37

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

ARIA

My body tensed. His eyes were gentle and sincere, no hint of a lie or maliciousness. Just pure genuineness. Just pure love.

The faintest smile arose on his lips, "You have no idea how long I've been wanting to say that, amore mio," he said, running the back of his fingers over my cheek.

I closed my eyes, breathing out a sigh that dragged the tension out of my body. I felt my shoulders slump, relaxing completely and I let my forehead rest against his. He moved his hand, dragging down my neck and I felt him clasp it underneath my ear.

The soft smile on his face never faltered.

"I love you so much, Alessandro," I murmured, starting to feel affected by his smile as I felt my own lips tilt up. Sandro eyes widened—the faintest bit—as if he hadn't been expecting me to say it back. 

But how could I not?

Sandro had my heart and I could tell that my words meant a lot to him when his smile turned into a full blown grin.

"I swear, if you're fucking with me right now—" Sandro said, turning away and I grabbed his cheeks, forcing him to look at me. I leaned forward, giving him a peck on his smile, the tip of his nose and his forehead before stealing a kiss from his lips again.

His eyes were bright, a gentle glow beneath the deep green and his eyelashes dark and thick. Sandro was a beautiful person, and I couldn't help but feel proud of that fact that he was mine.

"I love you. I'm not fucking with you..." I said, and then added a quick, "yet."

Sandro chuckled, hugging me tightly and he squeezed our bodies together. He almost cut off my blood circulation and my laughter escaped as a strangled cry.

"My beautiful girl," he muttered, kissing my neck and I felt a massive weight lift itself off my body. The peace I felt in that moment couldn't amount to anything else as I laid within his arms.

"You are so important to me, bellissima. You know that, right? Your happiness and your safety is everything to me," he said, still holding my cheek and I traced my fingers over the tattoos on his neck.

"It's been five minutes and it already sounds like you're breaking up with me," I said, and the look of horror on his face made me laugh.

"What? No, not at all," he said, his face morphing into an expression of disgust. I kissed the frown away, murmuring a "I know,"

"It's just... I know, sometimes, that perhaps being with me isn't exactly the safest option, but fuck—I'm really fucking selfish when it comes to you and I want you in my life. Always. I don't care what gets thrown at us, I want to love you, protect you – worship you.  Be the only one touching you. Holding you like this. God, the thought of anyone else doing those things for you—"

"Sandro, I know. I feel the exact same way," I whispered, laying my cheek on his chest and I listened to his heartbeat. It was faster than usual—his heart racing underneath his ribcage. Sandro was nervous but I felt it calm down when I caressed his arm.

"I have an idea...bellissima. You might not like it, but I'd feel that you and I both would sleep a lot easier if you were to learn a few skills on how to protect yourself when I'm not around," he said, and I raised my head to look at him.

He was worried again, and I soothed the scowl away with my fingertips.

"Not just because of what I do, but you know how fucked up this world is and learning self-defence is never a bad decision," he explained. I had been waiting for him to ask. It was inevitable. Considering what Sandro did for a living or just the aspects of living in general, danger was never far away and he wasn't always going to be around to shun everyone away from me.

"I thought you'd be all like 'No my bellissima will never touch a gun!'" I said, rolling my eyes and his chest shook with a small chuckle.

"A gun, huh? You want to start with that?" he said, smirking at me.

"Yes, a gun. You do carry the thing everywhere with you and I want to know what's so nice about it," I said, and I could feel Sandro softly playing with the curls falling down my back.

"It's only nice if you know how to use it," he said.

"So, teach me," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"I have bad habits that you might pick up on," he said, running his hand over my shoulder.

"It seems to be working for you thus far," I asked, tilting my head to the side and he raised a brow.

"Alright, you win," he stated, "I'll take you to our shooting range tomorrow,"

"Boss," Carlo nodded his head as he acknowledged Sandro before looking at me, "Little boss,"

"Little boss?" I chuckled at his nickname for me. Carlo's face twisted into one of confusion, and then he looked at Sandro and back at me. My brows furrowed, wondering why he was acting so strange.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked, scrunching my nose.

"That's weird. Didn't you know that if you and Alessandro get—" Carlo was cut off by Sandro who gave him a quick punch on the arm. Carlo frowned, rubbing the sore spot and he gave Sandro a deathly glare. There was silent communication between the two brutes as they stared at each other. I narrowed my eyes.

"You speak too much, Carlo. Get me Dominic on the phone," Sandro dismissed Carlo with a wave of his hand.

"The Russian?"

"Yes, the Russian," Sandro said, shrugging his jacket off to drape over the chair. Carlo nodded, exiting the room and Sandro turned to me. "I just have to make a quick call. I'll be right back and then we can get started," he said, giving me a kiss on the top of my head and I hummed in response.

