Sniping Her Mafia King
Chapter 54

Friday afternoon, Arwen felt she was settling into a new normal. She was back to work. She was seeing clients. She was doing reports. She was driving her bike again. She and Deidre had settled into a little rhythm since their drive on Wednesday and life at the farm was good. Deidre was meeting with Pima Lauzon the author after her class. Then would be doing a virtual date with Mathis who based on his assessment today, was making leaps and bounds in his progress. He was ahead of where she had anticipated he would be. He was young, motivated, and hungry and not just towards his recovery. He was wooing her little cousin like it was nobody's business and it was cute to watch. While Deidre was still reeling and hurting from losing Miley, he was helping to pick up the pieces. The only oddity was Addy. He had checked in multiple times with Deidre to make sure she was okay after the loss of her friend but his communications with Arwen had been brief phone calls devoid of any emotion, flirting or his normal dirty words. He was cool with her to the point she had told herself to prepare for his backtracking when he got back to New York. Perhaps Jesse had been right when she said he was expecting Arwen to just cut him loose and since she didn't, he realized he would have to. She was pondering all the different ways she was going to get over Addy, including multiple fight nights in Vegas, taking extra assignments, and maybe building the pen for the goats. She tapped her pen against her teeth as she sat at her desk and decided she would build the goat pen. She started drafting up the design and writing up a list of what she would need letting herself get lost in the project rather than ruminate on the upcoming destruction of her heart.

Her phone rang disrupting her from her thoughts and she smiled as she answered it, "hey Clara. What's up."

"I just wanted to let you know legal got back to me. Your FBI agent O'Malley has been demoted. He hadn't been authorized to plant a device. Security from the parking lot clearly showed him planting the device on your car. The FBI has offered a formal apology to you on behalf of the US government for their involvement in your continued harassment and stalking and they will no longer be bothering you or Deidre."

"Thank God," she flipped her pen in the air and caught it. "I've been waiting for legal to come back and say it was game on because I was dating Cavallaro it meant I was screwed."

"No and funny point of interest, Cavallaro's legal team passed our legal team on the way out. He sent his guys in too. I can only imagine what it's about." Clara's snort made Arwen laugh, "okay, I don't need to imagine, I hacked the meeting. Cavallaro is arguing the harassment he has endured since a child by the bureau is a violation of his charter of rights and his human rights and is going to take it all the way to the supreme court. They've based their latest investigation on a tip which was never verified, and it never panned out and yet they continue to not only violate his privacy but that of his fiancé and her cousin."

"Fiancé?" Arwen's eyebrow shot up at the word.

"The affidavit lists you as his fiancé. It's the best f*****g thing I've read all week." Clara was snort laughing so hard into the phone her words were barely coherent. "It gets better. He cites he fears for the lives and safety of your future children and questions whether O'Malley had something to do with the accident which killed Miley because he had approached them just prior to the accident. He compared them to paparazzi."

"Our future child -" Arwen slapped her palm against her forehead. "What the hell is wrong with him?"

"Sounds like he wants to be your baby daddy," Clara coughed and spluttered uproariously.

"Clara, the guy has barely spoken three words to me since Monday! I'm legit sitting here making plans to build a goat house as a distraction for when he doesn't come back. I'm considering naming one of my goats Adrianu, the Cloven Hoof Devil." Clara gasped for breath as she laughed, "oh my god stop! I can't breathe. It's too funny."

Arwen grinned at her friend's response before slowly shaking her head. "This guy is going to be the death of me. I'm not joking Clara. He's so hot and cold it's like a Vegas buffet. I never know if I'm getting the hot and spicy beef or the cold and crisp cucumber salad." "Wow, you thought of that one a long time," Clara mocked her.

Arwen sighed, "I was up until three a.m. and couldn't wait to use it." She groaned and leaned back in her chair, "the man is making me deranged."

"When is he back?"

"Who knows. Monday it was a couple of days. Wednesday it was a few more days. Last night he said he wasn't certain." "Want me to hack his itinerary?"

Arwen gave a dry laugh, "no thanks. I'm certain there are things within his computer none of us need never know of."

"True," Clara laughed. "Ugh, my grandfather just showed up. I have to go."

Clara hung up on Arwen before she could even say goodbye and Arwen chuckled. Edward Draxton was notorious for putting Clara on edge. It was like making Clara insane kept him youthful. Arwen sighed as she looked back to her drawing of her goat pen. A knock on her door made her look up in surprise, "Deidre! What are you doing here?"

"I had my luncheon with Pima, and I needed to talk to someone about it." She made a sad face, "my first thought was I wanted to call Miley."

"Oh honey, I'm sorry." Arwen stood up and moved to hug the girl. Deidre hugged her back tightly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I just miss her." Deidre sighed before moving to sit in the chair opposite the desk.

