Breathless & Bloodstained (The Chicago War #4) (30 page)

“Pinch my hand if
it gets to be too much,” she heard him say.

It wouldn’t be too
much.

Abriella wouldn’t
need to pinch him.

“Please,” she
mumbled around the panties.

Tommas’ other hand
found the back of her neck, pushing her further into the seat. Then, it was
just a blink, and he was pulling her into him. Over and over.

Deep enough to
hurt.

Fast enough to
take her air away.

She couldn’t
think. The tips of her fingers were numb. She could taste her own come in her
mouth. She came harder than ever.

It was
humiliating.

He used her
wonderfully.

This is my fucking
pussy.

You’re such a slut
letting me fuck you like this.

You better come,
Ella.

Right fucking now.

God, did she ever.

Crying, shaking
all over, and with his come leaking out of her.

She came hard.

Abriella dug
through her messenger bag. Panic seized her throat when she couldn’t find one
of the things she was looking for. Checking through the few items, she realized
something else was missing as well.

“No,” she said,
leaning into the closest wall.

Both a textbook
she needed for class, and the burner phone that Tommas had given her was
missing from her bag. In their frenzied hookup and her rush to make it back to
class before Darryl got back and noticed she left school, her stuff must have
fallen out of her bag.

She’d left Tommas
with a hard kiss, his promise for more soon, grabbed her bag, and sneaked back
in so she wouldn’t be late for her class.

“Dammit,” Abriella
grumbled.

Just outside of
her last class for the day, she needed that science book. She could probably
use her partner’s for the day, but she had tests coming up and had to go over
the book chapters the class had already gone through.

Out of the corner
of her eye, Abriella took note of Darryl as he slid a dollar bill into the
vending machine and pulled out a can of soda. He hadn’t even noticed she was
down the hall getting ready to enter her final class.

Thank God.

Slipping into the
class before Darryl did see her outside, she went straight to her work table.
Abriella sat down in her designated chair, pushed the waiting slides and
microscope aside, and leaned over to her partner.

“Where’s your
phone?” she asked the girl.

Carrie nodded down
at her bag. “There.”

“Can I use it?”

“Can you make it
fast?”

“Of course,”
Abriella said. “I lost mine in a friend’s car. I just want to let them know
it’s there.”

“No problem.”

Abriella waited as
her lab partner found her phone and handed it over. The professor walked in
just as Abriella sent off the first text. Their teacher was an asshole about
electronics during the class, so she had to be careful.

Tommy
, her
text read,
my phone and book is in your car
.

A minute later,
Tommas’ text came through.

Who is this?

Abriella’s brow
furrowed. She was using a different number, sure, but no one else had been in
Tommas’ car other than her. Who else would be messaging him to tell him their
stuff was in his damn car?

It’s Abriella. I
think I dropped my phone and book in your car.

The phone buzzed
again.
What book and phone?

Abriella’s brow
furrowed.
Mine, Tommy. Just figure out a way to get it to me, okay?

Okay
.

That was it.

More confused than
ever, Abriella handed the phone back to her partner. Tommas had never ended any
kind of conversation with Abriella, even through text messages, without telling
her that he loved her.

She remembered
that he had to go pick up his mother.

Maybe that was it.

Maybe his mother
had him distracted.

Abriella pushed
her worry aside.

Tommas would
handle it.

“Abriella
Trentini,” came an unknown voice from behind her.

Abriella turned
fast on her heel only to come face to face with two unknown men dressed in
plain black suits. She’d just left her second period class a little early, as
she had a meeting with her professor from her first class before her next one
was to start.

Cocking a brow,
Abriella said, “I can’t say we’re on the same level, as I don’t have a damned
clue who either of you are.”

The shorter of the
two men smiled.

It didn’t look
friendly.

Something terrible
welled in Abriella’s gut. She held tighter to her messenger bag, wondering
where in the hell Darryl was. Something stunk about these two men. Something
that smelled like cop.

A person couldn’t
wash that shit out.

