Damian's pov
Friday 30th July 2021
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"Did you miss me?" Adrian asks, his sinister smile fresh in my mind.
I try to run away but I can't move, my limbs are frozen in fear as Adrian approaches me. I try to close my eyes so I can't see him but I just can't, I have to watch him walk towards me with his whip in hand.
"Don't try and leave slave, I'm not done with you," he growls.
"Leave me alone!" I shout but he doesn't stop.
Then I see Vinny. He's tied to a cross with a panicked look. Adrian is stood behind him with his whip that ruined Marcus' back. I try to shout as he lifts his arm to crack the whip but no noise comes out. I try to get to my love as he screams from the whip's pain.
"Leave him! Stop!" I yell as Adrian hits Vincent over and over with the cruel whip. There's blood everywhere as I try to run to help him.
"Wake up mi amore!" Vinny shouts, his hands on my shoulders as he shakes me awake. I quickly sit up in bed and look around the room but Adrian isn't here. I look at Vinny who has a concerned expression on his face.
"Are you okay mi amore?" He asks as his hand cups my cheek and wipes away a tear that's fallen down my face.
"I'm fine, it was just a nightmare," I answer in a weak voice. My body is trembling as images of Vincent being hurt fill my mind.
"What was it about?" He asks. I shake my head and close my eyes as I try to forget the dream. "Please talk to me."
"It was about Adrian," I say and he looks confused before he remembers who Adrian is.
"He is dead now, he cannot hurt you," Vinny says as he pulls me to his chest and lays down while hugging me.
"I know, but I never went to his grave so my mind hasn't clicked that he's dead. I didn't even go to see him in prison," I say as Vincent strokes my hair.
"Maybe you should go to his grave. Then your mind will know he is gone now," he says.
"Will you come with me?" I ask him and he nods.
"Do you want to talk about what happened in your nightmare?" He asks carefully.
"Not really, I'd rather just forget it," I say and he says okay.
"Do you want to go now or later? It is starting to get light," he says and I look to the clock where it says 6:34am.
"We might as well get up now, I don't think I can go back to sleep," I say and we both get up. Vinny yawns as we go to the bathroom attached to my room.
We slept at my house last night after a kinky night in my playroom. I admire all the hickeys on Vincent's body as he turns the shower on and picks up his toothbrush. I go to the toilet and relive myself as Vinny brushes his teeth while he looks at the dark marks down his neck. I wash my hands and he makes eye contact with me in the mirror and smiles. How does he manage to cheer me up this easily.
We both do our morning routine and shower together before we put some clothes on. I know which graveyard Adrian is at so I drive the car there. My nerves are through the roof when I get to the car park.
"I'm scared," I admit.
"Is is okay mi amore, I am here," Vinny says as he holds my hand. I take a deep breath to calm down and he kisses the back of my hand.
"Will you promise to hold my hand the whole time?" I ask and he nods.
"I have to let go now so we can get out of the car but I will hold it again," he says seriously and I let out a small laugh. We both get out of the car and Vincent grabs my hand again.
I'm not sure where his grave is so we wander down the path together, looking at all the headstone names to find Adrian's. Vincent stops walking and points to one that has no flowers and a small headstone. I step closer and see it says Adrian Matthews.
"Is this it?" Vin asks and I nod, my mouth suddenly dry. He doesn't say anything else as I stare at the grave.
He's really dead.
He's never going to hurt me or my family again. Marcus is safe, Vinny is safe, I'm safe.
"Are you alright?" Vinny asks.
"I'm okay my love," I answer and squeeze his hand gently.
"How did you cope with what he did to you?" Vincent asks me curiously.
"I didn't really, Marcus was much worse off so I focused on helping him and neglected my own feelings. When Marcus tried to kill himself I was overcome by guilt so I nearly hanged myself. Then eventually I went to see Orion properly and he helped me deal with my guilt. I get urges to self harm still, but he gave me alternatives that won't leave marks," I say while I look at the gravestone.
"What alternatives?" He asks as he rests his head against my shoulder.
"I usually hold ice. It hurts without leaving marks. I haven't done that in months, since I met you actually. You keep me safe," I say and he smiles.
"I am happy you are happy now. Ti amo," he says.
"I love you too."
"If you ever try to hurt yourself again, please tell me and I can help," he says firmly.
"I will. I promise," I say and kiss his head.
"He is lucky he is dead, I would have made him suffer," Vincent says with the deadly look in his eyes.
"I know you would, now can we leave? I don't want to be here any longer," I say and Vincent starts walking us back to the car. I pick up my phone when Vincent says he'll drive us home and see Cole has texted me.
Cole: Marcus is being mean.
I laugh and show Vincent the text as he starts the car.
Me: what has he done?
Cole: he woke me up to go for a run with Nathan
Me: I'm surprised Marcus is awake
Cole: he promised Nathan we would go with him but I'm staying at home. Are you with Vinny?
Me: I am
Cole: can you both come over? I'll make you breakfast
Me: we'll be ten minutes
"We're going to see Cole," I say and Vin changes the direction he was driving.
"Why is he awake?"
"Marcus made him get up to go for a run with him and Nathan but Cole changed his mind so we're going to keep him company. He's making us breakfast too," I say and Vin smiles.
"Cole makes nice food," he says.
"Do I not make nice food?" I ask him in a serious voice and he quickly backtracks.
"No no I love the food you make I was just-"
"I'm joking Vinny, I know I make nicer food than Cole because I taught him how to make most of his meals," I say and he glares at me.
