Veiled Amor by V. Theia

SIXTEEN

“Don’t make an enemy of me, Mercado.” - Nicholas Cole

 

 

“Catch the bouncing ass on her.”

“I wouldn’t mind getting up early if I knew we had that to look at.”

“The bitch got me up, if you know what I mean.”

Capone knew who they were cackling over, and he wanted to smash their faces in.

Strolling through the Louisiana clubhouse, he’d been unable to sleep once Lucia flew out of their room, so he’d been assisting Shark for the last hour.

His steps slowed, cutting his gaze out of the window everyone was gawking out of. He saw Lucia bending over, touching her toes, then she lifted her leg to her butt, stretching her thigh muscles. She had her back to the window, so she didn’t know she had a perverted audience.

Noisily, he hooked a chair with his boot, bringing their attention to him when the scraping noise went through the room. He yanked it out and plopped himself down, throwing stares around like he was giving them away for free.

“Yo, Cap. How’s it going, man?”

“Bueno.” He answered coolly, a snake-like smile on his face as he met their gazes. “I don’t wanna have to repeat myself, hermanos, so I’ll say this now. Make one more remark about Lucia, and I’ll put you through the fucking window one at a time, understand?”

When he smiled, he knew his eyes were filled with warning.

He didn’t have personal connections to these men other than they were from the same club, but he’d always held loyalty for them. Listening to the catcalls meant that loyalty was dead. Far as he was concerned, he’d kill them slowly.

One laughed. And then the rest followed. “Easy there, stud. We heard she was single, and you’re playing bodyguard, is all. We don’t get ‘em looking like her around here often. You gotta let us look.”

“Far as you’re concerned,” he bit out, “she doesn’t exist. You keep the fuck away from her.”

One man sobered and glared back. He was higher ranked than Capone, and Capone couldn’t give a fuck. He’d kill him too. “Now listen here, Capone.”

“No. You listen. She’s off-limits.”

“You claiming her?”

Was he?

He couldn’t.

His logical side knew why he couldn’t, but fuck if his body would listen. He was all but bristling and pissing a circle around her so no one else would get a shot at his perfect girl.

“Sí,” he grated through his teeth, and an understanding went around the table as each man threw him a grin. Capone relaxed his muscles and sat with his legs kicked out in front of him and his arms folded across his chest.

Luckily, he didn’t throw anyone through a window because Lucia strolled in thirty seconds later. She cut her gaze over instantly, and Capone’s chest flamed. Remembering how soft and wet she felt under his fingers only a few hours ago. One kiss made him lose his head, and he’d taken it too far.

Where Lucia Cole was concerned, he’d always had a war going on inside him. His brother had beaten him to the punch before Capone could make a move. She’d been too young for him, but he’d wanted her all the same. Now she’d put it in his head about missing something, and he couldn’t figure what.

Would it matter?

He’d still fucked up. He couldn’t erase their fuck, could he? Wouldn’t want to. It was that memory keeping him going, even if he couldn’t claim her as his old lady.

He’d have to be dead in the ground before he let these assholes put the moves on her in front of him.

Lucia’s glance was stony cold as she walked by him to sit with Jacie.

“Doesn’t look like the girlie wants claiming, brother.” One of the men cackled, shaking his shoulder. Capone’s eyes were eating her up. “Don’t know ‘bout you, brothers, but seems fair game to me.” He dared add.

They were fucking with him. It would be something he’d do at home, when he met the chucklers head-on, he stared. “Try it and see what happens.”

Amid the laughter, he pushed himself to his feet and strode across the room. Lucia’s head rose to watch. She was mad at him, that much he could tell, but she also liked what she saw, and her eyelids dropped to half-mast when he was almost on top of her.

“Hey, Capone.” Jacie greeted. He spared her a half-grin, then turned to the woman who had a claw hold of his guts.

“Tip your head back, amor, and kiss me.” He announced.

Jacie chuckled. “Oh, wow.”

Lucia didn’t have any such reaction as she stared at him. “If you didn’t get the memo earlier, I’m mad at you.”

“Got that,” he smirked. “Be mad but kiss me, anyway.”

He folded his body over hers, resting hands on the table, caging her.