“Detectives Delog
and Crown,” said the taller man. “My partner thought meeting you at school
would be a good time, seeing as how you somehow manage to get away from your
enforcer here quite often.”

Abriella’s heart
jumped into her throat. “I beg your pardon?”

“Two days ago.
Tommas Rossi. Ring any bells?” Crown asked.

She couldn’t
fucking breathe.

How did these
idiots know that?

“I have no idea
what—”

“Trentinis are
always good for a lie when the need arises,” Delog interrupted smoothly. “Fact
is, we know you were with Tommas two days ago. You forgot some things in his
car. We did a little checking after we heard about your meeting with him. Seems
you’ve been messing with Tommas for a while. He’s even got a little apartment
set up for you, huh? The people in that building recognized your picture right
away. The neighbor knows you as Ella.”

Abriella refused
to let these two fools see the panic they were causing her. “Again, I don’t
know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure, sure,”
Crown said, shrugging. “We want to chat. Are you up for a little talk before
your next class?”

“Absolutely not.”

“You know, we
could always give your brother a call and drag you both down to the station. I
am sure Joel Trentini would love to find out his sister has been fucking his
number one enemy. Wouldn’t he?”

“What in the hell
are you trying to prove?” Abriella asked, spitting out the question. “I have
nothing for you.”

“We want to talk,”
the other detective said.

“About what?”

“Tommas, for
starters.”

Abriella swallowed
back her anxiety. She had to get away from these men and as fast as was humanly
fucking possible. If Darryl found her with detectives, she might as well put
the gun to her own head and save Joel the trouble. Worse, if her brother didn’t
kill her for talking to police, he might find out about her relationship with
Tommas.

Tommas
.

Oh, God.

She needed to talk
to him.

Now
.

“I have nothing to
say to the cops,” Abriella said firmly.

She turned on her
heel to leave. A hand grabbed her arm and spun her around.

“Just you wait one
goddamn min—”

“Let me go.”

Abriella’s words had
come out deadly sharp and quiet. The detective released her almost instantly
with wider eyes.

“Keep your hands
off my body,” Abriella said. “And stay the hell away from me.”

“We will be
chatting again, Abriella,” Delog said.

“Actually, we
won’t. Ever.”

With that,
Abriella left the detectives behind her. She couldn’t get down the hallway
quick enough. Just around the corner where she knew the detectives couldn’t see
her, she stopped to take a breath.

Her heart wouldn’t
slow.

She was sick all
over.

Darryl walked out
of the men’s bathroom two doors down. The idiot wiped his hands on his dark
wash jeans as he noticed Abriella.

“Aren’t you
supposed to be in class?”

“Um …”

“Um,” Darryl
mocked. “Not an answer. What are you doing?”

“I want to go
home,” Abriella said quickly. “I don’t feel well.”

“You haven’t even
been here more than a couple of hours.”

“So?”

Darryl scowled.
“Whatever, let’s go.”

“Abriella?”

“Sorry, Dad,”
Abriella called as she streaked past the kitchen. “I’ll be right in to make
some dinner for you.”

“Hey, wait a
second.”

“I just want to
grab something from Mom’s room. Okay?”

Peter made a sad
sound. “Okay, Ella.”

Abriella ignored
her rush of guilt at lying to her father. When she arrived home, Joel was there
with a dozen of his men. She couldn’t run the risk of calling Tommas from one
of their wing’s phones, so she used the excuse that she wanted to go check on
Peter.

Joel didn’t
question her.

Once Abriella was
in a safe spot in her father’s wing, she hid in a spare room, closed the door,
and grabbed the phone off the bedside table. Dialing Tommas’ cell, the call
rang and rang until his answering machine picked up.

Frustrated,
Abriella hung up and then dialed again.

Breathless, Tommas
picked up the second time. “Yeah, hello?”

“Tommy, it’s me.
We’ve got a problem.”

Tommas groaned.
Abriella swore she heard something hit a wall with a dull thud. “Ella, baby … I
don’t want to hear those words right now. I need to have no problems for a
while. None, okay?”

“Sorry, but this
is important.”

“What happened?”