Deathless & Divided (The Chicago War #1) (16 page)

Lily blinked the wetness away. “It’s not her or what she said, not really.”

“What is it, then?” She wouldn’t answer him, but Damian had a pretty good indication of the problem. “Your father?”

“Partly.”

“I thought it wasn’t about what she said?”

Lily waved at the closed door with a fierceness and anger that came suddenly. “Those …
people
. All of them.”

“You’re going to have to explain it more to me, sweetheart.”

“They just label him as a rat. They don’t even care that he was a man with children and a wife, like his life didn’t matter in the end because he didn’t follow their rules. He was more than the Outfit—he was my father.
My father
, okay. And it bothers me that he can’t be my dad, he has to be the man who betrayed them. He’s still my dad.”

“I know,” Damian murmured.

“He is, right?” Lily asked quietly. “Mine? Why do I have to pretend like he was worthless?”

“He’s still yours, regardless of what anyone else says or thinks. And you’ll never see him like they did because you’re not like them, Lily. For the record, I don’t believe that his actions determine your future, either. There’s a huge difference between being blindly loyal and being faithful to your family.”

“They’re the family,” Lily said. “Isn’t that what we’ve always been told?”

“Your family is what you make it. The family is the people who protect and love you no matter what it costs them in the end. Family is who you keep coming back to even when all you want to do is run away.”

“My brothers, you mean.”

Damian shrugged, still sweeping his thumb over the line of her jaw. “Sure, but I’m hoping you’ll put me in that category eventually, too.”

Lily shivered in his hold. “How can I do that when I don’t even know you?”

“You know enough,” Damian replied truthfully.

All that she needed to know.

“I don’t,” Lily argued. “You still won’t tell me why you agreed to this.”

“Yes, I have. Twice.”

“Because you have to.”

“Exactly, Lily.”

“That’s still not an answer, Damian.”

“Maybe you’re not asking the right questions, sweetheart. If you spent half as much time looking at other people as you do stuck inside your own head, you might find the answers are right in front of your pretty face.”

Lily bit her bottom lip and fidgeted on the spot. “I’m sorry.”

Damian hadn’t been expecting that. “For what?”

“Not remembering much about you. I meant to tell you before, but now seems like a good time.”

“When you were younger, you mean?”

“Yeah.”

Damian chuckled, caught her wrist with his other hand, and pulled Lily a step closer to him so that her nose grazed his when he looked down at her. Her eyes widened as her hand splayed out against his chest. She didn’t push him away, though. Damian took that as a good sign.

“When I hung around with Theo, you were young and your parents had just died. I was moved around a lot, so there was only a brief time when Theo and I had been close as kids. For you, that particular time was traumatic. Your parents being killed, moving in with your uncle, and Dino leaving the home. You were so focused on Theo and being stuck at his side because everybody else around you had left.”

Lily sniffed but the tears didn’t come that time. “You remember a lot.”

“Seems where your memories are a blank because of bad feelings, mine are coming back because of good ones. A lot of my childhood was spent listening to screaming, keeping out of everyone’s way, and trying to be invisible.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, so I don’t care to remember it all that much. But you seem to be a sweet spot.”

Lily’s lips curved into a small smile. “Huh. Imagine that.”

“Back then isn’t all that important anyway, Lily.”

“No?” she asked.

“No. Now is. Today. Tomorrow. Whatever you want to do or wherever you plan on going. Those are the important things; those are the things that matter to me. I told you we’ll work out all the details as we go along. I wasn’t lying.”

“I want to trust you,” she whispered.

“You will.”

That kind of thing came with time. Damian certainly wasn’t trying to get this girl to fall in love with him, but he wouldn’t pretend like he didn’t have some residual feelings for her; something inside that clenched around his lungs and heart with a vise-like grip to keep him steady and clear. He wanted her safe and happy, but it wasn’t all because of her brother and his debt.

