Page 6 of Never Say Never

I shed my jacket as I walked past the chair and laid it there for Shelly to take to the dry cleaners along with the rest of the pile. I didn't have it in me to actually do laundry, not today. As I tossed the rest of my clothes into the hamper, I stopped at the photos of Dawn that littered my wall. Her wide smile peered back at me, and I reached out to touch one of her dimpled cheeks.

She was my best friend. No one knew me the way that Dawn did.

Had.

When she'd suggested I start exploring my sexuality, I'd thought she was nuts, but in the end, she had been right. Even after I found out the truth, we stayed married, happily. Neither of us were in a rush to change what we had, this wonderful life that we'd built together. But now she was gone.

And I was left alone.

"Hey, sexy, another night alone?" Big doe eyes, pouty lips, and freckles sprinkled over the bridge of his nose popped up in front of me. He leaned heavily against the wall crowding into my space; the warmth radiating off him was welcoming.

I sipped my whiskey, taking in the twink that screamed fuck me. His smirk was a challenge I was more than fit to meet. All it would take was bending him over a table and showing him exactly what heaven felt like. The week had been a bitch; hunting down my own family, making sure the FBI didn't succeed, and trying to figure out who the informant was. To say I needed to release some pent up tension and aggression was to put it lightly. A fantastic fuck was just what the doctor ordered.

"You offering to change that fact?" I gripped his chin, tilting his head back, forcing him to meet my gaze. "I won't be nice."

His eyes shimmered with identical lust. "I was hoping you'd show me what’s so special about you."

I cocked a brow and he shrugged, breaking the little eye contact we had. He moved closer, a sweet perfume wafting off him. It wasn't great but could easily be ignored. I didn't need to like everything about a person to fuck their brains out. Sex was simply two or more bodies coming together in mutual pleasure.

"Well, you know you're known around here," the pretty twink said. His face tinged red slightly under the low lights in the club.

"Am I?" I released him, allowing the guy to stay in my space for now. Sipping my drink, I went back to observing my surroundings. "What's said about me?"

"You don't know?" He looked at me skeptically.

I shrugged. Knowing and hearing it face-to-face were two different things.

"Well, um, that you're packing. And that you know how to do, um, well, you know."

I sat my drink down. I moved before he knew what was happening. His back slammed against the wall, my arms resting on either side of his head as I crowded in his space. I fought back the natural reaction to recoil from the unnaturally sweet perfume smell. He wasn't my only option for the night, but I wasn't in the mood to try that hard either. A part of me wished I could drop by Silver Dreams, the Vitale brothel, and let Gran Myah hook me up. I'd spend the entire night with skillful hands and mouths all over me, washing away the stress of my daily life. But it was just another thing I had to give up all those years ago.

Sometimes I resented my brothers. They got to be themselves and they had each other while I was forced to live in solitude and constantly look over my shoulder. And theirs. I'd never betray them or even think about slacking off, but a part of me wished we'd come up with a different plan back then.

"Why are you acting all shy now?" I lowered one hand and let it circle his slender throat. "Talk."

His pupils were blown, his mouth open as he stared at me. "You're really good at sex. You don't care who it is, you'll screw anyone as long as they breathe."

My stomach twisted. He wasn't wrong. I did have that reputation but knowing he sought me specifically because of it made me feel cheap. It was one thing to hear about the wild tales of my sexcapades and another to know I was a morally loose whore.

"Well, breathing isn't a requirement. Just as long as you're pretty enough, I'll breed a corpse too."

The lust bled away from his face. His peachy flesh was whiter than paper as he attempted to move back from me. The fear in his eyes was comical, and I couldn't help but smile.

I was supposed to be Paul. He was a fun playboy who was a law abiding citizen. I was not supposed to be Gianpaolo who was the son of a mafia boss or the brother of psychotic mobsters.

I leaned back, wiping away the face of a killer and put back on the charming smile and easy going persona. "Just kidding! Who'd be into that?"

"Yeah," the guy said shakily.

Well, there goes my easy fuck.

"Oh, my friend is calling me back over. Um, I guess I'll see you around."

I nodded. "Hopefully not in a back alley. There are multiple ways to show someone heaven."

He scampered away like his ass was on fire. He was halfway across the room before I turned back around fully. My whiskey was practically gone. I felt slightly better. It would relieve a bit more stress if I'd been able to cause some mayhem.

I am Paul Gallo, a good upstanding citizen.