Wrestling With Love

by Whitney Shope

  “Okay, you ready?”

  “Yes, yes just tell me!” Aunt Ellen exclaimed

  In unison they announced happily, “It's a girl!”

  “Ahhhh! Oh, that's wonderful, I'm so excited!!”

  That night, after dinner, Mila had nodded off on the couch with Bayley tucked safely against her baby bump and Finn curled up near her head. When she woke up, she realized she'd been covered up with one of the throw blankets.

  “Did I wake you, hon?”

  Mila hadn't even noticed Aunt Ellen sitting in one of the chairs in front of the fireplace. The temperature outside must've taken a sudden dip or something.

  “Oh no, not at all Aunt Ellen! What's that you're doing?”

  “I'm knitting. Preferably a mask for my nephew so that his snoring won't be so obnoxious!”

  Mila laughed, but she quickly saw her opportunity and she wasn't going to turn it down.

  “Aunt Ellen?”

  “Yes?”

  “What can you tell me about the Donahue family?”

  Chapter Eighteen

  A unt Ellen shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Clearly, she was contemplating whether or not to tell Mila all that she knew. She got up and made her way over to the couch, where she sat down next to Mila.

  “Are you sure that it's something you want to know?” Aunt Ellen asked

  “Honestly? No, but it feels like something I need to know. To protect my family and myself if things are really that bad.”

  Aunt Ellen sighed heavily.

  “Where to begin? When Janet first announced she was dating Dominic, nobody could believe it. We all thought, surely, she remembers.”

  “Remembered what?”

  “When we were kids Daddy was having trouble affording the maintenance on the farm. There was no way he was going to sell it. That farm had been in our family for 5 generations before him! It meant everything to him, to all of us. Dominic's father, Robert Donahue was a big shot investor who sweet-talked Dad into letting him help us out by investing in the farm in exchange for a small portion of the revenue earned from sales of fruit and vegetables, feed for the animals, etc. We all tried to convince Dad that the deal sounded too good to be true. He wouldn't listen, he was so convinced that Robert was this great man.”

  “So, what happened?”

  “Robert had hidden some of the more important details in the fine print of his contract with Dad. We STILL tried to convince him that it all sounded too good to be true, but he firmly believed that Robert was a good guy. As it turned out that ‘good guy’ had arranged it so that 40% of the profits from the farm would go to paying back what we owed. However, he also arranged it so 20% of our monthly profits went straight to him as some sort of kickback. Needless to say, we couldn't afford it and within 4 months he kicked us out on our asses.” Aunt Ellen said with a defeated sigh.

  “Oh my God!”

  “Yeah. He sold the farm right out from under us. Turned it into a bed and breakfast and later on down the road some fancy bourgeois hotel.”

  Mila could see tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

  “So, years later when Janet announced she was dating Dominic we all thought she'd lost her mind. We had almost convinced her to leave him when she found out she was pregnant with Trevor. After that their family had to protect their status, so they pretty much forced Janet into marrying him.”

  “What status?”

  “The Donahue's... they're tied to the mob. Apparently, Robert's father, Dominic's Grandfather Vincent was a confirmed Mafia ringleader. Drug smuggling and selling, weapons trades, pimping out the women of the crew.”

  Mila sat there in stunned silence for a few minutes. How could this be? She never saw anything that would remotely suggest they had all these connections.

  “Are we talking full-fledged, could take a hit out on you if you cross them mafia?”

  “I wish we weren't, but unfortunately, we are.”

  “Does Trevor know this?” Mila asked.

  “He's heard some stories over the years, but I did my best to shield him from it. No matter how many ‘family gatherings’ Samantha tried to get him to come to.”

  “Are you saying Samantha's in the mob too?!”

  Mila knew she had to look like one of those cartoons with their eyes bugged out. But this, this was insane!

