The Carrero Contract - Selling Your Soul (Mafia Romance)

Chapter 14: 14

After an extended time in the bathroom and missing a lot of that infernal noise out there, I smooth down my dress, touch up my face and make my way back out into the narrow empty hall of the theatre. The corridor is deserted while the performance carries on and I take a moment to catch my breath and linger, not quite ready to go back to playing nice and thrusting my boobs at Mr Mayor just yet while fending off his wandering hands. I just need a few moments to regroup and plaster on that seductive face and fake smile.

Alexi has no idea how hard this act is to keep up long term when the object of your fake desire turns your stomach inside out. I catch sight of the man himself walking towards me and sigh heavily, turn on my heel and walk back into the ladies’ room, hoping he hasn’t seen me. He was looking sideways and not down this way as though trying to figure out where the bathroom was, and I hope I didn’t draw attention by sliding back in here.

I intend to hide and wait for him to go into the men’s room further down the corridor before I go back out and high tail it back to Alexi. Maybe a quiet word and chair switch will be on the cards until he has his little man chat and underhanded agreements sorted out.

This isn’t fun at all. I have no desire to be walking alongside him, cosily back to Alexi. Even though he brought me here for this I know it should be done under his watchful eye. He’s anal about that shit after all. Mr Control and suspicion, he trusts no one. If I walked back there, arm in arm with the creep, Alexi would probably throw me off the balcony.

I drop my clutch bag back on the counter and look at my reflection while letting out a breath, aiming to count to fifty before walking back out, trying to return to serene and calm. I hope I miss him and get back to my seat first.

I’m tired already and this game isn’t enjoyable; It’s only fun when it is men of my choosing, my goal, my control and the consequences are completely down to me. Alexi makes this stifling and knowing he has

boundaries on how far these men can go makes me antsy. He just adds so much weight to my nerves and having the factor of a psychotic man about to erupt should someone cross one of his rules makes me wish I could just leave.

A month in his presence has taught me that you do not fuck with him. For all his calm and cool control and sometimes charming demeanour, there’s an underlying vibe that Alexi is not someone who would think twice about ending someone’s life in a slow and painful way. He doesn’t seem to just go making orders to pop anyone off, but it is there, in the depths that you know he does sometimes.

It’s inevitable in this business that he oversees distasteful decisions like that and I have no doubt he is a man who has taken care of a few things with his own hands. He’s a killer for sure.

I jump when the door swings open and giggle at my stupidity as someone walks in to use the bathroom, forgetting where I was for a moment. I halt with frozen surprise though, breath catching in my throat as I catch Demagio’s reflection in front of me, grinning like a Cheshire cat at me from the doorway and realise it was me he was looking for after all and this just went from awkward to serious very quickly. ‘‘Surprise. See, I took your little signal and came out to have a little fun.’’ He slurs crazily, swaying on his feet, and I just gawp at him, swallowing hard in complete panic and disbelief as my insides drop to my feet. This man is clearly a sandwich short of a picnic and has no clue how dumb of a decision this is.

I most definitely did not signal him to follow me for a bathroom quickie.

Shit, the idiot is going to get us both killed!

Blood drains from my face, body turning cold as he walks in further and I turn and move away, backing myself against the counter with nowhere else to go. Flirt mode switched off and self-preservation fully enabled. I can read very quickly that is not in his vocabulary, and he thinks I owe this to him. He is in a frenzy of ‘‘I want to get laid’’ and there is no talking him out of that.

Thank you Alexi, for playing the man your way and changing the outcome of how he behaved. This is why I suss them out first. Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

‘’I don’t know what you thought I was telling you to do, but you’re wrong. Alexi would kill us both. I’m his and he is very clear on things like this.’’ I try for calm and controlled but my voice wobbles and he’s fast to get in my face, running a hand over my breast possessively as he cages me into the corner I have managed to put myself in. I keep calm, even though my insides are crumbling and my heart rate has elevated to epic proportions. Body vibrating with instant adrenaline and I shove his hand away from pawing at me; my skin burning and recoiling from the unwanted touch.

