Saved Mafia Bride by Mae Doyle
Clara
The house is completely silent when I finally open my eyes and roll over on the bed. I’m exhausted, but in the best way possible, like I’ve been in in a hot bath for an hour and then got a massage.
I had no idea that it could feel like this. It’s one thing to make myself cum, another entirely to have someone do it for me, and I shiver with delight, rubbing my hands over my arms as I pull on some clothes.
What do I say to Gavin?
Hey, thanks for the sex? The thought makes me smile and cringe at the same time. He would definitely make fun of me for that, I can feel it in my bones.
You wanna get dinner? Again I chuckle, thinking about what it would be like to go out on a date with him. He’s incredibly handsome and drop-dead sexy. I’m sure that all of the waitresses would be checking him out. He could have anyone in the world, I’m sure of it, and yet he wants me.
It blows my mind. I don’t see what he sees, but right now I’m not really interested in arguing with him. I just want to be near him and think about what it was like to have him in me.
Maybe he’ll want to sleep with me again. The thought gives me chills.
As quietly as possible, I pad down the hall to the kitchen and living room. “Hello? Gavin?” My voice sounds shaky and I peek into the living room. “Where are you?”
“Gavin had to go.” A man I’ve never seen before is sitting in the leather chair in front of the fireplace, a book on his lap. He looks up at me with a smile on his face but even though he looks friendly, I feel my stomach drop.
I don’t even realize that I’m backing up. “Do you work for Nick?” My voice is tight and I feel my head starting to swim. Is it possible that he already found me? What did he do with Gavin?
If he hurt Gavin then I don’t know what I’ll do. I’ll be fucked, that’s for sure. Nick will kill me. I know it as sure as I know that the man sitting in front of me is someone that I’ve never seen before.
“I’m Zach.” He closes the book and puts it on the coffee table before standing up and stretching. “Gavin had to run take care of something and asked me to come keep an eye on you.”
“So you’re a babysitter?” I glare at him, trying to stop my stomach from flipping around even more. “He left me with a babysitter?”
“Do most babysitters carry a gun on them at all times?” Zach throws me an easy smile. I’m sure that most women would find it disarming but I just stare at him in disbelief. “You really don’t believe me? Don’t you think that you’d already be dead if I were working for Nick?”
He’s right. The little voice in the back of my head pipes up, but I shake my head. “When is he coming back?”
Before Zach can answer I see movement outside the window. Zach turns quickly, pulling his gun from its holster and stepping in front of me so that I can’t see out the window.
No, he did that so that I’m not in the direct line of fire.
“Dammit,” he mutters, slipping his gun back into his holster. “Your boy just got that car a little while ago and I’m still not used to it. You wanted to know when he’d be back? He’s here, Clara, so you can stop thinking about how you’re going to murder me when my back is turned.”
“How the hell did you know that?” I ask. Truth be told, as soon as he moved in front of me, my eyes had snapped to the kitchen. I told myself that I could grab a knife and sink it into his back before he even knew what I was doing even though I’m sure that it’s just wishful thinking.
“You look feral, Clara. Like you’ve been on your own for too long and aren’t used to trusting anyone enough to let them take care of you.” Zach gives me a smile. “You can trust Gavin, though, okay? He’s one of the good ones, no matter what you might think.”
I open my mouth to reply, even though I’m not sure what I’d even say, but before I can, the door swings open and Gavin is standing there. I swear, the room feels suddenly tighter and more choking than it did, but that’s only because my body is begging for me to close the gap between the two of us.
I know that it sounds stupid but I want his arms around me. I want to feel him pull me to him and tell me that everything is going to be alright, but my feet feel stuck to the floor and all I can do is watch silently as he shakes Zach’s hand and the other man turns to leave.
“Remember what I said,” Zach says, one hand on the door that Gavin is holding for him. “You gotta believe me that he’s one of the good ones.”
I can’t speak but I do somehow manage to nod. When the door is closed, Gavin tugs on it like he wants to make sure that it’s not going to open back up, then he turns to me.
I don’t have time to think before I’m rushing across the room. He grunts a little as I slam into him and then he wraps his arms around me. My heart pounds in my chest even though I know that I don’t really have anything to be afraid of now that he’s back. I can’t help the fact that I want him to hold me and make all of this stop, even though I don’t know what it is that I want him to do right now.
“Clara, are you okay?” His hands find my face and he tilts me up to look at him. “You look like you saw a ghost.”
“I woke up,” I said, the words tumbling out of me in my effort to explain what had happened, “and you were gone. I didn’t know if Zach had hurt you or worked for Nick or what happened. I—” I pause, sniffing. “What’s that smell?”
“Gunpowder.” His eyes never leave mine.
“You’re shot?” I try to step back from him but he doesn’t let go of my face. “Are you okay?” I’m not sure why I care so badly but suddenly I have to know if he’s going to be okay.
Maybe it’s because he’s the only safe thing in my life right now. Maybe it’s because I’m well aware that he could have anyone in the world that he wanted and yet he somehow wants me. It blows my mind and I want to try to figure it all out, but I can’t, not with his hands cupping my face like this and his eyes locked on mine.
It’s like he’s afraid to look away from me in case I were to disappear. What I realize with a start but can’t tell him is that I don’t think I could ever walk away from him, not now. Not after how he made me feel, not after how safe he makes me feel just by standing in front of me.
“I’m not shot,” he tells me, and just the sound of his voice makes me breathe a little slower and easier. “I took care of someone who was looking for you. Nick sent this guy named Peter to take you back to him, but I got to him first.”
“You killed someone else?”
He nods, his face serious. “Clara, when are you going to understand that I’ll do anything to protect you? It doesn’t matter to me how many men I have to kill, I’ll take them all out for looking at you. I’ll do whatever it takes, kill whoever threatens you.”
I believe him but only because I can smell the man’s death on him. Part of me feels like I’m on the verge of freaking out but I take a deep breath to try to steady myself.
“Now what?” It’s the one thing that I need to know the answer to so that I can plan. If he tells me that this is my life now, just living in the guesthouse while he kills people, then I’m not sure that I can handle it. I need closure, I need safety.
“Now we’re going to take care of Nick Prince, Clara. He’s on his way to take you, but you have to understand, if he does, he’ll kill you.”
I feel all of the blood drain out of my face. “What?” My voice is a whisper but we’re standing so close to each other that I’m sure he can hear it.
“If he gets his hands on you, he’s not going to sweep you off your feet and take you someplace so that you two can live happily ever after. That’s not how this is going to work. He wants to hurt you. He wants to kill you. he wants to make you think that you’re going to be safe and then destroy you, and there’s no way in hell that I’m going to let that happen.”
I feel like I can’t breathe. Suddenly the walls are all closing in on me and I need some fresh air. Gavin is looking at me like he can read my mind and he knows what I’m thinking, but I stumble away from him. “You can’t be serious,” I manage to say, even though the words feel like splinters in my throat. “Please, Gavin, you can’t be serious. Tell me that this isn’t my life!”
“It is right now.” He grabs my hip and pulls me to him so that I slam into him and can’t step away. I’m breathing hard, unable to stop the panicky feeling rushing through me. “It’s your life right now, Clara, but that’s the thing that you need to understand—I’m not going to let it be your life forever. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe. You just have to let me.”
Let him. His words pound in my head and I shake it to clear it but they’re still there, bouncing around and echoing so loudly that I reach up and clap my hands over my ears. Let him. He makes it sound so easy, like I’m letting him make me breakfast in bed.
Letting someone save your life when you just met them and don’t know anything about them is totally different.
