Deathless & Divided (The Chicago War #1) (18 page)

Whatever little silent exchange passed between the two men only pissed Lily off more. Dino stood there entirely unaffected by the fact someone had lost their life because they were doing nothing except sitting at a table with connected men. Lily couldn’t breathe. All over again, her shock, anger, and panic seemed to swallow her whole and drown her under the weight.

“Dino, someone died today.
Died
.”

“I realize that.”

“My friend’s mother!”

Dino sighed and gave his phone another glance. “I don’t have time for this, Lily. You’ll have to deal with this at your own speed because I don’t have the patience to sit down and explain it all to you.”

What in the fuck was there to explain?

“This is why, Dino!” Lily yelled.

“I beg your pardon?”

“This right here.” Lily waved between them, so frustrated her voice pitched high. “This is why we’re not close anymore. You keep asking and you want to know, well here it is. Because you’re just like them, you don’t give a damn about anything or anyone. You’re so fucking cold it burns.”

Dino laughed a hollow, dull chuckle. “That’s really what you think?”

“No, I’m sure of it,” she spat.

“Lily,” Damian said, his tone darkening in warning. “Think about what you’re saying right now. It’s shameful and you know it.”

Oh, well.

The truth hurt.

“No,” Dino murmured with a shrug. “Let her think what she wants, Ghost. Someday, she might actually understand.”

“I think I already do,” Lily said with a flick of her wrist at her brother. She grabbed Damian’s arm and tugged firmly on his coat. “I don’t want to be here. I want to go somewhere else, anywhere but … here.”

Damian passed Dino a questioning stare.

“Whatever,” Dino said. “She’s your responsibility. Keep her out of trouble and—”

“I do just fine on my own, thank you,” Lily cut in fiercely. “And I am not his child to be tended.”

“Again, I don’t have the time,” Dino replied, not even gracing Lily with his attention. “Damian, I will spill blood. You’re aware without me needing to explain it all again.”

Damian nodded. “Yeah, I got it.”

Damian’s apartment was quiet and dark as he closed the door behind Lily but it felt a heck of a lot safer and comforting than her brother’s. Lily dialed Evelina’s cell number and held the phone to her ear, willing her friend to pick up.

Instantly, the call went to voicemail.

“Hey, you’ve reached Eve. Leave me a mess—”

“Goddamn it, stop,” Damian barked.

He grabbed at the phone in Lily’s hand before it went flying across the room and straight into the wall. It snapped into three or four pieces on impact and left a sizeable dent in the paint and plaster.

“Damian!” Lily hissed.

“Stop right now.” Damian leveled a glare on Lily that pinned her in place and took her breath away. “She is not answering because she can’t, Lily.”

“But—”

“Nothing. She can’t.”

Lily hid her trembling hands by tucking them together and folding her arms over her chest. “That was my phone.”

Damian’s stance softened. “I’m sorry. I’ll buy you a new one tomorrow.”

“That’s not the point, Damian.”

“I know.” He sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. The strands fell over his eyes, hiding his feelings from Lily’s scrutiny. “But you can’t do this, okay. Calling her over and over does nothing but hurt you, trust me. When she can, she will see you called. That’s enough for now.”

“I should have stayed.”

“I didn’t give you a choice,” Damian said quietly. “And better you didn’t.”

“But who was there for her?”

“Adriano, her father, and Abriella. Tommas and the rest of my family didn’t leave. The Conti family will be there at the hospital or whatever. We have to stay away and hope the official side of things blows past us.”

“That’s not fair at all.”

Damian’s mouth drew thin. “That’s how it has to go. I’m sorry.”

Lily sighed shakily, wishing she could take the situation in better like Damian was. He didn’t appear to be totally unaffected like Dino, but he was calm. That was more than Lily could say for how she felt inside. Her heart was a thunderstorm out of control and her mind was the hurricane ready to ravage through what was left.

“I should have stayed,” she repeated.

“Hey, hey,” Damian murmured, stepping closer. His hands found her jaw with the lightest touch as he tilted her head up to stare at her with worry creasing his brow. “First thing tomorrow morning I will take you wherever you want to go or to wherever Evelina is. I promise. You can be her shoulder to cry on and believe me, she will absolutely understand why you couldn’t stay at the restaurant. She was probably too upset to know most of what was happening around her, anyway. She’s going to need someone when she wakes up—be that someone when you’re capable and ready.”

Lily sniffled. “Okay.”

“Come on, Lily. Don’t do that.”

“What?”

“Cry.”

She made a face. “I’m not crying.”

“You’re thinking about it. Even your eyes are watery. Don’t cry or I’ll be forced to do whatever you need to make you stop. I don’t like women crying. I don’t do well with tears. Please don’t put me through that nonsense.”

Lily laughed bleakly. “I think that was the most selfishly sweet thing I’ve ever heard someone say. You’ll do whatever I need to make me stop just so you can feel better.”

Damian shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah, well, that’s me. Just don’t.”

“I’m not a crier. It’s just been a really shitty day, that’s all. I’m still processing.”

“Good. I don’t think I’d manage with a woman who makes a scene at every little thing.”

Lily wet her lips, forcing back the lingering emotions. “No, you seem to like the shadows, huh?”

“Very.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because my raising taught me it was better to be invisible and men like me don’t work well out in the open.”

“And what kind of man are you, Damian?”

“Not a particularly good one, sweetheart.”

