An excerpt from Faultline (c) 2021
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Chapter One
The
nightclub looked like regret in the making.
Lexi would have called it more speakeasy than disco, which made sense
since the Masseretti family had used it during Prohibition to run illegal
alcohol. She had researched the history
of the building that morning in lieu of unpacking, and Giovanni’s apple hadn’t
fallen far from his grandfather’s tree.
He now used the same spot to run escorts, drugs, and God only knew what
else. Lexi approached the long line and
walked up to the bouncer at the door.
The giant looked her over as she stumbled through her declaration. “I have a job interview at six with Freddy.”
The
bald man with a larger-than-needed gun tucked beneath his tight jacket laughed
in her face. “Go home, sweetheart. You don’t belong here.”
Was
that it? She looked around at the bodies
pressed together outside, waiting for their chance to drink and dance the last
night of the weekend away. Even in the
short dress that she had bought specifically for the interview and the white,
leather knee boots that, contrary to her reservations, had to be some of the
most comfortable things she’d ever owned, Lexi didn’t fit in. She didn’t even own enough makeup or
hairspray to compete, and she definitely wasn’t edgy enough.
Her
soft voice and please help me eyes
weren’t going to do the job, and she gave herself an internal pep talk, as she
often had when she felt like she was on the verge of failure. Lexi straightened her back and reflected
annoyance in her voice as she repeated herself, this time louder and after
taking a step into his personal space.
“Six o’clock. Freddy. Job interview. Did I stutter?”
The
man raised his eyebrows, amused, and looked at her again before grinning. He said something into his headset mic before
he stepped back and opened the door to the entrance. Lexi exhaled into the flashing lights and the
chaos of music and conversation. There
were scantily dressed women on poles, men and women grinding together on floor
panels that lit up, and tables overflowing with men who, if she had access to
the database, Lexi was sure would be recognizable from mug shots.
The
large bar was a hotbed of activity, and she squeezed through people to get
there, clutching the envelope she held against her stomach. It didn’t help with the nausea her nerves had
gifted her, but she refused to back down.
She wasn’t going to fall apart until she took the Masseretti family with
her. The bartender asked what she wanted,
and she had to scream over the noise.
“I’ve got an appointment with Freddy at six. I’m interviewing for a job.”
She
heard him before she saw him and knew that Giovanni Masseretti was talking to
her when she looked to her side where the man had materialized into a vacated
space. He had spent most of his time in
Sicily, moving to New York City ten years before and continuing to travel
worldwide for his business dealings, and his suave accent reflected his life. “I can save you some time, bambina.
This isn’t the place for you.”
He
was dressed in a black suit with a crisp white shirt that was open at the top
to reveal dark hair on his chest and the edge of a tattoo that she couldn’t
make out. The suit alone had probably
cost a month of Lexi’s salary. His
tousled hair was cut short, and he had a nearly invisible scar under his right
eye. Another tattoo, this one the tail
of a snake that trailed up his hidden arm, was visible on the hand that took
the bartender’s glass of proffered whiskey.
Combating
the fire that his voice coursed through her body, she narrowed her eyes when
she looked at him. He watched her with a
smirk that told her he believed the world revolved around him, and the attitude
she had forced at the door slipped out unabated. “It seems like the men around here all have
hearing problems. I said I’m meeting
Freddy at six. Unless you’re Freddy and
it’s six o’clock, why don’t you run along and play messenger?”
Giovanni
bit his inner cheek to avoid laughing at her and casually slipped his free hand
into his pocket as he balanced against the bar.
“Oh, bambina, this is
definitely not the place for
you.” His gaze darkened, and he leaned
close enough to her that she could smell spice and charcoal. “Because that mouth of yours would be broken
before you even had a chance to take the floor.” He yelled to the bartender before he moved
back from the bar and started to walk away from her, reaching out from his
pocket to use his thumb to swipe across her lower lip. “Ciao,
bella.”
