Detonate: A Dark Mafia Romance (Beneath The Mask Series Book 2)
Detonate: Chapter 35

I shoot Maddie a text to tell her I’ll be home late. After the stabbing incident last week, I can see the pain on her face when I leave late at night. The fact she tries to hide it from me hurts. I don’t want to ever hurt her. But she knew the monster she was jumping into bed with.

It’s different now, though.

She’s not just in my bed. She consumes my entire life, my heart, and my head. I just need to work out a way to stop upsetting her.

Which is why I and Frankie have advised Luca we need to ramp up our efforts in taking out the Falcones. The quicker they’re gone, the less I have to be out at night. I have hundreds of fighters signed up at Kings, all fired up and ready for blood. I could train them up in no time to work with me and Frankie. Luca has shot the idea down, but we can’t deny the fact that we need more men, stat. There’s only so long I and Frankie can hold this down essentially on our own. We’re good, but we might not be invincible.

For the past week, we have scoped out the Falcone’s new meet spots on the outskirts of the city. Their preference is still old, abandoned warehouses. I kill the engine and open the glove compartment. Frankie huffs as he has to move his knee out of the way. My eyes widen as a pair of Maddie’s little red thongs come into view, wrapped around my gun.

Frankie bursts out into laughter.

“Fuck, Grayson. Where do you replace a woman like that?”

“I got lucky,” I answer honestly, grabbing the gun and pocketing her thongs.

“How we doing this today?” He smirks, spotting the grenades in the glovebox.

“We haven’t blow shit up for a couple of weeks. I fancied an explosion.”

“How many are in there?” I ask.

“At least seven. They’re waiting for a shipment to arrive, according to Carlos.”

He wiggles his eyebrows, snatching the two grenades out and handing me one.

“Let’s go blow shit up,” I say, and he chuckles.

I slam the car door and stride toward the building, grenade in one hand, the other gripping my gun.

As I approach the building, one of the men, dressed in black, points his gun at me. Without hesitation, I pull the trigger, hitting him straight in the chest. He collapses to the floor in a heap, clutching at his chest. Blood pours out of his mouth as he chokes on his blood.

I kick him out the way without so much as a second glance.

“Nice shot,” Frankie calls out behind me.

“Thanks. You head to the back exit.” I check my Rolex. “In exactly sixty seconds, we blow this place up.”

“Got it, Boss.”

The seconds tick by, and excitement flows through me. I fucking love watching shit burn to the ground.

Ten seconds…

I throw open the metal door, depressing the striker lever and pull the pin. All the heads in the room spin around. I give them a smile before chucking the grenade in and slamming the door shut. And fucking leg it as fast as I can.

The building erupts into flames. Stopping in the middle of the car park, I turn and admire the view.

“Fuck being blown to pieces. Although, I think I’d prefer that to being burned alive,” Frankie says, his face completely serious.

“I’ll keep note of that, just in case I have to kill you one day.”

“Thanks, Bud.”

“Well, isn’t this a good birthday present.” He turns to me with a wicked grin.

It is.

But I’m looking forward to Maddie’s birthday present for me.

“Let’s go. I gotta go spank my girl for leaving her panties for the likes of you to see. Talk to Luca again, tell him we need to move forward with our plan with the new recruits. I’ll speak to Keller and get him on board.”

“You got it, Boss.”

The waft of freshly baked cake hits me as I walk through the front door. I rummage through my pockets, pulling out her red thong, lacing them around my fingers. As I approach the kitchen, I spy Maddie’s blonde bun bobbing above the counter. She’s on her knees on the floor, staring intently into the oven, watching the cakes rise. The counters are smothered in white powder. My kitchen resembles a drug den.

This is what it’s like being with Maddie. She’s exciting. I never know what I am going to return home to. Whether she’s in some strange yoga pose, ass up in the air with see-through leggings on. Some days, I turn up to her apartment and she’s half asleep reading a book. Other days, she’s sipping wine from the bottle, rapping to Eminem.

I’ve never smiled so much in my life. The moment I return back to her, no matter how dark my day may get working with Luca, she brightens it. Every single time. I think that’s why I am so obsessed with being with her at every opportunity I can.

“Hey, Gorgeous,”I call out, putting her panties between my teeth.

She spins her head around.

“Hey, birthday boy.” She jumps up from the floor and launches herself at me, jumping into my arms and wrapping her arms around her neck.“I see you got present number one.”

“Who told you?” I say, cocking an eyebrow at her as she plucks it out. I don’t do birthdays, not since Casper died. Our birthdays fell close enough that we celebrated it together. Always.

