Always at First Page 12

  We walk into the restaurant, hands clasped together. I stare in shock; I'm finally getting to experience Roman in his element, and the untold limitless wealth he possessive unfolds right before my very eyes. "Why is there no one else here?" I ask, knowing all too well that he purposely booked the restaurant just for us and his guests.

  "This is a business dinner, I can't have any distractions."

  I look around to the empty, romantic setting of the restaurant and stop on the couple sitting at the bar. The man must be in his late fifties and has his arm around a much younger woman. They stare lovingly at one another, clearly very much in love. They both turn once they sense our presence and walks over to us. Roman lets my hand go to greet his client.

  "Santino," Roman greets him shaking his hand.

  His client gazes speculatively towards me for a second before he speaks to Roman. "And who is this stunning young lady with you?" he asks in a thick Italian accent.

  Roman drops his hand and places a protective hand at the small of my back. "This is Angel, my fiancée." Roman's tone indicates for Santino to back off.

  His client gathers my hand and takes it up to his lips, and kisses it. "It's my pleasure meeting you. You are very lovely." I stare at raven colored hair, dusted with gray, before nervously glancing to Roman, catching his darken, glittering eyes. I tug to free my hand from Santino, feeling uncomfortable.

  "Santino, would you like to introduce us?" Roman asks tightly to take Santino's attention away from me.

  "Ah, yes. Meet my beautiful wife, Estella." He smiles warmly to the gorgeous blond next to him.

  I shake her hand, smiling, before Roman takes her hand and kisses it, without lingering.

  "Shall we start dinner?" Roman suggests.

  "Yes, please,” Santino answers.

  Roman leads us to a table in the middle of the restaurant and pulls out my chair for me. Santino does the same for his wife. After Roman and Santino are seated, the waiter comes and takes our order.

  After the waiter leaves, Santino glances at me. “Angel, oysters are an aphrodisiacs. Are you aware?"

  Roman stiffens beside me.

  I fake a genuine smile. "Yes, I am aware, but with how insatiable we are, there's no need for any."

  Roman arches an eyebrow and his lip twitches. Estella laughs softly as Santino smirks. ”You are a lucky man."

  "I am,” Roman agrees.

  "Now, we shall eat,” Santino adds as our appetizer is placed on the table. He takes an oyster, glancing at me before titling the shell to his lips and swallowing.

  I feel dirty watching him undress me with his eyes. I glance away, gazing to Roman who is making small talk with Estella. He doesn’t acknowledge me with his eyes, but he places a rough hand on my thigh. Wanting more of his attention, I lean into him, resting my head on his shoulder as Santino joins in on the conversation. I can tell Roman likes what I’m doing as his body relaxes and his beautiful face softens.

  Dinner moves on fairly quickly and our men eager to start talking business amongst themselves, so Estella and I move to the plush armchairs at the bar.

  "You're a million miles away,” Estella teases, her gaze falling on me. "But it's understandable. I remember those days in a new relationship where everything is intense and exciting. You can't wait to get home and tear each other's clothes off." She glances back to her husband. "Hell, who am I kidding? I still do."

  I smile tightly; her observation couldn't be farther from the truth.

  "We have plans to go dancing later, but I can tell Sonny to postpone?" she suggests with curious eyes.

  “No." I shake my head, not wanting to jeopardize Roman's business deal. "What I need to get home for can wait." I wink, putting on a happy expression.

  She gives me a small smile, then takes a small sip of her cocktail. ”Roman and Sonny are great business partners, and more importantly, they are friends. Needing to end the night early won't harm what Roman wants. I'm sure you know he's very persuasive. Sonny always ends up giving in, even with my objections." She takes another sip of her drink, her attention moving back to the two beautiful men who are stalking over to us.

  "Are you still doing okay, my love?" Santino asks, nuzzling into his wife's neck. She palms the side of his face, enjoying his embrace.

  Roman takes my hand for me to stand. "Are you enjoying yourself?" he asks when we are close together.

