The Mafia’s Obsession

Ayla

“Do you want to order dessert?” my husband asks, lying next to me in bed. We’ve been cuddling for the last hour and god, he smells so good.

I giggle. “I already ate.”

Alessio frowns. “You did? When did you-” He breaks off into chuckles, getting the joke. “I guess I did already feed you. Don’t say I never do anything for you.”

“Yeah, I’m stuffed. No, but seriously, we should get dessert.”

He flips through the menu, reading. “Let’s see… They’ve got cream puffs, eclairs, creme brulee… Boston cream pie… Bananas foster… Banana splits… Hmm… What else…”

“Are you trying to think of more dessert names with sexual double meanings?”

He puts his hand to his chest as though affronted. “Me? Iwould never.”

I snatch the menu out of his hand, giggling. “Okay, let’s see what they actually have… To be honest, I’ve always kind of wanted to try a Boston cream pie.”

“Are you saying you want me to give you a creampie?”

“Pretty sure you already gave me one last night.”

He leans forward, eyes narrowed in thatsatisfied-predatorway. “Oh, you canalwayshave another.”

“Keep talking, I might have to take you up on that.”

It feels good to be vibing with Alessio like this. After all the bullshit conflict, this moment is nice. All he’s wearing is a white T-shirt and boxers now, and there’s something so cozy about it. For the first time, maybe, I actually feel like one half of a married couple. Better than I might have expected for our first day, given how it started.

“You really followed me to that party? I… What did you do with Derek? …Darren?” I laugh at the realization that I still don’t have a clue what his name was.

“I told you,” says Alessio, “I knocked him out and left him in the bathroom.”

“That’s… really fucked up.”

“Probably a good idea to stay off of dating apps, then.”

He raises his eyebrows. Jesus, he’s really not joking.

“So, they arrested my dad,” I say, changing topics. “You know what for?”

He makes a tight-lipped face. “Murder, apparently. They’re trying to connect him to some cold case from decades ago. No idea if it will stick.”

I fall silent, thinking. It’s painfully ironic that he gets arrested the day after I got married to escape his control. I could have just fucking waited. At the same time, there’s no saying how long before he’s out on the street again. In my experience, guys like him don’t do serious time.

Plus, I’m sure he still has plenty of influence, even behind bars.

“I’m surprised you heard about it from me,” says Alessio. “Didn’t your mom call you?”

I snort. “I blocked both my parents’ numbers before the wedding.”

“Geez, they must have really pissed you off.”

“Yeah, they did. I got accepted to BCU. I was going to live in the dorms, majoring in economics. My dad used his connections to cancel my acceptance.”

He shakes his head. “Jesus. Why did he do that?”

“To force me to marry you. And then the next day, he was trying to have you killed.”

“Damn. That one must have stung.”

It hits me in that moment that it’s only been two days since Alessio’s grandfather was murdered. “Oh my god, I just realized. Your grandfather. I’m so sorry. How are you doing?”

But when he looks at me, his eyes are cold. “I’m doing fine.” He gets up from the bed, taking away the warm cuddles. “I’m going to hit the hotel gym.”

“What? But what about dessert?”

He barely glances back at me as he throws on a pair of shorts and leaves the room. “Get whatever you want.”

What I wanted was to share it with him. But whatever closeness we just built seems to be gone. I lie back in bed, dejected.

Then I ordered the cream pie.