A Bad Man: Joey (5 page)

“There wasn’t anyone else in that alleyway, or in that area besides the two men that are dead right now, and me.”

Joey pulled his thoughts away from finding Carlos and beating his skull in with a baseball bat. He stared at Marra and shook his head at how naive she was. “Marra, your cluelessness to the situation would be endearing if you weren’t right in the middle of what will be a war.” He was going to find that pathetic excuse for a gang leader, and show him what it meant to get involved with Joey Bacelli. He was going to show him that if he fucked with anyone Joey considered in his protection, his death would be slow and agonizing.

And Marra fell into that category.

“A war?” She shifted in her seat, clearly uncomfortable.

“I highly doubt the man that sent out the hit for Mario only had one guy for the job. Most likely there was a spotter, a man that was the lookout.” He moved away from the fire and sat on the couch across from her.

“But I didn’t see anyone else,” she said with this tightness in her voice, and he could tell she was frightened at the reality of it all.

“A spotter would be there, but unseen, sweetheart.” He placed his arms on the back of the couch and watched her as she stared at the fire.

“I’ll leave town, find somewhere else that doesn’t have me in this fucked up mafia war.” She snapped her gaze to his right after she said it, as though she were afraid of the words she had just spoken.

He shook his head. “Not going to happen.”

She sat up straighter. “Why?” Her voice got harder, and he saw a spark of the fighter he knew she was.

“Aside from the obvious that I am the only one that can protect you?” he leaned forward. “You may or may not know some pretty vital information, things you shouldn’t know that could get you hurt.”

“You don’t even know if I was seen, or if someone is coming after me.” She was twisting her hands together in nervousness. “But yes, aside from all of that, why would you want me here, in your personal space, and wearing your clothes?” Mara picked at the shirt and stared at him as if in challenge.

“I want you, Marra, and keeping you here, knowing that I
am
the only one that can make sure you’re safe if, in fact, you are going to be targeted, just makes my need to have you even greater.” He was surprised when she didn’t blink, let alone flinch. “If you think I’m a bastard because I can and will keep you here, making sure you’re safe until all of this is taken care of, then so fucking be it.”

She shook her head, opened her mouth like she was about to say something, and then promptly closed it. Instead of saying anything she stood and walked over to the bottle of liquor on the kitchen island. Joey didn’t move as he watched her take a shot right out of the bottle, set it down, and brace her hands on the counter. She hung her head, and the desperation was clear in the way she held herself.

“I could leave, though, Joey.” She faced him. “I could go to another state, just pack up the few things I have and disappear.” She was crying now, not hard, wracking sobs, but ones where she was still trying to hold onto her composure. “I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be in this fucked up situation, and I don’t want to stay here with you so you can protect me.” She wiped away her tears almost angrily, and Joey stood, hating that seeing her upset pinched at his heart.

He moved toward her and was glad when she didn’t retreat. But when she reached behind her and held onto the counter, her body going tense, and her eyes widening, he knew that she played a good poker face.

“Are you upset because you’re in this situation, or that
I
am the one you’re in it with?” Obviously he knew for anyone that wasn’t used to this life it would have been a hard adjustment and realization to come to, but he didn’t think it was just that reason. There was something else that she was not just coming out and telling him.

And he would get the truth out of her, one way or the other.

Chapter Five

Marra tried to calm her breathing, but Joey was so close, and the look on his face was so damn intimidating. He wanted her to bare her soul, to tell him things that she couldn’t.

He took another step forward, placing his hands on the counter on either side of her. The scent of his liquor laced breath moved along her lips, and she felt this chill move along her arms. She shouldn’t want him right now, not after everything he had just told her. Someone could be after her because of what she witnessed and the fact she got away. Maybe they thought she’d run to the cops, tell them what she heard and have this huge investigation going on. But right now, as she stared into his grey eyes, took in the way his short dark hair fell across his forehead, and the way he had a day’s worth of dark stubble along his cheeks and jaw, he looked so good, so dangerously sexy and controlling that she couldn’t help but feel this submissive side rise up inside of her. She wanted this man to dominate her, to show her why he was always so in control, had so much patience, and was so determined to have his way no matter what.

“Tell me why you really want to leave, and don’t give me that bullshit that you’ve been spouting off to me for the last year.” He stared right in her eyes, refused to give her any breathing room, and Marra felt suffocation start to take hold of her.

“Why does it matter right now?” After all the things that have just happened, why do you even care why I want to leave?” She felt a bead of sweat trail down her temple. “Do you really think anything else is important right now?” Her life was on the line, according to him. “And why are you just staring at me not saying anything?” Her heart was beating faster now, her nerves going higher, and her emotions more heightened with what was happening right here and now.

He leaned in another inch, and she felt the heat from his breath move along her face. She actually had to stop herself from moaning at how good it felt with having him so close.

