Conviction (The Cassano Series Book 4) (10 page)

Victoria

Grabbing me by the biceps, Adrian crushes my lips with his. Intensity and urgency bleeds into me as he groans into my mouth. The heat of his breath spreads through me, too, and I’m soon falling forward, clutching the front of his shirt as I deepen our kiss.

“No,” he says firmly, pushing me outward until I’m at arm’s length. I’m panting, desperate to be touched by him. I need him to give me something–anything. God, please.

“Adrian.” I’m unabashed in my whimper and effort to lean into him, imploring him to touch me again. “Punish me.”

“So, you want me to punish you?”

“Most definitely.”

“Why are you here? Are we talking now?”

He completely releases me, so I scrunch my brow.

“I’m sorry. I was pissed at you.”

“And I had apologized, but it wasn’t good enough. So, your pleading isn’t good enough. Maybe if you beg a little, I’ll oblige.”

“You’re being an asshole.”

“And you’ve acted like a spoiled bitch today,” he says with a glare before he strolls to his bar. “Would you like a drink?”

“No.” My one word screams of childish petulance, only backing his insult.

“Fine. What are you doing here?”

“I was calling a truce, but I guess you’re not interested.”

“You left me worrying today, Victoria, and I already have enough shit to stress over.”

“I know you must be worried about Zev, so I apologize for my behavior today.” I sit on the brown leather loveseat in Adrian’s office.

“Xavier is only the half of it.” With scotch in hand, Adrian takes the spot next to me. His head leans back against the cushion, and he stares up at the ceiling.

I pull at his tie until it’s loosened. Without argument, he lifts his upper body enough for me to remove it completely.

He takes a drink, and I watch his pronounced throat as the liquid slides down it. He’s genuinely upset, and I don’t believe I’m the entire cause for his brooding.

“Talk to me. What happened?”

Leaning back against the cushion again, he stares straight ahead. “What hasn’t? Karen left Theo. Blanca was a fucking spy and snitch. I get to dump this FBI news on Agatha in the morning …,” Adrian holds up his glass, “and oh, my mother is going to die any day.”

“What the fuck? All that happened since I stormed out of the penthouse?”

“Yes, Victoria, so you can see why I’m not in the mood for bullshit.”

“I’m sorry.” The words leave my lips softly in an attempt to silence the absurdities between us. I dare a glimpse at him, and his eyes shift to stare at me.

I realize I’ve been fidgeting with the cream, silky tie in my hands, absentmindedly wrapping it around one of my wrists. He gradually lifts his head and stares at it.

“Please, Adrian. It would make you feel better. It would make me feel better, too. You set my trust back with that remark the other day.”

I’m unsure of how it happened so fast, but his glass is now on the table, and I’m flat on my back in what felt like a millisecond.

He’s holding the tie, and in one swoop, my t-shirt is yanked off, leaving me in a midnight blue, lace bra.

He places my hands over my head and onto the arm of the loveseat. Looping the tie around my wrists a couple of times, he then ties it to something. I twist my head to see that it’s secured to the leg of a side table.

Inwardly I smile. The rush of adrenaline is extreme, immeasurable when compared to what I feel during heightened moments on the job.

I’m a junkie for Adrian’s control.

Bracing his hands on the arm of the loveseat, he lowers his body over mine. His precise movements and the studious darkness to his stare bolster his unyielding command.

“Adrian.” My chin tilts upward as I swallow back my need to express my subservience. There’s a coolness to his aura, yet he’s keen as he begins the delivery of my sentencing. My eyes close and my lip quivers.

“You’re going to be silent and still, my pearl. Silent and still.” His lips skim across mine so slightly that I wonder if I’m imagining it.

Just as I’m yearning for more, my body is left void of his touch. My eyelids flip open, and he’s standing above me, his gaze locked on mine.

The craving is too much.

The hit right under my nose.

He unbuttons his shirt and undresses with the same non-urgency he has previously bestowed, and I’m transfixed, unable to release the anchor I’m tethered to.

Time stands still.

His emotions, so calmly but keenly delivered, inundate my soul.

The only part of me able to express my emotions is my hammering heart. It’s beating against my chest, a roaring spokesperson for my longing and lust–my devotion.

The thundering pushes the faintest whimper up through my throat. Adrian’s mouth hints of a smile, but he regains his cool composure quickly.

“I’m impressed with your obedience. For that, I will reward you.” Without shame, a naked Adrian saunters over to his office door and locks it. As he strolls to his bar, my eyes follow his every move.

