Conquered by the Mafia Boss

Oh my God.

“Jack!”

He bends down swiftly, taking my head in his hands as his demeanor shifts suddenly. A sweet smile staggers across his face before he kisses me twice on my lips. Heat pricks across my chest as he pulls back.

“I’m not going to just give a pass to people who fuck over my wife.”

“Promise me you won’t hurt anyone.”

Shock makes his face blank for a moment and then the smile returns. “I won’t. I promise.”

I feel strong walking by Jack’s side, his hand firmly clasped around mine. He doesn’t say much as we walk down the street, but I can see the fury building up behind his eyes. The three men at the corner are nowhere in sight, but that doesn’t stop Jack from looking down all the streets for them.

“Cocksuckers.”

He opens the door to the grocery store for me and I walk inside, noticing that the same cashier is working. There’s only one other customer inside. Jack enters the store smoothly, scanning it before sliding up to the customer browsing the frozen food section. He taps him on his shoulder and the customer turns to face him, confused.NôvelDrama.Org © 2024.

Jack only has to utter a few words. “Take a walk.”

The man does a double take and drops his basket of groceries on the floor.

“Sorry,” he mutters unnecessarily.

My heart skips ahead as Jack follows him and flips the sign on the door to CLOSED. Head pounding, I try to mouth him a question: What are you doing? He ignores me, joining me at my side. He takes my hand again, which slips in his, and he marches me to the counter.

Crap. What the hell is he planning?

The cashier perks her head up, noticing Jack, and gives him a much warmer smile than she gave me.

“Hello, Jack.” Her sycophantic gaze slides over to me. “Who’s this?”

“This is my wife, Beatrice. She tells me she ran into a bit of trouble at the store today.”

Recognition slowly dawns over her face and she quickly covers her mouth to hide a gasp. My fingers slip as he approaches the counter and stares her down.

“What kind of trouble?”

“Don’t play dumb, or I’m going to get pissed.”

She pushes herself from the counter and blinks rapidly, wrapping her arms around herself. “I-I don’t know what she’s talking about.”

A loud crash makes her jump and scream. Jack slams his fist into the cash register, making it fly open. He reaches over and grabs handfuls of bills, cleaning out half the goddamn thing. A lump rises in my throat as he slowly stuffs the bills in his pocket. She flinches as he reaches over again and slams the register closed.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“You shorted my wife forty bucks, you dumb bitch!”

The cashier gives me a cutting glare. “It was an accident!”

Jack leans back with a strained smile. “Ah, an accident. I see.”

He’s like a tiger. Suddenly he pounces to the right and grabs something that swings with a wide arc. Glass cracks as he whales against the upright case of drinks. He throws his body into swinging the bat into the glass case. Hundreds of jagged pieces of glass shatter and fall to his feet, spilling cold air into the store.

“What the fuck are you doing? Stop it!”

“What?” he says, raising his arms, still holding the bat. “It was an accident!”

Oh my God, what a psycho!

The girl backs away, her eyes as big as saucers as she hits the wall.

Goddamn it.

“Jack, stop!”

I move between him and the register, shoving his chest. He gives me a look of feigned surprise.

“What? My hand slipped!”

Jesus Christ. He’s a fucking lunatic.

The cashier pipes up in a small voice, “I’m sorry, all right? I-I didn’t know who she was.”

He waves the bat in her face. “The next time you take advantage of my wife, I’ll shove this bat up your ass.”

Then he lets it fall, and it clangs on the floor next to the broken glass. He curls an arm around my waist and jerks me to his side, his fingers spreading warmth through my body. My ribs seem to jump against my t-shirt as he walks me across the grocery store, opening the door to let me out. I flinch when he returns to my side.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“You,” I say in a shaking voice. “You’re a lunatic.”

I can’t believe I signed up for a lifetime of this. Growing up I never saw an ounce of violence. Sure, the guys would get a little too drunk every so often and things would get out of hand, but nothing that made me sick with fear.

“Why?”

I pull away from him and study his swollen face, and I think about how I really never had a goddamn clue about the lives the members in the MC led.

“You just trashed her store and stole half her money for no reason.”

“I have a reputation to maintain on the streets, sweetheart.”

“What, that you fly off the handle at every slight?”

He lets out a gale of laughter. “You act like you didn’t grow up in the MC.”

Maybe it’s the sight of his battered face that has my heart racing. Without him, I have nowhere to go.

So I say nothing.