We were in his warehouse, in the basement – my first time in proper Mafia territory and I had to push all uncertainty to the side. Sandro had his own firing range, something that shouldn't have came off as a surprise but it did. It was five minutes later when he returned, and he interlaced my fingers with his own as he pulled me to a closed door.

When it slid open, the inside was a brightly lit, very neat and very professional shooting range. My eyes widened.

"Bellissima, I need you to promise me that you'll be careful. This is not a toy. One flick of your finger is enough to end's someone's life and I need you to understand that. You're only learning for self-defence purposes and that's it. Okay?" Sandro said, his voice serious and I nodded.

"You don't look too sure," he said.

"I am. I promise I'll be careful," I said quickly. Sandro ran his tongue over his top teeth, gazing down at the wooden figures standing in the distance.

"Remember everything I told you?" he asked. Sandro already had a chat with me about gun safety—something that he insisted I learned before getting started.

It almost changed my mind when it finally sunk in how dangerous it was, but I pushed through and Sandro had been supportive ever since.

"Yes," I said, looking at all the weapons mounted on the walls. Some were tiny, others were large. Sandro nodded as he loosened his tie and rolled his sleeves up. He actually looked excited to teach me. He walked to the wall, grabbing a small and handgun—very different from the one he usually carried around.

"We'll get you started on something light with little to no kickback. Just to get the feel of it, and if you hate this—you'll definitely hate everything else I offer to you," he said as he shoved the magazine inside until it clicked into place.

"Click this little button, and your gun will cock into place. Always count how many bullets you've used." He handed me a pair of soundproof headphones, sliding it over my head and he cleared the hair away from my face.

Sandro moved behind me, gently taking my hand in his to place the cold and weighted object in my palm. I made sure to keep my finger off the trigger when he raised my arms, facing it in the direction of the target. He used his foot to separate my feet and his hands to position.

"Steady breathing," he whispered, lifting one side of the headphone. "Keep your eyes open,"

He dropped it back down, and then I felt him let go of me entirely. I have a loaded gun in my hands. Fuck. I ignored my nerves, taking a deep breath in the way Sandro showed me and I pulled the trigger.

Little to no kickback, my ass.

My body shook from the recoil and I gasped, an empty shell falling to the floor but I was surprised to the see the new hole in the figures shoulder. I emptied the chamber, shooting until the gun slid open and showed that the bullets were finished. I placed it down, taking the headphones off and spun around to face Sandro. He had a proud grin on his face.

"You're a natural. Good job, baby. More practice and you'll get them right between the eyes," he said, leaning down to kiss me on the forehead.

An hour later and my arms were about to fall off. Sandro was patient as he taught me about the different guns and helped me find the one I was most comfortable with. He helped me improve my technique while murmuring words of encouragement.

"Okay, I'm done," I whined, shoving the empty gun into his chest to shake my arms. They felt heavy, and I groaned as I tried to release the tension. Sandro took my soundproof headphones off for me, setting it and the gun down.

"I have to say that I underestimated you, bellissima. Your hand eye coordination is better than I expected and you're making me so proud." He held onto my waist, and I bit my lip to suppress the cheeky smile I could feel forming. It felt good that I made him proud and my heart swelled at the admiration in his eyes.

"Better than yours?" I asked, wrapping my arms around his neck.

Sandro laughed, "Don't push it."

"Really? You haven't exactly shown me what you can do, and I'm starting to think you just walk around with it to scare everyone off," I said nonchalantly, shrugging my shoulders.

Sandro huffed in disbelief, "Do you really think that?"

"Yes."

He narrowed his eyes, and shook his head. "I don't need to prove anything, my love."

"Mmm," I nodded. "That's what I thought,"

"Wait, wait, wait. You don't think I know how to shoot a gun?" he said, his eyebrows scrunched into a scowl.

"Not at all," I answered casually.

"Fine," Sandro grumbled, walking over the wall to collect a silver gun. I watched as he handled it as if it was second nature. I guess that it was.  He checked the ammo, nodding his head in approval when he saw that everything was fine. 

Sandro gave me a once over, placing the gun into his left hand and he raised it to point at the almost shattered wooden figure. He aimed, tilting his head to the side and my jaw dropped when he turned his body to face me, keeping his gun in the direction of the target.

"Surely not," I muttered.

He kissed his teeth, firing off three shots as he stared at me. My eyes widened as I stood there, completely speechless. There were three holes in the forehead of the target.

"You ready to go?" he asked me, setting the silver gun down.

"I never doubted you, just saying," I said softly and he chuckled.

He draped his arm over my shoulder and said, "Sure you didn't."

"Show off," I mumbled underneath my breath.

• • •


You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net