by S. C. Ellen
Alayna
“Carson, I can’t do it anymore!” I shout with sweat dripping down my forehead, and my hands cramping painfully.
“Yes, you can. Just try and focus!”
We’ve been at it all day at this God-forsaken warehouse, training for all types of different defense tactics.
Right now, I have a gun in my hand, and I have yet to hit my mark, which is a heavily scarred dummy a few feet away.
“This is pointless, why do I need to know this if I have you to defend me?” I switch the safety on, place the gun down, and let out a sigh as I relax against the white cement wall. My muscles are on fire.
“Because as we clearly learned from before, I can’t always be there. I need to know that you know what to do if something like that ever happens again. Besides, we’re almost done for the day.”
With the little bit of energy I still have, I get back up and continue.
“That’s what I’m talking about.” He makes his way toward me with his shirt sticking to his slick body, looking like a wet dream. “Now let’s do some role playing,” he begins. I bite my lip begging my mind not to go there.
“You up for it?”
“Do I really have a choice?”
“No, not really,” he jokes, coming toward me. “Okay, let’s start off with the basics. If an attacker is in front of you, I’d say the first thing you go for is the groin, or the eyes. It’ll cause the most damage and give you time to escape. Now,” Carson stands in front of me with a wicked gleam. “Come and get me.”
I smirk, don’t mind if I do.
I dart toward him and attempt to make a move for his eyes when his strong hand clasps over mine, blocking my movement.
“Not fast enough.” He mocks.
I attempt to swing the other arm, but he grabs it with his other free hand.
I let out a breath, “Can you at least go easy on me. It is my first time, remember?”
He spins me around, and he is now directly behind me. “No one learns anything by doing things the easy way, Alayna.” He releases my hands and moves on to the next scenario. “With that said, the most common way to get blindsided is when someone uses the element of surprise. For example, let’s say if someone was behind you, just like this—” He brushes up against me, and I’m breathless from the unexpected action, and the way my back arches perfectly against his chest.
“And he holds you with little space to move.” His voice is now a low whisper in my ear. Tiny goosebumps raise on my skin at the feeling of his rugged hand now gripping onto my waist, holding it in a firm grasp. “What would you want to do then?”
Well, I could definitely name a few moves I’d put on him, but none would be appropriate.
I’m ready, though. This should be fun.
I kick my knee up, almost connecting it with my intended target. He blocks my attempt and manages to spin me around in his arms. We’re now face to face, our mouths mere inches from one another. He tightens his hold on both of my arms, locking them in place. “Not quick enough,” he tsks, thinking he’s won, but he doesn’t know the plan that worked its way into my mind long before he captured me. It’s a risky plan, but it’s a plan, nonetheless.
“This is a compromising position you have me in, don’t you think?” I note, arching my eyebrows.
His gaze lingers over the way our bodies connect. I take that moment to push up against him even farther, praying that he won’t pick up on my true intentions.
My poker face nearly slips when I feel his firm bulge low on my stomach. He lets out a low hiss when I move against it again, but he makes no move of stepping away.
“Alayna—” His voice is rough with desire, and I know I have him right where I want him.
His face moves closer to mine, as if he’s going to kiss me.
Just before his lips are going to touch mine, I angle my hind legs behind his and trip us backwards onto the mat, taking him by surprise. I’m now lying directly on top of him, with our chests heaving harshly against one another.
“I win,” I whisper in his ear, pulling back with a grin.
His expression is mixed with shock, anger, and…satisfaction?
At that moment, our eyes trail down the length of our bodies, both of us in awe over the way I’m straddling him.
“Definitely compromising.” Carson’s voice is thick with something dangerous. So I take that as my cue to move from off of him and offer a hand to help him back up, as well.
He accepts the hand graciously. “I should’ve known you’d pull a dirty trick like that.” He chuckles with a shake of his head. “Not the best defense tactic, but you have to work with what you have.”
“The art of seduction can bring any man to their knees. Point proven.”
“I’d love to see you on your knees,” he answers, and my eyes jump to his, surprised by his brash remark.
My thighs clench together as he closes the distance between us. He grabs my waist with his hand, pulling me tight against his body and burying his face in my neck as he inhales my scent. “Your body is just as much a weapon to me…as mine is to you. I bet if I touched you right now, you’d be soaking fucking wet.”
A gasp escapes me, because he’s right. I’ve soaked through every layer I’m wearing.
I don’t know what has gotten into him recently, but I want more of it. But just when I think he is finally going to give in to the endless pull we have between us, he abruptly pulls back with an exasperated breath.
“Fuck, what am I doing? This shouldn’t be happening.”
A sting of rejection ripples through me, and I take a step back.
“This isn’t what I had in mind when I said let’s train today. This is serious, Alayna, no more games.”
No more games, it is, then.
We’re now back at Carson’s. I’m beyond starving, and if I don’t get food in me soon, Hangry Alayna is about to make her debut, and not even the biggest and baddest could go up against her.
I rummage through his kitchen, looking for all the things I would need to make one of my favorite dishes.
