Song: Tank - When We (slowed + reverb)
𝔚𝔚𝔚
Nico
I never understood the obsession with submission.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, took pleasure from it, but that was to a certain extent.
It got boring quickly.
And the good girl fantasy so many romanticized? Didn't fucking like it. You couldn't fuck a good girl the way I did.
But Bambi, she wasn't just the good girl type. She was the perfect angel type. The new born in a cruel world type. The impressionable and naive type.
The type that was so helpless and clueless it got to a point where it pissed me off.
But I'd be lying if I say I didn't consider the possibility.
"Then show me."
I was a pessimist not a masochist.
And when she was blinking up at me through those big fucking Bambi eyes, completely oblivious to what she was asking of me, I knew a complete fool would pass up the opportunity she presented.
I couldn't help myself, not when she was standing before me in a thin little tank top, her hard nipples faintly poking through the thin silk of her top and her eyes clouding with desire. She didn't even know what she was feeling and I'd never wanted to show someone pleasure like I wanted to in that moment.
Truth is, when she wasn't opening that mouth of hers or looking like a scared little deer, she was a man's wet dream.
Sinfully attractive, the perfect amount of ass- big enough to grab and hold onto. The perfect length of hair-long enough to wrap around my fist.
Objectively speaking, she was my type of girl. The type that I'd fuck if I saw her in a little black dress in one of my clubs. I'd maybe even consider fucking her again.
But I wasn't stupid enough to mix business with pleasure, especially not with someone like her. It would complicate things. She'd get attached and I didn't need that.
I needed to go on about my business and take care of my shit. I had seven pages of names to cross off and a runaway that needed to be found and killed.
"Teach me. I can learn."
I was no where near morally righteous but even I knew that there were implications to my actions.
If I indulged in the little Virgin Mary, I'd have to go about it differently.
I couldn't fuck her and dump her, it'd break her pathetic little heart and I didn't need her moping around. Not when I still needed to figure out what she was hiding.
I needed to get close enough to earn her trust, but not close enough for her to start needing me.
The way I saw it, she was an opportunity. An expensive puzzle piece that could get me ahead.
And then there was the other possibility that swam around in my head, what if she could be of more use than I was planning on her being?
She was new to the world and I'd seen first hand just how impressionable and naive she was. Her impressionability was dangerous and sadly for her, it had landed into the wrong hands. My hands.
I never claimed to be a good person, nor did I have any redeemable qualities. And Josiphina Dumont was everything I wasn't.
Kind, innocent, trusting and somewhere between seeing her for the very first time and watching the light dim in her eyes when she fired a gun at me, I realized something.
I really fucking wanted to corrupt her. Ruin her.
I wanted to shove her into my world, isolate her and watch her suffer and crack. Watch that perfect little Angel attitude burn to the ground and after I'd gotten what I wanted from her, I'd sit back and watch her burn.
But until then, she needed someone she could trust. Someone she could turn to. Someone who she thought was on her side. Someone that gave a shit.
And so I'd pretend.
I'd pretend that I believed the little lie she told me about being Wes' cousin. I'd do what Rosso did best and wait. Wait until she thought she got away with lying to me. Wait until she thought she was safe and then I'd pounce.
And maybe she didn't deserve what I had in store for her. Maybe fate had planned for her to be in good hands. Hands that would look after her. Cherish her. Love her.
But I also dabbled in the business of intercepting fate to make things work in my favour.
. . .
Not only did I fucking hate not being able to drink, but I also feared that the break from alcohol would affect my intolerance and worst of all, turn me into someone like Sammy.
A lightweight.
He'd only had two martinis since we'd returned from our rounds collecting profits and he's already as tipsy as a college girl thirty minutes into her first frat party.
I don't know when he deemed it as acceptable to be drinking on the job but I found myself wanting to strangle his chatty ass.
"You shoulda fucking been there, man."
Ignoring him like I've been doing all night, I throw the duffel bags onto the coffee table and fold up my sleeves while I hear him stumble towards the alcohol cart in the corner of the room.