  "Yes, I am,” I whisper, arching towards him, my body wanting him as he caresses my bare lower back. Hating myself for always being so weak around him, I step away to cool the hot lust building between my legs and pick up my glass of water, taking slow, leisurely sips. He takes the glass out of my hand after I'm done, then sets it on the table for me before taking my hand again.

  "Santino, you will be joining us in the limo?" Roman asks.

  “Sure," Santino answers, helping his wife off her chair. "Shall we?"

  They follow us out and into the limo. They take the bench seat closest to the front and Roman and I take the seats where we just had animalistic sex on. I shudder at the thought. He grabs me and pulls me onto his lap.

  “How are you feeling?” he asks, placing a protective hand over my stomach.

  “I’m fine,” I sigh, brushing off the warmth spreading in my chest.

  He kisses the soft, sensitive spot on my shoulder and takes off my shoes, slowly and seductively massaging my feet as he goes. I pull away, trying to object to his movements.

  “Don’t tempt me, Angel. I will take you with our audience watching,” he warns dangerously in a low whisper.

  I give up my fight and relax on him, letting the wondrous way he’s using his hands on me continue. My body sings with pure bliss and the warmth spreads from my heart to every inch of me. He doesn’t stop until we are at the front of the club. He slips my shoes back on me before getting out and holding his hand for me to take.

  He doesn’t let go of me as we walk into the club and all the way to his VIP section. Only when we are seated on his plush white couches does he frees my hand.

  “I need to go over a few things with my men,” he tells me before leaving with Santino to his upstairs office.

  Estella sways and shakes her hips, dancing to the booming music as she smiles at me. “Did you want to dance?”

  I shake my head and smiles back. Her bottom lip sticks out in a pout and she turns away continuing to dance. I scan the club, searching for familiar faces, but they’re not here. Before I can enjoy my only time away from Roman, he’s back, taking a seat next to me.

  "Let's get this party started," Estella beams, taking her husband’s hand and dragging him off.

  Roman pulls me onto his lap and rests his head against my chest. "Let's join them," I say, wanting this alone time with Roman to end.

  “No.”

  “Then why are we here?” I object.

  “Let’s go home.”

  He stands up and takes my hand, leading us all the way out of the club. Trepidation washes over me as a shiver that reminds me of the abundance of punishment Roman has lined up for me moves down my spine. When we get back in the limo, I move to him before he has a chance to move me, showing him that I’m sorry for ruining his night. I straddle his lap and rest my head on his shoulder, my body tired from the long day.

  “I’m sorry,” I apologize, hoping he forgives me and will not deliver a punishment.

  He rubs up and down my back, not saying anything, but I can feel how relaxed his body is. He’s not angry.

  “I have to leave you again tomorrow for another week. When I get back, we’ll be visiting your family in California.”

  I stop breathing, my mind connecting fiercely with the pain that comes with the word family. I lift my head, choking out my breath.

  He swiftly tilts me to face him and with a hard set jaw, looks me over. I breathe out deeply to show him that I’m fine, not wanting to set him off. “Hold me,” I say softly, wrapping my arms around his neck, and resting my head back on his shoulder.

 
For this moment, I want to forget my whole life entirely as he wraps me safely in his arms.

  Present

  A week has gone by, without a call from Roman, and our plans to California have been put on hold, until we hear from him. Not even Andres has heard from his beloved Boss.

  “Andres, I want to go out today,” I say to him from my place on the couch.

  He arches an eyebrow, without glancing from the television, not wanting to miss a second of his favorite TV show, so I take the remote from the coffee table and turn everything off. He jumps up and tries to tackles the remote from me, but I wiggle out of his grasp and hurl the remote across the house, breaking it to pieces as it hits the side of the granite counter top in the kitchen.

  “You will pay for this!” he roars before he stalks off.

  The doorbell rings and I jump up, wanting to beat Andres to the door. He makes it there before me and opens the door to a smiling Lola. Excited to see my friend, I push him to the side and hug her. She laughs from the force of my arms.

  “You’re cutting off my blood circulation,” she says, laughing again.