“I may or may not have forced Keller to tell me. I mean you told me you were a Taurus. Which may I add, you are a typical taurus—stubborn as hell, a great lover. The fact we couldn’t stand each other for a year.” She giggles. “Aquarius doesn’t have the best compatibility score with a Taurus.”

“Sunshine, you’ve bagged yourself a man of the most loyal star sign. I, however, have the unpredictable, sometimes moody Aquarius.”

“You mean, free spirited and kinky.”

“Oh, I know all about that. Aquarius enjoys praise”—I bring my mouth to her ear—“and anal.”

It’s true, that actually fucking came up when I searched. How the hell they come up with this is beyond me.

My hands replace her ass, and I squeeze.

“Now that’s a birthday present idea,” she purrs, her eyes twinkling.

The oven dings, and she pushes herself out of my grasp, running over to the oven, flapping as the steam pours out of the door. She carefully grabs the cake out and drops it down on the counter.

“Fuck, that’s hot.”

Swiping up the wooden spoon, she starts beating the buttercream with ferocity, the white bowl resting under her arm. As she wipes her forearm across her forehead, it leaves a trail of white powder. I’m smiling so much my cheeks hurt. This is already the best birthday I’ve had for as long as I can remember.

I walk up behind her and wrap my arms around her middle, pulling her against me. My dick twitches as her ass rubs up against it.

“Grayson…”

“Yes, Baby.”

I’m hoping the next two words to leave those pretty lips are ‘fuck me’.It is my birthday after all.

“Would you rather sit on a cake and eat a cock, orrr, sit on a cock and eat cake?”

“Sit on a cock and eat cake. Why waste a perfectly good cake?” I chuckle. “But what I really want is you sitting on my cock while feeding me cake. Is that an option? It is my birthday, Sunshine.”

I can’t see her face, but I know those emerald eyes will be full of desire, and her cheeks will be rosy pink. Dipping my palms under her vest top, I slide them up her smooth stomach and let her gorgeous round boobs fill my hands, rubbing my thumb across her perky nipples. She tips her head back against me, exposing her slender neck. I can’t resist biting her neck, at the same time pinching her nipples. She moans against me, arching her back.

“You are fucking perfect, Sunshine.” I lick up her throat, and the remnants of her sweet perfume laces my tongue. Removing one of my hands, I dip my index finger in the bowl of buttercream she’s still cradling, scooping up a big dollop. “Open up, Sunshine.” Her warm tongue licks the length of my finger until she takes the whole thing in her mouth, sucking hard.

“Grayson!” she shrieks, jumping out of my hold.

“I may or may not have organized a night out to celebrate. Which is happening quite soon.”

Shit.

I can’t. I have a hit at the casino to deal with tonight. Two of Marco’s top advisors are scheduled to attend a charity night at the casino. Luca managed to persuade the manager of our plan to remove these two Falcone men. In exchange, we funnel our money through their casinos.

“Baby, I have to work tonight.”

“But it’s your birthday. No one should work on their birthday, Grayson!” she whines, pouting at me.

“You know I don’t work a job where I can request a holiday, right?” I laugh, but it guts me that I’ve ruined her plans.

Unless maybe I can have both tonight. It’s a quick and clean job. Luca and Frankie will be with us. In a public space.

“What about if you came with me tonight?”

“I don’t think you need a ride along. I’m a bit squeamish.”

“It’s at the casino. I don’t even need to do the hit. Frankie will be there. I just need to make sure nothing goes to shit. I’ll stay with you, and we can bet on the tables. Once the hit’s done, we’re in the clear anyway. What do you say?”

This could be one of the stupidest ideas of my life. I would never risk her like that. Never. Losing her would kill me.

“Then can we meet Sienna and Keller at the club after? I don’t want Keller anywhere near yours and Luca’s shit. It’s not fair. He’s out of that life.”

God, she amazes me.

“Okay, Baby, thank you.” I wrap my arms around her and lift her off the floor.

“I need to go get ready then. You can’t walk into a casino with a woman with greasy hair covered in icing sugar. Plus, I gotta finish this cake so I can sit on your cock and feed it to you. Happy birthday.” She presses a kiss to my lips before I can even open my mouth to respond.

With that, she pushes herself out of my arms and darts back into the kitchen, bowl still in hand, with a mischievous look in her eyes. I walk over to the barstool and take a seat, watching this firecracker decorate my birthday cake in my kitchen.

I know what I really want for my birthday.

Let’s just hope I can get her to agree.