’You have been giving me the come on and a hard-on for the last half hour. I want you and you want me, he’ll never know. Just pull up your dress and I’ll make this memorable.’’ He grabs my throat harshly to hold me still and tries for a kiss but I twist free and manage to slide out from the corner and in turn him, trying to get away with minimal fight. He is too quick though and grabs my wrist hauling me back aggressively.

He is drunk, stinking of strong booze and it’s clear from his glazed eyes and slurred speech that all rational thought is gone and the last thing on his mind is Alexi Carrero.

‘’No … Alexi will snap. He will flip out like you have no idea. You don’t know what he is capable of.’’ I try defensively, but he just comes after me, relentlessly holding on and yanking me towards him, no matter how much I twist and turn and try to wrench my arms free.

‘’So, you’re a cock tease? Like to get men horny and then won’t follow through? A fucking whore; a fucking teasing, trashy little bitch! ’’ His smile and charming expression drop like a lead weight and the grip on my wrists bites cruelly. This unassuming little fat man has an aggressive side and I just walked right into an inevitable fight.

I have limited strength even against someone as short as him, so I go for diffusion instead; sweet voice, calming tones and trying to struggle less. As much as I hate him internally, and my body is screaming to kick and run, I am trying for calm and controlled.

‘’I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was merely being friendly, you seemed like a very nice man and now I’m going back to my seat and Alexi. Let’s just forget all about this. He doesn’t need to know about this silly misunderstanding.’’ I try to get free discreetly, but he jerks me back to him rapidly so I fall against his torso, off my high shoes with a stumble and try to right myself. Heart pounding as adrenaline spikes higher and I know that this only has one outcome.

I know from experience I can never fight men off, no matter how unfit they are and it won’t be the first time I have been held down and taken against my will. Less of a fight means it’s over faster and with less damage to my body. I can regain some control of the situation if I play along and allow it. More fight gives me a chance of getting free, although it is unlikely, and I won’t walk out unscathed.

He will rape me and God knows what else in his fury if I make this harder for him.

FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!

Damn you Alexi!

‘‘I don’t think so. You and I, we’re going to have a little fun and you’re going to keep your mouth shut or I tell him how you came into the men’s begging me to fuck you. He will never believe a whore over me. We go back a long way him and me.’’ He looks completely insane, sloppy speech, eyes red-rimmed and clearly very intoxicated as I shake my head, swallowing hard and twist once more to get free in a last-ditch attempt.

‘’Alexi knows I’m not that dumb. He doesn’t have friendships, he has acquaintances. and he will still kill both of us. Even if I did seduce you! YOU are not that dumb. Think about this. Think about your

daughter out there, sat with a man who kills for a living and what he will do to us.’’ I can’t get my arm free and this time he jerks me back and grabs me by the hair with biting force, bodily throwing me back against the wall to my side and winding me in the process.

He takes away all my rational thought and instinct kicks in with his flash of violence, heaving for breath and ignoring the waves of aching pain flowing through my bones from the impact. I used to become submissive and docile when attacked, limp and cooperative so it would minimise what they did to me, but somewhere in the last couple of years and freeing myself from that life I have found a fire.

Men don’t have a right to touch me this way anymore and I will be damned if I am going to take this lying down. I am not that little girl I used to be and men do not have a right to take what they want off me with force.

Never again! I swore when I got free that I would be in control and never let this happen again.

I start to fight back, hitting at his arms with bunched fists as he lets my wrist go to shield his face with one hand and starts hauling my dress up savagely, fabric ripping at the seam. His hands are suddenly everywhere. I’m fighting him, pushing his grasping fingers from my breast as he tries to tear one free from its confines and twisting my face as he tries to bite and kiss me. It’s like he has more limbs and speed than me and I cannot keep up battling them all at once.

He’s a bastard, not the sweet easy manipulated old man he seemed to be, and he’s bloody strong. I’m thrashing about in a bid to fight him off, but he chokes me with a sudden grab and I grasp at his fingers around my throat, clawing to catch my breath, instantly unable to swallow or breath. Half coughing in a bid to get some air into my lungs.

Being held by the throat seems to be the universal way to control a woman and it triggers more of my fight to the death instinct.