“Your dress is a mess,” Damian noted, angry over the wine stains soaking the side of her black dress.

“The wine got me, too.” Lily reached up and pressed the pads of her fingertips along his cut. “It’s not so bad, really. I don’t know why it bled so much.”

“Flesh wound on the face.”

“
Hmm
.”

“I should get you home and then you can maybe salvage this dress,” Damian said.

Lily shrugged like it didn’t make a difference. She had yet to take her gaze off his cheek and she continued touching him with a tenderness that said she was concerned. Damian caught her hand with his own, wanting to ward off whatever nonsense she had going on in her head.

“I’m fine, Lily.”

“She really doesn’t like me.”

Damian laughed. “Do you care?”

“No.”

“Good.”

“Why is that good? Shouldn’t I want your family to like me?”

“I don’t give a damn if Serena approves of my choices or not. They’re not hers to make. There’s only three people with the Rossi surname I consider family and my aunt and uncle aren’t them.”

“But—”

“And soon enough, I’ll be adding a fourth person to that list as well,” Damian said, giving her a slow smile.

Lily froze, her stare flitting down to Damian’s mouth before jumping back to his eyes. “You’re too smooth for your own good, Damian.”

“Yeah, well, I try.”

With that, he bent down and caught her surprised gasp with his mouth. The moment her lips touched his, sweetness bloomed over his mouth. He could taste her flavor edging at the tip of his tongue, and Damian was lost. Lily’s hand fisted into his suit jacket as he took another step closer to her until her body was pressed against his and her back was pushed into the counter top. He’d just wanted to distract her worries, but now that he could feel the way her lips felt moving with his, Damian wasn’t about to stop. His hands slipped under her skirt, skimmed around to the back of her toned ass and grabbed tight. He lifted her onto the counter in one fluid motion, needing her higher so he didn’t have to bend down to get that mouth of hers on his like he wanted.

Lily sucked in a ragged breath, her lips parting just enough to allow Damian to deepen the kiss. His tongue found the delicious heat of her mouth. As he kissed her harder, letting his teeth scrape over her bottom lip while she watched him under dark lashes, his hands roamed over the curve of her waist and up her sides until he was cupping her jaw again. His cock thickened under his dress pants and the way her body moved was just enough friction to get him harder than steel and ready to rip her fucking dress off. It was already ruined, right?

Damian forced Lily’s head back, baring her neck and making her eyes widen. She was fucking beautiful. Her lips, red and pouting from his kiss, trembled. Her slick tongue darted out to wet her lip before it disappeared back inside that goddamn candy mouth of hers.

Yeah, candy mouth.

Because it was too sweet and far too addicting to stop at just one.

Lily’s dress had ridden up, exposing the shape of her hips and a flash of black lace at the junction of her thighs. Her chest expanded and dropped fast with the harshness of her breaths.

“I was not expecting that,” Lily said, a heat coloring her words.

Damian grinned. “The best moments come when you’re not looking for them, Lily.”

“I didn’t say it was bad.”

“I wasn’t going for bad, sweetheart.”

Lily’s legs tightened around his waist. “Are you going to do that again?”

“Maybe.”

Lily swallowed hard. “I don’t—”

“Hush,” Damian demanded.

“Damian—”

“Lily, be quiet.”

His tone offered no room for argument. Damian wanted to enjoy the few moments he had with this defiant, interesting girl while she was giving them. He didn’t want her worries or second thoughts running away with her.

“Hush,” he repeated.

She nodded slowly. “Okay.”

“Yes.”

“What?” she asked.

“I lied. Yes, I’m going to do that again. I’m going to kiss you again because I like the taste of your mouth and I always take what I want. And I’m really looking forward to finding out if you fuck like you kiss because if so, I can’t wait.”

Lily’s eyes blazed with lust. “What game are you playing, Damian Rossi?”

“No game.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, but if I was, you should know I play for keeps.”

