Arranged Mafia Marriage

Seb

I come awake with a start. It’s dark in the room, and I blink, disoriented. I know I’m back in my room, and I remember eating the lunch Cass brought me. Later, she came by to clear my tray, and I fell asleep after that. I must have slept clear through the afternoon, for the light has faded outside. I reach for my lamp and flip it on, then check the time my phone.

It’s seven p. m. Damn. I must have been more tired than I realized. I sit up, and while there’s a dull throb in my shoulder, it’s not as painful as it was this morning. I ease my arm out of my sling and stretch it out. Pain shivers up my arm and I wince.

“Are you supposed to do that?”

I glance up to find Elsa hovering by the door. In one arm, she has Avery. In the other, she holds a familiar paper bag filled with my medicines. She walks over and places the paper bag on the table near the bed.

Avery fusses and reaches for me.

“No, baby. Seb’s still recovering from being hurt.”

“I’m fine.” I hold out the arm attached to my unhurt shoulder. “The sling is just a precaution, to keep me from moving my arm around. It helps it heal faster.”

“Eb,” Avery warbles. “Eb.”

“Did she say my name?” I stare at the little girl, who smiles back at me, showing the gaps between her teeth.

Elsa looks at me, an expression of surprise on her features. “I guess she likes you.”

“Me and Avery… We understand each other, don’t we, sweetheart?”

Avery all but jumps out of Elsa’s grasp. I rise to my feet and take her in my arm. She stares at me, then bumps her fist into my cheek.

“Or maybe, she thinks I’m a punching bag, of sorts.” I chuckle.

She flattens her other palm against my mouth then warbles something.

“What’s she saying?”

“I have no idea.” Elsa shakes her head. “This girl talks to anyone and anything. If she thought she’d get a response, I swear she’d talk to the furniture.”

“You’re fu- I mean, very clever, aren’t you, doll?” I pretend to bite her finger and she bursts out laughing again. “You’re such a smarty-pants, aren’t you? So clever; such a performer. Love attention, don’t you, Bubu?” I realize I’ve called her by the same pet name Elsa used earlier.

Avery bumps her head against my chin. “Seb.” This time, it’s unmistakable she’s saying my name. A flurry of emotions coil in my chest.

I lift her shirt and plant a raspberry on her tummy. She screams with pleasure, then laughs again. I glance up to find Elsa watching the two of us with a strange look on her face.

“What?” I growl.

“It’s just,” she shakes her head, “you’re really good with her.”

“Why do you sound so surprised?”

She pulls out a bottle of pills, then shakes off two and offers them to me, along with a glass of water.

I glance down at Avery and at my other hand, which, I hate to admit, is already growing tired since I slid it out from the sling.

“Here,” she urges me.

I open my mouth, and she drops the pills onto my tongue. Her fingertips brush my lips, and a shiver runs down my spine. My belly hardens and my cock twitches. Her chest rises and falls, and she avoids my gaze as she raises the glass of water to my lips. I sip from it, without taking my gaze off of her.

Avery chooses that moment to slap her hand down on the glass. Water splashes on my shirt and on her.

“Sorry, sorry. Oh, Avery, look what you did?” Elsa frowns at the toddler, who glances between us. Her face crumples, and she takes in a deep breath.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, Bubu; it’s fine. No harm done. It’s water; it will dry, right?” I walk away as I jiggle her and try to distract her. She glances at me, her features frozen as she eyes me, then her face crumples again.

“Aww, come on, baby, don’t cry.” I begin to pace as I move her up and down in my grasp. Goddamn arm, if it were functional, I could use it to distract her.

She blinks, a teardrop balanced at the edge of her delicate eyelashes. She opens her mouth, but before she can make a sound, I whistle. She blinks again, and watches me, entranced. I whistle under my breath, then vary the tone, and she slowly shuts her mouth. I whistle once more. This time, she lands her fist in my mouth.

“A-n-d, normal service is resumed.” I snicker. “Crisis averted. For now, at least.”

An hour later, Elsa has given Avery a bath-which Avery insisted I watch. She refused to let go of my sleeve, so I had to accompany them to the small room connecting to the guest bedroom Elsa had occupied-and read a bedtime story to her, during which time, she insisted on holding onto my finger as she finally fell asleep. After that, we stand next to her crib and gaze down at the sleeping child.

“Wow,” I breathe as a wave of tiredness washes over me, “she’s really something.”

“She never stops,” Elsa agrees. “You caught her as she was winding down.”

“That’s her winding down?” I wince.

