The Crescendo (The Musical Interlude) (17 page)

Alek

We hibernate inside Erin’s old home for another week, making love and enjoying our temporary change in lifestyle while we hide from the world. The Louisiana heat makes for a heated existence, but the humidity gives our bodies a natural scent and keeps our muscles warm and flexible, something I could really get used to. I’m fully enjoying the chance to experience the life of the girl Erin has been before she came to Italy.

On the night before we prepare to leave, Erin pulls out an old photo album and shows me pictures of her standing with the girl who brought us together; her sister, Jada. Seeing the girl who has died because Sergey ordered a hit on her father upsets me. My chest tightens and an incredibly large surge of guilt rushes through me.

"My family caused all this," I say, motioning toward the empty room.

"Caused all of what, Alek?" she asks quietly.

"This emptiness. All the sadness in what I know was once a lively house," I explain.

"None of this was your fault, baby." She turns my face toward hers and moves toward me, kissing my lips and easing the pang that still slams into me when I think of the girl in the yellow dress lying on the road, her soul boring into mine through her eyes as her life slipped away. Then I recall the way Sergey knocked me unconscious, his barbaric act forever etched in my mind.

“Isn’t it ironic?” she asks as we lie in bed afterwards, staring at the ceiling, a perfect replica of the solar system hanging over our heads.

“What's ironic, Jaybird?” I question, inhaling the scent of her freshly washed hair and how it mingles with the exotic fragrance she has chosen for her body.

“That we’ve reconciled in the place where our relationship kind of started.” Her eyes are gleaming in the glow of the candlelight, smoldering pits of love and adoration as well as many other things she has told me since we came here and got our shit together.

“I don’t believe in irony or coincidences, only fate and destiny, of course,” I answer. “Perfect case in point. Gina, the girl who so lovingly called me out that night at Arnie's, she was the one who set you up. Apparently, she hired the girl in the shop after finding a way to tap into my phone,” I clarify, anger stirring inside me as I do so.

Sighing deeply, she glances at me, her dark eyes filled with pain and remorse. “It figures she'd be involved in some way. I’m so sorry I let her come between us.”

“Hush, now. I had my share in that guilt trip, too,” I assure her, thinking of the way I allowed Tanner to screw with my head and make me think Erin might’ve been unfaithful.

I fill her in on the news we’ve discovered about
Lola and Gina, and that Nikolai has actually been helping us all along. While I talk, I think on how I plan to rip Vladimir apart, limb by painstakingly slow limb, when I find him.

First, however, I’ll do what my mother taught me long ago. I’ll start by bringing down key players in his organization. He thinks he wants a war. Well, I intend to take him up on the offer and then find a way to drag him through hell.

I don’t tell her that the couple was killed during a raid I’m almost certain was meant to take Tanner and me out of the picture. Instead, I redirect the conversation to something I found on her body while we’ve been having sex.

“What’s with the patch on your ass?”

“Oh, yeah, that. I started using a new birth control a few weeks ago. It's so much easier than trying to remember to swallow a pill every day.” She reaches behind her and massages her ass, as though she needs a reminder that it's still back there.

“That's my job,” I say, gently grasping her wrist, moving it and replacing her hand with mine. The soft but firm skin of her ass feels so smooth and creamy I get hard just from touching her. "Hmm. I think we're all good back here, yes?" I tease.

"Behave, Maestro," she responds, playfully shoving my chest.

"How boring is that word... behave?" I roll her over as I move my body on top of hers, tickling her
sides as I do so. The giggle spilling forth from her lips sounds so good, filling me with happiness inside.

I will be the man she needs. I can do this for her. For us.

In between periods of marathon sex, we stop and briefly discuss what happened with Tanner and me outside the Extasia again. We manage to eat something Erin conjures up that reminds me of a cross between oatmeal and hot cereal—grits, is what I think she has called the dish.

“Don’t worry; you’ll be a professional country boy by the time we leave.” She holds back a smile as she sits on my lap and feeds me strawberries and cream, which turns out to be a hell of a lot better than the bland grits.

“Just what I’ve always wanted. To be a professional country boy,” I tease, placing my hand over hers and guiding the last spoon of grits into my mouth before I pull her down onto my lap. “This is possibly the blandest thing I’ve ever eaten.”

“You’re failing your test,” she teases, her arms wrapped around my neck.

“Looks like you’ll have to punish me now.” I ease her naked body off my lap, stand and lift her up, too.

Without releasing her grip on my neck, she says, “Hmm. I can think of several punishments.”

"Allow me to find a place where we can both assume the positions," I suggest between our kisses. Her mouth becomes a sweet temptation, a symbol of everything the boys in the underground groups have warned me away from; but her lips, specifically the way she kisses me, steal away all those thoughts.

This time the countertop is the platform for our show. I lift Erin’s gorgeous ass up on the smooth surface, spreading her legs apart as I thrust my tongue into her mouth. I want to devour her with a vengeance, show her how crazy I’ve been since we’ve been apart.

The oil we’ve used after showering together makes our bodies slippery and gives her skin a golden glow that makes me grow so hard that the pressure inside my cock hurts. I grind my bulge against the inside of her thighs, skimming over her hot spot. I want her to know exactly what she does to me, how fucked up in the head she makes me.

“I’m going to make love to you. All of you. On every single part of that luscious body, Erin Angelo,” I whisper in between our kisses. Our breaths are hot, mingling, and our bodies desperate as we grasp each other, shoving our most intimate body parts closer together so they’re truly almost blended into one. “How does that sound, my feisty little jaybird?”

“It sounds like my lover's horny, yet again,” she gasps without easing up her assault on my mouth and my neck. "What a freaky little Maestro you are."

"Oh, absolutely. All for you," I answer without easing up on my kisses.

