He rested his sweaty forehead against mine and sucked my bottom lip into his mouth. “Fuck, Rhi. That was…”
His voice trailed off, out of breath.
“Yeah,” I muttered, at a loss for words.
We were good together in bed. It was a relationship that was the problem. Marcello always pushed me away, clarifying that his father would never approve of us.
He set me on the ground, breathing heavy as he stripped off the condom and got dressed. I quickly slipped into my panties and shorts and fixed my hair. This was a bad idea. I wasn’t even home for two hours before I fucked a man I could never keep. If I lingered for too long, the old, unwanted feelings would resurface. So I had to get away from him.
I took one last look at him before I walked away. “Thanks for the orgasms.”
“Where do you think you’re going, woman?”
“Home.” I waved my hand in the air, my back to him. “Have a good night, Marcello.”
“So that’s it?”
I didn’t even bother to answer him.
For once, I was the one to walk away.
It had to be this way.
I wouldn’t survive losing him again.
Chapter Thirteen
Marcello
Aiden Wellington stood beside me, spray paint in hand. He added the final touches to our latest mural, inspecting his work with a satisfied grin. We were friends, something I kept secret. No one could know what we did in the shadows.
My father had forbid me to pursue my art because it reminded him of my mother. He’d once said I was too much like her and needed to become a man. So I put what he thought was a childish hobby aside and learned the family business. I became a solider in his army, did what he’d asked. But I deserved to have some form of happiness in this dark, depressing world.
The Wellington twins had moved to Devil’s Creek three years ago. For two of those years, I hung out with Aiden in Beacon Bay. But after his accident, Luca forced him to join the ranks of The Devil’s Knights. Aiden almost died working for a group called The Serpents. They ran The River Styx and worked for my family on occasion.
“Damn.” Aiden stared at the mural with a smile. “It’s a shame you refuse to share your art with the world.” He turned to look at me. “Seriously, Marcello, you could be as famous as your mother.”
“No,” I shot back. “I don’t want anyone to know.”
Alex believed her brother was dead, even accused Luca of killing him when she stabbed him last year. So Luca sent her away, only to bring her back to fulfill my father’s deal with The Founders Society. They had to marry soon. And our enemies would do anything to stop that from happening.
Alex had become my responsibility once we moved her into the house. Once again, a business deal gone wrong created drama for The Devil’s Knights, and this time, our enemies wanted our future Queen.
“How about Alex?” Aiden asked. “She trusts you. My sister would keep your secret.”
“She saw the mural in my bedroom,” I confessed, knowing it would open the door to a conversation I didn’t want to have about his sister.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Why was Alex in your bedroom?”
“A lot has happened in the past nine months.”
“Not by choice,” he shot back.
“I was with Alex.” I tried to hold his fiery gaze but looked away. “Before you flip out, I want you to know it was consensual. Your grandfather gave Alex a choice between Luca and me. My brother lost his damn mind and drove Alex right to me. It wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t acted so irrationally.”
His eyes widened. “Then you better be the one marrying my sister.”
I shook my head. “It will never happen again. A one-time mistake.”
His nose wrinkled with disgust. “Without telling me specific details about my sister and what you did with her, why the hell not?”
“Because Luca finally told Alex he loved her and begged her to stay with him.”
“Fuck,” Aiden groaned, tugging at the ends of his blond curls that were longer than usual. “She had the chance to get away from him and went back? My sister is so dumb sometimes. I swear it’s like she craves pain. Like she enjoys being tortured.”
“Luca is getting better,” I said with some confidence. “He’s trying with Alex. He even moved her into his bedroom.”
“Oh, wow,” Aiden deadpanned. “After years of fucking that sicko, he’s letting her sleep in his bed. Big fucking deal.”
I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Look, she’s marrying Luca.”
“Do you love her?”
I rolled my shoulders. “It’s not the same. My feelings for Alex are mostly out of loyalty to our Queen. I care for her. But it wasn’t love for either of us.”
“Pops gave her a choice.” His crystal blue eyes flared with intensity. “So why did you let her go?”