  I reluctantly let her go and move from the door to let her in. I glance back to Andres and catch the intense stare he has for her. I frown, getting an uneasy feeling and I push him to the side, but he surprises me by moving with my hand and allowing Lola to walk by.

  As Lola gets further into the house, an opening to a plan flashes before me. She can get me to Kevin. “Hey, Lola, let’s go out to eat. I’m really hungry,” I say, stopping her.

  She turns around and smiles, looking relieved. “Yes, I’m hungry too.”

  “No,” Andres’s voice booms from behind me.

  “I’m going out to eat with, Lola. You can come with or I’m going alone.” I tense and turn, hoping he won’t show his monster side in front of Lola.

  He arches an eyebrow and looks past me, staring for a few beats before he utters, “Fine.”

  I grab her hand and drag her out of the house before he can change his mind. He follows right behind us, and Vinny meets us at the escalade.

  "Where would you like to eat?" Andres peek over his shoulder to me, once we are all inside the SUV.

  “The Strip Club."

  He turns his head all the way, arching his eyebrow.

  "It's a restaurant," I sigh, rolling my eyes.

  What I'm doing is careless, senseless and asking for trouble, but I'm going to do it anyway. The chance of running into Kevin outweighs my fear of the consequences to come.

  Vinny calls out to the GPS for The Strip Club and Andres turns back around.

  My excitement builds as doubt knocks it down.

  What if he doesn't want to see me and ignores me the whole time?

  What if he sends me away again?

  What if he's there with someone else already?

  "Hey," Lola says wrapping an arm around my shoulder and bringing me to her. "I'm here for you."

  Lola, always perceptive to my inner turmoil, knows what I’m planning. My doubts and fears seem less threatening with her by my side.

  "Thank you, Lola. Thank you for always be there for me, even when I was just a stranger to you.”

  She rubs her cheek against my hair. “Anytime, friend."

  Vinny parks the escalade along the curb. "We'll be outside. Right here, waiting," Andres tells us, wagging his finger. "Don't try anything stupid."

  Lola rolls her eyes and opens the door. As we step out, Andres gets out too. He moves so quickly that there is no time to react as he pins Lola to the SUV with one hand pressed by her face and the other on her stomach. He leans in and whispers something into her ear, and her eyes open wide with fear.

  I push him away from her as hard as I can. He steps back, smirking.

  "If you come at her again—“

  He laughs. “What? Are you going to tattle on me? I don't handle defiance well, so this will be the last time you act out."

  He stares dangerously at Lola. She's breathing heavily and her eyes are still wide. I grab her arm and tug her with me to the restaurant. When we walk through the doors, I stop and hug her.

  "I'm so sorry for what he just did," I whisper, feeling sick to my stomach. "What did he say to you?"

  "Nothing," she stammers, pulling away from me.

  "Lola, why are you not telling me?" I ask cautiously.

  She shakes her head. "It's nothing, I was just stunned by being pinned to the car so rough."

  "Lola..." I try again.

  "Drop it, I'm okay. Let's get a table, I'm hungry.”

  "Fine, I'll let it go...for now." I turn away from her and walk to the hostess and, of course, it’s Christie.

  She lights up when she spots me. “Hey, is Kevin with you?" she asks in a hurry.

  “No, he's not," I answer her rudely, annoyed she asked me

  "Do you know where he's at?" she presses.

  "No." I narrow my eyes. "Can I just get a table?" I ask, lifting my eyebrow.

  "Of course. Let me go check." She leaves right away.

  Toby comes over a moment later. “Hey, remember me?" he asks with a smile, but his smile never touches his eyes.

  "Yes, I do.” My mood lightens.

  "Christie just told me you don't know where Kevin is at. When was the last time you saw him?"

  Anxiety crawls up my back. Oh my God, what the hell is going on?

  "Two weeks ago..." I eye him warily.

  “Oh, man.” He looks distressed as he rubs the back of his neck.

  "What's going on?" I feel my chest tighten.

  "We can't get a hold of him."

  "Why do you need to get a hold of him?" I ask breathlessly.