  “That wasn't the plan originally. From what I was told, mostly by Janet, Dominic met Samantha's mother Patricia in high school. Patricia was just a normal girl from a middle-class family and had no idea who Dominic was. When she got pregnant with Samantha, Robert and Vivian, Dominic's parents, saw to it that she was sent away to Florida for the rest of the pregnancy. As soon as she had Sam, the Donahue's threatened to harm a member of the family, to make Patricia disappear, all in the name of getting their hands on Sam and ensuring another heir.”

  “Oh my God! They won't expect my baby to be an heir too, will they?”

  Aunt Ellen put her hand over Mila's reassuringly.

  “No honey. Trevor turned down working in the ‘family business’, which basically makes him an outcast. Therefore, your baby will never be in line to be an heir.”

  “Wait, I thought wrestling was the family business?”

  “On the outside, yes. But really, it's Dominic's investment firm that pulls in all the money. Wrestling was always a passion project for him.”

  “This is all so hard to believe!” Mila said.

  “Yeah, it sure as hell is!”

  The sudden sound of Trevor's voice and his appearance in the doorway startled both Mila and Aunt Ellen.

  Aunt Ellen was the first to speak.

  “Trevor, how long have you been standing there?”

  “Long enough.” he said, flatly.

  Trevor grabbed his jacket and car keys and headed for the door to the garage, slamming it shut behind him.

  “Baby, wait!”

  Mila hurriedly unwrapped herself from the blanket and bolted for the door - just in time to see Trevor's Navigator screeching off down the street.

  Mila tossed and turned for hours that night. Not even pregnancy induced exhaustion seemed to be able to sooth her to sleep. It wasn't like Trevor to not only take off and stay away for hours on end, but to not even answer his phone at all.

  Mila was always the one person Trevor would open up to, his safe place. Now, she was lying awake at 3:30 in the morning, rubbing her pregnant belly and wondering where he could be while trying to stop the tears.

  Staring up at the ceiling fan in their bedroom, she couldn’t stop the thoughts.

  “It's a lot to take in, I know it is for me so I can't even imagine being in Trevor's place. But flying into a rage and leaving isn't going to make it go away. It's not going to make it any less true. So how can he just leave his pregnant fiancé plus his Aunt, the woman who raised him as her own, with no way of knowing where or how he is and no way of finding out?”

  Mila had just decided to get up and head downstairs when she heard the car door shut in the driveway. Her thoughts immediately began to race.

  “Why do I feel nervous? Scared even? This is the man who has made me feel safe and secure again, the man who basically saved my life. My Trevor. So why am I shaking?”

  Suddenly the doorknob turned and Mila about jumped out of her skin. She had already decided to let him speak first, not to just bombard him the second he walked in the door.

  But he didn't speak. He didn't even look at Mila, just walked straight into the master bathroom and shut the door. A couple minutes later Mila heard the shower turn on. The shower wall backed up to the wall in the bedroom that their headboard was against, so, needless to say, it provided great audio quality.

  “I don't believe this!” Mila thought. “That. . .that's not my Trevor. He'd never just ignore me like that.”

  And then she heard it; soft at first and then growing louder.

  “He's, he’s crying!”

  Mila felt her own heart shatter. She'd seen Trevor cry before but nothing e
xtreme. But this, this was uncontrollable, pain filled sobs.

  Deciding she wasn't going to just sit there and listen; Mila did the only thing she could think to do. She got up from the bed, stripped herself bare in more ways than one, and walked into the bathroom, heart pounding wildly.

  Trevor's back was to her, so she wasn't sure if he'd heard her. He just stood there, head hanging, shoulders shaking with cries. Mila slid the shower door open. If he heard her, he didn't react. So, she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head between his shoulder blades.

  “Shh, I got you, it's going to be okay baby” she whispered into his ear, the water cascading down her back.

  Trevor moved from her hold and she thought he was going to leave for a second. But he didn't. He turned around and wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her neck.

  He held her so tight Mila could feel all the emotions coming off him. Pain, anger, sadness, need. This was like mourning a death for him.

  “I know baby, I know.”

  She stroked his wet hair and kissed the top of his head. She felt the sobbing subside as he began running his fingers through her hair. He slowly pulled back, rubbing his hand gently across her cheek.

