Arranged Mafia Marriage

Axel

The line of fire lights up the space in the gap between the door of the wardrobe and the floor. It flickers and dances as the heat in the closet builds up. I am scared, so scared. I press back into the wall of the closet and close my eyes. I don’t want to die. Please, I don’t want to die. Smoke creeps in from under the door and I cough. My eyes water. I need to get out of here, but how do I do that? If I reach for the door, on the other side, there will be fire. I press my sweaty palms into the wall behind me. There’s no escape. The only way is to move through the door. Either that, or I’d be roasted alive here. Sweat pops on my forehead and slides down my temple.

I have to try to get out of here. But mum said that she would come for me. She told me to wait here, while she finishes working. I told her I don’t like to hide in the closet but she said we don’t have a choice. She has to work and all she could afford right now is this room. And she can’t have me outside. That would upset her client. I told her I would go outside to play, but she said I’m too small to be out on my own. She doesn’t think it would be safe for me to cross the road on my own to go to the playground. So, I had no choice but to hide myself in the closet. She said she won’t be long. And I believe her.

My ma has always come through for me. She’s always there to pick me up from school and to drop me off. And she makes sure I always have enough to eat and she buys me toys I love. I didn’t want to hide but she promised that this would be the last time. That after this, we would be moving to a bigger place where I’d have my own room. Just this one last client she had to take care of, and we’d start packing right after and be off. I didn’t want to agree, but she finally coaxed me into the closet.

Soon after, I heard the sound of voices, and knew her client had arrived. Then the usual grunts and groans started and I plugged my fingers in my ears just the way that she had taught me. I even saw a mouse in the corner of the closet and laughed at it. I reached for it but it scampered off.

I guess I fell asleep after that, but now I wake up to the heat, the sweat trickling down my back… and the fire…the sparks that dance through the slats on the door. I open my mouth to cry out, but my throat is so dry. I don’t want to die; I don’t want to die. I draw in a breath and burst out coughing. The smoke is building in here; it’s too much. Too hot. Can’t breathe. My lungs are burning. My skin feels like it’s going to catch fire at any moment. I have to get out of here. Have to. I reach for the door, my fingers brush the hot metal, and I scream.

“Axel,” I hear her voice. “Axel, you are safe”

“Mom?” I croak.

“It’s me, Axel.”

I snap my eyes open and meet her worried gaze.

“Axel?” Her forehead furrows, “Are you okay?”

I try to speak, but my throat is too dry. I draw in a breath and my lungs burn. My heart is racing so fast, I’m sure it’s going to break out of my ribcage. Sweat beads my brow, trickles down my temple.

“Axel?” she asks with hesitation. “I think you had a bad dream.”

My entire fucking life, so far, is a bad dream. Until the day I met her. That’s when everything changed. That’s when I realized what was missing-that I need to own her. And I will. Only, I need to use her to further my end goal. I can’t let go of that. Not when I have spent my entire life working toward it.

She reaches for me. I grab her wrist and haul her to me, flip her onto the bed and lean over her, all in one smooth move.

She stares up at me, her breath coming in pants. “A…Axel,” her chin wobbles, “are you okay?”

No, I’ll never be okay. Not when I have to use the one good thing I have found in my life for my own selfish means, even knowing I will lose her because of it.

“A…Axel, please,” she whispers. “I only came in because I heard a noise and wanted to make sure you were okay. I didn’t mean to disturb you, honestly.”

I take in her pale features. The moonlight that slants in through the crack in the curtains highlights the red strands in her hair. Her green eyes are dilated. I lower my head and sniff at her neck. The sweet orange blossom scent of her fills my senses. My cock instantly lengthens; my groin hardens. Fuck, but she is potent.

“Axel, don’t-”

She tries to scramble away and I lower the weight of my lower body onto her, pinning her in place.

She must feel the thickness of my arousal, for she freezes. Every muscle in her body tenses. Her lips tremble.

“Everywhere I look, you are always there. Every time I try to turn away from you, I am drawn back. Every time I want to stop thinking of you, you pop up in front of my eyes. Why is that?”

“I… I don’t know.” She swallows. “I swear, I didn’t mean any harm coming in here.”

“So you say, when the fact is, you know exactly how to hurt me.”

“I hurt you?” She frowns, “I am not the one who insisted I should move into this stupid house and away from my family.”