“Interview’s
over,” the bartender said, sliding a flute of prosecco to her. “On the house, courtesy of Mr.
Masseretti. And then,” he tipped his
head toward the door, “you should go.”
Fuck,
she thought, leaving the glass and turning to find Giovanni’s tall frame
disappearing from the crowd through a wide door. She tried to force herself between the mass
of dancers, but people were everywhere and she wasn’t used to walking in the
heeled boots that she had only bought that morning. When she finally reached the back hallway,
there was no one there and she eyed the doors that lined the corridor before
walking toward a marked exit at the end.
Hearing noise from behind one of the rooms, her trembling hand reached
for the knob and it turned easily.
The
sight stilled her, and she couldn’t hide the embarrassment that choked her
anymore than she could look away from the heat in his eyes as Giovanni watched
her. He leaned against a large desk
while a woman in a dress that was so short Lexi could see her thong sliding up
her ass knelt in front of him. Her head
bobbed as he tangled his hand in her hair.
“See something you’d enjoy, bambina?”
She
had seen countless situations in her head, but this wasn’t one of them. She wanted to wipe that look off his face and
shove his bambina bullshit down his
throat. At the same time, the fact that
he was standing there so calm and collected while Lexi thought she might
implode had her thinking that Sam had been right; she wasn’t cut out for this. Failure, however, wasn’t an option. It never had been. “I have a job interview,” she said between
clenched teeth.
“Unless
this is the type of job you are looking for, then I’m not sure there’s much
here for you.” He was talking to her as
though he were sitting behind a desk pushing paperwork back and forth instead
of pushing a woman’s head against his crotch.
“But, by all means, come over and show me what else that mouth is
capable of.”
She
could feel her cheeks pink when he pulled the woman back and told her to
go. He continued to lean against his
desk, his piercing black eyes never breaking Lexi’s gaze. She refused to look away, both because she
was determined to call him on his bullshit and because she feared catching
sight of his cock. “Something you would
learn working for me is that I don’t like to wait and don’t take kindly to my
orders not being followed.”
That
fucking attitude. He was absolutely
terrifying in his quiet authority and that smartass, I rule the world persona that made Lexi’s heart race. This was it.
Make or break. Her heels clanked
across the wooden floor as she slowly walked forward, and she stopped when
their bodies were almost touching in order to bridge the gap by leaning in. “Let me say it for you in a language you
might understand. Appuntamento. Sei in punto,” she purred into his ear
as she pushed the envelope containing her resume against his chest
harshly. “Smettila di prendermi per il culo.”
Telling
him to stop fucking with her may have been the straw that broke his sense of
humor. When Lexi tried to pull away, the
gangster wrapped his hand in her hair, which she had painstakingly pulled up
into a loose bun that was far more work than he made it worth. “Bambina,”
he growled, the envelope falling to the floor between them. “It’s me
that you shouldn’t fuck with. I don’t think you understand the way that I
play, and I doubt you have any idea of the rules.”
The
sexual tension radiated off of him like a hot stove, but what was infinitely
worse was that Lexi felt something-
and it wasn’t fear. This was not the way
this scene played out. This was not the
moment that her mind decided to wake up.
Her hands were against his chest, and she thought she might fall in the
shoes that she had specifically chosen to give her more height. Yanking her hair pulled her body against his
in tandem. “Get your hands off of me,”
she whispered when he drew his mouth close to her exposed neck.
“Where
is your toughness now?” The stubble from
his light beard moved along her cheek, and she shivered. “I thought you were going to speak the
language I understand.”
As
he continued to hold her in front of him, Lexi thought that kicking him in the
balls might be the only language left.
She hadn’t noticed her hands curling in the open collar of his shirt,
her remaining defense before she fell to her knees, and her fingers were
tickled by the dark curls beneath. He
murmured something in her ear that was close to the Italian she dreamed in, but
she couldn’t understand the words before a loud alarm sounded in the office and
he cursed. He turned their bodies so
that she was held up by the desk when he let her go before he shoved his dick
into his pants and zipped up as he walked behind them to look at the monitors
displaying the club, inside and out. He
repeated the explicative before grabbing her hand. Without stopping his stride, Giovanni drug
her from the office. “Let’s go.”