Arwen sat back down, "tell me about your visit."

"Pima Lauzon, considering she is a bestselling author and is super famous was so down to earth. Arwen, she cried with me when I told her about Miley."

Arwen touched her chest at the statement. "How sweet."

"I told her how I'm always conscious of my scars," Deidre absently stroked her cheek, "and my weight and my limp. I told her I try to be body positive but sometimes I just hate the skin I'm in. She said it was entirely normal to feel like this and to remember to cut myself slack. She said its hard enough being hard on yourself and adding guilt on top if it won't make it better. She said accept the days I feel like s**t and remind myself I won't always feel like s**t. I can always try again tomorrow. She reminded me I've been through more in nineteen years than most people in a lifetime and the only one I have to be accountable to is me."

"She's right," Arwen said with a smile. "She's a smart lady."

"She also said I should seduce the hell out of the hockey player so not sure," Deidre was blushing furiously.

Arwen gave a hoot of laughter, "what?"

"She said to go for what I want. Life is too short and I more than anyone else know what it's like to miss opportunities. If I want to have s*x, I should have s*x." "Do you want to have s*x?"

"Not yet," Deidre shook her head. "I'm not ready. I don't think he is ready either. I do think her ideas for flirting and being intimate were good, but I think I'm too shy."

"Deidre, Mathis, or whichever person you decide to be with, will understand you are shy but of all the people in the world you shouldn't be shy with, it's a lover. You need to be able to speak up about what you want and need, or you'll be bulk purchasing batteries for toys to finish what he started."

"Arwen!" Deidre's hands flew to her cheeks.

"The person you have s*x with is the last person to be shy with. Seriously. What are you wearing to your virtual date tonight? It should be something sexy."

"Oh my god. Did you talk to Pima too? She said the same thing."

"Did she. I feel she and I are kindred spirits."

"You're something," Deidre muttered as she shook her head. She looked up suddenly, "did you hear from Addy today?"

"Nope. He called me after he called you last night. Said he didn't know when he'd be back." She tapped her pen against her notepad. "I'm thinking maybe he's reconsidering things."

Deidre appeared surprised by Arwen's comment, "why?"

"Who knows the mind of a man," Arwen shrugged. "All I know is, his phone calls to me have been a minute long and he's different. He's just different Deidre. I can't explain it. He's been different since I saw him on Monday and it's making me question everything. I'm going to build a goat pen this weekend." She held up her drawing.

Deidre giggled, "do we need permits for goats?"

"I don't know. I'll find out." She sighed, "what are your plans for the rest of the day?"

"I'm tired. I'm going home to nap for a bit before I get ready to video call Mathis. He was on the ice today. He texted me earlier. He was so excited."

"His coach sent me the video clip. He looked good out there." Arwen smiled. "Do you want a ride home? I'm done here for the day."

"Yes please. The guy Addy has as my muscle doesn't speak a word of English other than 'no,' 'wait,' and 'I call boss"." She rolled her eyes. "I swear he picked him out of a Sicilian garden of thugs."

Arwen giggled at her words, "come on then. Let's get out of here."

An hour later they were pulling into the driveway with a pizza nestled on Deidre's lap, their guards following closely in the car behind them.

"The president doesn't have this much protection," Arwen grumbled.

"If you and Addy ever had a kid, the poor thing isn't going to be able to wipe its own a*s." Deidre shook her head as the guys ran to open their car doors for them.

"Why is everyone talking about having kids?" Arwen grunted as she walked to the house. She took the steps two at a time and unlocked the house and gave a sigh. It felt good to be home. She immediately went to the kitchen and put the tea kettle on. "I'm going to go check on the chickens. You don't need to wait for me for pizza. Just go ahead."

"Sounds good to me," Deidre said dropping her bag off.

She went outside and fed the hens and then spent a few minutes looking at her garden beds. She was going to have to dedicate serious time to weeding them out. Pizza first then weeding, she decided. She walked to the far edge of her property where she was contemplating putting the goats and walked around estimating how much space they would take up. Maybe if they just got the tiny kinds of goats, it wouldn't be a lot of space.

She looked back to the chicken coop and noted Henrietta and shook her head. Whenever she looked at the hen now, she thought of Addy. He was living rent free in her head, and it irked. She wanted just an hour to go by without a thought of him intruding her into her peace of mind and yet he was like earworm, trapped in her brain like a hook from a bad song.

Arwen entered the house and looked to Deidre, "hey, can you just shove a couple pieces for me on a plate and into the fridge? I think I'm going to go put a workout in."

"Feeling off?" Deidre asked quietly.

"Yeah, I need to punch something." She gave a half shrug.

"I get it. I miss him too," Deidre gave her a knowing smile and then laughed when Arwen flipped her off.

