Saved Mafia Bride by Mae Doyle

Gavin

The rest of the drive was silent. My car ate up the night and I only stopped once for gas before pulling right back onto the road. It would be great to get a hotel room and sleep off some of my adrenaline, but it pounding through my body was the only thing that kept me away the entire time.

Clara slept with her mouth open, her head leaned against the window. I hate that I wasn’t able to be a bit more careful with the dose I gave her, but I had to get her knocked out before she did something stupid. The last thing that I wanted to deal with was her grabbing the wheel and yanking it to the side.

If we’d gotten in a wreck and the police had been called then I would have been really screwed.

As I decelerate off the interstate, I feel myself relax. There’s something incredibly calming about coming home, no matter what it is that I’ve been doing. I love working with the Accardi brothers and we have a lot of fun, but coming home is the best.

And now I have someone to take home with me.

I’ve always wanted someone waiting at home for me, but none of the women I’ve ever met have been the right ones for me. Clara, however, is perfect. I knew it from the moment that I saw her when I was checking out the bakery with the Accardis, but there wasn’t any way that I could have taken her for my own just then.

Now, though, she’s mine, and there isn’t anything in the world that can stop me from keeping her. She lets out a soft sigh and stirs a little, so I press down harder on the gas, tearing through town in an effort to hurry home.

I’m almost there, just a few turns away from my house, when blue lights go on behind me and panic floods through my veins.

Slowly I guide the car into an empty bank parking lot. We’ve driven all night long and it’s just starting to get light out. Clara turns a little in her seat and I reach out to lightly rub my knuckles down her bare arm. Her skin is cool and she’s still clad in the skimpy lingerie that she was when she was up on stage. Reaching into the back, I grab a blanket and flip it up and over her, trying to make it look like she has actual clothes on.

I’m not sure how real it looks, but I can’t worry about that right now, not when an officer is striding confidently up to the car.

I roll down my window and hold out my license and registration before he can ask for them. He’s a young guy, in the process of trying to grow a terrible beard, and he takes them from me like he’s afraid that they’re going to bite.

“You having a good morning, officer?” I ask him, keeping my voice even. We have some of the cops in town in our pocket, but there are new ones coming on the force all the time and I don’t recognize this guy.

“Sure am. Mr. Marleno, where have you and your wife been that she’s asleep like this?” He hands me back my license and registration and leans down to glance in the window and look at Clara. “She looks like she tied one on last night.”

I grin at him and give a small nod. “You’re exactly right. It’s been a long night but I’m going to get her home and push some fluids, make sure she’s safe. You don’t have to worry about her, officer, I’d do anything for her.”

Instead of stepping back from the car right away like I thought that he would, he pauses, leaning in even more. I feel my back bristle and I want to tell him to fuck off, but it’s obvious that he’s thinking something over.

“She doesn’t look so good,” he says after a minute. “Do you think that she needs to go to the hospital?”

“No,” I say confidently. “We have a family doctor and I’ll let them know that they need to come by the house if that will make you feel better, but what she really needs is her own bed. Don’t worry, officer, I’ll take care of her. She’s everything to me.”

I flash him a grin and he gives me a nod, even though he still looks a little uncertain. A moment later, he backs away, then gives me a wave. “Have a good day, Mr. Marleno.”

“Same.” Rolling up my window, I wait until he’s cleared my car then pull out of the lot. My head slams with the need to sleep and I have to get my nerves to keep hanging. It’s one thing to bring Clara all the way back home with me without her knowing about it, it’s another thing entirely to be stopped by the cops.

Reaching down, I press the green call button on the front dash screen of my car. A moment later ringing fills the air and then my brother, Sean, picks up.

“Please tell me that you’re not calling because you have your cock stuck in a hooker somewhere,” he says, sounding sleepy. “I’m serious, Gavin, I don’t feel good enough for bullshit this morning.”

“Drink yourself to death last night?” I ask, and I’m answered with a groan. “You need a good woman to help you settle down, brother. Like me. I have one.”

This makes him perk up. I can almost see him forcing himself to sit up in bed so that he can better listen to what I’m saying. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“A woman,” I repeat, reaching over to touch Clara’s cheek. It’s probably a bad idea, she’s waking up more and more. If I don’t get her home quickly then I’ll probably have to give her another dose to keep her asleep. Normally, I wouldn’t worry about being able to handle her, but I haven’t slept all night long and I’m exhausted.

I want to fuck her and fall asleep, but I might only get the latter right now.

“You don’t have a fucking woman.” He pauses and I know that he’s thinking fast. “Unless you took a page from the Bonanno brothers and kidnapped one.”

“Bingo,” I tell him, grateful pulling into my garage. “Although I don’t think that I’d call it kidnapping. It’s more that I saved her from the utter shit of her life. She should be grateful for what I just did for her.”

“And is she? Or did you put her to sleep with one of your little syringes that you keep hanging around?”

The garage door drops down behind us, cutting off what looks like it’s going to be a gorgeous day. “I had to make sure that she’d understand just how lucky she is,” I tell him, digging through the console again. She doesn’t need a lot right now, just enough to put her back under for a little bit longer.

I don’t want to have to fight her to keep her under control. If I can give her a little bit and then move her into the house then she and I will both be a lot happier than if things blow up in my face with her waking up.

Sean laughs. “You’re a fucked-up bastard, you know that?”

“That’s rich coming from you,” I say, gently slipping the needle into Clara’s arm. She lets out a little gasp like she feels the pinch but then her breathing slows back down and she stills. “I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to bed and I’m not answering the phone until I get enough sleep to keep me from feeling like shit.”

“And your girl? Is she going to be in bed with you?”

I’d love that, I really would, but I don’t want her to wake up before I’m ready to deal with her. Clara and I have a lot of things to talk about and the best way to ensure that we both get uninterrupted rest is to put her someplace else so that we can each sleep this off.

“No, she’ll be in the basement. Actually, she’ll be the first guest in the basement.”

“I can only imagine how fucking thrilled she’ll be.” Sean sounds amused and I hover my finger over the red button to hang up on him. “Don’t do anything insanely stupid, Gavin.”

“You either.” Hanging up on him, I kill the car and then get out, walking quickly around to her door so that I can move her into the house. She’s dead weight but I pick her up carefully, snuggling her against my chest like a baby so that she doesn’t accidentally get hurt.

I want to keep her. Hell, I have to keep her, but that doesn’t mean for one second that I’m going to let anything bad happen to her. She’s perfect and she’s mine.

She’ll just have to understand that when she wakes up.