This is what I love most about Erin. Her passion not only rivals mine, but she puts my skills to the test as well. She manages to tame the animal in me while lifting up the man I want to be for her. Nothing compares to the way I need Erin, the way I want her. The way I fucking love her. I’ve never thought I’d find someone so perfect and pure, a woman as naturally wild as she is talented and kind hearted.

I ease my hand between her legs and she melts in my hands, hot and wet. “Tell me who this belongs to,” I urge, pumping my fingers inside her, loving the way she moans as she arches her back so her breasts press against me, making one last squeak of pleasure before she answers me.

“It’s for you, lover. My pussy belongs to you. Only you,” she gasps and then pulls my head down so she can kiss my forehead’s wound. Even that small gesture sets off the fireworks stewing inside me. I position my cock at her entrance and secure her arms above her head with my free hand when she tries to caress my arms.

“You belong to me now. Forever. Always. Do you understand?” I inquire, the need to be inside her overpowering my senses.

“I love you, Aleksandr Dostovsky,” she whispers, and I come undone.

No one besides my mother has ever cared so deeply about me in this way. The women of my past have only ever wanted to use me, buy themselves a ticket into my lifestyle, because that was what attracted them to me. Then, one day, I met Erin.

I pull her body up against mine, lifting her up as she wraps her legs around me. I carry her up to the bed, listening to the way she giggles and loving the sound. I could listen to that laugh for the rest of my life. I’ll make sure she can smile, can be free. She’s mine, and God help anyone who tries to take her away from me ever again.

“Tell me what you’re thinking about, Erin,” I say. She unwraps her legs from around me as I gently lay her down on the bed, positioning my body over hers as I do so.

“I’m thinking, I must be the luckiest woman in Lafayette right now.”

“Why is that?” I ask, trailing a kiss from her ear down to the hollow of her neck, inhaling her scent, savoring the taste of the strawberry flavored oil on her body. I don’t stop there. I want her in my mouth, to feel her warmth consuming my cock, to hear the way she moans, and to feel the way her body shudders when she comes.

“Because...” she hesitates and gently takes the sides of my head, guiding me back up to where I’m now staring down into her dark eyes, “there’s no one else in this world who completes me the way you do. We own each other. I am with you, Alek. There’s no other place I’d rather be, nobody else who will ever fill this heart and body. No other man will ever own my soul.”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but I can tell you no one will ever hurt you again. I’m making sure of that. I want you to be happy. I’ll do whatever it takes.” I still can’t bring myself to make the promise aloud, the one where I agree to bring a child into this fucked-up world, but I can tell Erin understands my silent promise.

Caressing my face, she responds, “As a person with experience in fighting people who belong to the dark side, you should know I can handle things.”

I hold back a smile, feeling glad to have my Erin, a woman who says the silliest things at the strangest moments in my life.

“I’m not joking, Alek,” she says, playfully shoving my chest. Her face turns serious. “Where you go, I do, too. I might not necessarily follow you around or anything archaic like that, but you get what I’m saying. We end this thing with the widow guy together. No more secrets. All right?”

Emotions I don’t understand wash over me, winding my chest, making me hard, of course; but mostly, making me feel as though I can take on a thousand Vladimirs and Sergeys if necessary.

The hardest part of a symphonic performance is called the Crescendo. It's the part of a song that always makes or breaks the rest of the piece, the breakdown of the softest notes coupled together with the strongest brass instruments. It’s the place where the Maestro either loses control of the arrangement or wows his audience, giving them a
performance they'll never forget. That's what Erin and I have done. We've made it through the Prelude, the beginning of our relationship, only to be faced with the shit that many other couples won't survive—lies, betrayals, pain... death—and she still accepts me even with all my shortcomings. We've also found the good in each other.

It's on that note that I find the confidence to move forward with my plan to secure a future for my family. I can do this, especially with Erin by my side. We've now survived our Crescendo.

Without another word, and before the way I'm feeling completely consumes me, I push my cock deep inside her, lowering my head to her ear, savoring the sound of the shuddering gasp she makes as I bring us both to wall banging orgasms.

Then I say, "I love you too, Jaybird. You are mine, as I am yours... forever."

♡♥♡♥♥♥

We spend the rest of the day out by the small pond in back, listening to the songs of creatures that live in the woods behind her house as we lie in the grass and gaze up at the sky.

“As much as I’d love to spend eternity hiding out in your beautiful city, we must return to Italy,” I say, breaking the silence as I move to a sitting position.

“I know.” Her face droops as she says this, so I kiss her until she starts smiling and giggling again.
God, how I love that sound.

My cell phone chimes through the moment. Somebody had better have a damn good reason for calling me right now. With hesitation, I reach into my pocket, pull out the phone and glance at the screen.

“It’s Adriana,” I tell Erin, kissing her one last time just before I hit the green answer button.

“Alek! Mother’s gone!” Adriana’s voice says, her panicked tone putting me on alert right away. “Things are scattered all over the place here at her house! And there’s a note.”

“Calm down, Adriana. What does the note say?” I sit up, images of a puppy dangling over a ledge flashing before my eyes.

My sister can barely speak through her tears. “She’s gone. He took her.”

More sobbing on the other end of the phone.

“Who did?” I ask, my heart thudding in my chest.

“The Phoenix. He’s back.”

The End of Book Two

KaSonndra Leigh lives in the City of Alchemy and Medicine, North Carolina. She lives in an L-shaped house with her two sons (nicknamed the X-men), a yorkiepoo, a cat named Hercules, and a guinea pig called Achilles. She has created a secret library that comes complete with fairies, Venetian plastered walls, a desk made out of clear blue glass, and a garden dedicated to her grandmother, Nezzetta Tomlinson Wall. Rest in peace lovely lady.

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