BOW DOWN: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Barone Crime Family) (53 page)

O
f course
I was fucking skeptical of this peace deal. It just made no sense. I hated to admit it to myself, but as far as I could tell, the Spiders were winning. Sure, we’d killed a few of them and finally interrogated one, but we still knew nothing about them.

They were the terror in the night. They had the whole mob on edge, and if that was what they wanted, they had succeeded. We couldn’t hit them back because we didn’t know where to hit. There had been that one safe house a couple months back, but that had been a fluke. Since then, nothing.

Cassidy had nothing more to offer than that, though. She’d told me that they contacted her on her laptop again at a random time when she wasn’t even searching for them. She said they wanted to broker a peace, and they wanted her to do it.

I had no reason to mistrust Cassidy. She’d been honest with me from the start, and really, she was the one in the most danger. Maybe she was a little reckless and made bad choices, but that didn’t make her a liar. Still, I could tell there was more to this deal than she was letting on, but I didn’t press.

I had to trust her as much as she trusted me. If she needed me to know, then I’d know. Otherwise, I was going to go forward with this plan.

Truth was, brokering a deal with the Spiders was a good idea for us. It meant that they weren’t just a fanatical group of anti-mafia killers. It meant they could be reasoned with, and if they could be reasoned with, they could be dealt with. We’d see them for the first time, truly face to face, and learn about our enemy.

I knocked on Arturo’s office door and waited. “Come,” he called from inside.

I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me. I sat down in one of the leather chairs in front of his desk and leaned back.

“So?” he asked. “You have something important.”

“Cassidy was contacted by the Spiders again.”

He raised an eyebrow. “We’ve been monitoring her computer. My tech guys didn’t mention anything.”

I shrugged. “Maybe the Spiders are better than your guys.”

“Maybe.” He pursed his lips. “I don’t like that. Sounds like I’ll need new tech guys.”

“You might. But that’s not the important part.”

“What did the Spiders say?”

“According to Cassidy, they want her to broker a peace between us and them.”

Arturo stared at me for a second and then burst out laughing. “Peace?”

“Peace,” I confirmed. “They want to meet and talk.”

“That’s insane. Why the hell would we agree to something like that?”

“Because it’s a good idea.”

He laughed again, shaking his head. “No, young Rafa. I didn’t get to my position by making peace deals with people like the Spiders.”

“True. But we have no other options, do we?”

“We aren’t so desperate yet.”

“I think we are. The Spiders are winning this war, bit by bit. We still know nothing about them.”

“True, but we have the superior numbers and size.”

“Do we?”

He stroked his chin. “It’s true that we know nothing about them.”

“Making peace will allow us to learn about them. More than that, it proves that they’re not just a bunch of crazy people.”

“Crazy people don’t make peace with their enemies,” he agreed.

“We can work with them, learn them. And then destroy them if we need to.”

He sighed. “Nobody is going to like this. Too many of our men have died for this to go over well.”

“Fuck what they think. The bosses will understand.”

“Some won’t.”

“They can be convinced.”

Arturo shook his head. “I don’t understand why you’re pushing this so hard, Rafa. This will mean that we can continue pursuing human trafficking, which I understand you’re against.”

“True, but I’m also against a losing war. The other thing, we can figure that out internally. We can’t do both at the same time.”

He nodded, and I could tell that he was seeing reason. I didn’t know what was going on beyond that inscrutable face of his, but he at least was hearing me. Maybe he was making plans to kill me, or maybe he was making plans to meet with the Spiders. Either way, I did what I had said I would do. I made my stand, and that was all I could do.

“Very well,” Arturo said. “I have a lot to think about.”

I stood up. “We’ve made peace with enemies before, and we’ll do it again.”

“That we will.”

I turned and left the room, shutting the door softly behind me.

Something still felt wrong about this. I agreed with my own thinking, that making peace made sense in this situation. But still, it seemed too convenient. I couldn’t understand what the Spiders had to gain from peace. That was bothering me the most. I couldn’t see their motivations, because they seemed so unpredictable and random.

There was no face to the Spiders. Right now, it was just an organization. Entering into peace talks, even if they failed, would humanize them.

They had everything to lose in this and nothing to gain. But something had to be happening to pressure them to the table.

I walked back toward the room. Up ahead, Cassidy was leaning up against a wall, her one leg cocked back. She smiled as I approached.

“How did it go?”

“He said he’d think about it.”

“So better than you expected.”

“True.” I stopped in front of her and crossed my arms. “You’re not telling me something,” I said.

“What?”

“Listen, Cassidy. I don’t know what you’re holding back or why, but this whole thing seems like a trap. Even you have to see that.”

She nodded slowly. “I see it.”

“So why are we trying to make this happen?”

“You’re right that I’m not telling you something.”

I sighed. At least she had admitted it.

“I need to know everything if you want me to help you.”

I could see that she was torn. She looked away, down the hall, and then back toward me.

“I can’t say it,” she answered finally. “I’m sorry, Rafa. I trust you more than anyone else, but what I’m holding back is too important to say. I promised I’d keep it a secret, even from you, and I’m going to.”

I clenched my jaw. “Must be a pretty important person to promise that to.”

“It is important. And if you knew, or anyone else knew, all of this would fall apart. I think this peace is real, Rafa.”

“I want it to be, but I don’t trust these people like you do. After everything that happened, I don’t fucking get it.”

She stepped toward me, frowning. “I know. I don’t blame you.”

“They nearly fucking killed me.”

She reached up and touched my face, staring into my eyes. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“I don’t need you to be sorry.” I reached up and grabbed her hair, pulling her slightly closer to me. “I just need you.”

She took a sharp breath. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“You want me to trust you? I already do. But you’re my priority. That child is my priority. Do you understand?”

“I understand.”