I’m cutting up cilantro when I hear Carson come in, looking as if he just got out of the shower.
We’re still avoiding each other from earlier in the day, but he glances over at what I’m making.
“You can cook?” he suddenly asks, and the surprise in hearing his voice startles me and I end up slicing my finger.
“Shit!” I swear, running over to the sink to place it under cold water. It isn’t a deep cut, but it’s enough to cause a bit of bleeding.
“Fuck. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He walks up behind me, taking a look at the cut. “I’ll go get the first-aid kit.”
A wave of nausea passes through me at the sight of the blood still running down my finger. I’ve never been good with blood, especially my own.
Carson must’ve seen that because as soon as he comes back with the kit, he shuts the water off and picks me up in one swift move, placing me on the counter.
“I’m fine, Carson, let me down.” I begin to move, but another wave of dizziness falls over me again.
“Yeah, real fine.” He takes out an antiseptic wipe. “This may sting a bit,” he warns before I let out a hiss.
“You must be used to this,” I say once the pain finally settles. He looks up at me in question. “Cleaning up blood, I mean.”
He shrugs, grabbing a Band-Aid. “Cleaning up? No. I usually have others do that for me. Causing blood to spill? Yeah, I tend to know a thing or two about that.”
I stare at those same hands again, with reluctance. My imagination runs wild at all the horror they’ve probably caused people.
I hadn’t realized he was finished until he clears his throat. “I’ve done horrendous things with these hands, but I can assure you, Alayna, that I would never hurt you. Ever.”
I give him a tight, reassuring smile, and he helps me back down from the counter, so I can continue with my meal prep.
“You know yo
u never answered my question from earlier,” he tells me, grabbing an apple from the fridge.
“What?” I ask, placing the fresh cut veggies into the pot of soup.
“I didn’t know you could cook.”
I roll my eyes, “I may have lived like a princess, but I wasn’t always treated like one, as shocking as that sounds. My mother was very insistent that I was taught a woman’s place in life, even if I disagreed with every step of it.”
“You better not confess that out loud, or the women of the clergy will throw rocks at you to expel your demons.”
I laugh out loud, “I’d just use you as a shield.”
His laughter is refreshing to hear. I like this side of Carson, if only I were able to see it more often.
“The chicken tortilla soup will be ready in just a few more minutes. I don’t know where everything is yet, so if you could just set the table, that would be great.”
He rubs the back of his head, sheepishly. “Damn, I think I may have the same issue.”
I stop stirring the soup and stare at him incredulously. “You don’t know where your own silverware is?”
He shrugs, “It was fully stocked when I moved in, but it’s just me here, and I live off of take-out and plasticware. This may actually be the first time this kitchen has ever been used, and I have to say I’ve been itching for a good home-cooked meal.”
“Well, you’re in for a treat, because home-cooked meals are my specialty.”
With a belly full and the table cleaned, I’m now officially exhausted, and it looks like Carson is close behind.
He stretches with a yawn and winces a little as he does. My brows furrow in concern.
“What happened to your back?” I ask, making my way over to him.
“It’s nothing. Sleeping on a couch that is half your size for the past two days can do that to you. I need to get an air mattress.”
I cringe apologetically. “Look, I really don’t mind sleeping on the couch,”
“No,” he cut me off. “Over my dead body, and still even then.”
A thought occurs to me. “Well…why don’t we just make it easier for the both of us, and just share the bed?”
He looks at me, unsure about what I’ve just proposed.
“It’s not like we haven’t shared one before,” I remind him.
“That was different. If anyone knew or found out—”
“Who is going to find out unless they break into the place and see us? And I’d think you’d kill them long before they told anyone. Not to mention, your back is just going to continue to get worse if you keep sleeping on that thing.” I point over to the leather sofa.
“I appreciate the concern, but I’m fine, thank you.” And with that he grabs a cigarette from a pocket in his sweats and books it outside.
I walk up the steps into the bedroom and call it a night. Exhaustion is pulling me under now that I have a full stomach.
What feels like hours later, or could have even been moments later, a movement wakes me and I barely breathe. It isn’t until the lamp next to me shuts off and the bed covers rise that a familiar body nestles in next to me.
If it weren’t for Carson’s lingering scent on my pillows, I would have thought I dreamed it each night that he slept next to me because he was gone before I woke up every morning.
We never speak of it, just knowing glances passed between us each morning that I make my way down for coffee.
But his back pain is long gone, and I’ve slept like a baby every night for weeks.
Alayna
Tonight is one of those rare occasions where we both have to attend a familia event, and it is an event indeed. Vincenzo Pentalini’s birthday is a big deal around here. Especially this one, the big 6-0. Only on this day, the club transforms from a formal strip club into a high-end jazz bar, and familia from all over the country come and celebrate with us.
We call it The Rat Pack night, and this year’s theme is the roaring ’20s.