“Do you miss your family?”

“And if I do? As if you’ll let me return to them.”

“Did you want to return to them?”

She hesitates.

“Do you?”

“Yes,” she bursts out, “I am getting married in a few days and I’d rather spend these last few days with my family in my childhood home, okay?”

A tear drop squeezes out from the corner of her eye and I bend down and lick it up.

She shudders, “Why did you do that?”

“Fuck if I know.” I peer into her features. “Fuck if I know why I do half the things I do around you. Fuck if I know why I am sporting a constant hard-on when I think of you.” I tilt my hips, and my already lengthening cock stabs into the soft flesh between her legs.

Her breath catches in her chest. She stares up at me with those fucking huge eyes of hers. She licks her gorgeous lips, and damn it, I am lost. I lean in closer, unable to resist the temptation of tasting her just one more time. Just a sip and I’ll let her go. Besides, I am still not going to let her come. This is simply a way of tasting her one last time. Then, I’ll stay away until the wedding.

I lower my lips to hers when she bursts out, “What was your dream about?”

“What?” I blink.

“I heard you cry out. And when I walked in, you were thrashing around in your bedclothes. And you called out for your mom.”

I stare at her for another second, then pull away. I sit on the side of the bed and lower my arms between my legs. “Get out,” I say tightly.

“What?” She frowns.

“I said, get the fuck out of my suite.”

“You don’t mean it.”

I glare at her, “Do I look like I don’t mean it?”

“You…you look shaken.”

“Oh?” I arch an eyebrow.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

“Was it the shooting? Is that what you were dreaming about?”

I laugh. “If you think taking a bullet would cause me nightmares-” I shake my head. “On the other hand, perhaps it’s the fact that I took a bullet for you that’s causing me those dreams.”

“Don’t try to change the topic.”

“I am not,” I drawl.

“I know it’s difficult to talk about it, whatever it is, but maybe it will help.”

“What will help is if you get your arse out of here.”

“Thought you liked my ass?”

“Don’t push it, Theresa,” I say in a tight voice. “If I were you, I’d get the fuck out of here while I still can.”

“Why can’t you talk about it, Axel? You called for your Mom, so you must be remembering things about your childhood.”

“The one thing I’ll never forget is what happened in my childhood,” I snap.

“I am sorry for whatever happened to you,” she murmurs, “but at least, you are remembering everything. So that’s a good sign, right?”

“What would be a good sign is if you got the fuck away from me at the moment.”

The silence stretches for a second, then another. I shoot her a sideways glance and find her glancing at me with a hurt look on her face. Something hot stabs at my chest.

Goddamn it, this is what I was afraid of. Developing feelings for her. Wanting to take care of her. Needing to own her and keep her. No, no, no, that’s not possible. There is one thing, and one thing only, that I want from her. And that is her subservience. Her ability to be the key to destroying the Sovranos. It’s what I have worked toward and I will not allow her to upend my plans, not when I have come this far. I rise to my feet. “I am going to the bathroom, and when I come out, I want you gone.”

I walk away from her.

Behind me, I hear her feet hit the floor, then footsteps approaching me.

“Axel, please,” she pleads, “can’t you, at least, share a little of what happened in your childhood? Does it have to do with the scars on your right forearm. Is that why you keep playing with your lighter when you are stressed, even though you don’t smoke?”

What the fuck? How could she have noticed that? People seldom notice these details. They see something and their minds complete the details. But Theresa-she spotted it right away. Anger lights a fire up my spine. How dare she try to find out everything about me? How dare she pay such close attention to me? How dare she walk into my room when I am at my most vulnerable and then try to win my trust? I will never let anyone close. Those kinds of relationships are not for me. Not when I have one reason, and one reason only, to be alive. Revenge for what the Sovranos did to me and my mother.

“Axel, please say some-”

I turn around close the distance between us, then grab her by her neck and haul her toward me. I crush my lips to hers with such force that our teeth clash. A shudder grips her, then she’s kissing me back with as much intensity. She opens her mouth and I thrust my tongue inside. I suck on her tongue, drag my tongue over her teeth, and drink of her deeply. Then, I release her and step back so suddenly, she staggers. I grip her shoulder and right her. “You can leave and go home, if you wish, until the wedding.” I turn and stalk into the bathroom.

By the time I return to the room, she’s gone.