Tearing Down Walls (Love Under Construction Series Book 2) (14 page)

Tony listened outside the door and didn’t move. His heart was slamming in his chest, listening to her beg his cousin for release, and he waited and wondered how this was going to play out. If he didn’t step in, the change in their relationships might be irreparable, but he felt rooted to the spot, waiting, wondering if they’d both betray him, unable to stop what he’d been afraid would happen all along.

Vic’s heart ached. Everything in him wanted to give in to her, to watch her back arch, hear her cry out at the touch of his hand. But he couldn’t do that to himself, to her, or to Tony. “Cousin, get your ass in here. Your wife needs you.”

Tony bolted through the door, and Vic rose with Nikki in his arms and passed her to his cousin. “She needs to come. That’s your job, not mine.” When Tony took her, Vic shot out the door as fast as he could go, on out the back door, and leaned against the back of the building, straining to breathe. He felt dizzy and sick, and he knew this was it – it had to end right then. It was over. No more hope, no more flirtation, no more desire.
Finito,
had to be.

Tony pulled Nikki close to him and said, “Princess, I’m here, right here. It’s okay.” His hand ran up the inside of her thigh, moved the satin triangle out of the way, and found her swollen bud, his strokes soft and slow. She was so wet that he had no trouble keeping her slick, and she groaned and thrust her hips toward his hand.

She looked up at him and whispered, “Oh, Tony, baby, please, I need to come. Please?”

“Any time you’re ready, sweetie, any time at all. Come for me, precious,” he whispered, and her back arched, her whole body shuddering and a soft cry rising from her throat. He kept at it until she shook and cried, then stopped and pulled her closer, kissing her eyes, her nose, her forehead, her cheeks, and planting a hot, open-mouthed kiss on her flushed lips, her tongue meeting his.

Pushing her hair off her damp face, Tony smiled down at her. “I love you, princess,” he said and gave her a sweet, soft kiss on her beautiful mouth.

“I love you too, my prince. Are we done?” she asked, looking around in confusion.

“You’re in the recovery area. Where’d you go?” he smiled.

“I was just floating. Where’s Vic? I thought he was supposed to do this.” She looked around the room, but she didn’t see him.

“When you started crying and asking to come, he handed you back to me, as well he should have.” He kissed her again, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“I don’t remember that, but, yeah. That’s a job for you and only you,” she said as she snuggled back into his chest, and he knew right then that it was all okay. There was nothing for him to be concerned about. She was just as much his as she’d always told him she was.

“Vic?” Nikki peered out the back door of the club. The weather had been unusually warm for the first of the year, but now, in late January, it was back to more normal temperatures, and a cold wind was blowing. Vic stood leaning against the back wall, head down.

“Yeah, babe. What’s up?” he asked without looking at her.

“I just wanted to thank you. That room full of women is in awe of you. And I won’t be able to sit down for a week. If I come back, I doubt I’ll get a chance to get anywhere near you,” she smiled. He looked over at her and thought about how much he loved her, how much time they’d spent together over the last eight months, and how big the hole she’d leave in his heart would be.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” Nikki asked when Vic looked away again.

He sighed. “Nothing, sugar. I’m glad I could do that for you. You know I’d do anything in the world for you, anything,” he said, not raising his head to look at her.

That was when Nikki knew, and she wanted to tell him that it was all okay, that it would get better with time, but before she could say anything, Vic said, “There’s something I need to tell you.”

Oh, god, please help me say the right thing to him,
Nikki thought, then said, “Okay, honey. What is it?”

Vic gave careful thought about what to say before he spoke. “Nikki, I want you to know that I love you more than I thought it was possible to love a woman. If you weren’t my cousin’s wife, I’d take you right back to my house, strip you bare, and make love to you like you were the only woman in the world. When I handed you back to Tony in there? I think that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

His hands were shaking and he couldn’t help it, couldn’t look at her. “But I’ll never have you. I’ll never taste the sweetest part of you; I’ll never know what it’s like to be inside you; I’ll never have the joy of waking up next to you; of knowing that when you cry out a name as you come it’ll be mine. I’ll never have any of that. And I release all of that. I swear to you, I crush those hopes right now. You’re Tony’s, as you should be. But some part of me will always, always love you until the day I die.” He almost choked. “You woke up all the good things deep down inside of me, breathed life back into them, and for that I’ll always be grateful.”

Nikki measured her words carefully, but she wanted to be honest with him, and it would be painful for them both. “Vic?” Her voice faltered. “I have to tell you . . .” She stopped, took a deep breath, and tried again. “I love Tony, more than I thought possible. But god, if I’d met you first, if you’d been the one that had walked through that shop door, I wouldn’t have given him a second look. I’d belong to you body and soul. But that’s not how it happened; it happened like it was supposed to. Even so, I’m always going to love you, always.” She reached for his hand, then thought better of it and put her hands in her pockets. Turning, she took one long last look and opened the door.

“Vic?” She stopped in the doorway, her hand on the knob. “Honey, will you be okay?”

“Someday. But don’t worry about it. It’s not your problem,” he managed to sigh out.

“It is. I don’t want you to hurt. But know that I love you – more than I should, and in ways that I shouldn’t. You’re always going to have a special place in my heart.” Vic didn’t look up at Nikki, so she stepped on through the door.

The sound of that door closing behind her was like a spike through his chest, and he fought to keep himself calm. Then he straightened up and walked back into the building, straight to the locker room. He washed his face and headed back into the large commons area. Based on the way the women out in the big room had watched him handle himself, it was a pretty sure bet that he’d be busy for the rest of the night if he wanted to be. And that would be good, because if he had time to think at all during the rest of the night, he might not make it to sunrise.