"Leave my shit alone." I throw over my shoulder, my voice instantly causing him to turn around and walk back towards me looking like a kicked puppy.
And once again I debate on strangling the kicked puppy look off his face. And just like a fucking puppy his attention span is inexistent because the next thing I know, he's spinning towards the foyer a large grin on his face.
"Ay! Rosie!" Sammy slurs as he stumbles back and onto the seat to my left on the sofa. I rest my elbows on my knees and reach forward into the duffle and start to pull out the cash we needed to count. But I pause to flicker my eyes up to see Bambi's form rushing towards the hallway.
At the sound of Sammy's voice her body jumps and she turns towards us, her arms tightening around the black folder in her hands. Her eyes darting to me.
My eyes narrow at the move, had it been any other person with normal capabilities to remain casual, I'd have thought the move was too obvious to be alarming. But considering it was Bambi, I knew she genuinely thought she was being discrete.
How the fuck had she survived this long in the world?
"It's Josie..." She mumbles, her eyes flickering to mine in a mix of alarm and fear.
Good.
I liked it when she was scared of me. But I also realised that I liked it when she got smart with me.
"Apple juice for M'Lady?" Comes Sammy's voice and I side eye him to see the fucker holding up a bottle of beer and I furrow my brows at him.
Did he pull that shit out of his ass? I didn't have cheap beer lying around here.
"Oh, no thank you." She chuckles, her body inching back towards the hallway. "Sugar before bed will call for a horrible sleep."
Sammy leans back, folding his arms behind his head and lifting his feet up to rest on my coffee table. "Who said anything about sleeping?"
"I just did." Bambi's confused voice rings through the room but I'm too focused on staring at Sammy's nasty feet on my perfectly clean coffee table.
He definitely had more to drink, he was shitfaced and I'm proven right when he smiles to himself. "Maybe we could do that together."
I watch Bambi purse her lips and shake her head. "I don't think you'd like that very much. I'm a very heavy sleeper and quite frankly, I get restless and sometimes violent at night." And then she takes another step back to leave.
I move my eyes to watch her and right when I'm about to speak, Sammy's obnoxious voice rings through. "So what you're telling me is you like it rough in bed?"
Not only does he have absolutely no game, but Bambi doesn't even seem to realise what he's doing, not with the way her face is scrunched up in confusion like she's trying to understand him.
"I think you've lost me there. Why would I like to sleep in a rough bed when I can sleep on a soft one?"
I heave a sigh and turn to stuff the cash I'd taken out back into the duffle bag. I wasn't getting shit done tonight, not when I was stuck with these two dumbasses.
"I'm not talking about sleep. I'm talking about us fuc-"
But before he can pop her little bubble of ignorance, I decide I'm done with Sammy's bullshit.
Besides she was mine to corrupt.
"Out." I grit. "She's not gonna catch on." And Sammy instantly sombers up and stands, but not before sending a wink towards her.
"Give it some time, sweetheart-"
I don't even let him finish, instead I grab onto the back of his neck and drag him towards the foyer.
I push his body towards the elevator and I can hear the light putter patter of footsteps from behind me. "Stop." I command and when her footsteps halt, I turn around and stare at her back as she freezes in her spot.
Shaking my head, I tsk her, "Come here." Her body tenses and she slowly turns back towards me, the large folder hugged to her chest as she steps closer.
I take the time to walk over towards the armchair in the corner of the room. Yesterday she was giving me attitude and today she was acting all shy?
I lightly shake my head, smiling at her contrasting personalities but she surprises me when she speaks from behind me. "What am I not going to catch onto?"
Taking a seat on the armchair, I lean back and look up at her form that's slowly walking towards me, I let my eyes leisurely trail her body.
She was in a pair of tight little jeans that no doubtedly hugged her ass and some floral shitty top.
The top was too bright and hideous in my opinion. But it hugged her body in a way that made it bearable to look at. Granted my gaze didn't linger for long, seeing as the black folder was covering most of it.
