The Mafia’s Wanted Desires

ASHLEY

“Were you this wet for him?”

That question pulled me down from my peak. An alarm went off in my brain, resounding loudly in my ears, threatening to split my eardrums into two.

It felt as though I was drenched in a bucket of ice. Every ounce of pleasure that surged through my veins ceased, replaced by an overwhelming desire to bury myself beneath the ground.

My mind went blank. It underwent a shutdown that rid my body of the very organ that pumps blood to every part of my body. My body, which felt as though it had been engulfed in flames earlier, throbbing with pleasure, went stiff in his arms.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“Were you this wet for him?” Arden repeated his question, snapping me back to reality. His voice was dangerously calm, yet it had an edge to it, spiking my anxiety and causing it to skyrocket into a thousand folds.

My words hung at the tip of my tongue but I had no idea how to convey them. The truth waved itself in my face like a dollar bill, knocking my breath right out of me.

He knows. Arden knows.

Knowing how badly this could end brought tears to my eyes and a shaky breath evaded me.

“Ashley Evaline Gray, I ask you again,” His hold tightened possessively on my waist, his hot breath shedding off layers of my skin. “Were you this wet, when you were with him? Were you this responsive to his touch?” He whispered into my ears. His emotionless voice was infused with so much darkness that it terrified me.

“Arden, please…” I croaked.

“ANSWER ME!” He demanded, his cold, furious voice thundering across the room. I didn’t get a chance to reel from how animalistic he sounded when he hauled his tumbler at the nearest wall.

The golden liquid splashed against the wall and the tumbler came crashing down, shattering into pieces and producing an ear-splitting sound that made me flinch in his arms. My heart lurched to my throat in panic.

“Evaline, do not make me ask you one more time. Were you this wet when you were with him?” He demanded, coldly, yanking me back to himself. His grip was so tight.

“Arden__”

“Answer me!” He snapped, moving away from me. He let out a frustrated groan, kicking away everything in his path as he raked his hands through his hair.

“Arden, I can explain to you. I swear it. Just…please, let me tell you everything.” I pleaded. The deadly speed at which he swung his head in my direction, his teary green eyes clashing with mine, made me veer backwards without being shoved by anything.

I sucked in a harsh breath.

“Oh, you can explain?” He chuckled mirthlessly.

“You think I am going to stand there and have you tell more lies to my face? Huh? Evaline?” He threw questions at me, every word he hauled at me felt like a hot knife was being plunged into me.

I couldn’t breathe. My throat was clogged with so many sobs.

“How__” He cursed under his breath, marching towards me in long strides. “How could you do this to me?” His voice was reduced to a painful, harsh whisper. His glassy eyes were anchored on me, filled with the need to understand why I kept something of that magnitude from him.

“I asked you!” He bellowed.

“If anything was going on, in your office, in Greece, Evaline, you looked me in the eye and you lied to me. How dare you?” The weight of his voice echoed throughout the room, nearly deafening me.

“I was going to tell you,” I defended myself weakly, tears streaming down my face.

“Did you know I had to put a tail on you?” He queried, squinting his eyes at me. His words knocked the breath right out of me. I couldn’t believe my ears. Heck, I couldn’t process what he just said.

“I waited. I really did. I hoped that you would come to me about what was going on with you. I hoped that you would trust me enough to tell me what was wrong. I did,” He paused, breathing shakily. He had pure pain masking his expression. The vulnerability in those green eyes tore me to shreds.

It broke me.

“But you didn’t.”

“I had to put a tail on you. I had Duncan find out what was really going on,

“I got a call from one of your bodyguards this afternoon, telling me that you were heading somewhere without them. I knew I had to be smarter than you if I was going to figure out what was going on. So, I made sure they give me reports about every single thing you do.”

“Sure, I wasn’t around but I was aware of every damn thing that goes on in this house!”

“Duncan tracked you__” He paused.

“And you can imagine my shock when I found out it was about that sick bastard who hurt you. You have been in contact with him and you didn’t think I should know that he had been texting you?” He looked at me like he couldn’t even recognise the woman standing right in front of him. Disbelief, anger, and hurt were thrown across his orbs.

“Baby, I swear it, just let me explain to you,” I spoke up, my voice laced with pleas. When I swallowed the lump in my throat, it felt as though I had tons of needles pricking me from the inside out.

“Did you fuck him?”

His question was like a slap on my face, eliciting a gasp.

“What?” I squinted my eyes at him in disbelief.

“Evaline, did you fuck him? Don’t make me repeat myself!” He yelled at me, fury flashing in his eyes.

“What? No! I didn’t sleep with Adam! You are the only man I have ever been with, Arden. You were my first, for Christ’s sake! What the hell is wrong with you?” I couldn’t control my outbursts.

I was yelling at him without caring that I was the one at fault. I marched towards him, discarding his rage and I shoved him backwards, hitting his chest furiously.

