“What we did wasn’t a game.” He reached behind me, catching my trembling fingers and clasped my bra. His face still revealed nothing, yet his gaze was intense on me.
I stepped away from him and quickly shrugged into my shirt. “Stop. Just stop.”
“I already told you. I won’t stop.”
“Then I will.” I stalked off to the door, and I could hear his heavy steps right behind me.
He matched me move for move, as we climbed the steps and clutched my upper arm as we reached the top. “For the record, we’re not even close to being finished.” With that, he led me forward like a lamb to slaughter until we entered the kitchen.
Both Roman’s father and brother had on black slacks and dress shirts with glass tumblers in-hand leaning against the kitchen island.
Antoni had a smug look on his lips as he watched me and took a casual sip of his drink. He’d always been somewhat aloof around me and seemed to dress like a business executive, even at an early age. Not to mention, he carried the stoic Martinez mannerisms. He was definitely his father’s son. “How have you been, Theo?” His eyes lingered on my chest a second too long with the restaurant’s logo in bold letters. “Looks like you’re stepping up in the world.”
I ignored him and turned to Roman’s dad. I did not like the man, but I would never let him see my own humility. “Mr. Martinez, it’s been a long time.” My words sounded foreign and robotic to my own ears.
He raised his brows slightly without responding and tilted his head as he gazed at me dispassionately. “I’ve called a car to have her picked up.” He threw back the contents of his drink.
“Then cancel it because I’m taking her home.” Roman had his hand at the small of my back trying to rush me forward, as though I were a problem he needed to rid himself of.
“We need—”
Roman cut him off. “We will talk. When I get back from dropping her off.”
“Don’t argue with me,” his father warned in a low voice. Roman paused and father and son stood in a stare off that was both uncomfortable and full of tension. Robert was a tall, stately man who had an air about him that commanded your attention. He was in his mid-fifties, I assumed, and looked like he worked out and kept himself in shape, judging by his broad shoulders and trim waist. His inky hair was laced with gray, but it made him seem more distinguished.
With that being said, Roman had an inch on him in height and was more muscular being a football player who trained every day. I knew he would never go against his father, although I do remember the two of them butting heads a few times in the past. Roman had made no secret about not wanting to be a business-suit-wearing tool and following in the footsteps of his dad. If anything, Roman had wanted out to break from his mold. I guess the clash in personalities had grown over the years.
His father glanced down at me and I could see the hate in his onyx eyes. “Hurry up. I don’t have all day to wait for you. Your brother came home from UT for the weekend. And we find you slumming it with…”
The words trailed off as he glared down at me like I was worse than the dirt on the ground. It wasn’t hard to follow between the lines of this clipped conversation. I stood my ground and stared right back detesting this man the longer I stood here.
“Come on,” Roman urged with a steel laced voice while he stared hate daggers at his father. I followed him, not missing the animosity on Antoni’s face although he still had his mouth lifted in a sly smile. I followed him out only not to cause a scene. There was definitely a fucked-up scenario happening in this family, and I didn’t want to stand around and be the punch line. However, there was no way in hell I was getting in the car with Roman.
As soon as we were outside, I yanked away from his hold and grabbed my cell to text Kenzie. He reached for me again, and I side-stepped him. “Leave me alone. You’re delusional if you think I’m going anywhere with you again.” My thumbs moved across my cell screen, but the phone was yanked out of my hand before I could hit send. Then I felt his muscular arm wrap around me, lifting me off the ground easily. “I swear to God I’ll scream.”
With my back to his chest, he said roughly against my ear, “Go ahead and scream. No one will hear you, except maybe my father and brother. And as you can see, they won’t care.” He carried me kicking and yelling to his Jeep, opening the door and plopping me down in the seat. I floundered to get out, but he blocked me like an impenetrable wall. He hovered over me ominously. “If you try to get out, I’ll catch you and you won’t like the end result.”
I sat as my eyes blurred, hating him for this. As he entered the driver’s side I turned away, staring out my side and saw a red Ferrari parked next to us. His father always loved imported sports cars, and obviously he still did. I willed my tears away, loathing this family and how they thought they were above everyone.
We sat in silence the whole way to the dorm. When he put the Jeep in park, I realized he still had my cell. I cut a glare to him with my palm out. “Give me my phone.”
He had a smirk on his face as he dangled it in his hand. “What do I get in return?”
“You get to dodge being arrested for kidnapping me.”
This time he laughed, actually laughed. “You really think that would stick?”
I leaned in with eyes narrowed and warned, “Just try me.”
He leaned in too, and our noses touched. “While I can admire you spirit, Theodora, I think you must know”—he gently thumbed a loose tendril behind my ear—“I will always win in a test of wills.” Roman studied me slowly as his jaw ticked before he edged back and held out my cell.
“We’ll see about that.” I pulled the handle and jumped out, hearing his chuckles behind me as I stomped to my dorm.
Roman
“What did you want to discuss?” I walked in calmly, knowing my father wasn’t here for a fucking family reunion. Antoni, the golden boy, was in town, and he and Dad probably had several jerk-off sessions about the Business 101 classes my brother was taking. God knew he was the son who followed in daddy’s footsteps.
“Why don’t we start with what the hell I just witnessed.” My father helped himself to my bottle of Don Roberto Gran Platinum tequila, refilling his iced glass. It was a limited edition of our family tequila worth over five hundred dollars, and yes it was named after my father.
“Yeah, Roman, I thought you were an upstanding guy who never cheated on Taylor,” Antoni added as he crossed his arms over his chest with dress sleeves rolled up mid-arm. He had this all-knowing look in his eyes, as though he knew everything about everyone. Douchebag.
Ignoring my brother’s ridiculous jibes, I said, “None of your damn business.” I saw my father had made another glass and handed it to me.
“Not my business,” my dad thought in a deceptively soft voice. He set his tumbler down on the marble counter a little too hard. “It is my business when I’m funding this house. It is my business when I got you out of that mess in the first place. And it is my business when someone threatens my family. I asked you to get information out of her anyway possible. If that included sleeping with her so be. However, I told you to be discreet about it. Not fuck her out in the open where anyone could walk in and see. Are you trying to get caught?” He leaned over the counter with eyes narrowed at me. “What the hell are you doing, Roman?”