"He wants to fuck you." I say as I eye what seems to be a sketchbook in her hand. I flicker my gaze back up to her face and realize she's still a good distance away from me. "Closer." I murmur distractedly as I watch her face. "You know what that means, yeah?"
And by the red flush covering her cheeks, I know she's got an idea of what I mean.
She takes another step closer and I lean father back into my chair, spreading my legs out wide as I can. Welcoming her closer and she walks so close that she's stand in between them.
I rest my elbow on the arm of the chair and bring my index finger to rub at my bottom lip, trying to erase the urge to reach for a glass of whiskey. "Whats in the folder, Bambi."
Her arms tighten around it, "Nothing." And once again, her face betrays her.
I chuckle and lean forward, swiping the large folder from her hands in one fast motion. "You're gonna need to work on your poker face."
She moves forward and tries to grab it from my hand but I raise a brow, effectively stopping her. But her hand still balls into a fist and my lips twitch as I follow the movement. The last time her hands did that she shot me.
"Now, you gonna give me a warning of what's in here?" I question, leaning back into my chair and staring up at her.
Her face reddens completely and she looks away from me. "I just got bored." And then she scratches the back of her neck, seeming to get fidgety and my curiosity only peeks. "I-It's stupid really."
"Stupid?" I repeat, my lips tilting. "Never took you for a curser." I drawl, my voice filled with humor. I liked fucking with her and with the way her eyes widen at me, I know I'm getting a reaction out of her.
"I am not." She hisses in outrage.
I hum, amused as I turn back to the folder and open it to the pages filled with drawings and sketches. I wouldn't have thought anything of them had I not stumbled to the last, most recent filled out page to see multiple intricate sketches.
Sketches of my tattoo's.
My tattoos weren't simple. Aside from all the names tattooed on various parts of me, there was only one person skilled enough to draw the ink I put on my body.
My shoulders tense as I glance at one particular sketch in the middle of the page. It was larger than the rest of the sketches. She'd somehow managed to draw it perfectly. She'd even managed the same scribbled up handwriting and everything.
I tear the large sheet from the sketchbook and slam it shut before tossing the sketchbook towards the coffee table. She watches me, her lips parting about to protest but I cut her off by standing to my full height before her.
"Why?" I demand, staring down at her. Although my voice is harsh, I'm more curious than I am angry.
She swallows thickly and takes a step back. I take one forward. This goes on until her back hits a nearby wall and she's forced to answer me.
"I liked them and thought they were pretty." She whispers, her eyes moving to stare ahead at my chest.
My eyes drift back towards the sheet that I'm gripping in my hand, and my gaze goes to the one in particular that's got me so rattled. It's so effortlessly drawn out and something crawls it's way up into my chest but I push the sick feeling back down.
"There's nothing pretty about dead flowers." I grit out, forcing my eyes away from the sheet and back towards Bambi.
"I was just curious about that one." She mumbles and like a siren, my eyes are drawn back to the sketch in the centre of the page. The handwriting is the same. She even got the words engraved into the petals right.
A los ángeles no les importan las flores muertas.
(Angels don't care for dead flowers.)
The next thing I know, my fist is balling the piece of paper up into a ball and I force my mind away from a place I hated going.
I look back up at Bambi, who's staring at my hand, her face scrunched up in disappointment. Or maybe it was hurt. I didn't give a shit. Instead, I throw the ball into the air, making sure it lands somewhere behind me.
No matter how innocent her intentions were with these drawings. I couldn't have it. They were far too intimate to be shared, not to mention, If they ended up in the wrong hands, shit would hit the fan.
"Keep me out of your shitty little drawings." I spit, eyeing her face. They weren't shitty. They were good. But she didn't need to know that.
Her shoulders slump and a flicker of something resembling hurt flickers through her eyes and my jaw tightens.
Why did she have to wear her heart out on her fucking sleeve for everyone within a ten mile radius to see? Had she ever heard of a fucking poker face?
