Forbidden Temptations (Tempted Series Book 2) (14 page)

I got into my car, resolving that I’ll never know the answer. I’ll never know why we were only subjected to pain and suffering when we had this larger than life love for one another.

After Vinny showed up at my doorstep begging me for money, telling me that his dealers were after him I decided I needed to take matters into my own hands. I couldn’t subject my child to this kind of behavior. You may think subjecting him to the mob isn’t any better but I have no
choice when it comes to that. Anthony and I are consciously staying away from one another to give Luca a fair shot of rising above the mob. It seems only fair he gets the same from his own father.

They say addiction is a disease but I fear it runs deeper than that for most people. I don
’t want my son to grow up battling the same inner struggles his father did. Since Luca was born, Vinny hasn’t attempted to see him or be his dad, making the decision to keep him away from Vinny easier. I’
ve been a single mom, doing everything for my son without the help of a man. There is no need for Vinny to be a part of his life
– not in the condition he’s in any way.

I dropped the baby at my mom’
s as I always do before going to work. The difference being I took a personal day today to straighten this shit out for the last time.
I rang the bell, not even sure, if I was at the right place, this was the last address I had for Vinny before he went to rehab. I breathed a sigh of relief when he answered the door for it quickly to be replaced by a gasp.

“Oh my God,” I said, raising my hand to cover my mouth. Vinny’s face was badly beaten, swollen, cut, black and blue. His arm was in a sling and his bare torso wrapped in gauze. Apparently, I was too late and Vinny’s drug dealers had caught up to him.

“Adrianna, please just go,” he groaned.

“What happened?” I ask ignoring him.

Vinny exhaled pushing open the door and turning around to walk back into the house, taking tiny steps. He made very little motion not to cause his battered body anymore pain. I followed him inside closing the door behind me, taking in the disarray of the house.

“Look I won’t bother you anymore for money,” he said, struggling to sit down on the couch. “It’s best if you just go.”

“Who did this to you?” I asked, helping him sit down on the couch. When people turn bad, the loved ones in their lives forget the good in that person. Vinny’s habits overshadowed the good man he was deep down inside, the man he was when I met him. He tried his hardest to bring me out of my depression, even got me to smile on more than one occasion. It wasn’t his fault that my heart belonged to Anthony, or that I’d never get over my first love, but he sure tried hard to be the man in my life. I will always be grateful to him for my son but I can’t string him along any longer than I already have. I want him to get help more than anything and straighten out his life, but I know you can only lead a horse to water.

He sighed, lifting his face to peer at me through his swollen eyes.

“I had a run in with your…whatever it is you call each other.”

The first person that went through my mind was my father. It was no surprise to anyone close to me that my father and I had a broken relationship.

“Anthony Bologna, Bellini, Mr. Italiano, whatever the fuck his name is.”

My eyes widened, and I stared at Vinny in shock. “Anthony did this to you?”

Vinny remained silent as he stared at me. “The guy is a fucking animal,” he finally said. “But there is no denying he loves you, even Luca.”

I fell into the chair beside Vinny at a complete loss for words and just listened to him talk.

“I had no right going to your house and asking you for money, especially since you are raising our son by yourself. You’ve never asked for a damn thing from me and here I am, the drug addict, begging you to pay my debts,” he explains, pausing for a moment. “I deserved what he did to me.”

I lick my lips for lack of response before taking a deep breath and turning back to Vinny. “You need to get help, once and for all. Do you want to kill yourself? Is that it?”

“It’s not that easy,” he replies. “You think that I want this life for myself? I don’t know how to stop this vicious cycle. I’ve spent nine months in rehab and where did that get me? In a crack house the minute I got my hands on some cash.”

I studied him for a moment before reaching into my bag and pulling out the envelope. I played with the ends of the paper for a second before extending the envelope to Vinny.

“There is a check in there for twenty thousand dollars. I don’t know if that’s enough to cover your debt, but it’s all I have,” I took a deep breath. “I don’t even want to give it to you. I don’t trust you enough to pay the people you owe and not buy more drugs but that’s on you.” I pulled out another slip of paper and leaned over placing it on the coffee table, along with a pen. “I want you to sign a letter saying you will relinquish any rights to Luca. He doesn’t have your name, it isn’t even on his birth certificate. You would have a fight ahead of you to claim him but I don’t think you have it in you. I’m not asking you to do this because I hate you or even because I’m mad at you for last night. I want what is best for Luca and sadly, you aren’t that right now.”

I braced myself for a fight but it never came, Vinny placed the envelope back in my lap, grabbed the pen, and signed on the dotted line.

“I don’t want your money, A,” his voice sounding strained as he folded the paper with his signature and handed it to me.

“Thank you,” I whispered, watching him slowly lean back against the couch, a lone tear making its way down his face.

“Do me a favor?” He asked hoarsely. “When he asks about me, don’t tell him I didn’t want him. Let him know I loved him enough to spare him of the burden I am.”

“I promise,” I said softly, my eyes tearing as I stood. I gave Vinny one final glance before placing the envelope and the paper he signed in my pocketbook. “Get better, Vin. You are so much better than this,” I told him, knowing that my words were slowly moving through one ear and out the other.

