Guns n' Boys Book 1 Part 1 (32 page)

“It’s all on me. You’re
still in training, remember?” Domenico leaned back against the wall, sitting in
the shallow water. Seth nodded and made Dom part his legs, so he could sit
closer and hug his neck again. He even wrapped his legs around Dom’s hips, in
hope that he could completely hide in the embrace. He wished being in training
would never end so he would never have to take back any control over his life.

Domenico watched Seth
eat. It was taking Seth so long because he kept talking. About the new movie he
thought they absolutely needed to see, about the book Domenico got him, about
the broken socket he knew how to repair because, as he said, he took a DIY
class at university. Sun shone through their juice glasses, casting a bright
light on the table like in some fucking cornflake advert, and life became
perfect as soon as Domenico bit into the chocolate muffin he got at the bakery
along with fresh buns for their breakfast.

It was odd.

Somehow, being with that
tweeting coward was making Domenico’s chest pounds lighter, but the situation
was making him increasingly worried. Seth was not cut out for this. Too soft to
make difficult decisions, too frightened to really fight for his life, and
easily losing his temper over silly things. He should have been left where he
was, among civilians. You couldn’t teach a kitten to be a wolf.

He also had the memory
of a goldfish. Yesterday, Seth was so distressed he couldn’t handle ordering a
pizza, yet now, he chattered as if Salieri wasn’t locked in a cell next door.
He was so convincing, Dom almost forgot about the kidnapping himself. Almost.

“We need to talk to
her.”

Seth stopped midsentence
and blinked at Dom, with his fork buried in a pancake. He looked like a chicken
that knew it was about to get plucked.

Domenico chomped down a
huge chunk of the muffin and shrugged, grabbing his fork and poking Seth’s hand
with it.

“Don’t.” Seth frowned in
surprise. “I like the silverware though. Everything’s really nice in this
apartment. Some of the pots look brand-new.”

Changing the topic
again. Domenico pinched the base of his nose with a sigh. “I want you to watch
what I do, but you can’t just be a fucking Care Bear in there.”

“Hey. What the hell? I’m
no Care Bear. I could even do it myself,” came a far-fetched declaration as
Seth stabbed the pancake in front of him again.

“All right, but you need
to change,” said Domenico, looking at Seth’s T-shirt, gray, with a white
cartoon of a rhino and a speech bubble that read, “I’m a fat unicorn”. As if in
an attempt to look the part, the T-shirt was clearly too small for Seth,
although it wasn’t because of fat, but muscle. Domenico bit his lip. “Into
something more intimidating.”

Seth opened his lips and
looked down at his T-shirt, but he must have understood because he actually
shut up for once, already getting that pouty, brooding face. Dom had no idea
how Seth was supposed to deal with family politics, if his face was like a
window into his brain.

“Hey, show me you’re not
someone to mess with. That’s something we need to practice.”

Seth squinted and pushed
away his plate. “You think that because we mess around I give you leeway.”

“‘Mess around’?”
Domenico frowned at him. “The last time I ‘messed around’ was in elementary
school.”

“Okay, okay, ‘fuck’. I
let you do it ‘cause I want to, not because I’m a Care Bear.”

Domenico leaned back in
the chair, finishing his juice. “Where did that even come from? I want you to
scare her, and that outfit just won’t do.”

“That I get, sure.” Seth
leaned back as well, as if it were a contest in who looked more leisurely, and
Seth certainly did when he took off his T-shirt. He crossed his beefy arms, and
Dom was sure he was showing off on purpose.

Domenico crooked his
head and leaned forward. “That might actually do.”

“Oh yeah? Am I
intimidating like this?” Seth spread his arms to the sides and raised his
eyebrows.

“To a woman? Definitely,
especially after being captured and spending a night with BDSM accessories.”
Domenico allowed himself a half smile.

“Why would I not look
intimidating to a guy? I’m tall and stuff.”

“I’m just talking about
you being half-naked.” Domenico got up and walked over to Seth, to mess up his
perfectly arranged hair.

“So what should I do?
Tell her I’ll tie her to that cross thing? Would that work?” Seth seemed to
treat the task at hand like a videogame, where he could get points for saying
the right line.

“You might start by
saying you’ll spank her if she doesn’t co-operate.”

Seth gave the door to
the cell a thoughtful look. “What if she likes that?”

“Really...” Domenico
shook his head and dragged his hands down his face. It was a hopeless case when
his trainee didn’t understand the difference between a consensual and
non-consensual spanking, and what it implied. “Right, I’ll start and you watch
me work, okay?”

“Okay… But…” Seth got up
slowly, looking like a piece of confused beef. “What if she says something to
me?”

“Just tell her to shut
it.” Domenico rolled up his sleeves and lit a cigarette, slowly making his way
to the cell.

He could hear Seth
follow. “Can I have one as well?”

Dom looked at his tense
and unnecessarily rigid shoulders, but gave him the pack before unlocking the cell.

Vera looked up at them
with reddened, but attentive eyes. She didn’t say a thing, just watched them in
complete silence. Seth stood in the corner and lit a cigarette.

With the door closed,
they could be certain no one would hear a thing.

“It’s nice to have a
woman in our all-male flat, isn’t it, Seth?” asked Domenico. He stopped close
to her, pushing his hands down his front pockets.

“Yep,” Seth muttered
from his corner, smoking lazily, but the slight tremble in his fingers wasn’t a
good sign. He doubted Salieri would notice though. She was just a greedy woman.

