Page 42 of Dare To Free Us

I nodded. “Is there a way we could make it better?” I asked, pure lust dripping from my tongue. Matteo’s erection was already tenting his workout shorts.

Matteo moved in to take hold of me and pull me in close.

The moment he put pressure on my ribs I gasped and backed away. The pain was agonizing. The deeper I breathed the more it hurt, the more it hurt the deeper my breaths went. My brain tipped sideways and back again, like a boat drifting in the waves.

Matteo jumped back as if he’d broken me, hands out so he could catch the pieces. “Arianna, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

“I was. I was thinking I’m horny and super turned on. But I don’t think I can do anything.” The thought of even gently making love and being rocked in any fashion made me want to moan in pain. “I’m sorry.” I hated getting him worked up and not delivering.

“Don’t be. I’m pretty sore myself. I can’t imagine how you feel.”

“This really sucks,” I said, just as I was able to stand straight.

Matteo cautiously placed his hands on my arms. “What are you doing up so early?”

“I came to talk you about today. I want to go see the girl.” I pressed the heel of my hand against my temple to counteract the pulsing.

Matteo frowned down at me. I knew I was asking a lot. “I really don’t like it Arianna. You are putting yourself at bigger risk legally.” It was the reason he kept so many secrets, so I would have plausible deniability.

“Matteo I really need to do this. I just… I have to talk to her, ok. I hate the fact that she’s cooped up in some house being guarded by a bunch of men. She’s probably so lonely and desperate to talk to someone.” There was another reason I wanted to talk to her as well, but for now I would keep it to myself.

Matteo chuckled.

“What’s so funny?”

“The men are the ones suffering. The girl is a troublemaker. We have to have constant eyes on her or she’s trying to escape. She bosses the men around like slaves and does everything possible to make them uncomfortable.” He laughed again but I knew it must’ve been equally frustrating for him. It sounded as much when I heard him on the phone.

“She sent one man to the store three times to get the right tampons. Refuses to eat just about anything that is from a box. Is messy as hell and…” Matteo trailed off with a grimace.

“And?”

“She’ll walk around in her underwear or come out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel after the shower. Trying to make the men as uncomfortable as she can. She’s only fifteen, but it doesn’t stop her from playing mind games. She knows they don’t like it and wants to fuck with them.” Now Matteo’s jaw was clenching. I could only guess what the men were saying about it.

“Did she do that to you?” He was silent for a moment so I narrowed my eyes in warning.Spit it out.

“She came out of her room in her underwear the last time I went to check in, because the men said she was refusing to turn the music down late at night. They didn’t want to get the cops called for a noise disturbance.”

My eyes went wide. Ok, I started out needing to talk to this girl to make sure she was alright and get some answers. All of a sudden I wanted to smack the little brat around a bit for putting Matteo in that position. “What did you do?”

“I took the radio and said if she kept up the bullshit the TV was next.”

I nodded to agree that I liked the punishment. However, he still needed to say yes to me seeing her.

“Let me talk to her. Maybe talking to a woman will calm her down a bit. She is probably acting out and needs to feel like she has a friend.”

His gazed skipped around the room as he contemplated. I could see him going back and forth a few time but in the end, he nodded. “Ok, maybe it will be a good thing.”

“When should I be ready?”

“Around three,” he said with a sigh. “I have to go into work and try to get a handle on what happened yesterday, and how to respond.”

I knew what that meant. Retaliation. Violence. Always so much violence.

In truth— even if it makes me a monster— it never bothered me beyond the fact that sometimes it was a necessity. But for some reason it was striking a different cord that morning.

Actually I knew the reason, but was refusing to explore it too much yet. I needed more information, a different point of view.

9