“You’re crazy.” She huffed, meeting his eyes. She was so fucking turned on, he knew the signs, and she was displaying them all.

“Lucia. Right now, every fucking man in here has been watching your juicy ass bouncing around the courtyard, licking their chops, having ideas that they have a chance with you. If you don’t want me butchering every man here and making more trouble than we’re already dealing with, you’ll give me your fucking lips, so they know you’re off-limits.”

“Holy crackers!” Gasped Jacie. “If you don’t kiss him, I’m gonna kiss him.”

A great growl sounded from the left. Capone didn’t lift his head to know it was Tiger.

“You be quiet.” Jacie warned her pet, “that was romantic as hell.”

Was it?

Did Lucia like it?

He looked at her deeper. Fuck. Her pupils were larger, and she was sucking on her lower lip. He felt the jerk of her arousal in his cock. He dipped lower, smelling the coffee on her breath. “Lucia.” A warning. He wasn’t opposed to putting her over his knee and spanking his claim in front of everyone.

“Fine. Just because I don’t want you going crazy with your over-the-top testosterone.” She huffed, sexy as hell, and raised her face, chewing her lower lip, inviting him. “No tongues.” She warned.

He was going to give her all his tongue. Make her suck it until she whimpered.

Hanging there, he waited until she sighed and grabbed both sides of his face, bringing him down to her mouth. She intended for a fast peck, but Capone was slippery when it involved Lucia, and he pushed his tongue past her lips when she gasped, and he kissed her how he needed to.

All in the name of claiming her, of course, so the boys left her alone.

Though the kiss went on longer than was needed, he got caught in her trap, as always. And when he lifted his mouth, she was glassy eyed.

“Satisfied, Mr. Caveman?”

“Sí.”

“Okay. Well. Good, then.” Her cheeks pinked, he was tempted to dive in and kiss her again. “I should shower. Stay out of our room.”

Smirking, he could have told her he’d seen her naked already. Tiger stopped him from saying anything by announcing to Jacie her food was made. “Oh, goodie. I’m hungry. Come and eat with me, Lucia.”

“No,” gruffed Tiger. “There’s only enough for you.”

“Don’t be a grouch.”

Until their joint trip to the airport, Capone didn’t know Tiger all that well. He’d had a couple of conversations with the man over the years at rallies. Watching him all but stuff Jacie in his cut, he got the lay of their land. So he grinned at the other man. “Don’t you know, if you cook for one, you gotta cook for all, hermano?”

“No,” Tiger said unrepentant, scowling. “I only made enough for Jacie.”

“It’s fine,” chuckled Lucia, drawing Capone’s eyes to her again. She rose and almost brushed his chest with her shoulder. “I’ll get something later. I need to shower.”

She didn’t so much as spare him a look over her shoulder as she strode away down the hallway. Capone’s eyes were busy on her little ass.

Wanting to follow Lucia like a hound dog, he forced himself into the yard to help in the garage. The ringing phone in his pocket made him stop.

A Miami area code on the screen.

It would be only one man.

“Well, well. You answered. Brave for a man who’s stolen my daughter.” The anger was unmistakable.

“What do you want, Nicholas?”

“You have something belonging to me. I want it back.”

“Do I? I don’t remember borrowing a cup of sugar. I’ll Amazon Prime you a pound of raw cane sugar right now. Is that it?”

“Don’t get smart with me, Mercado. I’m offering you a onetime deal to deliver Lucia back to me, and no more will be said about it.”

“Can’t help you, old man. I don’t have Lucia.”

“My men saw you put her on a plane, where is she?”

“Is that so? Maybe your men need contact lenses. You’ll remember the last time I was in Miami. I had a gun to your head. Do you remember what you said? Sí, I think you do. If you’ve lost Lucia, that’s on you.”

“You don’t want to make an enemy of me. Your pathetic club couldn’t take me on.”

Capone scoffed and didn’t need to get into a dick-swinging contest because nothing had changed in Nicholas’ ego.

“If you’ve forgotten, you’re already my enemy. And one day, I will be the one to kill you.”

The older man cackled. “I have missed that fire. Your brother was pitiful in comparison. You should have worked for me. You’d at least be going places, not stuck playing with motorcycles.”

