to confess his truth. I needed him to do it fast. It was mostly for my own sanity. To know that I’d caught him, to know that my ability to sniff out a rat before they could implant themselves was still there. And after an hour, he became quiet. That room had been where we’d had Tomaso dry out after a bender that could’ve left him dead.
Now at the doorway, looking in, I watched Kalen lying on the floor, staring out with bloodshot eyes. “Nobody knows you’re here, huh?” I said.
He sighed. “I’m not—”
“Cut the bullshit. You can leave. You just have to tell me the truth. And I don’t mean, tell me you’re a Fed, but tell me your entire truth,” I said, stepping into the room, and my black Italian leather boots made echoes with each step. “Personally, I don’t care too much that you’re needed to take care of your mom. I want something on you. Dirt. I wanna make sure you stay out of Boston.”
Kalen looked defeated. That spark I’d seen, the sass, it had vanished, and part of my chest ached to see it. I placed a hand against my shirt, right across my heart, then into my collar where I pulled out the family crest cross design. Three sharpened spokes. I made sure it wasn’t adding to the pain my body was feeling. Fuck, destroying him might’ve been destroying me.
We stared at each other for a moment.
There were tears in his eyes. “Yes, I work for the FBI, and no, there is no investigation into you,” he said. Lifting himself onto his elbows, he huffed. “But I am here for my mom. And—and I—”
“Say it,” I whispered.
“I did want you to fuck me,” he said.
It wasn’t what I wanted to hear. “And?”
“And—and—” His eyes looked around, as if he was scanning for an escape. “I was looking for a reason to stay in Boston. I wanted dirt on you so I could stay and look after my mom.”
There was so much pain behind his words, and part of me wondered whether or not this was his play at getting my truth. Paranoia was awful, and when I was right, it only strengthened me. “What else?”
“I—I—”
“Something deep,” I said.
“I’ve had a stuffy, a teddy cat since I was a child, and I can’t sleep without it,” he said. “Like that?”
He was so delicate. He was so submissive now. The brat had gone—or was hiding, waiting for the cuff to come free. “I need you to leave Boston,” I said. “Take your teddy, take your mom, and go.”
“No, I—” His bottom lip trembled.
“Go on.”
He licked his lips. “I still wanna—fuck you.”
After kidnapping, kissing, and cuffing him to the wall, Kalen still wanted to fuck.
This wasn’t the game I thought he wanted to play.
6. KALEN
It might’ve been a fear response, or a domination response, or a mixture of the two, but there was something undeniable about my attraction to Rocco. He was tall, strong, and he was clearly in a position of power, but struggling to deal with it—especially when it came to me. He’d said it himself, if this was anyone else, they would’ve already been killed, and that should’ve been the sign to leave. Any normal person would’ve run, but I didn’t even flinch. I gave myself away, for whatever reason, and all I had left was my want to wrap my legs around him and ride until I was—out of here?
“I can’t fuck you,” he said.
“That’s fine.” It wasn’t my first time being rejected, but maybe the first time after a passionate kiss. “So, can I go?”
He laughed. “I said I can’t, not that I don’t want to.”
It felt like I’d now put too much pressure on the idea of fucking him—and it was the topic we came back to every time we were together, even if I had gotten the gossip on his dick mixed up with his brother. “Then fuck me,” I said. “I’m flexible. You know, and I’m so much better when I have both hands.”
Rocco leaned in close, his finger beneath my chin. he pulled in close and I could smell the scotch on his breath, it was sweet. I closed my eyes for a moment as my tongue pressed to the roof of my mouth, pretending to taste his breath. I was really doing my best, trying my hardest, and hoping he would give in to my seduction. I knew how in theory, but this was my first time in practice.
“Screwing around with a Fed would kill off all trust my family has in me,” he said, pressing a finger to my lips as if hushing me. “But I’ll make a note that you’re easy. And maybeI’ll bring a bed in here, maybe even collect that little stuffed toy you’ve got, get it all comfy for you.”
