Bend Me, Daddy

VEDA

Luca had been gone all morning, leaving me to wander around the house.

I'd joined Lisa in the kitchen while I had a cup of coffee, but she had other things to do than entertain me, so I was once again on my own.

I didn't like being on my own. It gave me too much time to think. Surprisingly, Luca had never come to bed last night. But instead of enjoying the time to myself, I found myself tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep until the early morning hours when I finally dozed off from pure exhaustion. I'd woken up a few hours later, bleary-eyed and more tired than when I'd gone to bed.

Upstairs, I found a pair of yoga pants and some sneakers and then rummaged around in Luca's drawers until I found a T-shirt I didn't think he'd mind me borrowing. And if he did, well, then maybe he shouldn't lock me in his house under guard after he jizzed all over me with nothing to do but go through his stuff.

As I made my way down the stairs, I overheard Enzo talking to someone near the front door. The words "apartment" and "truck" caught my attention. Were they talking about my apartment? Getting my stuff? My stomach flipped with excitement at the prospect of packing and moving, which only proved how completely desperate I was to have something else to occupy my mind.

Hurrying now, I caught them as they were about to walk out the front door. Both were casually dressed in jeans and T-shirts, which got my hopes up even more. "Hey! Where are you going?" I called out.

Enzo and the guy with him stopped. The new guy checked me out from head to toe, the expression of surprise on his ruddy face almost comical. Enzo indicated for him to wait. "We're about to head over to your place and get your things," he told me. "Tristan will stay here in the house with you." "I wanna go, too," I blurted.

Enzo tilted his head as he studied me. His eyes dropped to what I was wearing, much like his friend's had. "I think we can handle it."

"But you don't even know what I want and don't want." I was desperate to get out of this damn house and grasping at straws, I knew, but I had to try. "Come on. I'll be with you. It'll be perfectly safe. I promise won't try anything." "No." Grabbing the door handle, he opened it, letting the other guy out.

I grabbed his arm, feeling his muscles tense for a moment before they relaxed again. "Call Luca and just ask him. Please?" As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I could've kicked myself. There was no way in hell Luca would let me go. But there was also no way Enzo would take me without his permission, so it was the only chance I had, albeit a very small one.

With a heavy sigh, Enzo pulled out his phone and tapped the screen before putting it up to his ear.

I crossed my arms over my chest and shifted my weight from side to side as the phone rang. And rang. And rang.

"He's not answering," Enzo told me as he put his cell back in his pocket. "I'm sorry, Veda. But you're going to have to stay here."

"Enzo, please. I have to get out of this house." And if I was going to do it, I knew this was going to be my only chance until Luca deemed it safe enough to take me out himself. "Please," I repeated. "I don't have that much stuff. It'll be a quick trip and I can help."

"Veda. I said no."

An idea came to me. "But, I have stuff I don't want you to see." I ducked my head like I was embarrassed. "Private things."

One eyebrow lifted. "I promise you your 'private things' aren't anything I haven't seen before."

Stamping my foot on the floor like a child, I tried one last time. "Enzo, come on! I'll be perfectly safe. I'll hide on the floor of the truck. I'll let you sneak me in the back way. I need to get the fuck out of this house. And I'll take full responsibility with Luca."

I couldn't see enough of his expression with his sunglasses covering his eyes, so I thought I'd lost my argument when he opened the door. But he only yelled that he would be right out and then closed it again. Pulling his cell back out of his pocket, he tapped the screen again, and I heard a phone ringing. This time it was picked up, and I heard Luca's voice on the other end.

Well, hell. There went my chances of getting out of the house. Dammit.

"Luca. I'm sorry to bother you. We're about to head to Veda's place to get her things and she would like to come with us."

I had no hope at all that he would say it was okay, yet I still waited, wishing for a miracle.

"I can bring Tristan and leave someone else here at the house." A pause. "Yes." Another pause. "Yes. I understand. Okay. We'll be back in two hours. No more." He tapped the screen to hang up the call and shoved the phone back into his pocket. "Okay," he told me. "Let's go."

"He's letting me go?" My mouth dropped open. I couldn't believe it.

"Yes," Enzo said. "But he's not fucking happy about it, so let's go before he changes his mind. He swore to string me up by my balls if we're not back on time."