“Go? Where?”
Lexi stumbled after him into the alley that the exit door opened
to. A smoky gray Portofino with the top
missing sat alone facing the street, and he threw her in the passenger side
before walking around to the driver’s door.
“Anywhere
but here.” Giovanni went to turn the car
on when they both saw the line of police.
“Fucking son-of-a-bitch.”
Her
brain on autopilot, Lexi looked at the tight interior. “Take your seat as far back as it will go.”
Barely
giving her mind, he exhaled a guttural breath.
“I’m not running down a dozen cops who can’t pin anything on me in a
fucking alley.” He raised his eyes in
surprise when Lexi pulled her already short dress higher in order to straddle
him in the narrow front seat. “I’m up
for a lot, baby girl, but this isn’t really the time or place.”
“It’s
better to have a reason to be in the alley when they get here.” Her pulse was pounding as she leaned her head
forward, her mouth hovering over his.
“Plausible deniability of anything possibly illegal going on
inside. You’re just a guy in his car in
a public space. Misdemeanor at
best.” She swallowed down the fear and
felt excitement in its place. What the
hell was she doing?
One
of his hands was already burying itself in her hip and the other gripped the
back of her neck, bringing her the remaining distance needed for their mouths
to meet. She could feel him pushing
against the tightly tailored slacks as she sat in his lap. His lips were softer than she thought those
of a killer should be, but that was all that was soft about him. He crushed her against him, forcing her mouth
open with his tongue and probing spaces she was desperate to keep hidden.
Ten
years. Ten years of empty. Of nothing.
Of cold. Ten years of numb were wiped
away in those seconds when Giovanni Masseretti became her air. He had been a name in Sam’s stories, a face
from a photograph, the villain of her adulthood, and now he was the one thing that
had woken her from a sleep that she hadn’t believed it possible to open her
eyes from. His kisses demanded that she
yield while her body told him that nothing about her would be easy, and he
bruised her with his rough hands against her supple waist. They weren’t only opposites; they were
star-crossed. The only thing she needed
more than him was to never lay eyes on him again.
Lexi
curled her fingers into his shirt and one of the buttons opened lower, giving
her access to his chest where that hand buried itself in the dark hair that
spilled out. She used her other to
balance herself where his upper thigh met his torso. She heard a policeman slap the glass of the
closed window although he could have easily called out to them and the
convertible would have carried his voice.
“The fuck, Masseretti!”
“Almost,”
Giovanni said, pulling away from Lexi and giving the cop a once over. “If you hadn’t interrupted, perhaps sooner
rather than later.”
“Get
out of the car-”
“What
the hell! What are you doing?” Even from fifty feet away, Lexi recognized
the FBI shield that hung from the approaching man. She didn’t know who he was, but he was
definitely an agent and he was pissed.
She almost responded when she realized he wasn’t looking at her but
rather at the police officer who looked almost as annoyed.
“Who
the fuck are you?” The cop toggled
between the car and the suited man with a gun and badge pointed at him.
The
agent was young- even Lexi knew better than to yell undercover business in
front of strangers- but he was also incensed, and that made for a loose
tongue. “You’re ruining a well-placed
sting. And why? To bust some guy in an alley with his
girlfriend!” He looked at the car with
disgust, either because he recognized the guy
in the alley or because the idea of what the police had interrupted pissed
him off even more than his screwed up sting.
“Get the fuck out of here before I call my boss and have your pension.”
Lexi
was surprised. Why would the police raid
one of Masseretti’s clubs? Even had they
suspected prostitution or drugs, it would have been a combined effort with the
FBI. If the feds were running a sting
nearby- on the club or elsewhere- there would have been an organized effort to
make sure that neither crossed paths.
Something would have been rescheduled.
