Joey (Chicago Ruthless, #2)

by Sadie Kincaid

I look past him, my eyes searching Lorenzo’s face for a sign that she isn’t dead. Maybe she passed out from too much vodka and cocaine, maybe— His eyes leave her face and lock on mine. “We’ll take care of it,” is all he says. “No!” I shake my head and rake my hands through my hair. “We can’t fix this. I fucking killed her, Loz,” I shout.

Apart from the blue tinge to her lips, she looks like she’s sleeping. But the dark purple bruising on her neck—that I don’t even remember putting there—is unmistakable. Bile burns the back of my throat. I’m a fucking monster. I don’t even remember taking her to bed, let alone fucking her and wrapping my hands around her goddamn neck. But that’s my thing, right? Choke them until they almost pass out? It makes the orgasm more intense.

“Good girl,” Max says with a smirk as my right foot connects with the pad. I’m grateful that my cheeks are already flushed from the workout because those words coming from his perfect mouth have me about to melt into a puddle.

I, Joey Moretti—a one hundred percent card-carrying feminist—would gladly drop to my knees and crawl to this man if he told me to.

Maximo DiMarco isn’t just any trainer. He is the reason I get out of bed every morning. He’s one of the most feared men in the city, but to me, he is sweet and funny and kind.

“That’s my girl,” he says, and my breath catches in my throat. Sometimes I wonder if he does this on purpose. I mean he must know I have a huge crush on him. It’s kind of a running joke with my two sisters-in-law.

“You should enjoy this while you can. Your new trainer won’t take it so easy on you,” Max says with a laugh and hands me a bottle of water. I blink at him. “New trainer?” “Yeah. Didn’t Dante tell you?” Dante is my older brother. The chosen one. Head of the Cosa Nostra and, along with our oldest brother, Lorenzo, a giant pain in my ass. I frown. “No. I don’t need a new trainer.” “Trust me. This one is way better than me.” “Nobody is better than you,” I blurt, and my face flushes with heat at my admission. “Joey.” He narrows his eyes before taking a gulp of his water. “You sure you can’t think of anyone who’d be better at teaching you self-defense than me?” He’s teasing me now, but I’m not in the mood for his games. All I can focus on is the fact that I’m losing him. “No.” “Your half sister is an MMA fighter,”

“You don’t sound very happy about it.” I look up at him, annoyed at the tears pricking at my eyes. I hate being vulnerable. But Max won’t judge me. He never does. “I’ll just miss you training me is all.” “I’ll still be here all the damn time,” he says, bumping his arm against mine and making my insides melt like butter on hot toast. “Yeah.”

“We leave everything in the gym.” I repeat his favorite mantra as my heart breaks a little at the realization that soon he’ll be leaving me in the gym too.

She’s the one woman I can’t have and the one woman I want more than any other.

She places one hand on her hip and rolls her eyes like a spoiled little brat. What I wouldn’t give to discipline that sass out of her. “Dinner?” No, I can’t stay for dinner. I need to get home and take a shower. During which I will jerk off to the image of your ass in those pants. “You can shower here,” she offers, and for a horrifying minute, I wonder if I said that out loud. “You know, ’cause you’re kind of sweaty.” She wrinkles her nose, a mischievous smile playing on her lips. A grin tugs at the corners of my mouth. “Well, working you out is a tough job, Joey.” Her eyes darken with heat. This would all be so much easier if she didn’t look at me that way. Because I know for certain she likes me too. She’s had a crush on me for years, and her brothers tolerate it because they trust me to never act on it.

I’ve fucked countless women this past year, and there wasn’t a single time I didn’t imagine it was Joey I was fucking instead.

I’ve never had any cause not to trust Dante or Lorenzo Moretti, and while their father was a cruel man who never once let me forget how much he did for me by taking me in when I was fourteen, his sons are nothing like him. They are like brothers to me. Still, my brow furrows. My dad says you can’t trust the Morettis. They turned you against your real family. That’s the message she’s referring to. The one her father asked her to pass along if she ever had cause to come to me and ask for help. Six nights ago, she turned up on my doorstep and did exactly that.

“Lex seems happy, is all. If she likes the guy, it doesn’t matter how big his dick is, right?” I say, trying to defuse the tension, because Monique and Lex are the only girlfriends I have. “Not that you’d know anything about that though.” She snorts a laugh, and I roll my eyes, sorry I ever confided in her that I’m still a virgin. Ever since I did, she’s made it her one-woman mission to get me laid.