The drumming of my heart becomes more palpable, and I can barely catch my breath as I wait with anticipation. He comes back with something in hand, and when a drop of water drips between his fingers, I see that it’s ice.

Once on his knees beside me, he begins circling my nipple with an ice cube while his tongue lashes the closest one to him into a pebble of hardness.

I bite down on my bottom lip as the cold sensation stuns me. Water drips and glides down my stomach. Adrian’s tongue stalks the trail and laps it up at my navel. I flinch and squirm. “Fuck, Adrian.”

“I told you to remain silent and still. For that outburst, I’m doing it five more times.”

He repeats the process, over and over. A tongue flicks my nipple before he drags it between his teeth, all while the swirling of the ice leaves me with a dire need to squirm beneath him.

Putting the cube into his mouth, he pulls my legs apart and falls between them. It drags over my pelvis, and I can’t take it. I flinch again, but he doesn’t remove the ice to scold me. No, he faintly moves it over my pussy, letting it drip along the way.

His tongue begins soaking it up, and I’m coming unglued from the powerful sensations. I pull on my arms, moving the table across the cherry wood floor.

I can’t help the guttural sound that fills the open space as I fall deeper, becoming completely immersed in the pleasure.

The searing heat from his tongue as it licks and strokes combined with the cold of the ice has me pushing against his mouth.

“Come, Victoria. Come and fight back your moans. Absorb it all for me.”

He returns to pleasuring me, and my pussy aches. It’s throbbing with every slick sweep from his tongue until there isn’t any ice cube left.

His mouth bathes me in heat.

His fingers dig into my hips.

And water slips down my ass.

All I can do is throw my head back as I come, convulsing against his fiery breath. In seconds, he’s on the loveseat and inside of me, pounding away as my arms bounce above my head, jerking the table with every vigorous thrust.

He growls and buries his head against my neck as his release consumes him. We stay like this, and I stare at the ceiling as breaths puff from my lips.

This is a high I don’t want to come down from. I recall when I was terrified to relinquish my control to him, and now I crave these moments.

I need them like I need to breathe.

Adrian’s mouth moves to my ear. “Baby, I’m sorry. I should’ve never said what I did the other night. We’re in this together for eternity.” He kisses my ear, and the moment is poignant.

He’s the center of my universe. It’s on a fault line that shifts at times from our idiotic choices, and if it has to come apart, we’ll fall together. United as one.

Zev

“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at D/s?” I ask Simon after I open the door to my office.

“What do you think? I had to see you before you leave.”

“I can’t tell you shit.”

“I know.” Simon’s gaze shifts to the floor. “I wanted to tell you good luck.”

“Bro, I’m not going to die.”

“You don’t know that. This is for a shit ton of money, Zev. Noah can’t be trusted, and you know this. He thinks he’s above the law.”

“I imagine there will be a sharpshooter or some kind of shit like that. The Feds aren’t going to let me die.”

He holds his hands up in defense. “Alright, sorry. I’ll go.” He turns to approach the door, and I feel like an ass.

“Jersey.” He turns around, and I give him a bro hug. He took time to come here and tell me he cares. He didn’t have to do that. “We’ll make it through this. I honestly believe that.”

“Call me when it’s over. I love you, man.” He gives me one last look before he opens the door. Kruse is standing there about to knock.

“What are you doing here?” Simon asks.

“I’m going with Zev.”

My brother whips around. “He gets to go but I can’t.”

“It’s business, Simon. I need security. Go to work, and I’ll call you later.”

His finger comes up to point at Kruse’s face.

“You better keep him fucking safe.”

“I will, and I shouldn’t have to tell you that.” Simon pats Kruse’s chest as he walks past him.

Taking a deep breath, I leave my office. Kruse follows me up to one of our private floors where the FBI is waiting to wire me for the sting.

***

I’ve never had this much cash on me before. Ninety thousand dollars to be exact is in a duffel bag I’m carrying. I forced Noah to agree to let me bring Kruse. I wasn’t meeting his ass alone. It’s ten-thirty as we head into the parking garage at Submission.

Kruse is already looking around, paranoid at what we might encounter tonight. Noah texted me only two hours ago to inform me that I am to meet him at his university.

I don’t get why he wants to meet there. They have security that drives around the campus, but knowing Noah, he has paid them off with money or drugs.