I reached over, grabbing the half empty bottle of whiskey that rested on my coffee table and filled the glass to the rim. The alcohol splashes over the rim of the glass as I bring it to my lips, the amber liquid trickling down onto the open cuts on my knuckles. I hiss at the sting it causes before bringing the glass to my mouth and taking a hefty gulp.

My phone rings, dancing in vibration across the table but I ignore it like I have done the entire day. I don’t give a fuck who is trying to get in touch with me – nothing matters right now. I take another sip trying to drink away the last four years of my life. Not all the whiskey in all the land would be strong enough to take that task on. Maybe I’m drinking because of the shit I’ve done in the last twenty-four hours, maybe I’m drinking because I gave Lisa her walking papers and fucking my troubles away isn’t an option, or maybe I’m drinking because everything Vinny said is true. I finish the rest of my drink figuring it’s a combination of all three.

I place the empty glass on top of the table and reach for my gun that sits beside the bottle. I unload it, holding the clip in the palm of my hand when I hear someone banging on my door. I stand on my bare feet and shove the empty gun into the front waistband of my pants, not giving a fuck, I am shirtless, and the gun is on display for whoever is on the other end of the door. I run my fingers tiredly over my face and open the door.

Adrianna leans against the wall, arms crossed under her breasts as she stares at me lazily.

“I called,” she explains, her eyes taking me in. All of me, from head to toe, then her almond shaped eyes zero in on the gun tucked into my waistband. I watch her subtly raise an eyebrow before diverting her eyes back to mine. I may have had a couple of drinks in me, but I was alert and I didn’t mistake that flicker in her eyes. I knew that look all too well, spent many a night watching those eyes, and even more dreaming of them. It was the look she gave me every time she wanted me to fuck her senseless. It was the look I could never say no to.

She pushes from the wall and stands right in front of me, dropping her arms to her sides, taking that last dangerous step, putting us chest to chest. I should step back, slam the door in her face, and finish my fucking whiskey. Instead, I stand there eager to see what she’s got, knowing every fucking thing she offers me I will take and take it hard.

Adrianna grabs my hands and lifts them between us tearing her eyes away from mine to inspect my battered knuckles. She brushes her thumb gently across the scrapes that brand my skin her eyes finding mine again, softening as she caresses my hand. I don’t want her soft though, soft makes me want things I am no longer entitled. I want hard, hard I can do.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” She says barely audible, entwining our fingers and leads me inside forcing me to kick the door closed. I’m fucked.

She leads me into my tiny bathroom, bending over to open the cabinet beneath the sink. Her fucking ass brushes against my thigh due to the tight space. It takes everything in me not to shift my body and nestle my dick against that voluptuous ass as I bend her over the sink. I run my hand along her hip, sculpting her sweet curves as she straightens up and stiffens under my touch. She slowly turns around so we are facing one another. I don’t utter a single word as she holds the peroxide in one hand and reaches for my gun with the other.

My dick is already hard as a rock but her hand brushes against the front zipper of my jeans sending it into overdrive. She slides her delicate fingers into my pants and a groan escapes my lips as she reaches for my gun and not my cock. I swear she’s playing the little vixen, she smirks but as quickly as she does it, she hides it too. She cocks her head to the side and pulls her bottom lip between her teeth as she stares at me.

“We don’t need this do we?” She asks, placing the gun on top of the sink. I watch her quietly knowing if I speak this will be over before it started and I’m not ready to give her up just yet. She tends to my scrapes and cuts in true Adrianna form tentatively and precisely she sprays the peroxide, blowing her gentle breath over the sting she’s left behind.

I grab her wrist, forcing her to lift her eyes to meet mine. “You need to leave.” I grind out. The whole blowing on the cut thing was enough to snap the little shreds of control I was hanging onto.

She straightens up and leans her back against the wall in front of me, cocks her head to the side as she calls my fucking bluff.

“You don’t want me to leave,” her voice is full of all the things I have tried not to think about for years. The sweet promise of the best fucking sex either of us will ever have.

“No, I don’t,” I say, closing the distance between us. I placed my palms over her head, caging her against the wall and my hard body.

“I want to push you up against the wall and fuck you. I want to fuck you hard and long enough it’ll make up for the four years I haven’t.”

“You won’t do it,” she urges, reaching for the waistband of my jeans and pulling me closer to her so that my erection is pressed against her stomach. “You do things like this, fight for me and my son, and then you expect me to stay away from you. You look at me like I’m everything and like I’m nothing at the same time. I can’t decide if you love me or hate me; because if you loved me as much as you say you do, you wouldn’t be able to hide from it, just like I’m not,” There is fire ignited in her brown eyes as she looks up at me. “I can’t pretend you don’t exist. I’ve tried to but you are everywhere and even when you’re not physically in my face, you go and do shit like you did last night. I’m not yours, right? So stop acting as if I am because I can’t handle it anymore. I can’t handle pretending I don’t want you, that I don’t crave you as if you’re some kind of drug. I can’t go on pretending I don’t wish every single second of every single day that I could rewind time and still be yours.”

“Shut up,” I growl, taking her chin in my hand and forcing her to stare straight into my eyes. “You’ll always be mine even when you’re temporarily someone else’s.” I drop the hand that was above her head and grab her hip, angling her so she moves against my crotch. “You will always be mine,” I repeat. “You understand me Reese’s?”