Tyson ~
I slammed the door so hard I thought it might break off its hinges as I stormed into the house, brushing past Dane, but too furious to acknowledge him.
"I've been calling you for hours, what the fuck happened?" Dane asked, eyeing me up and down.
"Angelo's men made a second attempt on Lorenzo. A drive by as they were coming out of a restaurant." I managed to bite out.
"Oh shit. Everyone okay?" Dane asked, knowing full well that if the attempt had been successful he would have gotten a call and the families would have met.
"Lorenzo and Gia are okay, but one of my guys took a few rounds to the chest." I added as I aggressively loosened my tie and removed it followed by my blood soaked shirt.
"I'm assuming you caught up with the asshole who took the shots." Dane eyed my blood soaked clothing as I removed it and threw it in the trash.
"That's why I had to leave Onyx in such a rush. And I wasn't nearly as forgiving as I was last night." I growled.
I had no remorse for killing those who tried to take the lives of innocents. Gia would never hurt a fly and her children adore her, yet she's being hunted like an animal due to the sins of her husband. It just hit too close to home and my thoughts took me to the darkest place of my mind, the place that housed the memories of my own parents brutal murder that happened right in front of me. I watched my mother beg for her life and heard her panicked, desperate screams every time I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep.
Cracking my neck from side to side, I tried to rid myself of thoughts of my mother, knowing if my mind stayed there too long it would consume me.
Dane followed me into my bedroom as I stripped down to my boxers and harshly scrubbed at my face in the sink.
"I'm fuckng beat. I need to sleep for a few hours." I grumbled as I dried my face and ran my hand through my hair a couple of times.
"Want me to order you some food?" Dane offered, watching me as I sunk myself down onto my king sized bed.
"Too tired to eat." I mumbled into my pillow.
"Alright, man. Rest up." Dane said, tapping the door frame.
"How's our girl?" I asked against the fabric of my pillow case, too tired to lift my head.
Dane's mouth curled into a smile before he answered.
"Fucking perfect. I took her out to lunch then sent her shopping with my card to pick something out for Thursday."
The joy in Dane's voice had me downright jealous, but I knew I'd get my time on Thursday.
"Good." I muttered.
"And listen I've got something I want to discuss with you later." Dane added.
"About Kinsley?"
"Yeah."
"Alright, let me catch a few hours and then we can talk about whatever you want. I can't fucking think straight right now."
Without another word, Dane flicked the light off and shut the door, leaving me to battle myself for sleep the way I often did. It seemed to matter how exhausted I was, my inner demons always felt the need to protest sleep, but I doubted my body's resistance would last long. I was physically spent and couldn't barely hold my eyes open, so I didn't try.
Laying on my stomach, I tried to relax all of my muscles, but my mind still raced, showing me nothing but images of the blood covered bodies of my parents once my eyelids finally closed. I jerked my head in response, trying to rid myself of the scene and decided to focus on something much more pleasant instead, something beautiful and delicate. I focused on Kinsley - the taste of her skin and the feel of her body pressed against mine. I pictured those big bright eyes and felt some of the hatred I was harboring melt away just enough to let sleep take hold of me.
*******
I was shocked when my eyes opened four hours later, having slept like a damn rock without stirring or waking once, which was rare and completely out of character for me.
Sitting up slowly, I stretched the overworked muscles in my upper body, balling and flexing my swollen, bruised hands as I groaned and stood.
"You cooked?" I asked Dane in disbelief as I made my way into the kitchen.
"Are you fucking serious? No, Ma brought it over." Dane scoffed with a mammoth sized portion of food on his plate.
Dane's mother had always taken care of us and stepped in when my parents were killed, taking me in and accepting me as if I were hers. Dane's entire family took hold of me when I needed them and tried their best to comfort my tortured soul. That's one reason why Dane and I were so close, having lived under the same roof since we were eleven years old.