Capone’s jaw ached from grinding his teeth, but he wasn’t being baited with Santiago. He let the silence build.

“Name your price.”

“You want to buy Lucia back?” The speed at which Capone’s temper rose to the surface almost suffocated his lungs. The gasp from behind him had Capone swerving around to see her standing there. Looking washed out with shock. He took two steps to put himself in front of her, a finger to his lips, telling her silently to stay quiet, and then he palmed around her neck. She had a piece of shit father, but she wasn’t alone.

“What do you want to make that happen?”

“She’s your daughter. You are a piece of shit, Cole.” he grit out in a rolling growl in a show of rare temper bursting out of his skin. He wanted to fucking kill the man. More than he usually wanted to kill him. Slowly. Painfully. All in Lucia’s name. “She deserves your love and protection.”

Nicholas sounded bored. “Lucia wants for nothing.”

“Except a father who gives a fuck about her. A father who doesn’t sell her to the highest bidder.”

“Lucia knows what’s expected of her.”

In front of him, the woman in question looked at him through tear-filled eyes. She was so fucking pale, and he gave her nape a little squeeze, “It’s okay.” He mouthed to her, “don’t cry.” Lucia shook her head gently and reached out to hold the front of his t-shirt.

He already loathed Nicholas. For hurting Lucia, he could kill him twice.

“Is that what you told her when she was offered up like steak to a new buyer? How the fuck do you sleep at night, old man?” Capone cursed in his native language. Because he couldn’t help himself, he drew her in until she was smashed into his chest and his lips pressed to her forehead. “I’ll tell you this for free, Cole. You’ll never get your hands on Lucia again.”

“So you know where she is…”

“New York is a big fucking place, good luck.” Let the man lead his minions on a wild goose chase. It wouldn’t be long before Nicholas realized she was still with Capone, but by then, he intended to have her locked up tight.

The decision was made, and he found… it was easy to accept.

He held her closer, feeling how she fit herself to his frame, her face pressed into his shirt. There had always been warring reactions in Capone regarding Lucia. But what he’d bet his whole damn life on without question or hesitation was, he’d do anything to protect her.

Capone might not be the man who deserved her, but he was for damn sure not going to let her get swallowed up by a wolf. She trembled, and he hated the reaction her father brought out in her. If she were going to tremble, it would be because Capone was fucking her the way she needed it.

“I will always find her, Mercado. Lucia is used to a lifestyle you can’t give her. If she ran to you for protection, she’ll soon see what a waste of time it was. Just like that brother of yours. But if you’re fine with having his sloppy seconds… you have twenty-four hours to bring her back.”

It was in the Miami Kingpin’s tone that he knew he was hitting the mark with the suggestion. Capone schooled his reaction because Lucia chose that moment to nuzzle his chest like a tiny sloth and some of his rage bled out.

“Do yourself a favor, Cole. Move on. Stop trying to barter your daughter and let her have a fucking life of her own.” He hung up.

Capone knew it wasn’t the end of Nicholas Cole. The wolf hated to lose.

The flawless woman against his chest lifted her face. Capone saw a future in her eyes, and his loose tongue almost voiced it.

“Are you going to make me forget I’m a twenty-six-year-old woman with daddy issues?”

Her question quirked his lips and burned through some of the anger he was feeling. “I’m going to feed you.” Sliding a hand down the length of her back, he gave her ass a little spontaneous swat. “Go shower, and we’ll get going. We’ll see what we can do about those issues after you have food.”

She turned, and he called her name. “What did you come looking for me for?”

“Oh,” she grinned. “It was to say sorry for being a brat.”

Capone smirked one twitch of his lips. He could picture her being a brat and him putting her in her place. And they’d both enjoy it.

“Ten minutes, amor.” He rasped, and he watched her little backside rush inside.

Capone stood statue-still, and for once, he didn’t have a raging war going on inside him. It was as if that one call with his enemy told him everything he could do.

Not to stick it to Nicholas.

It was all for Lucia.

Warmth bloomed in Capone’s chest while he stood waiting for a woman he felt as though he’d waited a lifetime for.

And he smiled when she rushed back out to him eight minutes later.