Why were the police here in force at all?
She
looked at the officer and the cop gave her a glare. Her cheeks burned with shame. What was she doing, straddled and practically
on-the-clothes-fucking a stranger in a car?
Had her father been the one stumbling upon her, he would have been
disgusted, too. She stole another glance
at the cop again when he cursed under his breath and looked at the driver of
the Ferrari with anger.
Giovanni
waved with the hand from the back of her neck.
“I think those are your exit orders,” he glanced at the man’s rank,
“Sergeant,” before he pulled Lexi back to him while the man turned and stalked
with rage down the alleyway. “Where were
we, bambina?”
“We,” she said, breathing heavily against
his lips, “were nowhere, and I think I just heard my own exit orders.” She tried to extricate her body from his, but
he held her against him. His erection
pushed against her panties while his lower hand inched her dress higher up her
legs. “I’m leaving. You can let me go now.”
“I
don’t often make errors in judgment.” He
didn’t bother with acknowledging her declaration. The hand on her neck curled into the hair he
had caused to fall down, and Giovanni bit the bottom of her lip
suggestively. “Maybe there is a job for
you here after all.”
“I
don’t think so,” Lexi said, still struggling to back away and ultimately giving
up as she sat in his lap. She gave a
slight shove to his chest, and he replied with the smirk she had seen at the
bar. “I’ve seen the way you treat your
staff. You were right the first
time. You’ve saved me a lot of effort
and probably saved yourself from my foot to your palle, Signore Masseretti.”
“Gio,”
he corrected, his hand still woven in her mahogany waves so that he could pull
her into the space she had only recently vacated. He pressed his lips to hers as he talked, and
her heart decided it could pump faster.
His voice dropped, that accent curling around her cold like a flame and
pushing at it. “And I would much rather
have your tongue than your foot.”
“Keep
dreaming.”
He
laughed and damn her if it wasn’t the sexiest thing Lexi had heard in months-
years. It was almost sexier than the way
he called her baby girl and moved his
hands through all of her secrets. She
looked into his eyes and they burned her, as though he could see right through
her.
The
police were slowly wandering down the sidewalk at the end of the alley. Based on the increase in noise, the club had
already started to discharge its people onto the street. If she didn’t leave now, Lexi might not be
able to force herself to stay away from him and that was a huge problem. “I need to go,” she whispered.
He
was going to argue but stopped when the exit door swung open. One of the bouncers she had seen before at the
bar leaned out, looking around wildly before yelling, “Gio!” and rattling off
his anger.
Giovanni’s
hand was no longer rough against her hair.
Instead, he caressed her like a child with a treasured doll. He just watched her, ignoring the bouncer,
and she felt naked in front of him. Lexi
had no choice but to look away before the night caused her entire plan to fall
apart. This time, although his other
hand was still on her waist, he didn’t stop her from lowering into the
passenger seat.
He
sighed when he finally let her go in order to get out of the car, and Lexi
straightened her skirt while Giovanni walked around to open her door. “It’s only now six o’clock,” he said, using
his body to block her from walking away when she stood. “Don’t you have an appointment to keep?”
“Give
my regards to Freddy.” Lexi tried to
slip around him, but Giovanni gripped her wrist.
His
voice was low. “I’m not used to not
having what I want.”
“That
must be very frustrating for you- to be faced with something you want and can’t
have.” She wasn’t sure where the comment
came from but, when he gave her a seductive chuckle and tipped his head back to
see something in her that she didn’t recognize, she lifted her arm so that his
eyes found the wrist he held. “Goodbye, Mister Masseretti.”
“It
seems not only the men are hard of hearing here: Giovanni.” His fingers relaxed and she pulled her wrist
from his grasp with a grin at his reply.
“Goodbye,
Giovanni.” She wasn’t sure that he would
let her leave, but she easily walked around him, only stopping midway down the
alley when he spoke.
“You didn’t tell me your name.”
Instead of answering, she blew him a kiss over her shoulder and kept walking.