As Stephen gasped for air, I continued with my little production. “Well, I work for that particular organization, but that’s not all,” I said with enough flourish to be annoying. “Mia, here, is a personal favorite of The Son. Ciro Mancini considers Mia a friend.” Stephen started sputtering, but I stopped him. “Her brother is also Michael Morelli.”
“I…I’m…so…sorry. I didn’t-”
I waved away his apology. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. You didn’t know,” I finished for him. “However, that leaves all the other women on this campus who aren’t part of the Benetti Family, and that causes me great concern, Stephen.”
“I-”
I stomped my foot on his chest and watched him fight for air. “Shut up,” I snapped. “Right now, the right to avenge Mia isn’t mine. However, I’m going to hand over your wallets and phones to her brother since that right does belong to him, and I’ll let him decide what to do with you two assholes.”
“I…sor-”
I removed my foot from his chest and stepped back. “You’re lucky I don’t kill you where you lay,” I told him because he was.
“Nico, I think we should leave,” Mia said as her hand ran down the back of my arm.
I almost groaned at the contact.
It’s the first time Mia’s ever said my name, and she was touching me at the same time she was saying it. It was a miracle I didn’t drop down on one knee and propose.
I grabbed Mia’s hand and wove my fingers around hers. One last look at Stephen, with a PH, I said, “Go to the cops and I don’t have to tell you what will happen to you, your families, and anyone you ever came in contact with.” I didn’t wait for his acquiesce as I walked way, Mia in tow.
We walked in silence, but as soon as we neared the block that led to her dorms, I couldn’t keep my mouth shut any longer. “Why in God’s name do you carry mace if all you do is stuff it in your backpack?” I asked, fed the fuck up that I didn’t have a cigarette. She must have taken exception to my tone because Mia’s first response was to try to pull out of my grasp.
I tightened my fingers around hers.
She stopped mid-stride, forcing me to stop too. I turned to look at her, and she had a brow raised in superiority. “I’ll answer your question, if you answer one of mine,” she said, and I nodded in agreement. “Did I hear you right earlier? Did you call me, baby?”
Chapter 4
Mia~
Talk about being in deep shit.
Christ, why did he have to be. So. Damn. Gorgeous?
He even had a sexy name.
Nico Rossi.
I mean, didn’t that sound like it was mean to be moaned in the throes of some hot sex?
Nico Rossi.
When he had appeared like magic, I immediately knew he was with the Benettis. It had been too coincidental. Besides, my brother was too not involved with my life to not be involved with my life. I just didn’t know exactly where Nico fit in.
His voice had hit me like a ton of bricks right between my thighs when he had come out of the woodwork. It had been rough, like maybe he smoked, and full of controlled authority. And he hadn’t batted an eyelash knowing it was two against one.
Turning around at that commanding voice, I couldn’t stop my eyes from bugling out like a cartoon when I got a good look him. I was only five-two, so I had to tilt my head back to get a good look at him because Nico was tall. And since I knew Michael was six-foot-one, I put Nico at around six-three. He wasn’t a skinny six-three either. Nope. He filled out his entire frame with hard muscle you could see from the way his shirt draped down his torso. Not to mention, all Benetti Family members were required to stay in shape. That’s why Michael had a home gym at his place.
And if his body wasn’t to die for, in itself, Nico had a face made for fantasizing. He had thick dark brown hair, cut short on the sides, but was kept casually long on top. His face reminded me of Roman perfection with grey eyes that popped out between thick, long lashes. His eyes were actually pretty when you thought about it.
The crazy thing, though? Even though I was almost accosted, discovered I had a guard, watched as said guard dropped two guys without so much as breaking a sweat, and heard him threaten to kill the guys, nothing shocked me more than when Nico had addressed me as ‘baby’. Even more shocking? The way my stomach dropped, and my body tingled when he did it. When I asked him about it, he had just told me to get used to it, and I found myself not objecting overly much.
After Nico walked me to my dorm, he told me he would be in touch tomorrow, kissed my cheek and stood on the stoop until I went inside.
And now I was calling my brother on my secret phone.
“Hey,” he said, answering on the third ring.
“Nico Rossi,” I said, cutting to the chase.
Michael let out a deep sigh over the phone. “What happened?”
“No way, Mike,” I countered. “Tell me everything I need to know about Nico Rossi.”
“It doesn’t work that way, Mia,” he argued. “Something had to have happened for you to find out about Nico. What happened?”
I knew that tone in his voice. I wasn’t going to win this round. “I was walking home from the library and…uh, a couple of guys wouldn’t let me…by to get to the dorms.”
“And?” There was a dark bite to his question.
“Nico came out of nowhere and took care of it. Of them,” I explained. “He took their phones and their wallets, and he said he was going
