Bianca
When I woke, I was alone in my bed and I did not know whether to feel relieved or troubled. St Just had returned to his room saying that he thought I needed some privacy but all night long, I had been dreaming of a man with hair the color of the darkest night and eyes that were slashes of ice blue, a man whose touch had made me tremble and long for him.
Sometime during the night, I came awake, the bedclothes wound around my legs, moaning.
The sheets were damp with my perspiration although the room was cool.
I felt myself and saw to my amazement, that I was wet, and there was a deep hollowness in my centre…I touched myself tentatively, my hips bucking as I imagined O’Grady on top of me and I sobbed his name as I came.
Later, I rolled onto my side, and stared bleakly at the sky, watching it turn to a pale pearl grey as the morning crept in. I fell asleep to the soothing sound of birdsong, heartsore and unhappy.
*
When I drifted in, the next morning to the dining room, feeling lacklustre and dull, it was to find that St Just had already showered and dressed. He looked up with a smile and I beamed at him.
His golden eyes took in my clothes appreciatively and I thanked the stars that I had chosen to wear a pretty dress, with a wide V-neck and a bow at the back, with a yoke and wrinkles in the front. The entire dress was designed with small bow-shaped buttons and the fabric had an all-over embroidery of bows. It made me appear elegant and yet managed to be simple, a look I relished.
Finn St Just’s eyes gleamed and I dimpled, blushing slightly.
He leaned across and kissed me gently and I felt myself go warm.
*
I cared for this man, but not in the way I felt for his brother. That was a heady attraction, which made me wet, even just thinking of him.
Liam O’Grady made me weak at the knees, and made me want to sink to the floor before him and give in to his every demand. St Just was kind and caring but he was not his brother…
Now as I sank into the chair on his right, he touched his jaw and I giggled. It did look bad and then he touched my bruise, the one beneath my eyes gently.
“Better?” he queried and when I nodded, he added,
“Keep the ice pack again, right?’
We ate in silence because he was constantly looking at his phone, answering calls and replying to messages.
As he rose, he chucked me under the chin and said softly,
“Gotta go see the Big Man.”
Bending down, he kissed the top of my head and I shut my eyes. It was such a tender gesture.
He winked and strode off, cutting a dashing figure in his pearl grey suit and I watched him go.
*
Sighing, I rose and went to the library.
Trying not to think of how I had lost my virginity to Liam O’Grady in this very room, I moved along, trailing a finger over the rows of books on the shelves.
I wanted to keep applying for courses and needed to call Heather and the girls today as well. The thought made me brighten up and I spent the afternoon in the library.
To my delight, I discovered a book of Sudoku puzzles that was brand new.
It looked like no one had ever used it and I settled on the bed in my room, cheerfully, solving my favorite puzzles.
I was good at numbers and I was soon lost in solving the puzzles, nibbling the end of a pencil, unaware of the passing of time. It was only when an annoyed-looking Alfered knocked on the door that I realized that it was nearing lunchtime.
*
Finn St Just walked into the offices of St Just and O’Grady, his large dark glasses hiding the fact that he had a black eye from his encounter with his brother the previous evening.
He strode into his brother’s room, a large one that exuded masculinity and stopped as Liam O’Grady scowled up at him from behind his massive desk.
“What do you want, Saint?’ he said, his expression fierce.
“O’Grady…” began St Just but his brother rose and came around the table, grinning widely.
“Gave you a bad one, did I?’ he asked and just like that, the men began to laugh, remembering the days when they were growing up, with Maggie O’Grady, mothering both of them and walloping them with her large spatula if she felt they were getting into violent physical spats.
*
Later, as they sat around sharing a drink, St Just began to talk, feeling the need to explain himself to his brother.
“She was so helpless, so sad, O’Grady,” said St Just later as he sipped a drink while his brother stalked to a leather armchair and sat down.
His brother frowned but made no response. Instead, he came up with an announcement of his own.
“Hmmm…I’ve broken it off with Paige,” said O’Grady and looked up in time to see the look of undisguised relief on his brother’s face.
He leaned back, throwing an arm across the back of the large couch as he swung one strong leg over the other and said airily,
“You could never stand her, eh?”
St Just downed his drink and said reflectively,
“She was bad news, O’Grady, like a venomous reptile.”
The Mafia boss nodded slowly, swirling his drink. They sat in silence then he asked, his voice light as he attempted to hide his concern,
“How’s she? Our Pet?”
St Just shot his brother a searching look but the other man rose and walked to the bar to fix himself another drink, effectively shielding his face as she stood, his broad back to St Just.
“She’s doing okay now: but she was very scared …”
Liam O’Grady turned his blistering blue gaze on his brother and snapped,
“You don’t need to explain me, Saint. We’ve shared too many women before this.”
But the unspoken words that hung in the air between the two brothers was, Never had one like this…
*
O’Grady turned to him as they ended their lunch a few hours later, having had a business discussion involving the loan sharks who worked under them.
“Dean Nelson has been handled,” said O’Grady in satisfaction as he ended the meeting and remained alone in the large conference room with his brother.
“Forced him out of business. The fellow was running a side hustle; trafficking women.” O’Grady was totally against the whore houses that flourished in underground pockets of the city.
O’Grady ran a whole lot of gambling establishments all over the state and was branching out as well, but the escorts they provided were well paid and no client was allowed to hurt any of their girls. If word of anything underhand reached Liam O’Grady, he dealt with it ruthlessly, having maimed and killed a few recalcitrant clients before this.
*
Now he looked across at St Just and said,
‘I’m leaving for Hollowford this evening.”
And as his brother raised a querying brow, he went on,
“Got a call from Claude Delano. His old man, the Big Boss himself, wants to meet me.” O’Grady’s face was flushed.
Everyone had heard of Lucien Delano and how he had clawed his way to the top, to become one of the most ruthless, yet respected mob bosses in the country. Getting an invitation to his home was like being asked to meet the King of England.
St Just whistled softly.
Then the brothers laughed as they began to talk of future plans and how to expand the fledgling Fight Club that O’Grady was setting up.
*