I kissed her, pressing her up against me, tipping her head back. She kissed me back, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. We pressed ourselves together, and it suddenly hit me that this may be one of the last times we could do this before shit went down.

I pulled back and took her by the hand, dragging her behind me. I went up to the first door I found that wasn’t an apartment and tried to open it, but the door remained locked. Cassidy swiped her card and the door instantly opened.

I glanced at her but didn’t give a fuck. We stepped into the empty room, and I shut the door behind us, locking it with the manual slide lock.

I barely took the time to register where we were. It was clearly a storage room, but it took me half a second to realize what it was storing: boxes and boxes of ammunition.

I didn’t care, though. I grabbed her and pulled her against me, kissing her hard. She didn’t seem to mind either as she kissed me back. I pressed her up against a storage rack, the bullets rattling in their boxes, and began to unbutton her pants. She groaned as I slipped my hand down beneath her panties and found her soaking pussy.

“Fuck I love how fast you get wet,” I whispered as I kissed her neck.

“I can’t help it.”

“Good. I love that you know what I want as soon as you see me.”

“What do you want?”

“I want you. I want every inch of you.” I slipped my fingers inside her, and she gasped, groaning. I kissed her again, hard and desperate, like a man drowning.

There was a big secret between us, but I didn’t care. It didn’t really matter. I knew in this moment that what I had said out in the hallway was true. Cassidy was my priority, and maybe she had been since the moment we met. Now that she was probably carrying my child, I would never let anything happen to either of them.

That thought only made me want her so much more. I worked her pussy, my fingers rolling along her soaking spot, rubbing her swollen clit. She reached forward and unbuckled my belt, moaning as she kissed me, and managed to work my pants down. She slipped my cock from my briefs and began to stroke me as I worked her.

It was desperate and dirty, and exactly what I fucking needed.

“I can’t wait,” she whispered. “I don’t want to wait another second.”

“What do you need?”

“I need you inside me. Rafa, please.”

I grinned and pressed my fingers inside her. She let out a low moan.

“Say please again.”

“Please,” she groaned.

I pulled my fingers back and grabbed her hips. I turned her around and quickly pulled her shorts and panties completely off. As she stepped out of them, I began to lick her pussy from behind, wanting a taste before she got what she wanted.

She moaned, holding on to the rack as my tongue slipped up and down her spot. I pressed my tongue inside her, working her in circles, loving her taste. I squeezed her hips and slapped her ass as I licked her, working her. She was groaning, and I could tell her legs were shaking from the pleasure rocking through her core.

I stood, my cock hard as fuck. Nothing made me harder than her ass in the air, her dripping pussy waiting for my cock to fill it up. I took her hips and slowly pressed my thick cock deep between her legs.

She gripped the rack and dipped her head down, moaning. “Oh shit,” she said. “Fuck, Rafa.”

I grunted, loving the way our skin felt. Nothing was better than my bare cock inside her as I slowly began to work her, my cock sliding in and out. She was dripping wet and warm as fuck, tight like a vice, and her ass was the perfect roundness that made me want to bite its perfectly smooth spot. I gripped her hips, pushing deep, and leaned forward. I took her chin and tipped her head back.

“You’re mine,” I said. “Every inch of you is mine. What’s growing inside you is mine. You’re my fucking girl.”

“Yes,” she groaned as I slowly worked her. “I’m yours. I’m all yours, Rafa. Please.”

She began to twist her hips, working back against me. I knew what she wanted. I knew she wanted to ride my thick cock until she came, and I was going to give it to her. I began to work in and out, letting her do most of the work, letting her set the pace.

She twisted and worked her back, her ass sliding up and down my cock. I slapped her and she groaned, working faster as I grabbed her hair. She loved it when I tipped her head back and slammed myself inside her, fucking her rough.

She gripped the rack harder, the bullets all rattling in their boxes, clinking metal and gunpowder. I fucked her tight pussy hard, loving the smell of her, the sound of her, the sensations as they ran along my nerves and through my skull.

I gripped her hips harder, fucking her fast and savage. I couldn’t wait any longer. I needed to hear her come, needed to feel her tight pussy contracting on my cock as she lost control of herself. Nothing made me feel better than watching that.

I pulled her hair back and watched the length of her spine slam back against me, her muscles working faster, her hips rolling along my length. I pressed deep inside her, working with her, loving the soaking, slick feel of her cunt wrapped around me. I could barely breathe as sweat slowly trickled down my chest.

“Rafa,” she groaned. “Keep going. Fuck, keep going.”

“Come on, girl.” I slapped her ass. “Work fucking harder. Give me what I want.”

She groaned, gripping the metal shelves, pressing back against me. I grunted as her ass slammed against my cock. I slapped her ass harder, harder, fucking her deep, making her take my cock, making her mine.

She tipped her head forward, and I watched the muscles in her back tense. Her moans got louder, lower, and I knew she was close. I fucked her harder, holding her hips as she bucked against me, fucking her relentlessly.

She came hard as I continued to slam myself into her. I could feel my own orgasm rolling around in my mind, getting closer, building through my veins.

I held her hips hard as I fucked her, her orgasm washing through the room, and I came. She tipped me over the edge, and I filled her up, coming deep inside her.

We continued moving that way, slowing gradually until finally I pulled out of her and stepped back, gasping.

She turned and threw her arms around me, kissing me. I held her and kissed her back.

This was what I needed. Maybe I hadn’t realized it, but it was the important thing. I needed a woman who could push me, fight back, who was strong and independent and smart. It helped that her pussy drove me fucking wild, and I couldn’t get enough of it once I’d gotten a taste.

We got dressed in silence, enjoying each other’s company. I loved watching the lines of her body as she pulled her panties back on, smiling shyly at me.

We left the room, holding hands.