"Yeah, sorry." She mumbles, making a move to walk past me but I place a hand on the wall next to her head, stopping her.
"You see this is your problem. You allow yourself to get upset over a shitty little comment I made." She pauses and I watch her face harden. Good, I could deal with anger.
She points a accusing finger at my chest. "You compared my sketches to feces!"
I raise a brow. "And why does it bother you so much?" I tilt my head and scan her face. Her cheeks are getting rosy and it's because I'm working her up. "Does my opinion actually matter that much to you?"
She tilts her chin up at me, crossing her arms. "It doesn't."
My other brow raises in question and her shoulders square as she levels me with what I assume to be a glare. Cute.
"Why should I care what someone like you thinks? You couldn't even tell art from bull feces." She spits, her voice hard and filled with that attitude I had gotten a glimpse of yesterday.
A smile threatens to break out on my face but I merely offer her a small smirk, "You shouldn't."
Her rosy little cheeks puff and she gets up on her tippy toes to get up in my face, her finger poking at my chest between each word as if to drive her point further. "I. Don't."
I dip my head so that I can stare into her big brown eyes that are currently glaring at me. "Okay." I murmur.
"Okay." She repeats firmly, her eyes flickering down to my lips that are smirking down at her and it's like she suddenly realizes how close I am to her.
I didn't know why I constantly cornered her. Perhaps it was the look in her eyes. Or the uneasiness my proximity brought her, or the way she got all nervous and turned into a mess, or the fact that it always gave me the upper hand.
I didn't fucking know.
"Bien." I murmur, my voice lower than before and when she swallows thickly, I decide I'm gonna take the opportunity I'm given. (Spanish| Good)
Like I said, I was going to do whatever it fucking took to get her where I wanted her.
And I wanted her vulnerable.
I dip my head and tilt it so that my words tickle the soft skin of her jaw and I relish in the way her breath hitches.
She smelled of something sweet and floral. It was faint and clean.
I fucking hated it.
I step impossibly closer to her, the shallow rise and fall of her chest falls against mine and I can practically feel her pulse thrumming from how close my body is to hers.
Her trembling hands come to rest on my chest, like she's about to push me away and I wait to see what she's going to do. How far she's going to let me push this.
She doesn't push me away. Instead, her hands turn into fists, balling up the material of my shirt in the process as she exhales. "Bien." She doesn't stutter but her voice wavers and I smile. I've got her right where I wanted her, for now. (Spanish| Good.)
I graze my lips against her jaw, my touch faint and barely even there as I hum out. "Good indeed."
And then because I can, I skim my nose up and down the side of her neck, the soft skin erupting in goosebumps under my touch.
"So responsive." I murmur, my breathing shallowing out as my pulse starts to thrum. The ball of excitement starts to build.
Her body slumps back into the wall and she tilts her head back ever so slightly, giving me more access to the soft skin of her throat where my lips place the lightest of kisses against the skin on their own accord.
I smile at the irony. Here she was opening herself up to me when she should have started running a long time ago.
This was going to be fun.
"Um... Nico?" She exhales heavily, the sound dangerously close to a whimper.
I don't think I've ever heard her say my name and the breathless way in which it comes out of those lips is oddly seductive. Even if she didn't know it.
But there was something about her that excited me. Something about her that was itching to surface. And something told me that behind the naive good girl mask, laid a dormant part of her. "Yeah?" I murmur, my body close, but not touching hers.
Other than the touch of my lips skimming the skin of her jaw and neck, I keep our bodies a hairs space apart.
"What are you doing?" She's already so breathless.
I move my lips towards her ear, her soft hair ticking my nose. "Whatever you want me to." My voice is nothing but a low hum and definitely suggestive enough for her to understand what I'm talking about.
And despite the small, barely there whimper that escapes her lips, I pull back and stare down into her eyes.
I'd only tease and manipulate but she needed to come to me on her own terms. "Do you want me to stop?"