  “Well, the restaurant is falling apart without him."

  What?

  "Toby, get to the fucking point,” I demand, losing my patience.

  "I don't think he told you that he owns the restaurant, did he? Well, it's heading into shambles, and if we don't find him soon…” He sighs. “And now I'm worried out of my mind about him because you haven't seen him at all."

  The blood in my veins runs cold and my chest burns painfully as I take in what he just told me.

  I turn to Lola. "Have you seen him?" God, please say yes.

  "No, I haven't." She shakes her head.

  I take off out the door to the escalade and pound on the window until Andres gets out. I slap him hard, bleeding out my agony, and the sound of my hand hitting his flesh echoes in the near distant. He roughly grabs my wrist and yanks my arm away from him.

  "Touch me again and you will see how angry I can get," he seethes.

  "What did you do to Kevin?" I gasp.

  "He's alive and that's all you need to know."

  “Oh, my God.” The burn in my chest seeps throughout my body and the pain is excruciating. My knees give out, but Andres grabs my waist before I can fall.

  "Is he hurt?" I ask breathlessly.

  "He's not dead," Andres growls. "Now stop asking questions. You should go get something to eat. Your friend is waiting."

  In my moment of panic, I didn't think Lola had followed me, but she did and is now in tears.

  "Kevin..." she whispers, her words lace with despair, ”Angel, let's go back inside and get something to eat." She looks from Andres to me, wiping her tears away.

  I move toward her, but Andres stops me. "Don't try to run away again because Boss has had it. He’ll lock you up, and I don't think you want that."

  A fear-like chill travels down my spine. I nod and he lets me go. Lola and I walk back to the restaurant in silent.

  Christie looks startled when she spots us.

  "Can we still get a table?" I ask a little nicer this time.

  "Yes," she grabs two menus. "Follow me."

  When we get to the table, my anxiety hits me and I claw at my sweater, rubbing the scars on my hand until they are raw and tapping my feet as Lola pulls out her phone from her wristlet and makes a call.

  “Hey, baby, can you come to The Strip Club? Yes …
make sure you're covered up, beanie and everything … Okay, love you too." She hangs up her call.

  "What are you doing?" I rasp.

  "What the hell are you doing?" She frowns, looking me over. "Cody is coming to take you to him. But first you need to put food in your stomach."

  She waves Toby over as I stare in shock. I don't care what she wants me to do. I'll do it if it means I get to see Kevin.

  "Can you have the chef make something quick for us?"

  "Sure." His smile is genuine. "Hey, we didn't mean to scare you earlier..."

  "It's okay, Toby. We're going to find him,” Lola answers for me before I can speak.

  "Okay, food coming right up," Toby says, sounding relieved.

  When he walks away, I glance at Lola’s serious face. "I know where Kevin is at," she says slowly. "My plan for today was to take you to him, but the way the day turned out…well, it's not going to happen, so Cody will take you and I will go back with Andres. And before you start objecting to this, I'll handle him. Don't worry about me."

  "What? No, that’s not going to happen. I'm not letting you be alone with him after what he did to you earlier."

  "This is not about choice, Angel." She sighs. "If I don't distract Andres, you won’t even get five feet away from the restaurant before he hunts you down.”

  She's right. God, I hate this.

  "But I'm feeding my best friend to the lions,” I say, a tear trickling down my face.

  "I'll be fine. I’ll handle him. But you, you need to get your head together. This isn't about anyone else but Kevin. He needs you."

  I nod, wiping my tears. Toby comes back with the food, and my hunger returns with a vengeance. I savor each bite and don't stop eating until my food is gone. I look up from my plate to find Lola looking at me with interest.

  "After today, we need to talk about what's going on with you."

  "I know," I whisper glancing to the man dressed for a snow storm walking up to us.

  He takes off his scarf, his parka jacket and beanie cap before bending down to kiss Lola and taking a seat.

  "Hey, Angel.” He smiles grimly.

  “Hey."

  "Okay, I'm leaving now. Wait five minutes before you walk out the back door." Lola gets up off her chair.