When I stopped talking and rapidly lost friends in school, Dane was always there. He was steadfast and loyal when my world was falling apart and I was only able to repay the favor when Dane's sister was killed. A stray bullet that was meant for Dane struck Sofia in her bed while she slept and at the age of sixteen I hunted the gunman down like the blood thirsty animal I was and took his life for his crimes. It was the only thing I was good at and I perfected my skills and channeled my hatred, until eventually all six families decided that my rage could be used to their advantage, putting me in charge of the multiple security details that protected each family member and their businesses.
"You okay?" Dane asked, always checking on my mental state after a rough job.
"Nothing food and sleep can't fix." I grumbled. "But on a serious note, Angelo has lost his damn mind and we all need to tighten up. I'm putting extra men on each family member and putting extra eyes on every business. Fucker is out for blood and we can't afford to be caught off guard, so keep your eyes open when you're at the club."
Dane was seething, glaring down at his meal as my words sunk in. We didn't tolerate being targeted and Dane had a dark side of his own that he looked like he was struggling to control.
"You gotta end this motherfucker." Dane growled without looking at me.
"Yeah well he's not the first rival who's come after the families and won't be the last. I've got it under control, but I need you to keep your fucking head on straight and be aware of your damn surroundings when you're at the club or anywhere else for that matter."
"I hear you." Dane muttered, disliking being told what to do.
"So what'd you want to talk to me about?" I asked, shoveling food into my mouth and closed my eyes, savoring the bite in my mouth.
Damn it Isabella can fucking cook.
"Kinsley...I want to deviate." Dane said flatly.
What the hell?
"Deviate?" I said through gritted teeth, letting the worst case scenario flash through my thoughts, but there was no way Dane had changed his mind, not after today.
"Yeah, I just...after today I can't stop thinking that one night with Kinsley isn't going to be enough for me. Not by a long shot."
Thank God.
"It all just feels...different." Dane added, studying my face for a reaction.
"I agree." I grumbled, wondering where this was all going.
"I don't know man, I want to take our time with her, get to know her and introduce everything to her slowly. A woman like Kinsley needs to be savored, not rushed." Dane said, and while I agreed with every word he said, I had no idea what that meant for us. We had never pursued a woman for this long, much less slept with one woman more than once, but what Dane was suggesting sounded an awful lot like...dating.
"So what are you saying? You want to date her?" I scoffed.
"Yes." Dane's answer was immediate, without any hesitation.
Dating? Was he serious? We'd never dated anyone before and it could ruin our whole dynamic. The idea was insane and completely out of my comfort zone...so why did it sound so appealing?
"What would that even look like?" I asked, noticing how Dane grinned widely when I didn't immediately shoot the idea down.
"Hell, I don't know. We'd have to have rules, just like we do when we play." Dane said, running through the possibility in his mind and working out the logistics.
"Agreed" I affirmed, knowing we'd have to set parameters for how we spent time with her. Some days would be his and others would be mine and other's we'd share, just like when we played.
"Do you think she'd ever agree to something like that?" I asked, letting the idea take hold in my mind.
"I think she would, but it might take a little convincing on our part." Dane said confidently.
Are we really having this conversation right now? Talking about the logistics of a relationship with one woman?
"We said we'd never do this, you know." I chuckled, shaking my head.
Dane started laughing as well, understanding how ridiculous we were being considering the fact that we'd never deviated from our routine. Not ever.
"Yeah well I've never felt what I feel for Kinsley, before." Dane said sincerely.
"I'm with you on that one." I echoed, running my hands through my hair.
"So we're really doing this?" I asked with a mixture of disbelief and excitement
"Yeah, we've just gotta see if our girl would be open to the idea. I was thinking we could test the waters and talk to her about it on Thursday at dinner."
"Jesus." I scoffed, trying and failing to picture what this was all going to be like.
"Who the fuck are we right now?" Dane chuckled.
"Hell if I know." I said with a slight laugh.
We finished our dinner together, talking through the logistics and rules that we wanted to set in place for each other if all of this was going to work. It was new and exhilarating, I just hoped our girl would want us as badly as we wanted her.