  “I'm so sorry.” he said.

  But before she could answer him, his lips crashed onto hers. But there was nothing cute or sweet about this kiss. This kiss was full of need, of pain, of desire and desperation. She opened her mouth to allow his tongue access. After a minute he broke the kiss, resting his forehead against hers.

  “I need you; I need to feel you, I need to feel real again. Please, Mila. I'll stop now if you want me to but if you let me, this isn't going to be some long, drawn out lovemaking. I need you too bad, I need to be inside you, the only sanity I have in this world is you. Please baby.”

  His voice shaking, he was essentially begging her at this point. Mila glanced down and saw his erection also begging her. And whether it was pregnancy hormones or the emotions of the moment, God help her, her body was lit up with need and desire for this man too!

  She raised his face, so their eyes met.

  “I'm yours, Trevor.”

  That was the only green light he needed to hear. He began kissing her deeply and roughly groping her breasts. Before she could even think, he lifted her up, pressed her back to the wall and slammed into her in one swift thrust, causing her to gasp.

  No, this was not lovey-dovey. This was rough and fast and full of need and desire; and Mila loved it. Trevor was thrusting in and out in rapid movements, his hands firmly gripping her ass. Mila couldn't stop the moans that came out, nor was she entirely sure where her own cries of desperation came from.

  “Yes Trevor! Oh God, oh God, yes!”

  “Fuck Mila! Yes, say my name, tell me you're mine!” he said a commanding tone to his voice that sent chills down her spine.

  “God that’s hot!” she thought.

  “I'm yours Trevor!”

  Suddenly she could feel that familiar buildup starting.

  “Trevor! Fuck me!”

  This unusual expressiveness from Mila sent Trevor into a frenzy.

  “Oh, fuck yes Mila, baby!”

  His thrusts were coming quicker than ever now, pressing that button of desire in Mila that was begging for release. When he began roughly sucking on her breasts, it sent her over the edge.

  “Trevor, I'm coming! Please, don't stop!”

  She felt her own contraction of pleasure pull him right with her. As her body trembled, she felt Trevor's body shake uncontrollably with release as he practically growled.

  “Oh God Mila, yes! Yeeeees!”

  He held her tightly in his arms as both came down from their highs. Never letting her go for a second, Trevor ran his thumb across her lips and stared deep into her eyes.

  “I love you so fucking much! I can't do this without you, I can't do life without you. I need you with me always. Please promise me you won't ever leave me, please Mila, I need you too much to ever make it without you!”

  Tears filling her eyes, Mila ran her open palm across his cheek, and he leaned into her touch.

  “It's a good thing you'll never have to because I promise you Trevor I am not going anywhere. There's no place in this world I'd rather be than with you!” she said, kissing his forehead. “Now come on, let's get dried off and get in bed.”

  Mila awoke the next morning to the bright sun peeking in through the blinds on the bedroom windows. She looked next to her to see Trevor; arm still wrapped tightly around her waist, sleeping soundly.

  It had been quite the night. After the shower excursion they'd stayed awake another couple of hours just discussing everything. How had they not seen it? Why wouldn't they have brought it up to him over the years? How dangerous were they? So many questions with so few answers.

  “What time is it?”

  Trevor's voice pulled Mila out of her thoughts, startling her.

  “Oh! You scared me; I didn't know you were awake!”

  “I'm sorry baby.”

  “No, it's okay.” she said as she snuggled into him.

  “It's 10:18, but since it's Saturday and neither of us have to work, the time doesn't matter, we can just stay like this all day!”

  She peppered his neck with little kisses which made him groan as he said.

  “Babe, Aunt Ellen's still here and I didn't even tell her when I got in last night.”

  “Already taken care of!”

  “What, how?!” asked Trevor.

  “I filled her in on you getting home and us having a long discussion about it when the little jellybean here-”, she paused and rubbed her belly as she spoke.

  “Woke me up at 7 to go to the bathroom for the six millionth time!”