"You panicked me! I thought you were mad," he grumbles.
"I'm sorry my love, please forgive me?" I ask and lift his knuckles to my lips so I can kiss them.
"I forgive you," he says with a cute smile.
We get to the club and I ring the doorbell, positioning Vinny in front of me so Cole tackles him instead. The door swings open and Cole hugs Vincent and then me tightly. He shows us to the kitchen where he's making breakfast for us.
"So why are you up this early?" Cole asks.
"We went to Adrian's grave," I say and Cole stops stirring the eggs to look at me.
"Are you alright?" He asks me.
"I'm fine, it helps to know that he is actually dead," I say and he smiles.
"He got what he deserved," Cole says firmly and turns back around to the stove.
"What are you making us?" Vincent asks to change the subject.
"Eggs, bacon, toast, sausages, and beans," he says as he points at each thing with his wooden spoon.
"Sounds lovely," Vin says.
"Pour yourself some orange juice, the food is nearly done," Cole says. I get three glasses out and pour the juice as Vinny sits at the table. When I put the glasses on the table Vinny kisses my cheek and smiles at me. I sit beside him as Cole brings the plates over and sits opposite us.
I try some of the eggs on my plate and hum happily at the lovely taste.
"You're getting good at cooking," I say and Cole smiles proudly.
"Thank you, I was taught by the best," he says. "Marcus is a great teacher."
"Hey! I taught you most of this, and I taught Marcus," I say and Cole smirks.
"I guess, you're basically Marcus' dad so I got your secondhand teaching," he says. He gasps loudly and I brace myself for whatever he's about to say. "That makes Vinny Marcus' step dad!"
I burst out laughing and Vinny looks confused.
"Step dad?" He asks me. "I only know those words separately."
"Stepdad is the word for someone who marries someone with a child. They aren't their full dad so they are called a stepdad," I explain and Vinny nods.
"The Italian word is patrigno," he says.
"Wait until I tell Marcus!" Cole says excitedly.
"Just eat your breakfast before it gets cold," I say and he gets back to eating his food. I notice Vinny looking up at me with a sad smile and I frown at him. He waves me off and keeps eating his breakfast. I'll talk to him about it later.
Thankfully the front door opens to distract us all as Marcus and Nathan walk in and look confused we're here.
"You're back! I made breakfast," Cole says as he points to their plates on the counter.
"Why are Damian and Vincent here?" Marcus asks as he takes off his running shoes.
"I was lonely so I asked them to come over, now we can all hang out," Cole replies with a smile.
"That's Nice of you," Nathan says as he leaves a kiss on Coles cheek then gets his breakfast. They both sit down and tell Cole the food is really good.
"You know what we figured out?" Cole says to Marcus with a cheeky grin.
"Do I want to know?" He asks with a sceptical look.
"Yes. You know how Damian is like your adoptive dad?" Cole starts. Nathan must know where this is going because he gets the same mischievous look.
"Yes?" Marcus says warily.
"So that makes Vinny your stepdad," Cole smirks. Marcus looks at me with a pointed look and I hold my hands up in defence.
"I didn't have a say in that, it was all them two," I say and point to them.
"Vincent isn't my stepdad, he's more than ten years younger than me," Marcus grumbles as he takes a bite of his toast.
"He's still technically your stepdad, Damian just dates really younger guys," Nathan says.
"You can't say anything, Cole's the same age as Vinny," I say.
"Yeah but I'm not 43," Nathan says and Cole gasps.
"Let's not bring age into this, I'm still young enough to put you in your place," I tease and Nathan laughs.
"I'd like to see you try old man," Nathan says and Vinny's eyes widen as he looks between us.
"Are you serious? You're a twig next to me," I say and Nathan opens his mouth to argue but Marcus interrupts.
"Enough! I'll accept that Vincent is my stepdad if you stop threatening each other," he says sternly. Nathan may be a dominant but he's never looked more like a sub than now.
"Yes Marcus," he says. Marcus looks at me with a firm look and I sigh.
"Sorry Nathan, you're not a twig," I apologise and he nods.
"Thank you."
We all enjoy the rest of our food without more teasing and instead talk about Cole's upcoming modelling shoot. Vinny thinks it's so cool that Cole models so thankfully we stay on that topic until we're all finished eating. I offer to help wash up but Cole covers it as Marcus and Nathan go shower off the sweat from their run.
Me and Vinny sit on the couch and I decide to ask about his sad look he had before.
"Why did you look sad earlier?" I ask him.
"It is nothing," he says as he lifts my arm to wrap around him.
"It must be something, you can talk to me," I say and he sighs.
"Have you ever thought about having kids?" He asks as he looks at me.
"I don't know. I've never been in a serious relationship before you so it's never really crossed my mind," I say honestly.
"I just saw how you were with Cole and I thought you would make an amazing dad. But I do not know if we could ever have kids," he says as he hides his face in my chest.
"Don't worry about things like that yet. If we ever decide to have children we can always adopt," I say and he hums.
"But I do not want to bring a child into the mafia," he says quietly.
"There is ways around that," I say.
"What if I am a terrible Papà? What if I am like Antonio?"
"Please don't stress my love, we will deal with that when we get there," I say and kiss his forehead. "You are the most amazing person I've ever met, you'll be a great papà."
"You think so?"
"I know so. I love you so much."
And in that moment, I decide that I'm going to collar him. It's too early to ask him to marry me but I can make the first step and make him my permanent submissive.