Snow Bound

6

"Wow, this is unexpected." Whitney is overwhelmed by everything that's been thrown at her that day and she still has another decision to make.

Whitney looks over to Michael, "If I become your mistress there will be no unprotected sex between us. You sleep around too much, I don't know your partners or their partners. I won't put my health at risk because you want to have unwrapped sex."

Michael looks at her blinking. "You will seriously consider becoming my mistress?"

"Yes, on the condition that you will not force me to have sex when you want it and when we do have it that you wrap it. Also..." Whitney isn't sure that she dare say the next part. She is still terrified of Michael. Which is funny since most people are terrified of John.

"What is it, Whitney?" John asks softly.

"I'm afraid you'll be angry with me, so I'm not sure that I should say anything." Whitney whispers back. 

Michael looks at her shocked. "You are afraid of me?"

"Yes," Whitney states and then looks away from him.

"But you aren't afraid of me?" John asks confused at her choice of person she's afraid of.

"I know you have the reputation of being cold, but you've not been that way with me. Perhaps it's because of how we first met. You were beaten and abused, I could relate to that. Having watched Michael do that to you also probably has something to do with it."

"I see, I didn't realize that you were there early enough to see what happened to him." Michael says more than a little stricken at her revelation.

"Yes, I didn't have anything else to do and thought it would be better to arrive early than arrive late. I really don't like getting punished. I had no idea that getting there early would be so dangerous for me." Whitney looks down unable to keep eye contact with Michael after telling him what she did.

"Whitney, although I wish you hadn't witnessed the punishment my father forced me to give John, I am glad that you were there to help him. He never deserved the punishments. I wouldn't have given it to him except those bastards that were with me would have reported me to my father if I hadn't. If I didn't follow through with the punishments then John's would have been twice as bad and delivered by my father and his goons."

"Michael would have been punished just as harshly as well. I ordered him a long time ago to follow through when father orders him to punish me."

Whitney isn't sure who to look at by then. "You ordered Michael to go ahead and punish you so viciously?"

"Yes, then later, once we are alone he has me give him back everything that was given to me. Every hit, every kick, every fuck."

By now Whitney's mouth is open.

"We are equal. I am the one that officially will be taking over the mafia, but John is my enforcer and will sometimes be taking my place. He knows just as much about the mafia as I do. He could easily take over for me if necessary."

"That's why he'll be taking your place at times." Whitney says fully understanding now when she was a bit confused.

"Yes. I had always planned on it being that way, even though our father did his best to change things. I had to be able to trust John. I couldn't take the chance on his secretly harboring anger and resentment against me. I also didn't think it fair that he be so brutally punished and not me. I couldn't let that stand. I couldn't stop the punishments but I could have him give me the same punishment that was given to him. Father never knew and believed that we despised each other. Why he was such a prick about things I have no idea, but I could never willingly hurt John. I only ever did so to keep the punishment less than it would otherwise be.

"I will never hurt you intentionally, Whitney, you must believe that. I trust John with my life, but he would kill me if I ever intentionally hurt you."

Whitney is shaking her head at his words. "Why would he kill the brother he loves for some dirty female he just met?"

John looks at her in confusion, "Dirty?"

Michael looks at her in confusion as well when it dawns on him what she means. "I think she is referring to what father made her do."

"Whitney, not all of father's marks were male. Some were females, since Michael is better with people he was sent to seduce them and get the information he wants, whether it was just blackmail or something else. One of the teachers that you are targeting, well father had Michael target his wife.

"There are also those males that prefer males as well. Those ones I was sent in. I can act, Michael would spend hours with me teaching me how to attract the attention of the mark and how to strike up conversations since I have a tendency of scaring people off. I've seduced several and gotten blackmail on them. You are no dirtier than I am and we have similar kill records so you can't use that either.

"So if you are dirty, then so am I.

"Michael is right, I would kill him if he hurt you." John tightens his arms around her and pulls her into him, just soaking in her warmth. He loves that she is so comfortable with him, Michael is the only one that has ever been that comfortable with him before.

"But that's just it, I don't understand why."

"Because you are the only person other than my brother that I see." That shuts Whitney up. Michael has explained how John doesn't see people and she didn't believe it. "I see faceless things, I can tell that they are male or female. I can focus on a face when I concentrate, like when I was sent on a mission or when I'm out hunting a specific person, but most times I don't see people, just faceless masses.

"You have my full attention and feared that you wouldn't want anything to do with me once you gained your freedom. Yet, here you are not only willing to be my girlfriend but also willing to be mistress to my brother.

"Yes, he is important, but so are you."

"I understand that, I think, but I still don't see how I could be more important than Michael. He's your brother, your blood, your lover."

John nuzzles her a bit and then kisses her neck. "You are my lover, my girlfriend and most importantly, you brought back something I thought lost, my heart. I have always loved Michael and nothing will change that, but other than him I was stone cold emotion wise. You brought back my feelings and emotions. You made me care once more. I won't have you hurt, won't allow it. If any one hurts you I'll kill them. Depending on how they hurt you their deaths will be as painful."