He thinks we’ve been selling the past purchases we made from him, basically dabbling in the drug dealing market to see if the demand is there. Now, he believes I want to sell on a regular basis to our high-end customers at Submission.

Because of this, he thinks I’m going to purchase large quantities from him regularly, and I’m going to make a killer profit. It’s the only reason he agreed to let me buy from him. It’s also why he’s made a huge profit margin for himself.

I thought he was a smart guy, but he’s actually an idiot because I can make more income through our casino and hotel than wasting my time selling drugs that he’s already taken a cut from.

The only thing I can think is he either believes I’m greedy or thinks I don’t profit as much as I do since I have three brothers I’m running my business with.

“So, this is it, huh?” Kruse asks once we’ve parked outside the science lab at the college.

“This is where he said to meet.”

“I’m ready to get that douchebag out of our lives. Every one of you Cassano brothers have been on edge since he weaseled his way into your business. I’m ready to have some fun again.” Kruse messes with his blonde hair and fidgets with his side mirror.

“We’re not going to be going out that often anymore. Simon and I have girlfriends now.” I turn my head to look at him. “Maybe it’s time you found one.”

“Isn’t your sister moving to town?” he asks with a smirk.

“Not her, you asshole. You told me to stay away from your sister.”

“Point made,” he says as his smile vanishes. “I don’t see anyone, do you?”

“No, and you need to chill. You’re fidgeting is making me nervous.”

“I am fucking nervous. Shit’s about to get real.”

“At least you didn’t have to be alone with some agent who fondled your package as they taped a mic to your testicles.”

Kruse busts out laughing, and I don’t find it funny. The wire is at the button hole of my jeans, and the process of getting it there was embarrassing as hell.

“Oh, the look on your face when you came out of that bedroom. It was priceless.”

“Ha ha. Laugh it up, dickwad. Oh, shit, here comes Noah, and he has two cars with him.”

“What the fuck?”

“I think this is normal when you’re carrying that much drugs. They’re called spotters,” I say.

“I don’t like it. What if they bust some caps in us and take off with the money?”

“Well, they won’t get far.”

“That’s not helping my nerves, asshole.”

I watch as Noah pulls in next to me with a car behind and a car in front. The only comforting aspect is the way we’re parked; we’re not blocked in. Oh, and the fact the Feds are waiting to ambush Noah’s ass.

We step out of the vehicle without the duffle bag and meet Noah at the back. “Good evening, gentlemen,” he says.

Men dressed casually in jeans stand at each side of him. They probably have a few inches and thirty pounds on his already tall and fit frame.

“I wouldn’t go as far as calling us that,” I reply. My voice slightly catches in my throat, and I’m praying it doesn’t make Noah suspicious.

“Money first, Xavier.”

“Let me have a peek, and then I’ll get the duffle bag.”

“Fine.” Using his key fob, he unlocks the trunk of his white Audi R8 and opens it.

“The packages are taped up. It better be the real deal.”

“Don’t you trust me, man? It’s the purest coke you’re going to find,” Noah says.

“Wait here.” I stride to the passenger side of the vehicle where I have the duffel bag in the floorboard. I carry it back and stare at him.

“You look a little nervous,” he says.

“I’m carrying around almost a hundred grand and buying drugs. I don’t see how you’re not.”

“It will get easier each time we do it.”

“Let’s hand them over at the same time. It would make me feel better.”

The two guys with him move their hand to the side of their hip, and I know they’re packing heat. I don’t look to Kruse, but I swear I think I hear him breathing.

The trade is made, and the moment the men start back to their vehicle, all hell breaks loose.

In seconds, Kruse and I are face down, palms to the ground. There is so much screaming and vehicles pulling up, that I can’t think straight. I don’t want to admit it, but I’m fucking terrified at the moment.

I don’t know how much time passes before we’re back on our feet. Everything is happening so quickly.

Supposedly, while Noah’s being busted, warrants are being issued all over the damn city to dealers beneath him. Hundreds of Feds and DEA agents are busting in doors at this very moment.

Noah’s handcuffed and about to be taken away when he looks over and glares at me.

“This was for Tara, you sick fucker.”

A slow, wicked grin spreads across his face once he realizes I know about her assault.

“This isn’t over. You better keep an eye on your little whore.”

My hands ball into fists, and I find myself wanting to kill him now more than ever. The prick thinks he’s going to get off with a slap on the wrist because of who his daddy is, but these are federal charges. He’s going to be locked away for a long, long time.