“And you always take what you want,” Lily said, throwing his words back at him.

“I absolutely do.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

D
amian’s fingertips came in contact with Lily’s lips and she jumped the moment he touched her. The simple action sent a lightning bolt of want and heat coursing through her entire body. The ache between her thighs increased as the tingling in her lips spread to her tongue.

Without a word, Damian leaned down and pressed a feather light kiss to Lily’s mouth. He didn’t claim her mouth with the furious, demanding strikes of his tongue like the first time. His teeth didn’t tug and bite on her bottom lip like before, either.

No, he just … kissed her.

Soft and sweet.

Gentle and quick.

When he pulled away, Lily’s tongue darted out to draw the taste of him into her mouth again.

Damian’s eyes darkened. “Every time you do that, lick your fucking lips, it makes me want to give you something to taste, Lily.”

She knew better than to poke at a monster when he was showing himself, but Lily couldn’t help it. “Does it?”

“
Mmm
, and I bet you would like that, too.”

Lily shuddered. From the tips of her toes in her pumps all the way up to her goddamn shoulders, she felt the promise lacing his words crawl over her skin and body with damning intent.

Damian stepped back from Lily and offered her his hand. “Get down from there and I will get you home so you can change out of that dress. You’ve probably got wine stains all over your skin, now.”

Her mind went to the dirtiest place possible. A place where his tongue, mouth, and lips cleaned all those wine stains off. Damian wasn’t even trying and already Lily was second-guessing what she thought she wanted.

Would a marriage with this sexy, dangerous man be such a bad thing? If he wanted her and would treat her like she mattered to him, what more could she want? Lily hadn’t been given much of a choice regarding who Dino picked for her to marry, but she was starting to think if he had, Damian might have made the top of her list.

Lily slid off the counter and fixed her dress just in time. The bathroom door swung open to expose a frowning Evelina.

“There you are,” her friend said.

Evelina didn’t act like the close proximity between Lily and Damian was anything unusual. She barely gave Lily’s obviously mussed hair, wrinkled dress, and smeared lipstick a once-over as she stepped inside the bathroom and let the door close.

“I wanted to see if you would like some company tonight,” Evelina said to Lily. “You know, bitch about your in-laws with someone or whatever.”

Damian snorted. “Careful, Serena’s ears burn when you talk about her.”

Evelina shrugged. “I hope they fucking fall off. She was awful today.”

“I don’t care about that woman,” Lily said.

She meant it, too.

“She was awful,” Damian agreed. “I’m sure if Laurent doesn’t put her in line, Terrance will. Serena knows her place, even if she didn’t act like it today.”

“Someone ought to take her damn wine away,” Evelina muttered, shooting Lily an apologetic look.

“Hard to believe you’re related to her,” Lily said to her friend.

“Damian is, too.”

“Imagine, Tommas, Lea, and Cara came from her,” Damian added.

That had to be fucking impossible. Those three were nothing like their mother. Actually, they were nothing like their father, either. Well, what Lily knew of the Rossi twins. It wasn’t a lot, but she doubted they were as awful as their mother. Especially if Damian talked about them with fondness.

“Anyway, when I noticed Damian’s car was still in the parking lot, I came looking for you.” Evelina smiled brightly. “I couldn’t help but follow the blood drops this way. Found you in here … together.”

Yeah, there it was.

Lily had the distinct feeling her friend wouldn’t leave her alone if she didn’t invite Evelina over for the night.

“I cleaned his cut.”

Evelina winked. “Sure. So, tonight?”

“Yeah, all right,” Lily said. “Damian’s going to take me home and then we can do whatever.”

“Sounds like a pl—”

Evelina’s words cut off as echoing pops followed the sound of shattering glass and screams. So many screams. Ice slipped through Lily’s veins, freezing her on the spot. Suddenly, her heart felt like it was hammering out of her chest and her lungs wouldn’t expand to bring in the air she needed to breathe.