“What about her?”
“Do you hold your tongue with her?”
“Hell yes! My mom is the one person on the planet I’m afraid of,” he replies seriously.
“Really?” I ask, surprised.
“Really. She can put the fear of God in anyone.”
“Wow.” I bite the inside of my cheek, not very excited about meeting her.
“When I get back home, you will meet her,” he says, setting his bag down before crowding me against the island, “and when you meet her, she will love you.” His face goes soft.
“How do you know?” I look up into his eyes.
“It’s hard not to love you.” His soft words make my heart beat a little faster. His mouth touches mine in a soft kiss before he pulls his lips away, holding my face gently in his hands. “Now, be good while I’m gone.” He smiles, kissing my forehead.
“Always,” I tell him, getting up on my tiptoes to kiss him again. “But you be careful, and please don’t do anything stupid.”
“I’m always careful.”
This time when he kisses me, it takes my breath away, and I have to unwind myself from him before he can pick his bag up. I follow him to the door, wanting so badly to tell him that I love him but not wanting to sound like I’m saying it because I’m afraid. He kisses me once more before he pulls the door closed behind him.
“I love you,” I whisper, laying my forehead on the cool wood. I tried fighting what I’m feeling for him, and I tried to push him away even when I hurt myself in the process. He’s right; I need to start living again. I don’t want to push him away and one day have him finally give up on me. I know if I did, I would hate myself for the rest of my life.
Chapter 8
Nico
“So, you really done for, aren’t you?” Sven asks as we make our way onto his private plane. Sven is from old money—his father’s father’s father found oil in Texas on their family’s farm at the start of the oil rush. Since then, his family’s role in the oil industry has only grown.
“We’re not talking about Sophie”—I look over my shoulder—“ever.”
“Jesus, it never takes you guys long to get pussy-whipped, does it?” He chuckles, sitting down across from me.
A stewardess in a small blue dress walks up the aisle towards us. Her eyes light up when she looks at me, and I shake my head. Chicks are all the fucking same. They all talk about how men only want one thing from them, but they are constantly throwing themselves at me, yet I never hit on them first. They want the bad-boy experience. Before Sophie, I would have been happy to take this chick into the bathroom to see what she could do with that mouth of hers—hell, I might have pulled out my cock and let her take me right here—but now, the thought of her anywhere near my junk has my shit shriveling up.
“Hello. Welcome aboard. Can I get you anything?”
“No, thanks,” I tell her dismissively.
“Nothing to drink or eat?”
“No, thanks,” I repeat.
“Are you sure you don’t need anything?” she asks seductively leaning forward and giving me a shot of her breast.
My jaw clenches when I see the smile on Sven’s face. I can’t wait for him to find a woman. I hope when he finds someone that she puts him though hell.
“I don’t need anything,” I repeat, making each word clear.
“We’re good, Stacy. Tell the pilot we’re ready to go,” Sven says, fixing his suit jacket.
She nods and walks to the front of the plane behind a small curtain.
“You’re really gonna to pass up Stacy? She used to work for the circus,” he says, and I shake my head, not even bothering to entertain him with that conversation.
“Tell me about what’s going on with the club and why you need my help when you have bodyguards and people you pay to deal with this kind of shit,” I say, leaning back in my seat.
“I don’t trust anyone right now, especially those I have to pay. I don’t know if someone’s paying them more than I am,” he answers, squeezing the bridge of his nose between his fingers.
“You’ve never trusted anyone,” I remind him.
“You’re right, but you forget I have a good reason. My mother—the one person my dad should have been able to trust—tried to kill him, and then she was going to do the same thing to me.”
“Your mother was also crazy.” I shake my head.
When we were young and Sven and his family moved into the area my parents still live in, his mom would make it her daily mission to come to the school and cause a scene. She was constantly accusing her husband and son of trying to kill her or being possessed by the devil; it was always some kind of drama. My father was repeatedly called to their home to settle some kind of domestic dispute. Then one night, Sven’s mom went completely over the edge and stabbed Sven’s dad six times in his sleep. He was half dead when Sven, who was ten at the time, heard what was happening, hid, and called 911. His dad was in the hospital for six months, and during that time, Sven lived with us. He became one of our brothers.