Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 944 : Wreaking Havoc

*Leo*

It was Christmas Eve. As usual, my first thoughts when I woke the next morning were of Bianca. I saw her face in my mind. I could still feel the silky heat of her thighs on my palms. Her lips were still imprinted on my soul, and I felt myself harden at the memory of her legs straddling me.

The heat of her core had rested over my erection. The barrier of my slacks and the thin gusset of her panties were no barrier and hid nothing of her arousal and heat from me. Her kisses branded me and fed my hunger for her. Her nipples had been pebbled and even through both our shirts, I felt them against my chest and reveled in our closeness and the way passion immediately ignited between us.

I hadn’t felt her against me in so long that I wanted to take her right there in the living room of her mother’s home. I probably would have if it hadn’t been for Mia needing a drink of water and nearly stumbling into us as we fed on one another during those tumultuous minutes.

Now, I roughly rubbed my hands over my face, trying to rid myself of the dreamlike memories and the sleep that still clouded my senses. I grabbed the phone from the bedside table. The phone was usually my second thought of the morning.

I would check the messages, give orders if needed, and put the phone down until I had to pick it up again. This had become my routine over the last few days that I’d been in Italy and found my way to Bianca.

I saw there were several texts and voice messages from Franky. I should never have put my phone aside the way I did last night, but I knew it was one of the points of contention between Bianca and I.

My decision to put the phone aside hadn’t been a ruse to bamboozle or manipulate Bianca into thinking she was my main priority. I hadn’t wanted to deal with Franky right then, nor had I wanted to interrupt what was happening between us.

I realized when the phone buzzed with an incoming call while we were talking and bonding in front of the fire that we were often interrupted in our most intimate moments. That’s why I’d ignored Franky’s call and sent it to voicemail.

I knew Bianca and I needed to talk about the business and how it affected our relationship. I didn’t want her to think that I’d always set my phone aside. It would be a lie, and it would set an inaccurate precedent. It would be unfair of me to make her think I would neglect the family in favor of her.

It wasn’t about favor or even which was of more importance to me. It was about integrity and honesty. I wanted to put her first as much as I could. The truth was that the family business and the firm were demanding occupations. I could stay away from the firm far more than I could the family. I had people to take care of and lives literally depended on me.

Thinking of that made me look at my phone, and that’s when I saw the dozen or so voice messages, now, I sighed and pushed the icon to listen to them.

“Leo, fuck, pick up the phone!” Franky had yelled, as if I could hear him through the voicemail.

“Leo, something big’s going down and I need to fill you in,” was the second message.

The messages continued in the same vein. They were almost frantic in nature but remained suspiciously vague. They ranged from, “Pick up the phone,” to “Shit man, be on guard and watch your back.”

The messages worried me. Franky wasn’t given to histrionics. Usually, he played things down, but this time, his voice sounded panicked and the warnings though vague were crystal clear. I attempted to call out, but nothing happened.

I looked down at my phone and got the “searching for signal,” circle. It circled around and around. I felt a little sick to my stomach. I couldn’t call out. Franky probably couldn’t call in. That meant that whatever he had to tell me was an emergency and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

I couldn’t just jump into the SUV and drive down to the warehouse like I could in LA. I wanted to throw my phone into the wall like an idiot, but that wouldn’t do anything but make it difficult to call out once the damn thing found a signal.

I jumped out of bed and got dressed. I needed to see if anything could be done. I looked out the window and figured the winter storm that was currently wreaking havoc on the landscape had something to do with the current state of my lack of communication.

When I left the room and ran into the kitchen, I saw Lucia stirring something at the stove.

“I need to get a call out,” I all but gasped out.

“Sorry, the reception is down. It happens all the time. Don’t worry, Leo. It’ll be back up as soon as the storm dies down”

“Sure,” I said, but I couldn’t help but worry. What did Franky need to tell me? I knew why he hadn’t just told me over voicemail. What if I didn’t have my phone? What if I were in custody, which was damn near a joke, but not impossible. What if I was in the hands of the enemy?

We never left incriminating messages. We didn’t give pertinent information about the business or what was going down over voicemail either. We maintained as much electronic silence as possible; hence, the endless interruptions to my private life.