Domenico shrugged and
looked into her big, dark eyes. “So darling, do you know why we invited you
over?”

She swallowed, inhaling
deeply. “I— You must have mistaken me for someone…”

“No, I’m sure I
haven’t.” Domenico gave her a smile and shook his head. “You’ve been a very
naughty girl, Vera.”

She looked around the
room nervously, but froze when her gaze settled behind Dom. She must have
finally recognized Seth. “I only got a few simple tasks over e-mail.”

“So you’re not the one
to blame?” asked Domenico, slowly moving behind her. He smiled when her teeth
started to clatter.

Seth watched both of
them, glued to the wall and halfway through the cigarette already.

“No, I don’t even know
what happened, I know nothing,” her voice got a higher pitch to it.

“Tell you what.”
Domenico dropped his cigarette to the floor, looking at the top of her head,
where her hair was slowly getting oily from the stress. “Tell us who is to
blame, and we’ll let you go with a slap on the wrist.”

“I don’t know my
contact. I can give you his e-mail.” Her fingers trembled.

Seth started losing his
focus and looked all around instead of paying attention.

“Show that bitch your
left hand,” said Domenico, eager to pull him back into the here and now.

Seth walked up slowly
and raised his hand in front of her face. “And we’ll cut yours off if you don’t
talk to us,” he rasped with his eyes completely focused on her face.

The worst thing was that
at this point Dom couldn’t really predict what Seth would do, even if that
improvised threat made him proud.

“And then all the other
ones,” Dom whispered, cupping the top of her head and feeling her tremble. “And
then your ears and nose.”

Salieri tensed up, but
Seth took a step back, the chicken in him spreading its wings despite the beefy
exterior.

“I never wanted this to
happen! I was blackmailed.” She raised her voice, jerking in the chair. There
she was. Panicking and changing her story.

“Someone needs to die
for what happened.” Domenico faced her again, slowly squeezing his hands on her
knees.

“If you let me go, I can
find out for you, I would dig,” she babbled, looking up at him with eyes wide
open.

Domenico shook his head.
“No, darling. It’s either that person or you.” He patted her on the cheek and
backed off. “I will let you think about it.”

She swallowed and
slouched in the chair, a tear rolling down her cheek.

Domenico snorted. “I
hope you enjoyed your Louboutins.” And with that, he turned toward the door.
Seth was there first though, out before they could even make eye contact.
Domenico wanted to bang his head into the wall, but he had to lock the cell
first.

“You did well.” Or
rather, better than expected.

“I did shit! It was
shit.” Seth roamed around the living room and quickly put his T-shirt back on.

“You scared her. It
wasn’t bad for a first time.” Domenico followed him and dropped onto the couch.
“I don’t know about you, but I can tell you about my several first times, and
all were a disaster.”

“I didn’t like… myself
in there.” Seth was breathing hard and walking around somewhere in the
corridor.

Dom scratched his head,
at loss. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, do you
like it? You… you scared me.” That last bit was barely audible.

Domenico looked at the
door. He knew he should call Seth over to join him, but he got up anyway. “Why
did I scare you? I wasn’t doing anything to you.”

“I don’t know. You were
freaking intimidating. And I was abducted a month ago, and I don’t want to hear
about cutting off fingers, and noses, and shit.” Seth was speaking quickly and
it was hard not to notice his heavy breathing resonating through the corridor.
When Dom got a sight of him, it was painful to watch. Seth was crouched in the
corridor with his back to the door, arms hugging his knees.

“Thanks.” Domenico
smiled, even though he knew it wasn’t meant as a compliment. Slowly, he
approached Seth. “You know I’m here to protect you, not cut anything off you.”

“But you’d do it,
wouldn’t you? You like this shit!” Seth got up and slipped away to the other
corner of the corridor, hiding close to the bathroom. A big mound of meat
hiding from his own fear.

“No.”

“Yeah, right. You were
in your element.” Seth’s dark eyes watched Dom’s every move. “You loved it.”

Domenico frowned. “I’m
neutral to it. I do what I need to do.”

Seth laughed outloud,
but it didn’t promise anything good. “Why am I supposed to do it then? Why
don’t you just take the fucking job from me? You could do it. What do you
care?”

Domenico’s body tensed,
his fingers spreading, ready for attack before he even thought about it. He had
to breathe deeply to stifle the urge to show Seth just how much he had wanted
that since he realized who his father was. “We both know that won’t happen.”

“You could still do it.
No one would be able to stop you,” Seth muttered, flinching farther away along
the corridor. Were the words a test of Dom’s patience or an actual death wish?
He was about to find out.

Domenico moved toward
Seth without a word, just to see his eyes widen. Seth backed away with so much
haste he almost tripped over the carpet. No death wish then.

Domenico didn’t even
flinch and pushed the larger body against the wall, digging his fingers into
Seth’s cheeks. The stubble was still tangible under the skin, even so soon
after he had shaved. “I don’t want to, even though I believe my mother would
approve.”

Seth’s Adam’s apple
bobbed by Dom’s hand, his dark eyes never leaving Dom’s face. “Would she want
you to climb up like that?”

Domenico swallowed,
moving his thumb over the horizontal ridge in the Adam’s apple. It would be too
easy to kill Seth now. “I think she would be on the fence about it.” He
exhaled, looking up into Seth’s wide eyes. “Back then, I attacked you because I
thought that was what she wanted.”