Her curious eyes flicker between mine and my thumb comes up to rub at her flushed cheeks. "Yes-" She breathes and then she shuts her eyes. "I mean no." She blurts, before snapping her eyes open and looking up at me with so much distress. " I don't know...Maybe?"
Maybe.
A maybe left room for hesitation, room for uncertainty. But most of all, a maybe wasn't a yes.
"I just don't know what this entails." She mumbles, motioning between us. Everything about her body language tells me she's on edge and when I look into her eyes all I see is pure curiosity.
It's oddly enthralling.
"It's simple, really." I draw, my eyes flickering across her face until I'm looking into her eyes. "You give yourself to me."
I don't mean for it to come out so possessive. In fact, I wasn't a possessive man, not with people anyways. They were disposable. If I didn't get what I wanted from one, I'd get it from another.
But I realized that if I wanted this to work, I'd need her to submit to me in this way. Give me the control. It guaranteed her trust.
My knuckles lightly skim along the skin of her cheek. She doesn't lean into my touch but she doesn't lean away from it either. "You'd be mine." I murmur, watching her face. "Mine to watch." I move my finger down to trace her jaw. "Mine to please." I breathe, my body leaning closer to hers on its own.
And then I lightly move some of her hair out of her face. I wanted to see the look in her eyes when I told her what I wanted. "Mine to touch." I trail off, gouging her reaction. "However and whenever I want."
It was a stretch, it was highly unlikely for her to accept my proposal so early on. But I was lying out all my cards on the table, the ball was now in her court.
There's a hint of intrigue in her eyes and she shifts in a sign of uncertainty, her hands tightening around my shirt. But she doesn't look like she's about to protest. "You ready for that?" I murmur, knowing damn well she's not.
But when that intrigue turns into fear and discomfort, I take that as answer enough.
I push off her and shake my head. "Didn't fucking think so." I mutter, disappointment that had no right being there making its way up my throat.
"Wait!" Her hands fist the material of my shirt tighter as she pulls me back to face her. "If you want to I can-"
The disappointment turns into frustration and annoyance."It's not a matter of what I want." I snap and she looks down to the ground.
I grip her chin and tilt her face up to mine. "That's not how consent works. It's a clear yes or no. An answer that has to do with what you want. And this time when you answer, stick by it." I know I'm being harsh but she needed to understand her own boundaries.
Consent didn't work when she was clearly going off of what I wanted.
I watch her eyes narrow an inch as if getting fed up with me. "You just caught me off guard. There's no need to be so rude."
I pause and eye her, bemused. And as much as I wanted to put her in her place, she had a point. Plus her short temper was the most interesting thing about her.
My lips twitch and I nod, taking a step back from her. I didn't expect her to say yes. In fact, I expected nothing but question after question. But she gives me none of that.
Instead, she stares up at me in contemplation. Like she's weighing out the pros and cons of what I'm proposing.
To be quite honest, I'm not entirely sure what I'm proposing, but I know I'm going to gain her trust.
I bury my hands into the pockets of my slacks as I send her one last glance. "The offer still stands."
And she stares back at me, her chest heaving and I make out the light imprint of her nipples poking through that hideously floral top of hers.
She was attracted to me physically and although I was somewhat attracted to her body, I wasn't going to let myself mix business with pleasure.
She was strictly business and this arrangement was a loop hole. I'd bring her pleasure to gain her trust. I was getting nothing out of this, nothing that she needed to know about anyways.
Spinning on my heels with a new sense of clarity, I make my way towards the stairs but not before throwing her one last thing over my shoulder.
"I'll be away for a few days on business. You have until I return to decide."
This was going to be easy.
𓆩❤︎𓆪
OKAY DON'T HATE ME FOR LEAVING YALL HANGING.
I just need some more time to edit the next chapter.
But I will tell y'all that it's gonna be the first smut of the story.
Like my other story the smut will get better as the story progresses bc they're not really close rn. But the next chapter is still hot asf.
And I'm hoping to get that out tomorrow or Thursday. ❤️