He’d been good to her so far, even when she had acted rude or nasty to him. Sure, there were still a lot of questions hanging in the air between them and the arrangement for the marriage, but Damian didn’t once treat Lily like she was anything less than a woman who deserved his respect and care.

“And I like being this way,” Damian added quieter. “On my own time, doing my thing. I get to choose where I’m going from here but at the moment, and probably for a long while, I’m going to stay just as I am because I’m good at it and I enjoy it.”

Lily considered his words for a brief moment. She liked that he didn’t have a desire to be front row and center like everyone else seemed to want. He was content in his place, even if Lily didn’t like what his statements about his profession implied.

“Why did you join the Outfit?” she asked, honestly curious.

“I didn’t know anything else and I didn’t really want to. It was the only family I ever trusted enough to want to protect.”

His frank, straightforward answer took her by surprise.

“Do you still protect it?”

Damian smiled. “The most important parts. The parts I think should be kept.”

Lily didn’t respond because she really didn’t know how to. Damian tugged off his suit jacket and loosened his tie before kicking off his shoes. When Lily still didn’t make an effort to remove her own heels, Damian bent down, lifted her right foot and slid off the stiletto. His fingers ghosted along the arch of her foot before he dropped it back to the floor and repeated the motions with her left side.

Instead of standing when he was done, Damian stayed down on his one knee as the warmth of his hands skimmed over her calves. His touch traveled higher until his palms rested along the back of her thighs and the tips of his fingers pressed into the hyperaware skin under her dress. Desire swept over her senses like a tidal wave, dragging her under the current quickly. She didn’t think it was a devastating feeling but instead, heady and lovely.

“It’s been a long day,” Lily said.

“It has.”

“I suppose I should thank you for taking care of me today.”

Damian’s lips curved into a sinful smirk and his blue eyes glimmered with wickedness. “I didn’t mind.”

“And that kiss was … nice,” Lily said. “Before the whole killing thing, you know.”

“So you said.”

“I’d like to do that again. With you, soon.”

“Now?” he asked. “Because here, I’m not liable to stop at kissing your mouth, Lily.”

Lily laughed, feeling so off-kilter it wasn’t even funny. “Aren’t you supposed to protect my honor or something until the wedding?”

“That was not discussed and you’re old enough to make that decision. Not that I think something physical would be bad between us—I told you I wanted that, anyway. What was discussed, was that the marriage would happen, regardless of how it came about so long as it did.”

“You’re not such a bad pick,” Lily admitted.

“Besides, I don’t think your brother is so stupid that he dumbly believes you are some kind of angel, Lily. And neither do I.”

She laughed. “I’m certainly not one of those.”

“We don’t have to be strangers.”

“So you said,” she replied, throwing his words back at him.

“All you have to do is trust me,” Damian said, a huskiness deepening his tone.

“Your motives are not clear.”

“They don’t have to be.”

“But I’d like them to be,” she replied with a sad smile.

“My intentions are thoroughly wrapped up in you as of now, tomorrow, and beyond. That’s all you need to know, sweetheart.”

Lily sighed as Damian’s hands skimmed higher under her dress to find her backside. The pads of his fingers slipped under the lace of her panties and swept along the flesh of her ass where the curve of her backside melded into her thighs. She couldn’t help but give into the feeling of his hands touching her. It took away the anxiety still lingering in her chest and the horrible visions playing on repeat in her mind.

She didn’t want to think about those things, so she focused on the sensation coursing through her body instead.

“Black lace,
hmm
?” Damian asked while he wrapped his fingers into her panties and began to tug them down.

Lily played coy. “Someone said you had a fondness for that.”

“I do. And your skin is just light enough to make it look damn fucking good.”

She stepped out of her panties when he drew them down around her ankles. His fingers skipped back up her calf and straight under her dress before she’d blinked. Without warning he stroked her bare sex.

“Waxed,” he noted.

“Completely,” Lily agreed.

“Damn. Christ, you’re soft like silk. I bet you’re like wet satin inside, sweetheart.” Damian’s knuckles grazed the sensitive folds of her sex before two of his fingers swept them. He parted the lips of her pussy and stroked her soaked slit with one finger while his thumb edged around the hood of her clit just close enough to make her whine. “I’ll always give you what you need as long as you use that mouth of yours, Lily. And right now, I want to hear all the sounds you make while you’re being thoroughly fucked and worked. When you’re screaming my name, make sure the neighbors hear it. I want to hear what I do to you.”

Damian’s words were practically growled against her thigh. They only served to get her wetter than ever. Her sex clenched every time his finger came in contact with her entrance.

“I especially want to hear you begging, demanding, and needing,” Damian said, his tongue striking out to taste her skin. Something beautiful twisted in her stomach and shot straight down to her pussy. “Because as long as you’re willing, I’ll make sure you’re good and fucking pleased come morning. You’ll never want to leave my bed again. I might not own you yet, but you’ll sure as hell want me to.”

“Oh, my God.” Lily swallowed the moan building in her chest. His light touches made every inch of her burn in the best way. His promises, filled with sex and sin, only added to her lust. “Stop teasing me.”

“Wider,” Damian demanded. “Let me see what you’re hiding under this dress, Lily. Show me that pussy of yours and how wet it is. I want to see how pink and soaked you are for me. I should have told you this that night I saw you dancing in the club with that man, but now seems a good time, too.”

Lily widened her stance as she asked, “What is that?”

“You’re mine.”

CHAPTER NINE