Saved Mafia Bride by Mae Doyle

Clara

I've been crouching against the wall by the basement door for so long that my muscles are starting to cramp but I'm still not going to move. I have to be here—right here—ready to attack Gavin if that's what it takes for me to get out of here. He can't keep me locked up forever, but I have a pretty good feeling that that's exactly what he's planning on doing.

When my dad told me that I had to marry Nick, I thought it all out, then I ran.

This is no different.

Except everything is different.

I don't have time to prepare and really think things through, but I also don't hate him the way that I hated Nick. Sure, Gavin is a bastard, a huge brute of a man who takes what he wants without thinking about what it will do to other people around him, but I want him.

I want to deny the throbbing between my legs when I'm around him, but I can't. I can't seem to help the fact that being near him makes me fucking stupid and makes it difficult for me to breathe. I want to know how he got his scar. I want to feel his hands on my body.

Part of me wants to know what it would be like to lose my virginity to him.

But that won't ever happen. Shifting position a little bit, I keep my back firmly up against the wall. I have only one shot at getting this right and I'm not sure that I'm going to nail it, but I have to try. There's no way that I can live with myself if I don't at least take a shot at getting out of here.

Footsteps outside the door make me freeze and all of my muscles stiffen. They're tired already, like I just ran a marathon, and I take tiny breaths of air through my parted lips while I stare at the door.

I have no idea if this is even going to work. No clue if I'm going to be able to get the drop on him or if I'm even strong enough to take him down. The only hope that I have is that he won't be expecting me sitting right inside the door like this. I have to hope that he's looking down at the bed for me and not checking out the stairs.

The doorknob turns and I swear that I feel panic rise in my chest and threaten to choke me. I'm making a horrible mistake, but I'm committed to it now and I'm not sure that there's any way that I can get out of this. As much as my brain is screaming at me to make a run for it and try to backtrack on what I had planned, I can't move.

The door opens. Even from here I can tell that it's Gavin. My body responds to him in a way that I think I hate, but I can't worry about that right now. I can't think about the fact that just being near him makes me ready to do some really stupid shit.

Or that I think I'm going to regret what I'm doing.

"Clara?" He pauses in the door and I tense, waiting for him to come through it. I can't attack him if he stays right there, he has to come closer to the top of the stairs. Then I can push him down.

Closing my eyes for just a moment, I imagine what it will be like to stand over his broken body. No, that can't happen. If I push him down the stairs like I hope that I can, I have to immediately run. I won't have very long to put distance between the two of us and gloating over him is the best way to get myself killed.

One step through the door.

Another.

Just like I thought, he's not looking down for me. His eyes are scanning in the basement and a slight furrow appears between his eyebrows.

Fuck.

I thought that he would basically run down the stairs to find me. I didn't think that he'd hesitate, that he'd stand there actually taking his time so that he didn't do something stupid.

He's about to look at me, I can feel it, and even though I want him closer to the top step, I throw myself at him, trying my best to hit him from the back and the side at the same time, trying to throw him off-balance so that he'll crash down the stairs.

He's a wall of fucking muscle.

"Ahh!" I scream, the sound of my voice so loud in the basement that I immediately regret making any noise. It hurts my ears but I ignore the way they pound and slam into him, trying to get a good grip on him so that I can shove him down the stairs.

"What the fuck?!" He cries out, spinning around and grabbing the handrail at the same time. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

His words wash over me and I feel my body grow cold but I don't have a choice in the matter. Instead of backtracking, I dig my heels in and push him harder, hoping against hope that he's going to fall.

He has to fall.

I'm so fucked if he doesn't. Instead of tipping over and crashing down to the basement floor, however, he wraps his arms around me, squeezing me so tightly that all of the air is pushed from my lungs.

"Fucking hell!" His voice echoes through me and I reach up, digging my nails into his forearms to try to make him drop me. There's a scream whipping through the air and it takes me a minute to realize that it's my voice.

I'm screaming and he's not falling. I'm screaming and now he's got me up against his chest, holding me so close and tight that I can't seem to fight him. I'm still screaming as he carries me through the house. Even though my eyes are wide open, I only see bits and pieces of what we pass.

Someone watching us, an amused expression on their face.

Pictures on the walls.

Multiples doors in the hall.

He doesn't slow down until we reach the last door, then he kicks it open and carries me in, turning to kick it shut a moment later. I'm done screaming now, and it feels like all of the air has left my body.

Gavin pushes me away from him and I stumble back, catching myself on a soft piece of furniture. A quick glance over my shoulder tells me exactly what it is and I swallow hard. I'm in his bedroom, the lights low, the curtains drawn so that I can't see outside. This place is dangerous and even though I've been in danger the entire time he's had me, I know that right now I'm really and truly fucked.

"You thought you’d do what? Just push me down the stairs and walk out the front door?" His growl makes me shiver. As he speaks, he slowly walks towards me, closing the gap between us. My heart pounds in my chest and I know that I should make a run for it, but I can't seem to move.

"Answer me, Audrey."

I swear, it's like the entire room goes fuzzy when he says my name. I gasp, reaching up and grabbing my throat. I feel like I'm choking but I'm pretty sure that it's all in my head. At least, I think that it is.

How does he know my name? He said it so casually, like it didn't matter at all to him that I'd been lying to him, but I can see the dark look in his eyes. I can see the way his jaw tightens when he looks at me and how tense his entire body is. He's a hunter and I'm the prey that stupidly wandered right in front of him.

"You can't keep me here," I finally say, trying to sound a hell of a lot braver than I am. "I don't know what you think will happen, Gavin, but I'm not something you can just...keep. I don't belong to you."

'You're right. You were sold to Nick Prince, but you ran away from him." He's right in front of me now, not touching me, but close enough that I can feel the heat radiating off of his body. Just an inch or so of space is between us but my body aches to close that gap.

"I couldn't love him." It's obvious that Gavin knows a hell of a lot more about me than I want him to and I tilt my chin up to look at him. "I'm not the type of person that you can just sell and think that I'll be okay with it."

He chuckles. "Cute." When his fingers brush against my jaw it honestly feels like my core is going to explore. Warmth blossoms, burning me up from the inside and I suck in a breath to try to fight down the feeling. "So you ran away from the arranged marriage and ended up with me instead. Lucky girl."

His fingers still rest on my skin and I shiver under his touch but I can't seem to take my eyes away from his. He's dangerous, that much is for sure, and I don't have a chance of getting away from him.

So what the hell am I going to do now?