“What difference does it make why I want you to do something?” He lifted one of his hands and placed it right by her cheek, so close, yet not touching her. “The fact is I want you to do something, to tell me what I want to know.” He stared in her eyes, all but demanding she obey him. “Maybe this started as me wanting to know why you were so adamant on leaving, of wanting to be away from me when I am the only one that can protect you. But it doesn’t matter now, because what I want to hear is the truth, Marra. All of it.”

Although he had never asked her to tell him one of the reasons she didn’t want to stay here with him, the fact still remained that she was scared of what was going on, had just been told her life may or may not be on the line, and he was asking her to tell him more than she felt comfortable saying. “I told you why I wanted to leave, because according to you my life is in danger.” She swallowed. “I don’t need any other rational explanation than that.”

He made this low sound from his voice, and she felt the tightening of his fingers pressing into her cheek. “I know that already, Marra. I want to know the other reason you want to leave. It’s the honest and rational reaction, but I want to know the
other
reason. The one that is making your heart pound at this very moment, the one that makes your nipples hard, and that most likely has that sweet little pussy wet for me.”

A gasp left her, but she didn’t know if it was one of outrage or arousal. “What does it matter, Joey? I want to leave because I could die if I stay in this fucking town. If you want to know why I want to leave it’s because I want to
live
.”

He didn’t respond, just continued to stare at her, breathing heavily, and making her arousal grow despite the knowledge that this reaction was out of place.

She clenched her teeth together, hating that his silence could have such an impact on her.

“I told you I would protect you. There isn’t anyone else on this planet that can make sure you’re safe, Marra.” He placed his hand on her cheek now, lightly, intimately, and dominating her with the barest of touches, and with his words. “I won’t let anyone hurt you,” he said softly now.

Marra may have “known” him for the past year, but she didn’t really
know
him. But what she was most certain about was that when Joey said something he meant it. She was in this situation because she had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but Joey had been there. If not for him her brains would be plastered across the asphalt.

“I will never be dishonest with you, but I expect the same in return, Marra.” He lowered his gaze to her mouth, and she found herself licking her lips.

“You want me to tell you that I want to leave because of my feelings for you?” she said on a whisper. “Or you want me to tell you that I hate you, that I want to leave because this life you lead has put me in this situation where I am fearing for my life?”

“You have nothing to fear, because I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

He looked angry, hard, and in control at the same time.

“You act like you don’t like what I do, but look me right in the fucking eyes and tell me the temptation of darkness doesn’t arouse you. That you don’t want me.” He squeezed his fingers harder into her flesh, but just when discomfort started to take hold he slipped his hand behind her head and held onto her hair. “Try lying to me and say that
knowing I
can
and
do
bad things doesn’t makes your pussy so damn wet you could scream.”

Her heart raced, her mouth went dry, and she wanted to argue, but she couldn’t. What he did was wrong, and how he lived his life was bad, but she couldn’t form the words to tell him that right now.

He smirked. “Knowing that I am dangerous turns you on, Marra.” He leaned his face in closer to hers. “I bet right now you want me to fuck you despite the danger that your life may be in, don’t you?”

She shook her head, hating the fact that there was a part of him that was right. “You hurt people, kill them.” She swallowed roughly.

“I do, and I don’t apologize for that, because if I wasn’t able to take a life so easily yours would be nothing but a memory right now,” he said softly, but harshly. “People that deserve to be hurt are the ones that meet my wrath.” He moved in an inch closer until she felt like their lips were touching.

“You like hurting them, getting your revenge.”

He stared at her in the eyes, not answering right away, but also not showing any emotions. “You want me to tell you that I regret what I do? That I feel some kind of grief for the people that put my family, my business, in jeopardy?”

She felt the heat from his body, felt her chest brush along his with every inhalation she made.

“I won’t say any of that, because it would be a lie, and I won’t lie to you, Marra. I won’t ever do that, because I believe you deserve the truth.”

She swallowed, not sure how to respond.

“Now tell me what you want right now. Don’t think about what is outside of this apartment, or in Bourbon. Just feel this, feel me, and be honest with us both.”

She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything he started speaking again.

“And don’t lie to me, Marra.
Never
fucking lie to me.”

Her heart beat fast and loud, and she felt it in every part of her body. “I do want you, even after all of this, but I can’t let myself give in, Joey.”

God, this whole situation right now was surreal. She should be plotting her escape from Bourbon, and all this fucking drama she was right in the middle of. His nostrils flared, and a low sound left him. He was angry.

A few seconds passed where he didn’t do anything but breathe heavily, maybe trying to get himself under control.

“Don’t you have someone in your life?” she asked a little out of breath.