“But if a nice fat dick were to present itself?” “Depending on who it was attached to, maybe I’d consider taking it home.” I laugh too. Monique gasps. “Can you imagine your brothers’ faces if you brought some stray home from the bar?” “God, no,” I say, shivering at the thought. “You can always use my place. In fact, you could stay over?”

As much as I hate to admit it, Monique is right about one thing. I need to have sex with someone soon, preferably before I spend the family fortune on batteries. I’m pretty sure I could keep Energizer in business all on my own.

Rage bubbles up in my chest and sears through my skin at the thought of another man putting their hands on her. I stare at the dot on the screen. She has two armed escorts with her. They’re some of her brother’s best men. She’s safe. She’s also in a bar with dozens of guys who would love to fuck her.

Max’s voice drifts through the open doorway, and I smile to myself. Any day I get to see Max’s fine ass is a good day.

“You know she’d fuck you just to mess with me though?” “Yes.” “Because you and I are friends,” I add quickly, my cheeks flushing pink. “Of course.” The corners of his eyes crinkle as he fights back a smile. Asshole. “And doesn’t that tell you all you need to know about the kind of friend she is?”

“One of these days, you’re going to regret rolling those eyes at me, Joey,”

Anger bubbles beneath my skin and the ache in my forearms reminds me to unclench my fists. I have no fucking right at all to be pissed about who Joey spends time with, but I want to cut that little fucker Toby’s throat with a rusty hacksaw.

I need to do something about all the rage burning up inside of me before I explode. And I need to see her. I can’t get her out of my fucking head.

“You here alone?” a soft voice says, giggling in my ear. I turn my head and find Monique standing beside me. “Hey, Mo,” I give her a disinterested nod and return my attention to Joey

Speaking of … I turn my attention back to Joey and almost lose my shit when I see that asshole put his hand on her fucking ass and squeeze it. I barge through the crowd until I’m standing right behind him. Joey sees me first and her eyes widen. All the while, that fucker’s hand stays on her ass. My fucking ass. Grabbing him by the hair, I yank his head back and grab his wrist, twisting his arm behind his back until I feel the satisfying pop of his shoulder dislocating. His agonized scream makes me grin menacingly. I shove him and he drops to the floor. “Max!” Joey reprimands while his two friends come at me.

Marching Joey through the crowd and out the back exit, I feel the rage vibrating through her body. We step into the cool night air, and as soon as I release my grip on her, she spins on her heel and slaps me across the face so hard that I bite my lip. Running my tongue over the inside of my mouth, I taste blood. Brat! “What the hell was that?” she shouts. “He was old enough to be your father.” Her beautiful face twists into a scowl. “So? He was just talking to me.” “He was holding onto your fucking ass like it was his personal property.” She folds her arms across her chest. “You are unbelievable, you know that? I was just having a little fun. It was harmless.” “It’s not harmless when he wants some sort of payback for the drinks he’s been buying you, because that’s what guys like him are about, Joey. It’s not harmless when he’s trying to get you back to his place for a quick—”

I push her against the wall, making her gasp as I press my body against hers, flattening her next to the cool brick. She stares up at me with those huge brown eyes, rough breaths fluttering against her full pink lips. My cock strains against the zipper of my jeans. I know she can feel me. She rocks her hips, grinding herself on me. Before I can think through the consequences of what I’m doing, I wrap a hand around her throat. “You want to be fucked, Joey? Is that it?” Her breath catches. Her beautiful tits shudder against my chest. “You’re too afraid of my brothers to fuck me.” “You think?” My free hand coasts down her body, over her ribs and the curve of her hip, making her shiver. Her dark eyes burn into mine. “Yeah.” I grip the edge of her short dress and she lets out the softest and sexiest little moan I’ve ever heard in my entire goddamn life. Yanking it up, I push my hand between her thighs and brush my fingertips over the tiny scrap of fabric covering her pussy. It’s damp. And I am fucking done for. I squeeze her throat a little harder. “Are you wet?” “Yes.” “Why? Because that jackass was touching you?” “What do you care?”

“Or is it because I’m touching you?”

“You want me to, huh?” I taunt, dusting the pads of my fingers over her swollen clit. She groans, rocking her hips for more friction. “You wouldn’t dare.” I press my forehead against hers. One hand still wrapped around her slender neck, I slide two fingers between her folds, biting my lip to stifle the groan that rumbles through my chest. She feels like hot liquid silk. “Oh, fuck,” she whimpers. “You like that?” “Y-yeah.” Slipping my hand farther into her panties, I circle her entrance and her entire body quivers. When I push a finger inside her, her back bows off the wall and she cries out into the darkness. Her pussy squeezes me, snug and hot. “You’re gonna have to be a little quieter, baby girl, or someone might hear us.”