“You should see her in the mornings. She springs up, ready to face the day, and doesn’t stop until I put her down for her afternoon nap, at which time, she often refuses to sleep.” Elsa shakes her head. “At this age, they’re still learning how to sleep, you know?” she says softly. Then she bends and kisses Avery on her forehead before she straightens and catches me watching her.

“Do you want to kiss her goodnight?”

“Me?” I catch myself gaping, and promptly shut my mouth.

“Yes, you.” Elsa smiles a little. “You earned it.”

I lower myself and bring my face close to the sleeping child’s. Her features are flushed, her lips slightly parted. Her chest rises and falls quickly. I push aside the strand of hair over her forehead, then bend and kiss her cheek.

“Goodnight, Bubu,” I whisper.

I straighten and my gaze connects with Elsa’s. Once more, awareness hums between us. We’ve always had that connection, the chemistry that thrummed between us from the moment we met… but this… This is different. A shared experience, of taking care of Avery this evening, unites us. It changes the flavor of our interaction, deepens it, adds an edge to it. Laces it with tenderness, weaves it with an awareness that’s both soft and potent, both erotic and intense, innocent and yet, so deep. It strengthens what already existed between us, helps me understand her more completely-as a woman, a mother, a nurturer, and someone who deserves every pleasure I can give her. And more.

Avery murmurs something, and we both shift our gazes to her face. She turns over on her side, but continues sleeping. When she doesn’t move for a few more minutes, the breath I hadn’t been aware I was holding slides out. Tension drains from my shoulders. Goddamn, and all this because I was worried we might have woken her up?

Elsa puts a finger to her lips, then jerks her head toward the doorway. She picks up the baby monitor and sidles toward the door. I follow her, when she pauses and turns to me. “Watch out for the-”

I step on a floorboard that creaks.

“-floorboard,” she completes her statement.

I freeze, glance over my shoulder… to find Avery is still asleep. Whew! I turn to Elsa, who seems as relieved as me. She beckons to me, switching off the overhead light as I follow her out of the room, this time, without incident.

The nightlight illuminates the space as she closes the door, leaving it a little ajar. I follow her into her bedroom, and the breath I am not aware of holding rushes out.

“Is it always like that?” I whisper.

“Like what?”

“Like a major incident has been averted every time you put her to bed?”Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

She chuckles. “Once she’s asleep, she wouldn’t wake up if a freight train passed through her room. It’s just those few minutes before she tips over into deep sleep that you have to be careful of.”

“Right.” I peer down into her face. “You are an amazing mother, Elsa.”

She flushes. “So you keep saying.”

“Only because every time I watch you with her, I can see how much she means to you, how much you’d give up to be with her.”

“When I first gave birth to her, I was depressed. No one tells you how hard it is to take care of a child. Nothing prepares you for how the child takes over your life completely. And my ex, let’s just say, he wasn’t very understanding.” She swallows. “He told me it was my problem, and I had to handle it on my own.”

“That figlio di puttana.” Anger flushes my skin. No wonder she’s so nervous every time Avery does something wrong. She’s afraid I’ll yell at her, or worse. I clench my fists by my sides, and by god, if I had any doubts about what I was going to do to that pezzo di merda, after what she’s just told me, it has convinced me not to hold back.

She glances past me, through the crack in the door, to make sure Avery’s asleep. Then, she turns and walks over to the window and glances out.

“Those months were rough. My mother helped me with Avery, but it wasn’t enough. I felt so trapped, like it was the end of my life, my identity. The fact that I could no longer move around freely, or pursue my career as a pianist… I couldn’t see any help in sight. I knew what I needed to do was see a Dom. Someone in whom I could put my trust and hand over control, at least for a little time. When it felt like everything in my life was going to shit, I felt like I needed that little window of space when I could just forget about my responsibilities. It’s why, at the first chance I got, I slipped off to that underground club. It’s because I couldn’t stop thinking of myself. Because I was so selfish, I didn’t realize how my one move could hurt Avery and put us in this situation.”

Her grip around the baby monitor tightens.

“Princess,” I wrap my fingers around the nape of her neck, “you didn’t do anything wrong. You were trying to be both a mother and a woman, and that’s understandable.”

“No, I made a mistake, I-”

“Listen to me.” I squeeze my fingers, and her breath hitches. I apply enough pressure so she has to turn her head to face me. “You made only one mistake.”

Her color fades. “I did?”

I nod. “You allowed someone else to touch you before I met you. You married someone else before I could put a ring on your finger. You searched for some other man to become your Dom, when you should have waited for me.”