Chapter 28

I’m still glowing with my victory over Maggie the next day. And a little sore from the downright athletic sex I had with Brody the moment we got back from not one more, but three more dives. It was a little drunk, a little sloppy, and I have a slight hangover, but my god, that man is very good with his mouth. And better with his dick.

Emily comes over for most of the afternoon and we mostly talk about baby stuff. She’s in the middle of a minor existential crisis, terrified of being a mother and all that good stuff, but really I think she just needs some reassurance, because she’s one of the strongest people I’ve ever met. The girl supported herself and her father working two low-wage jobs before marrying Simon. That’s a huge deal.

“I’ve been waiting for you to tell me about Brody, but you keep letting me blabber on,” she says toward the end of her visit. “Stefania keeps hinting that there’s something going on with you two.”

I shrug a little. I don’t mind that Emily and Stefania are talking about my relationship—they’re probably my closest friends in the world—but I’m not sure what to tell them. “Can I just say it’s complicated?”

“That’s a massive cop-out.”

“But it’s also sort of true.” I tell her about going to the bars the night before, how it started out as work, but it ended up very much as play. I leave out the sex details, but she clearly gets the idea.

“This is how it starts,” Emily says, looking all smug. “You guys have some angsty, emotional realization that actually you’re perfect together, and then you start having sweaty, incredible sex⁠—”

“I’m going to stop you right there,” I say, holding up my hands. “I’m pretty sure you’re speaking from experience, and I really don’t want to think about my brother and sweaty sex right now.”

“I’m just saying, you look happy. That’s a good thing, right?”

“It’s a good thing,” I confirm, but I hesitate before throwing my legs over her thighs and sitting back against the arm of the couch like I’m at a therapist’s office. “But Brody’s got this, like, pathological fear of showing emotion. I know he’s got feelings, it’s just that he suppresses them. He thinks letting himself feel will only distract him from running his family.”

Emily laughs quietly. “Sometimes I think Simon’s the same way. The man acts like the world will stop spinning if he slows down. And in some ways it’s true, the Famiglia does rely on him, but he’s got good people working for him.”

“Brody’s got like fifty thousand brothers and a couple of cool-ass sisters he can lean on for help, but he thinks it’s all on him. Some stupid daddy issues, I guess.”

“Give him time. He’ll come around.” Emily pats my knees. “You’re pretty great.”

“Please, he knows that already.” I give her a smug little smile and she laughs, but in the back of my head, I keep on wondering if she’s right. Brody’s been opening up little by little, and I know he’s into me, but I keep waiting for him to suddenly retreat into his shell again.

Emily heads back to her place and I head over to my mom’s to visit with her and Dad for a while. When I get back home, I find Brody upstairs in our room. He’s got a suitcase open on the bed and he’s folding more clothes into a drawer.

“Are you doing what I think you’re doing?”

He looks up, frowning. “If you think I’m putting clothes away, then yes.”

“This is a big surprise.” I step into the room as he shakes his head and goes back to unpacking. “I mean, we agreed on, what, three days? But you’re still here.”

“I’m still here.”

“And you’re bringing more stuff.”

“I put suits in the closet too. Plus shoes.”

“Shoes?” I put a hand on my heart then pretend like I’m checking my pulse. “Did I die and go to heaven?”

“Baby, we both know it’d be hell if I’m there.”

“Not funny!” I take off my flat and throw it at him. He laughs, bats it out of the air, and comes at me. I squeal as he tries to grab me by the hips and wriggle away, running to the bed, leaping up, but he manages to catch my ankle. I’m laughing too hard to escape a second time as he drags me into his arms and buries me in exaggerated kisses, his hands feeling me up, as he does it.

“You’re not getting rid of me,” he purrs as he pins me down with his weight.

“Ugh, worst news ever,” I say, sighing as I stretch my hands above my head and absently knock his suitcase onto the floor.

“Did you just do that on purpose?” He leans back, studying me with a vicious smile.

“I might have.” I tilt my head, pouting. “What are you going to do about it?”