“You’re so fucking tight, Joey,” I groan as I work my finger a little deeper. “Do you always talk this much?” She raises her eyebrows in a challenge, wrapping her arms around my neck. “I knew you didn’t have the balls to fuck me.” Spoiled little brat. I squeeze her throat a little tighter as I pull my finger out of her and unfasten my belt and zipper. “So, you just want to be fucked, is that it?” Her eyes flash with heat. “Do you have a condom?” “Nope.” I shake my head. “Do you?” Her throat constricts as she swallows. “In my purse.” She glances down at the small square of leather that rests against her hip. That pisses me off even though I should be proud of her for being responsible, but nothing I feel about this girl is rational. “I guess you’d better get it then.” She hesitates, making me frown. “I’m on birth control, Max,” she whispers. “And I trust you. If we don’t need one, then that’s okay.” Holy fucking fuck! I guess if I get to fuck her just this once, I should feel her the way nature intended. “I always wear them, Joey. I’m clean.” “So am I.”

“Wrap your legs around me,” I command.

Her breath hitches as she stares into my eyes. Waiting for me to fuck her. My cock throbs, desperate to feel her around me. I slide in just a little, forced to go slower and gentler than I intended because she’s so fucking tight. “Max,” she hisses, her eyes fluttering closed as I stretch her open. Her molten, silky heat squeezes me tight, causing all the blood in my body to rush south. I pull almost all the way out. The tip of my cock is slick with her arousal, making it a little easier to push back in again, but it’s still a struggle. I’m a big guy and I have six piercings, five along my shaft and one in the crown. It’s a lot to fit inside a tight pussy and this isn’t the ideal place to fuck. It would be so much easier if I could lay her down somewhere and spread her wide open. Then I would sink inside her to the hilt. I brush my lips over her skin, sliding my free hand to her ass and pulling her leg higher to get a better angle. “Let me inside you, baby girl.” “I’m trying,” she whimpers, but she shifts the angle of her hips, which allows me to push deeper. “Good girl,” I grunt,

“You’re so fucking wet, Joey. You like my cock in you?” I growl, even though I can barely get halfway inside her tight little cunt. Wet heat slicks over me as she whimpers and mewls.

My mouth finds hers, and I lick her plump lips. She opens them on a soft moan, allowing me to slip my tongue inside and taste her. I’ll certainly regret this later because she tastes sweeter than anything I’ve ever experienced. Decadent and sinful.

I’m feral with the need to get as far inside her as possible, but I still can’t get all the way in.

I rock my hips, setting as punishing a pace as I can. She winces every time I manage to dip a little deeper, but her pussy grows slicker and looser with each thrust. Her legs begin to shake, her breaths growing faster and harder as her walls squeeze me tight. My girl is on the edge. I break our kiss and she pants for air. “Oh fuck, Max.” “That’s it, baby girl. Come hard for me. I want to feel you on my cock.” Her eyes roll back in her head and her skin flushes with heat and pleasure as she lets go for me. Legs trembling and breathing ragged, she drops her head onto my shoulder while I fuck her through her climax. Her wet pussy flutters, milking my cock, and when she sinks her nails into my shoulder muscles a few seconds later, I drive into her one last time, groaning her name as I grind out my own orgasm. “Fuck, Max, that was … intense.”

Sliding out of her, I look down and the sight of my blood-streaked cock knocks the remaining breath from my lungs. My hand is still wrapped around her throat, and I tilt her head upward until her dark eyes meet mine. “Joey, please tell me you’re expecting your period.” Her brow knits into a frown. “What? No, why?”

“You’re bleeding.” “It’s okay. That happens the first time, right?” Holy fuck, I’m going straight to hell. “Please tell me I didn’t just take your virginity behind a dumpster in an alleyway?” I plead. “I could tell you that, but I’d be lying.”

“Fuck, Joey,” I snap, my tone sharper than intended as I tuck my bloodstained cock back into my jeans. “I-I thought you knew,” she whispers, hurt flashing in her eyes. I brush her hair back from her face. “Of course I didn’t know. If I had, I never would have …” I shake my head and sigh, sliding my hand to possessively palm the back of her neck. “You would never have what?” She gives me a defiant glare as she fixes her dress, but I don’t miss the tremor in her voice or the slight tremble of her bottom lip. I would have taken you to bed and fucked you properly. “I would have made sure it was a little more memorable, baby girl. I wouldn’t have been so rough with you if I’d known you’d never …” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “It was pretty memorable to me,” she whispers. “How is it even possible, Joey? How can you be a virgin?” “Seriously, Max? The girl who can’t breathe without someone watching over her? When exactly would I have found the time to have sex, let alone find someone crazy enough to risk my brother’s wrath?”