“You’re the only woman in my life that means anything, Marra.” And then he pressed his lips to hers, grabbed her chin with his other hand tight enough to hurt, and showed her who was in control. For several seconds she couldn’t do anything but let him kiss her, and that was exactly what he was doing. He stroked her tongue with his, show her that he was the one that held all the cards, and that she was helpless to help him. At least that was how she felt.

“You feel that?” he said against her lips, and then placed his hand over her heart. He went back to kissing her, taking everything from her and not letting her retreat. His arms and hands caged her in, and his mouth was on hers. He moved his tongue along her lips. Joey’s moves were ones of expertise, deliberately planned, and so thorough that she was so desperate for breath she was gasping when he broke the kiss.

“What are you doing, Joey?” It was a rhetorical question, because obviously she knew what he was doing, but this was so not the time or place for this.

“For the past year you’ve been refusing me, Marra, and making me want you even more because of it.” He cupped her cheek with his other hand, and smoothed his thumb over her bottom lip. “So red and swollen from my kiss,” he said while looking at her mouth. “I can’t tell you what that does to the possessive side of me, baby, knowing that I was the one to make your lips look like that.” He slowly lifted his gaze back to her. While looking at her, he took his hand, slid it over her collarbones, down between her breasts, and stopped for a second. The weight of his hand just resting there, adding a bit of pressure, made her nipples harden further.

He moved his hand down to her belly, left it there for a second, and then to her utter shock he placed his hand right down her pants. She didn’t wear a bra and panties, because the ones she’d had on were either covered in blood or felt nasty on her body. But right now she was wishing she had another barrier on. He moved his hand right through her folds, and she grew wetter at the fact he could feel how aroused she really was despite her situation. He touched her pussy as if he owned it. And God, did it feel good.

He growled low in his throat, as if an animal had been released inside of him. “I can feel how much you want me, and even if you want to deny it with your mouth and words, this right here,” he slipped a finger deep inside of her and she gasped out. “This right here, shows me that you want everything that I am.” He kissed her again, hard, possessively, and with so much force that their teeth clashed together. He broke the kiss for only a second and said in this deep growly voice, “This pussy is mine.” He moved his mouth down her neck, over the top of one of her breasts, and then he was sucking her nipple right through the shirt. He growled again. “And these are mine.” He cupped her other breast, and tweaked the nipple while he continued to suck on her. “You’re all mine, to own, to control, to pleasure, and to protect.”

Marra didn’t know what to say. He was still thrusting a finger in and out of her, and all she could do was hold onto the counter behind her and bite her lip to stop from telling him to give her more. But his rough breathing, the way he pressed his body to hers, letting her feel how hard he was for her, had Marra opening her eyes. Realization moved through the thick haze of arousal, and she pushed him back. He was resistant at first, groaning out obscenities, but finally he relented. The bulge that pressed against his slacks was impressive, but when he advanced again, she held her hand up to stop him.

“And you’re still trying to deny how you feel for me, how much you want me, and that there isn’t this connection between us?” he said in this hard, annoyed voice.

“Joey, this isn’t about you and me, or about wanting each other.” She breathed in deeply, feeling like she wanted to just go into his arms and rub herself all over him. But she couldn’t. She was in this Twilight Zone-like situation, and getting her mind clear was what she needed to do. Having sex with Joey Bacelli was so not going to help with that.

“This is about you and me, Marra. It’s very much about us.” He moved closer again, took hold of the back of her neck with his hand, and kissed her hard once more. Marra instantly got lost in the feel and taste of him, but she couldn’t allow herself to ignore everything else right now. She pushed at him, but he was relentless, and she wanted him so badly that she knew she wasn’t putting up a fight.

“Stop, Joey.”

“Do you really want me to, Marra?” he said against her neck now, ground his dick against her belly, which had her becoming wetter instantly.

She wanted him, was on the verge of moaning out that she wanted him to just rip her clothes off and fuck the sexual frustration of the last year right out of her, but she didn’t. Instead she pushed against him as hard as she could until he relented.

“What the fuck, Marra?” His voice was deep, guttural, and there was clear irritation in it. But she didn’t care.

“I said this wasn’t a good idea, but clearly you are too hard up to listen.” She tried to catch her breath, because honestly she was just as turned on as he was, and stopping had been hard as hell for her.

He reached down and grabbed his cock right over his slacks, and she felt her eyes widen at his obscenity.

“Don’t look so damn innocent there, baby. I bet that pussy of yours is even more soaked than it was when I had my finger all up in you.”

“God, you’re so damn crude, even at a time like this.” She was starting to feel those shots, and coupled with the fact she was hot as hell for Joey, she knew she needed to call it a night. She’d end up doing something she may or may not regret in the morning, and she already had enough on her plate. Moving past him was pretty damn hard, and when he reached out for her wrist and stopped her, she feared he might break her resistance.