He grips my waistband and unbuttons my jeans. He tugs them off and turns me over, pushing me down onto my belly, and before I realize what’s about to happen, he’s already got my panties around my thighs and his big, broad palm spanks my ass.

“Oh my god!” I yelp as blood flushes my cheeks. Both my face and my ass. “You cannot just spank me. I’m a grown-ass woman.”

“All the more reason.” He spanks again, nice and hard. I squirm, half-heartedly trying to get away, but he spanks me again, and again, and soon his fingers are dipping between my legs as he mixes pain with pleasure, and I’ve got to admit this is just about the best punishment I’ve ever experienced. I buck back into his hands, moaning, teeth biting down on the covers as he plunges his fingers inside of me, fucking me with them, before he spanks me again.

“That’s my bad girl,” he says as he pulls my hair. I feel his hard cock pressing against my ass cheeks through his pants. “You like to test me, don’t you? You love pushing my boundaries.”

“Your boundaries are a little too rigid for my liking.” I wriggle into his dick and he responds with a grunt. “I want to make a joke about your rigid dick but I’m blanking.”

“Good.” He spanks me again then turns me onto my back. “Because you aren’t funny.”

“I am absolutely—” But the protest dies as his mouth buries my pussy and he eats me like a freaking animal. His fingers plunge in and out as his tongue and lips drive me to freaking ecstasy, and I come with an ache in my core and my ass cheeks stinging from his hand’s abuse, and I fucking love it.

He steps back, admiring how I’m lying on the bed in a puddle of pure bliss.

“I love looking at you when you’re like this,” he says very seriously.

“It’s a little intense, you know.” I shimmy my panties back on. “But I kind of like it.”

He leans over and kisses me. I taste myself on his lips and it’s not bad. I nibble on his lower lip, wanting more. I’m surprised he didn’t try to fuck me, but not exactly upset. “I need to ask you something,” he says.

“Oh, no, is this the part where you ruin all that very nice fun we just had? Let me enjoy my orgasm for a little bit longer.”

He sits on the edge of the bed and I put my head in his lap. I look up at him as he absently strokes my hair. It’s such an intimate gesture, and I’m amazed at how easy and open he looks, how comfortable he seems, like we’ve been together for years instead of weeks.

“I want to stay here for longer than planned.”

I sit up, surprised and not sure what to say. I never really pictured him living in the oasis for any significant period of time, but now that he’s saying it, of course that’s what I want.

“Don’t take this the wrong say,” I say and put a hand on his chest. “But why?”

“Is it enough if I say that I want to be with you and I want to make you happy?”

“For a normal person, yes, but for you? Absolutely not. What’s the angle, Brody?”

He smirks and leans back on his hands and tilts his chin up toward the ceiling. “It’s not safe back home.”

I take a few seconds to process that. “You’re afraid Santoro is going to kill you?”

He closes his eyes and shakes his head. “No, I’m not afraid for me. I know Santoro is going to try to hit me again. I’m afraid that there will be people around when he does it and someone else will get hurt. I’m afraid for Seamus and Molly and my mother. I’m afraid for the people I’m supposed to protect. And I’m thinking maybe it would be safest if I stayed here for a while.”

I shuffle closer and wrap my arms around him. I hate that he’s thinking like this. Everything comes back to his responsibility. He acts like anything bad that happens is somehow his fault, even when it’s very clearly not, and it weighs on him too much. I kiss his neck and snuggle into his arm.

“You’re welcome here for as long as you want, but I need you to be happy, Brody. If you’d be better off closer to your family, then that’s where you should be.”

“I’m not sure they’d be better off.”

I don’t want to argue. It’s probably selfish, but I want him to stay here, and I understand his reasoning even if it’s flawed. Santoro can go after his family whenever he wants, and if he wants to hurt Brody’s mother, that’s what Santoro will do whether Brody’s there or not. Still, I get why he’d want to draw attention to the oasis for a while and take some pressure off his family home.

“We’ll figure it out,” I say and I know it’s lame, but I’m not sure what else I can do. I kiss him and hug him tight, and I try not to smile at the thought of having him here for a while, since I don’t know how long this is going to last.