We should talk about what just happened. I should take care of her. I just took her virginity in a dark alleyway next to a dumpster. I should be fucking ashamed of myself—so why aren’t I? Why is my cock hard at the thought of how good she felt? How wet she was for me. How fucking incredible she smells.

He frowns. “I asked why you brought Joey home.” I shrug. “I called to check in with the guys. Joey was ready to leave so I offered to bring her home.” “You spoil her,” he says with a soft laugh. He assumes she asked me to bring her home, which has happened before. Joey loves my bike. “You never could say no to her.” I force out a laugh. If he only fucking knew.

I knock on her door. “What is it? I’m in bed,” she shouts. “It’s me. Can I come in?” The answering silence is almost too long for me to handle before she finally answers. “Sure.” Walking inside, I close the door behind me. She’s lying on the bed, still dressed in her clothes from earlier. Still smelling of me. “What is it, Max?” she asks, sighing. “You don’t think we need to talk about earlier?” She crosses her arms over her chest. “I think you said all you had to say.” “I barely said anything, baby girl.” I lie beside her on the bed and can hardly resist the temptation to run my hand over the bare skin of her arm. “You said enough about regretting what happened,”

How could she think that? Fuck! How could I have let her think that? I prop myself up on my elbow so I can study her beautiful face. “I regret that I didn’t know it was your first time.” “Yeah, it was pretty unmemorable, right? You said that too.” She swats a tear from her cheek and glares at me.

“Fucking you against a building in that alley was incredible. I will remember your tight virgin cunt squeezing my cock for the rest of my days. But I meant I should have made it more memorable for you, baby girl.”

“It was incredible for me too, Max. I’m glad you were my first.” I want to be your fucking last too.

“Why didn’t you shower when you got home?” “I like having you inside me.” My cock stiffens. “Fuck, Joey. You’re going to get me killed,” I murmur against her skin. “I should have taken you home to my bed.” “I wish you could, Max,” she breathes. “Tell me what you’d do to me.”

“I would strip you bare and kiss every fucking inch of your skin. Then I’d spread your legs wide …” Her breath catches in her throat, and it makes my cock harder. “And I’d eat your pussy. I’d bury my face in your sweet cunt until I made you come so hard your juices would be running over my tongue.” “Max,” she groans, wrapping her legs around my waist and rocking her hips against me. “And then the real fun would begin.” “Yeah?” She continues to work her hips, chasing the friction of my cock against her clit. “I’d slip my fingers into you. One at first, because you’re so fucking tight. And when you were whimpering and begging for more, I’d add another, fucking you with them until I could make you ready for my cock. I’d bring you to the edge, baby, over and over again without getting you off.” “Monster,” she hisses as she digs her heels into my ass, pulling me closer until she’s full-on dry humping me. “You know I am,” I say, trailing my lips over her throat, desperate to sink my teeth into her perfect flesh and mark her as mine. “And only when you were begging me for my cock, desperate for me to fill you up, that’s when I’d sink into you. Not just half like you had earlier, but all the way. Balls deep, baby girl.” “That was only half before?” she says, panting. “Yep.” I laugh, releasing her wrists so she can wrap her arms around me. “Max, please?” She clings to me, grinding her pussy against me as she chases her orgasm. “I can’t. I’m not going to fuck you in your brothers’ h...

“Then take me home, Max. Take me anywhere but here.” She whimpers, and her eyes squeeze shut as she presses her head against the pillow. She’s almost there. Holding still, I let her use me to grind out her release. “I can’t, baby.” I place my hand over her mouth, stifling her soft moans as she comes apart in my arms.

Joey Moretti is mine. She has always been mine.

“My kind of love isn’t the type you’re looking for, Joey. You deserve so much more.” She narrows her beautiful eyes at me. “Who said anything about love?” “You think that we could just be about sex? With a history like ours? I’ve known you your whole life. I’ve loved you for most of it. You think I would stop just because we were fucking?” Tears spill over her cheeks and she swats them away. “That’s a whole different kind of love you’re talking about.” “Is it?”

“You make your own choices, Joey, but I can’t be one of them. I’m sorry, baby.” I kiss a tear that rolls down her cheek before I climb off the bed and walk out of her bedroom. I hate that I’m hurting her like this, but better she suffers a little pain right now than a whole fuckload of it later on.