He didn't seem that concerned about Luca's threat, but he didn't need to tell me twice.

Enzo opened the door again, and I walked out into the sunshine with a grin on my face. I couldn't believe I was getting to go back and see my home of the last five years. Perhaps for the last time. "WOW. You weren't kidding when you said you didn't have a lot of stuff."

I looked around my apartment. It seemed so tiny to me now, even though it was an older building so it was over 700 square feet, which was big for a one-bedroom apartment in Austin. Enzo had had the key. Apparently, I wasn't even to be trusted with letting myself into my own home. "Yeah, well, my sister didn't pay me enough to own a fancy lake house. And I was really only here to sleep most of the time. And that was only when Nicole wasn't having some kind of dramatic crisis because she got turned down for a part or something. At least until recently."

It just occurred to me that the last few months before her death, she'd been slowly but surely not needing me as much. Little by little, I'd had more time to myself. And now I knew why-because she was dating Mario. And me, well, I'd just been so damn happy to have a little freedom, I never questioned why.

"So let's get going," Enzo told the three guys who had followed us over in the moving truck. "Veda, is there any furniture here you don't want?"

"Um..." I looked around. My decor was what one would call "shabby chic meets whatever I could find at Goodwill." The walls and rug were the standard apartment beige, my couch was bright pink, my walls were covered with tapestries of misty mountains and sunlit forests I'd never get to see, and my small television was using bright green milk crates as a stand. They also doubled as my bookshelf and were filled to overflowing with the paperbacks I grabbed every time I went to the thrift store and never had time to read.

Right off the living room was a small galley kitchen that had a breakfast nook at one end, aka the plant room. Except they were fake plants because I didn't have time to keep real ones alive. In the kitchen was a microwave, a few pots and pans, and a set of dishes Nicole was going to throw away a few years before during one of her home cleanses. I didn't particularly like the design, but at least I didn't have to eat off of paper plates.

My bedroom was off to the left, with a bathroom right outside of it. I actually did like my bed. It was made of gray-washed wood with a matching dresser and had been a gift from my dad when I'd first gotten this place. It kind of reminded me of what you'd find in a rental on the coast. But the mattress was getting worn and there was no room in Luca's house for another bed.

So that left my clothes and other personal stuff. "I want to keep the couch, the TV, and the bedroom set, but not the mattress. If that can go into storage maybe?" I looked to Enzo for confirmation, and he nodded. "I'll take the tapestries and my books and photos back to Luca's, along with my clothes and other personal stuff."

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Enzo snapped his fingers. "You heard the lady. Start packing everything up. The things she wants in storage, we'll put in the back of the truck and you guys can take it there after we drop her back off at the house."

One of the guys started taping up boxes to use and I grabbed a couple and took them into the bedroom with me to start boxing up my clothes and shoes.

I was on the floor in my closet, separating my clothes into what I wanted to keep and what I didn't, when the ruddy-faced dude who'd been with Enzo in the house earlier stepped inside and closed the door behind him. My head snapped up. "What-"

I was cut off when he dropped down onto his haunches and pulled a small gun out of the back of his pants and aimed it at my face. "Shut your mouth or I'll put so many holes in that pretty face of yours, no one will be able to identify you." My jaw snapped shut.

"What do you know about the deal Luca has going down at the end of the month?"

I stared at him like he'd lost his fucking mind, but managed to keep my voice down. "I don't know anything."

"Ah, come on, honey. You can do better than that. What will Mario say when I tell him you're not coming through for him?"

I stared at him, uncomprehending for a moment. And then I started to shake. I couldn't stop it. It started at my hands and moved up through my arms until it fanned out across my torso. My teeth chattered and my bowels twisted in fear. For some stupid reason, I'd believed that once I got back to Luca's no one would be able to get to me. "I told Mario. Lu...Luca doesn't share any of that with me."

"Of course he doesn't. He's not fucking stupid. But come on, Veda. You're a smart girl. You'll figure something out." Still aiming the gun at the center of my forehead, he picked up a black, lacy tank that I usually wore under one of my low-cut shirts and brought it to his face. He inhaled deeply, his deep-set, brown eyes never leaving my face, then dropped it on the floor and grabbed his crotch, obviously adjusting himself in his jeans. "The next time I find you, you'd better have something for me. Or do I need to remind you about the deal you made?"