There was absolutely nothing to be done about Franky’s messages, now. I could dwell on what I couldn’t change, or I could try to continue my campaign to win back the heart of the woman I loved. I hoped I hadn’t lost it.

I had come here to win Bianca back, and no matter what she said when we’d sat in front of the fire when I first arrived, I had sworn to myself that I’d give it my best shot. I had charmed her mother. I got along with most of her cousins, aunts, uncles, and a few friends of the family that were there.

I wouldn’t worry Bianca about Franky’s calls, though. Last night swam in my mind as Lucia placed a cup of cappuccino in front of me while I sat at the breakfast nook to keep her company. Bianca seemed to be opening up to me. While I sat chatting with Lucia, Bianca came in and sat beside me as if she had deliberately sought me out.

I had won most of the family’s approval over the last few days that I’d been there. even Mia had stopped being the ice queen with me. I wasn’t sure why, but I was glad at the small reprieve. I thought I was close to winning Bianca over to.

Later that afternoon, the family seemed restless due to the storm, so everyone was trying to come up with a game to play.

“How about drunk poker?” one of the cousins suggested.

“In the basement,” Lucia ordered, and everyone started in that direction.

“I don’t think I’m interested in playing that game,” Bianca said, staying in the window seat with her knitting in her lap and staring out the window.

I didn’t understand why she didn’t want to play, but I thought it might take my mind off the calls from Franky and give me a little time to be away from her, so my worry wouldn’t be so palpable that she caught on to it.

“I’ll take her place,” I said, thinking I would take one for the team. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

I wasn’t the best poker player. Franky always told me I sucked at bluffing because my face usually gave me away. I always shot him the bird and thought he was full of shit, but he wasn’t wrong. I was on a losing spree and was getting pretty tipsy.

After a few games, I decided to fold and sit out. I wasn’t a big fan of being drunk, and I was getting close to being a little sloppy with it. I preferred to be in control of my faculties at all times, so I left the basement and figured I’d go find my woman.

I jogged up the stairs in search of Bianca. I wanted to cuddle with her and feel her softness against me. When I rounded the corner to the garden, I heard her and Taylor’s voices tangled. It made my teeth grind together. Why was that guy always where I wanted to be?

“You know Leo’s not worthy of you,” Taylor said.

Every time I heard them talking about me, I wanted to knock Taylor’s teeth down his throat. At first, I hadn’t understood his hatred of me. From the moment I’d met him back in LA, I’d known there was going to be enmity between us. I hadn’t known he wanted Bianca then, but I’d known he hadn’t liked me.

Soon after he’d rescued Bianca from Liam all those weeks ago, I figured it out. Taylor wanted Bianca for himself. I had tolerated him because Bianca needed a friend, and having Taylor around seemed to make her happy. I’d gritted my teeth and bore it, but I was about at the end of my rope with Taylor and his antics.

“Ugh, Taylor, not this again,” Bianca huffed.

“I can protect you better than Leo can,” Taylor continued despite Bianca’s discomfort with this line of conversation.

“Taylor, it’s not like that between us. I don’t like you that way. I never have. You have always been my good friend.”

I almost winced in sympathy for him. No man liked to be squarely put in the friend zone. On the other hand, a part of me felt Taylor needed to be put in his place. And the only person who could do it was Bianca.

“I know that, but I can’t help how I feel about you.”

That was enough of that. I couldn’t help myself. The part of me that was possessive and desperately loved Bianca myself wouldn’t stop me from barging into that room and taking Bianca’s hand and pulling her to my side. She was mine, damn it, and it was time I claimed her as best I knew how.

Taylor slowly stood from his seat. He stared at Bianca’s hand in mine. When Bianca intertwined her fingers with mine and leaned her head on my shoulder, Taylor’s nostrils flared, and his fingers clenched into fists at his sides. His cheeks grew crimson with anger and his eyes turned from charming admirer to vindictive and blazing with fury.

“Oh, sure, now you’re a couple. What about the baby, Bianca? Do you mean to tell me you intend to bring that child into the world with him at your side. What a joke!” Taylor points a shaking accusatory finger at me.

My heart stopped in my chest at Taylor’s words. I swore my heart missed a couple of beats and then, it started up again, racing double time as Taylor’s words registered.

Baby?

My mind whirled, as the word and its implications punched into my consciousness.