Walking into Caution, I am feeling a bit on edge. I have no reason to be, and it’s making me a little antsy, like something in the air is making me feel a bit off. Maybe it’s the way I’ve been feeling about Carson lately, or the way he’s dressed tonight…
His expensive, custom made, dark blue suit clings to him. The white button-up underneath is open at the top revealing his heavily tattooed chest, and his hair is slicked back showing off his handsome face, with a nice feathered fedora to match with the theme.
I was practically drooling when I first saw him.
As we step inside the club, I am blown away over how grand and beautiful the place is. If you didn’t know any better, you would never guess that this is a strip club the other three hundred sixty-four days of the year.
Carson gets stopped by a member of the familia, and I make my way over to the back where a couple of the dancers, who are now waitresses for the night, are hanging out.
“Hey, girls, how’s it going?” I ask as I finally reach them, fixing my red flapper dress and ruffling out my curls.
“Good! We’re really busy tonight,” a petite blonde girl named Leslie says as she counts her tips. “Nina picked the wrong day to call off.”
“It was a good turn-out this year apparently.” Taking a look around, the tables and booths are filling up and there are people milling about everywhere.
“Yeah, apparently, they were all called here for not only Vin’s birthday, but a big meeting or something, not that I’m complaining,” a sweet African diva named Trixie speaks up from behind.
A couple of the other girls stop their conversation and drool at the sight of Carson making his way back over to me. “Hey, there you are. I want to introduce you to someone.”
I give the girls a wave, and he leads us over to Jase and another man I have never seen before.
“She had the biggest set of tits I had ever seen…” the man tells Jase, making a show of his explanation.
Carson clears his throat, and the man stops talking. He turns around with a huge, cheesy grin plastered on his face. “A guy moves in with a broad from Michigan for a few months and forgets all about his only friend back in New York.”
“I wouldn’t exactly use the word ‘friend’, Elliot. You’re more like a constant thorn in my side that I can’t seem to rid myself of.”
Elliot laughs, “I’m going to take that as a compliment.” His big brown eyes are bright with mischief as he glances at me. “Now, this gorgeous girl must be Vinny’s daughter Alayna, right?”
Carson suddenly intervenes, almost predatorily. “Yeah, so no funny business, alright?”
Elliot puts his arms up in surrender before giving me his hand to shake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Alayna. I’m sorry you have to deal with this brooding asshole for most of your day. I feel your pain.”
Carson lets out a breath of annoyance. “I knew I would regret inviting you…Alayna, this is Elliot. I grew up with him back in New York.”
I smile politely at him, “It’s nice to meet you, Elliot.”
“You as—” He stops mid-sentence as his attention is grabbed by something else, or should I say…someone else.
“Hey, Al, your dad was wondering if you were here yet.” Liliana suddenly approaches me, glancing between the four of us and lingering on Elliot’s fixated stare.
He looks utterly smitten by her…even I am uncomfortable by it.
“Thanks, Lili.” I smile. “This is Elliot, Carson’s friend from New York.”
She gives a tight nod, “Nice to meet you.”
He grabs her hand, placing a gentle kiss on it. “The pleasure is all mine.”
“Okay…” She slides her hand away and places it back to her side. “I’m going to go check up on my father.”
She hastily makes her escape, and Carson laughs lightly. “Real smooth, man.”
Elliot looks like a man who just bought a shiny new car as his gaze follows after her. “I think I like it here in Michigan, Carson. If all the women who live here look
like that, you should have invited me sooner.”
Growing more uncomfortable, I excuse myself and make my way toward my father’s office. I knock, before letting myself in, not expecting to see my dad looking a bit off with his men surrounding him.
“Happy birthday, Poppa,” I say, ignoring his behavior for a moment and moving over to give him a kiss on the cheek.
“Grazie, mio tesoro.”
He dismisses the other men in the room with a slight nod. Once they all file out of the door, he makes a call.
Carson and Jase suddenly appear, looking conflicted. Am I missing something?
I ask the unspoken question. “Is everything okay?”
“It will be, vita bella. You know your poppa will make sure of it.” My father’s eyes look to Carson, many words shared in that one look. Carson nods his head in compliance before tapping on my shoulder.
“The show is starting soon, we should get to our table.”
We make our way toward the door, but I glance over my shoulder. “Aren’t you coming, Poppa?”
“Don’t worry about me, mio tesoro. I’ll join everyone in a minute.”
Before I exit the room, I see my father grab his revolver from under his desk and unlock the safety, whispering something too low for me to hear in Jase’s ear.
Understanding dawns over Jase’s features, and before I can eavesdrop anymore, I am ushered out the door and into the party already in full swing.
We make our way to a table directly in front of the stage. My eyes spot Liliana, who is seated next to her father, and she looks hilariously agitated. My eyes scan the crowd to find the source of her agitation…Elliot. Who already has a plethora of women gathering around him, not giving a shit that he is making his infatuation with Liliana super obvious—especially when she catches him staring again.
I hear a chuckle coming from next to me. “I think Elliot, the playboy himself, might have met his match with that one,” Carson acknowledges, taking a sip from the scotch a waitress just sat down in front of him.