Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“You always say that, but you have no fucking clue! You can’t promise that, Gio. You have no idea what could happen. You make these empty promises to keep me safe, but you can’t keep me safe.”
She turned away from me, and my heart twisted. Why did she feel like I couldn’t keep her safe? I had always done everything in my power to make her feel secure. I had no idea where this newfound fear was coming from, and even worse, I had no idea how to stop her from feeling like this.
“What are you saying?” I asked, fearing the worst.
“I can’t get into this right now. I have to get to class. I’ll see you later,” she said, her voice tight and movements jerky.
I stood there in shock, unable to say a word as she finished getting dressed and ready for class and then stormed out of the room. I had started to think of our relationship as being a sure thing, but this outburst of anger had me second-guessing everything. For the first time since we had moved in together, I wondered if maybe this was all too good to be true. I didn’t know what I would do if Olivia decided to leave me.
Losing her would be the worst thing that had ever happened to me.
*Olivia*
If there was an award for spacing out, I would’ve earned first place after the day I’d had. I never used to have trouble paying attention in class; that was always Dahlia or Tallon. I was a model student in high school.
But now….
I stared at each of my teachers blankly as they rattled on what seemed like complete nonsense. I knew what they were saying made perfect sense, but I could swear it was gibberish. Even the blackboard was filled with mashed-up symbols that vaguely resembled letters if you turned your head to the right and squinted.
Dahlia kept shooting me worried glances as I stared at the board, not having written down a single note despite how studious I’d always been about that. The page in my new notebook was completely blank.
There were more than just Dahlia’s eyes on me, though. Several of the students around us kept glancing behind them to see the hulking figures of our two bodyguards as they lined the back wall.
This particular teacher was kind enough to pretend not to see them as she rattled on about whatever class we were in. I couldn’t even remember anymore.
Was it art?
I felt like it was art.
The class felt like it was taking forever, going on and on while I didn’t understand a single word of it. I wondered, as a dozen eyes stared at me in the middle of a class that only taught gibberish, if I was still asleep.
Or maybe, I wondered as I stared at my hands, feeling vaguely like they weren’t even mine, if this was all a hallucination and I was still sitting in bed with Giovani.
My whole mind felt floaty like it had separated from my body, and I was watching everything happen around me from way high up, an invisible spectator that nobody else knew was there.
I didn’t know.
All I knew was that I was not okay.
My dream was still in the forefront of my mind, and though the blurry face of my kidnapper had somehow become even more abstract than before, the fear I felt had been tangible.
It had been real, and it lingered like the stench of death.
I didn’t tell Dahlia about my dream, but she knew something was wrong. I was generally a quiet girl, but I’d said all of two words to her today, and even I knew I was acting weird. I hadn’t even wanted to tell Giovani about it, but that didn’t pan out.
He had pushed me, and he didn’t like the answer I gave him.
No.
I shook my head, setting down my pencil in complete defeat as I realized I was being unfair. Giovani had only wanted to help me. It was me who had thrown the blame at his feet. I had blown things out of proportion and made him just as upset as I was.
He didn’t deserve that.
But I had only spoken the truth, the other side of my mind whispered like a broken record. He hadn’t been able to stop Dahlia from getting kidnapped or Alessandro.
How could I trust him to stop me from being next?
The traitorous thoughts were painful, an ache I couldn’t get rid of, and I wanted to deny it. I wanted to fight for Giovani and his strength, but it just wasn’t there.
I was tired of fighting, of defending.
I just wanted to feel safe.
But how?
Ideas flooded into my mind one after another.
Should I get a gun? I doubted Giovani would lend me one, and I didn’t have the money to buy one myself. Plus, I knew from experience that I couldn’t shoot it. That day in the kitchen–even the thought of holding one again was too much for me to bear.
Maybe I could take defense classes. I was sure they taught a class here somewhere. Though, with how skinny and weak my ass was, I doubted it would help all that much. I’d have to start lifting and training, and I just didn’t have the time for it, especially if I had to be accompanied by a bodyguard.
I sighed. It was hopeless. I didn’t even know who I was fighting. Even my dreams kept me in a mask where I could only hear a voice. I’d never seen any of the men who kidnapped Dahlia or Alessandro, not even once.
If I ran into one of them on the streets, I would have no clue.
Maybe, I thought as my eyes brightened with clarity, I could start there.
If I had an idea of who the bad guys were, I could avoid them, or if I saw them. I could run before they got the jump on me. They’d always had the element of surprise, but if I knew beforehand….
That was it….
Like puzzle pieces clicking together, solutions caused hope to rise in my chest. The main enemy wasn’t the Russians; it was my lack of knowledge.
If I knew more about what was going on and how to stop anything from happening, then maybe I would feel safer and more confident. I wouldn’t have to leave.
I nodded determinedly to myself. I just needed to have a talk with Giovani and get him to tell me the details–the men who were after us, why they were doing that, and how we were going to stop them.
My mom had always said communication was the key to any relationship, and we’d both been holding back on each other. We needed to be honest with each other.
Giovani needed to include me in more of what was going on. I needed to understand what I needed to be doing to keep myself and my loved ones safe.
And he was the only one who could provide those answers.
But would he?
He’d been reluctant to include me in things relating to the mafia before. Everyone had. I knew I wasn’t exactly the best person to be going to for things like this, but I was involved now. If I was a target, I at least deserved to know why.
Otherwise, I couldn’t continue on like this.
If Giovani wanted me to stay, he needed to be one hundred percent honest with me. He could do that, couldn’t he?
“Hey.” Dahlia tapped me on the shoulder, breaking me from my daydreaming, and I realized with a frown that the classroom was completely empty except for us and of course, our bodyguards.
“Class is over,” she said softly, a worried look on her face as she looked at me.