“V
ic, you okay?” Jared asked when the big Italian backed up to the bar. Vic hadn’t returned to the big room for at least thirty minutes after Tony and Nikki left, and he looked like death.

“Yeah.” His tone was clipped, and he reached for the bourbon he’d asked Jared to pour for him and threw it back.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to drink when you’re servicing,” Jared said.

“I don’t. I’m not. I’m done for the night.” He stood up and, without looking back, made his way through the late night crowd and headed to the back. Something had happened, but Jared didn’t know what.

Vic sat down in Steve’s office to wait. Steve was out on one of the stages with another sub, this one even younger and prettier than the one from before, so Vic wanted to wait until he was done and ask him to critique the performance with Nikki. Doug, one of Steve’s other security employees, walked in while he sat there, took one look, and said, “Cabrizzi, what happened to you? You look like dammit.”

“Long, sad story. You don’t want to hear it. I guess you saw the scene I did with Nikki tonight?”

“Yeah. Intense.” Doug sat down in Steve’s chair. “But don’t ask me. I don’t know shit about this stuff, so I’d be the wrong person to ask. And I thought Tony was going to ask you to beat her to a bloody pulp after the things she confessed to him.”

“Yeah, she’s just full of surprises,” Vic said in a near-whisper.

Uh-oh,
Doug thought.
Something’s happened, and it has something to do with Nikki.
He’d have to think on that one. He’d noticed that Vic seemed especially fond of his cousin’s wife. Was there something going on there? He didn’t even want to think about that. Tony would kill anyone who tried to come between him and his bride, even if it was Vic.

Steve came through the door and barked, “Barton, get the hell out of my chair.”

“Well, hello to you too,” Doug said. “And nice to see you so cheerful.”

“Yeah,” Steve snarled, “I’m beat. These women are wearing me out. At least none of them wanted a fucking tonight or you’d have to carry me out of here. Vic, I’ll be glad when you get started out there on the floor. I need somebody to help me out.”

“That’ll be next opening. I think I’m ready, but you need to be the judge of that.”

“I watched you with Nikki tonight. By the way, don’t ever tell your cousin this, but I wish you’d insisted that she take her thong off. I was hoping I’d get a chance to see what all the fuss is about,” Steve chuckled. Vic wanted to reach over and rip his head right off of his body for talking about Nikki that way, and he glared at Steve. The sentiment wasn’t lost on Doug.

“Um, I’m going if there’s nothing else you need,” Doug said, looking at Steve and making a gesture with his eyes.

“Nope, I’m good. Thanks, Barton. See you tomorrow? At the office?”

“Of course. Night, Vic.” Vic looked up at Doug and gave him a tiny wave.
I hope this isn’t as bad as it looks,
Doug thought as he made his way out of the building.

“So, like I said, I watched you with her,” Steve said again when Doug was gone. “That was impressive. Your mastery of the tool is exacting. You’ve been taught well. But I knew that already.” Steve was digging around in the desk again for food. “I liked the way you included Tony in the scene. Very effective, and also very smart, given the way you feel about his wife.”

Vic’s eyes went wide. “What are you . . .”

“Oh, hell, Cabrizzi, seriously? Everybody can see it! I just want to know: Are you balls deep in that woman? Because if you’re fucking her, it’s going to fuck with your head, and I need to know that before you start working as a service Dom.”

“Hell no! I’ve never been with Nikki!” Vic yelled.
Not that I haven’t wanted to be,
he wanted to say.

“Methinks he doth protest too loudly. But whatever. Just know that I wouldn’t trust your cousin to be gentle if he thinks you’re moving in on his turf. I think she’s the one thing in his world that he’d kill for.” Steve leveled his gaze at Vic. “That said, you need to break off whatever it is with her if you want to move forward with this.”

Vic looked away. “Already done. There was nothing there to start with.”

“And that explains a lot,” Steve said, looking at the broken man sitting in front of him. “So you start working as a service Dom. Try to wait a few months before you start to look at the subs and bottoms who come in here as possible long-term collars. You need the experience under your belt before you take complete responsibility for a sub. Question: How did
you
feel about the scene? If you had to rate your performance, how would
you
say you did?”

Vic thought for a minute. “I thought I did pretty good. I stayed focused. It was hard,” he said,
because her skin was so warm and so soft and I love her so much,
“because there were so many people watching, but I did it. And I didn’t get that out-of-control feeling at all, I think because I was so intent on watching where the strikes fell, watching her hands for signals, watching Tony’s reaction as he watched her. It was intense, but I felt like I was in control of the scene.”

“That’s
precisely
what I needed to hear. Now, I’m going to ask you to think about something, and I don’t need an answer, because it hasn’t come up yet, but there’s something I’m going to need you to do at some point.”

“Okay. What’s that?”

“When we get all of this ironed out, I think I need you to work with Laura. She needs to be opened up, and I think you’re just the guy to do it.”

“Oh, no, I don’t think . . .” Vic stuttered.

“Yeah, you’re
exactly
the guy to do it,” Steve retorted. “I think you have just the right balance of fearsomeness and gentleness. That girl is hurting. She needs someone to let that out. And I think that’s going to be you. My job is to convince her that it’s what she needs. If,” he added, “we can keep her alive long enough to get there.” Steve’s phone rang and he looked to see who it was. When he saw Peyton’s name on the screen, his throat tightened. “Stokes? Everything okay?”

“No! He’s here!”

“Shit! Get her in their safe room! We’re on our way!” Steve looked at Vic and yelled, “Wagner’s there!” As they ran toward the door, Steve yelled to Jared, “Lock this place up ASAP. We’re headed to the Walters house in Shelbyville!” When they reached the front door, Steve looked back at José and yelled, “Wagner! Walters house!”

“Shit!” José hit the power button on the computer in the front office and ran out the front door behind them.