Armani’s pov
The music was perfect tonight, that it was easy to move around to it, with a soft, warm body pressed up against me. I puffed out a slow breath and tightened my grip around Nala’s bare waist, tugging her even closer to me.
It was still a little weird to place a name on her face in my head, seeing as most of the time, she was nameless in my head until a couple of weeks ago when she had surprisingly revealed her name to me after we’ve both finished having sex on the couch in her apartment.
We met up frequently after that day, and surprisingly, not to hook up all the time. Sometimes, we just meet up in order to hang out and to bask in each other’s presence.
It’s been two months since we’ve been meeting each other, and there I say that I’ve come to know her, more than I even expected from the onset.
There’s her body which I know every inch of. Heck, I’ve once kissed every inch of her body because I just couldn’t get enough for her.
Then there’s attributes of her which I’ve unconsciously stored in my head, like how she gets annoyed easily but thankfully doesn’t take long to start smiling again. Like the food she likes and hates, like how she’s an extremely light sleeper. Like how she likes smoking after sex, except when she gets too tired to get up. Then there’s physical things which I find stupidly cute about her, like how she pouts, how she glares at me, how she obviously hates that I’m physically stronger than she is, and the list goes on and on.
Although Nala and I spent so much time with each other, and how we’ve clearly gotten more closer, it doesn’t mean we’ve started to share private things with each other. I know there’s so much I don’t know about her, and the same goes about her to me.
The more we spent time together, the more I realized that she had completely stopped reminding me of the fact that she doesn’t meet up with someone more than once. It was like she completely avoided bringing that up, which I was immensely glad about, because I didn’t have anyone to point it out to me that I had begun to fall for her.
I knew I liked her more than mere attraction the second time we met, when she had hooked her finger on my shirt and tugged me into a kiss, and somehow, I knew she liked me too.
Someone like her definitely does not keep meeting up with the same person for over two months for nothing. Of course, I never let myself dwell on those thoughts too much, because after everything, I don’t know what actually goes on in her mind except she spells it out for me.
Although, the fact that she admitted to never letting herself be dominated for a moment while having sex until I came along, somehow made me more certain about the fact that she liked me the way I liked her.
We’re currently in the club where it had all started, dancing together in the midst of a crowd. The tiny top she had on was driving me crazy because once again, the underside of her boobs were exposed, along with the slim curve of her waist.
“We should probably head out already, I’m beat.” I murmured against her ear and she hummed while leisurely grinding against me.
Minutes later and we were both driving out of the club, in her car because mine was back at her apartment, where we’re currently heading to.
She was laughing to a joke that easily rolled off my tongue while I was driving, and it took a few minutes for me to notice that she has stiffened up.
“Baby?” She called out, voice suspiciously calm and eyes glued to the rearview mirror. For some reason, she preferred to call me this instead of the name I gave her– ‘Mani’, and I didn’t mind because I liked when she called me that. This time, it was empty.
“Sped up.”
I arched my brow. “Why? The road is almost empty, and we have all the time in the world.”
“Because we’re being followed.” She responded, still sounding eerily calm. My heart literally flew into my throat as I stepped on the accelerator at once.
“We’re being followed?” I demanded frantically while my heart thumped erratically against my chest.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“You’re not panicking.” I pointed out when she nodded once while still looking calm as fuck. Flashbacks of when I had gotten abducted after going out with Sofia visited me in that moment and lost control of the steering a little.
“Don’t lose focus, control yourself.” She whispered, voice almost soothing and I swore beneath my breath.
“It’s not as easy as it sounds.” I snapped.
She reached out and stroked my hair, ignoring my outburst, and somehow, that calmed me a little. “Relax, baby. Nothing’s gonna happen to you, I’ll make sure of it.”
I swallowed nervously and sneaked a look at the rearview mirror, noticing that we were being followed by two motorcycles, carrying two people each.
We’re totally doomed today.