  Trevor laughed and rubbed Mila's belly softly.

  “Anyway, she's the one who suggested we stay in bed and relax today. She's got a hot date with her online card club tonight.”

  Trevor laughed “Sounds like her. Sometimes I wish I'd never shown her the internet!”

  As Mila laughed, Trevor reached out and rubbed her belly again.

  “So, speaking of the jellybean; don't you think we should start talking about names for her?”

  “I already had a couple in mind.” Mila replied.

  “Oh really? Do tell.”

  “Well, I was thinking about either Aaliyah or Auden. What do you think of those?” she asked.

  “Well, to be honest... I like both of those! But what about middle names? Both sound fine with the last name Morgan, but it all depends on the middle name.”

  “Is that so, Trevor Louis Morgan?”

  Mila smiled mischievously and Trevor returned her grin.

  “Yes, Mila Christine Stevens, yes, it is!”

  “Actually, I -”

  Mila looked down at her hands in her lap, nervously chipping away at the burgundy nail polish on her fingernails.

  “I already have her middle name picked out, no matter what first name we choose.”

  “Really? Sounds pretty important. What is it?”

  With that, Mila meekly said “Janet.”

  She sat there for what felt like a lifetime, waiting for Trevor to respond. Finally, he reached over and pulled her into his arms.

  “I don't know what I did right in life to deserve you, but I thank God I did. Thank you, Mila, you have no idea how much that means to me!”

  The rest of the weekend passed in a lazy blur of food, conversations and even a movie night with Aunt Ellen. She left Sunday afternoon to hopefully make it home before dark.

  Sunday night Mila was putting on her pajamas after a nice soak in the bathtub. As she stood in front of the mirror, she admired her growing belly.

  “Baby girl, I hope you know how much I love you and that I will go to the ends of the earth to protect you if need be!” she whispered.

  Aunt Ellen had assured Mila and Trevor that both they and their baby weren't in any danger. Since Trevor had never had any dealings with them, he wasn't considered an act
ual member of the mafia, nor was Dominic.

  The big difference between the two was that Dominic had ties. He'd done business with them before and could again with the simple act of a phone call.

  Just then, Trevor walked in on the phone, looking and sounding more than a little irritated.

  “What's going on?” Mila mouthed to Trevor, who put his finger to his mouth in a "shhh" like motion before pressing the speaker button on his phone.

  “God dammit Trevor, I told you I need you on this European tour!”

  Suddenly, Mila felt herself flinch. She'd heard that voice a thousand times but somehow now, now that she knew just what corrupted evil he was capable of, that voice sent an icy shiver down her spine. Dominic Donahue.

  “Yeah and I told you I'm not leaving the country the week my fiancé's due to give birth to our daughter!”

  There was an odd moment of silence on the line before Mr. Donahue spoke again, his powerful voice suddenly shaky.

  “Da-daughter? I'm going to have a new granddaughter?”

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  Mila knew Trevor absolutely hated the idea of his baby sharing a bloodline with anyone in the Donahue family. It was bad enough he had to.

  Mr. Donahue cleared his throat, as if he was trying to get rid of any hint of him giving a damn about anyone but himself. And suddenly The Ice King was back.

  “I didn't hire you for you to just make up your own rules as you go. You're going on the tour!”

  “Yeah, actually I don't think so. See, there's nothing in my contract that says I'm legally obligated to attend the overseas events. And if you want to check on that you can call my lawyer.”

  “Trev-”

  “And if you're thinking of firing me, let me just remind you that that company of yours was tanking without me. You need me. I turned down offers from companies that would've paid me double what you do, but I came to Pro Elite under the bullshit guise that you wanted us to repair our relationship. But you just wanted to capitalize on the Dane Styles name. You never gave a damn about me!”

  “Trevor I-”

  “So, you can fire me if you want, but you know what'll happen to the company. Say, maybe you could just call up some of your old Mafia friends and ask them to help you out again. Hey, maybe this guy will have a daughter that's hotter than Lydia so you can bang her too! I'm done with this conversation.”