“And I am supposed to believe you because I am stupid?” He scoffed, throwing my hands off his body as my touch disgusted him. He stared at me with utmost revulsion. The look in his eyes gnawed at my heart, so badly that I could barely breathe.

It had me staggering backwards.

“I can smell him all over you!” He fired, taking a menacing step forward. I couldn’t bring myself to move from the spot I was. I was immobilized, my lips trembling heavily.

“And you expect me to believe that you didn’t fuck him?” He sneered, his voice dripping with hate.

“I__”

I sucked in a harsh breath when he stopped right in front of me, his glassy green eyes boring holes into me. He wanted me to see how much I hurt him. He wanted me to see how much I had destroyed him.

“Don’t disrespect me by lying to me, please…” His voice was breaking, bit by bit. The confidence it held was completely stripped of it. He didn’t sound like that domineering man I have always known. He was like a little boy, waiting so desperately for a rumour to be debunked.

“Arden, I swear__”

“YOU ARE STILL LYING TO ME!” His sharp voice had me wavering in my steps. Hot tears spilled from my eyes. I squeezed my eyes shut, unable to look him in the eyes while I answered him.

“He__he touched me…” My voice trailed off hoarsely. My eyes flew open, reflexively, taking in the coldness in his eyes. He didn’t flinch when I said that but then, the demeanour he was trying so hard to stick to faltered. It broke. Tears spilled out of his eyes rapidly and he did nothing to stop it.

He breathed shakily, taking a step backwards. And another, another…

“Did you like it?” His words were rushed out in a shaky mumble. They gutted me out, clenching my heart in pain.

“No,” I shook my head vigorously. “He harassed me,” I added, quietly.

“It wouldn’t have happened if you had been fucking honest from the start!” He snapped, teary-eyed.

“That’s pretty rich coming from the same person who paid off my boyfriend to leave town, so he could have me all to himself!” Those words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop myself. Harsher than I intended.

I didn’t miss the flash of surprise in his eyes, causing me to scoff.

“Yes, I paid him off!” His voice raised an octave higher. “And, I would do it again if I get the chance to do it! That bastard doesn’t deserve you!” He screamed at me, non-stop. His voice was thick with so much assertiveness that it terrified the crap out of me.

“I am not sorry for it!” he yelled.

“You know why? Because it gave me the best thing that has ever happened to me!” His words punched out the breath I had left in me, causing the liquid to pool in my eyes.

My mouth was left ajar but that didn’t stop him from getting his point across. His words were starting to come out in wheezes, eliciting shuddering breaths from me.

“I am not sorry for making that bastard leave town. Yes, I am that selfish because I love you so much and I can’t even imagine living the rest of my life without you!” He uttered those words to me, harshly even though I had heard him say those three words to me several times now. It still didn’t stop it from reaching out to the deepest part of my soul, striking them so that it halted my breathing.

I just stared at him. Frozen.

“He is the reason you wouldn’t say it back to me, right?” He demanded, his eyes fixated on me. My emotions were all over the place. My words died in my throat. I didn’t know what or how to say it.

I was just there, watching him gut me into a thousand pieces with his words. I wanted so badly to debunk what he said but I couldn’t. It felt as though some invisible force was holding me back.

Arden watched me, desperately, his eyes filled with so many tears, waiting for me to say those words back to him, but I didn’t. He squeezed his eyes shut, clutching his chest while he wheezed softly.

And then, he let out a loud sob. He dug his hands into his hair, raking his fingers through it in frustration. He looked like he was going out of his mind and it was so heart-wrenching for me to watch.

I was just shocked.

He turned to me, nodding his head. “Right,” he muttered, walking towards me. He stopped right in front of me, bringing his fingers to my cheek and he trailed them on it, so softly.

“You should know though,” he began.

“You belong to me, Evaline. You always have and you always will. I meant it when I said I am going to burn down the world if I don’t get what I want. I meant it when I told you that I would take out anything, living or nonliving, in the way of me having you.”

“YOU WERE MADE FOR ME!” He growled, his eyes darkening with rage and a glint of something so dark that I couldn’t place my hands on it.

“So,” He chuckled. “You are stuck with me,” He whispered and slipped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer. He grabbed the back of my head.

And then, he crashed his lips on mine. He kissed me hard. He kissed me until I couldn’t breathe. He kissed me as though he was marking his territory. So fiercely, so passionately and I responded with equal fervor, tasting the tears on my lips. He slowly broke off the kiss after a while.

“Until our last breath.” That was the last thing he said to me before he stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut with a bang that threatened to rip the door off its hinges.

I was struck into a daze, staring into space with fresh tears brimming in my eyes. My lips trembled heavily and my eyes grew blurry with every shaky breath I took.

My legs, which suddenly felt so light on the surface of the ground, gave me away and I fell to the floor with a thud, shattering into a thousand pieces afterwards.