Although, before I could panic forget, I watched as she reached beneath the seat and retrieved a shiny, silver gun. Dread slid down my spine at that moment as my mouth went dry.
She tied her hair up and got her door open, shooting the tire of the first bike. The second one put up a little tight but easily got taken out when she shot the driver in the shoulder, causing him to crash into a poll.
My heart pounded erratically as I nodded along to her directing to take a different route to her apartment.
When we were safely in the apartment, I watched with wide eyes as she called someone to take care of the mess she left while twirling the gun in her hand.
Once she was regarding me softly, I quietly asked what she was doing with a gun, and surprisingly, she claimed it was for protection.
That took me back to the night I met a knife strapped to her thighs one night while we were about to fuck, which she had distracted me from talking about in that moment.
“We both know there’s more to it than that.” I pointed out and she sighed slowly before heading to the other side of the sitting room and sinking into the couch.
“You know, you can leave if you want to.”
I blinked at her in confusion while wondering where this was coming from.
“What?”
“You can go if you want. This was exactly why I never wanted to meet up with you after that one time. It’s why I don’t fuck people more than once.”
I found myself rolling my eyes at the last sentence. “Now we both know what’s between us is more than two people fucking more than once. That’s bullshit since we’ve both clearly gotten closer to the other.” I paused for a moment.
“We both know it’s more serious than this, so you should have mentioned something about this part of your life, which is definitely more serious than you’re making it sound.”
She regarded me for a moment, silent and deep in thoughts, and when the silence stretched out, I silently whacked myself over for saying too much right now, but this was right before she made to speak.
“Hm. Was that how you opened up to me about you being related to the biggest Mafia Lord in the country?”
My eyes widened at once in shock, and she chuckled softly while shrugging. “You’re Luca Ricci’s younger brother.”
Feeling stupid, I spluttered for a minute. “Y- you knew about that? You knew and refused to say anything about it and kept quiet?” I whispered, feeling like a big fool right now.
She shook her head slowly. “Not at first. After that first night we spent together, a friend at the club told me who you were the next day and warned me to stay away from you cause getting tangled with someone like you is never a good idea. Said friend was shocked as hell to see us dancing together at the club tonight.”
“You knew for over two months?” I whispered, feeling very dizzy and she hummed. “Yeah, I do. I wasn’t supposed to meet up with you after that first time after realizing who you were, which was why I stayed away from the club for a month. It was why no one gave you any detail about me at the club because I asked them not to.”
She explained, and somehow, it all made sense.
“I’m not scared of your world if that’s what you’re worried about because I literally grew up in it.”
She got off the couch this time and inched towards me. “You’re not into this lifestyle though, you never were. Which was why I tried harder to stay away from you because if something should befall you because of my shit, your brother is going to have my head, y’know? I did my research; I know you grew up in this life, but that doesn’t mean you’re involved in it, and that’s perfectly okay. Which is why it’s best we probably stop seeing each other.”
My eyes narrowed at her instantly. “Don’t make decisions on my behalf. I know what I want, and I want you.”
“It’s not ideal. You know I like you. I don’t think I like you enough to want to risk you getting hurt because of me.”
Even as my heart swelled at her words, I forced myself to still remain on track. “You can’t even be sure that those guys today didn’t follow us because of me. Don’t just assume you’re the only one who can bring harm to me between us because it’s not true.”
This time, she snorted while shaking her head. “I’m certain I’m the reason though. You don’t know this but on some nights, your presence is what makes some dumb fucks stay far away from me, because they probably assume I’m under your brother’s protection.”
We talked for a little more while before she wrapped her hands around my shoulders and tugged me down into a hug, and as I returned the hug eagerly, I silently let a note of thanks ring aloud in my head at the fact that what she was involved in, wasn’t in any sort of feud with the Mafia Luca was running, because if that had been the case, then that was gonna be nothing but a disaster.