In the basement she put a playlist on began warming up her muscles, stretching and moving until she felt limber. Wrapping her hands before sliding her gloves on, she mentally chastised herself for getting emotionally charged over a guy.

As she began throwing her punches and kicks to the bag suspended from her ceiling, she reminded herself she wasn't a woman who ever waited for a man to tell her what was up. She went for what she wanted and walked away from what she didn't. She didn't suffer fools and she didn't put up with bullshit.

She lost herself in the rhythmic sway of the bag and her body as she worked up a sweat. Focusing on her footwork, she bounced on her toes and the balls of her feet while she hopped and threw jabs, hooks, and undercuts in quick succession.

Eventually, she wasn't thinking of anything except the vibration of the music around her, the movement of her body as she practiced her craft and her imaginary opponent. Moisture pooled through her cleavage into her bra and the shirt she wore was saturated with her sweat. Step, step, jab, jab. She moved until her muscles ached and her bones were weary.

When she had nothing left to give, she let herself fall to the floor and wrapped her arms around the swaying bag and held onto it, resting her slick forehead against it. Her breathing was hard, and her heart rate was high. She slid down the bag and lay on her back on the mat and stared at the ceiling, waiting for the rise and fall of her chest to even out. She knew she should walk a bit on the treadmill and cool down, but the ache felt good to hold onto over the negative thoughts which had been plaguing her mind. Rolling over onto all fours, she pushed herself into an upright position began undoing the bindings of her gloves when movement in the mirror caught her eye. She turned around and noted for the first time the man sitting on the stairs watching her. She looked away from him quickly and wiped her face with a towel. She grabbed her water bottle and drank deeply before wordlessly moving to the treadmill to start a slow walk. She ripped her top off over her head, walking only in her sports bra and yoga pants. She had so much she wanted to say and right now words failed her.

So, she walked. She walked and she avoided his watchful gaze in the mirror as she finished her workout. When her twenty-minute timer went off, she sat down on the mat again and stretched her muscles lightly before getting to her feet and turning to face him, shutting the overhead music down.

His dark eyes were guarded and narrowed on her.

"Your face looks better."

He nodded once, "thank you."

"How long have you been sitting there?"

"Almost an hour," he admitted. "You were lost in your workout. I wish I had seen you box competitively. Your movements are as smooth as a dancers yet, I'm sure quite lethal. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of any of those punches." "Gymnastics taught me rhythm." She knew she wasn't smiling but then neither was he. Her resting b***h face felt permanently etched onto her skin as she looked him over. His bruises had yellowed but the cut on his lip appeared to be gone and his eye looked no worse for the wear. "I didn't expect you."

"I know."

She looked away from him and instantly was angry with herself. Like a stupid bimbo in a romance movie, she wanted to run at him and throw her arms around him and beg him to have missed her like she had missed him. Instead, she turned away from him and walked to where she'd left her water bottle in the cupholder of her treadmill. She twisted the cap and took a long drink of it while mentally berating herself for acting like a Disney princess instead of the kickass heroine of her own story she was. She frowned when her water bottle emptied and gave a sigh. She turned back to see he'd stood up from his seat. "I'm going to hit the shower."

He motioned for her to precede him up the stairs and she almost punched him for the smugness of him waving her ahead as if it were his house. She paused in the kitchen and pulled a piece of pizza off the plate Deidre had left her. She folded it in half and took a huge bite. "You eat your pizza cold?"

"I can drink warm beer too," she didn't even look in his direction as she spoke over the large mouthful of pepperoni, cheese, and sauce.

She was going up the stairs as Deidre was coming out of her room, "wow you're red. Good workout?"

"Yup," she gave a tight smile.

Deidre noticed Addy behind her, "you saw he got home huh?"

"He's right there," she waved.

"Well, I need some water so," Deidre squeezed past her and went down the stairs uncomfortably with a mumbled 'awkward' escaping her lips.

Arwen shoved the other half of her pizza slice in her mouth to stop from saying anything back and walked down the hall to her bedroom. She entered the room and puffed her cheeks out to exhale slowly around the glob of dough in her mouth. The large black suitcase peeking from the door of her walk-in closet conspicuously mocking her.

Echoes of Jesse saying he was going to take over her closet filtered into her brain, and she pushed them aside like cobwebs and made her way into the bathroom. Stripping off her clothes she climbed into the shower and let the jets pummel her body. They were hot, stinging needles against her worn flesh and she sighed as the stress melted under the heat.

She was reaching for her loofah when a bronzed arm snaked past her to grab it. She closed her eyes as she felt him encroach in her space. He was behind her, not touching her, the space between them a void of cool air. He was around her, his scent, his heat, his strength, and her eyes opened again to watch his strong forearm reach for the body wash.

She jumped as the loofah made contact with her neck. Soft swirling motions as he lathered her. Unlike the time he had showered her down while she was sick with perfunctory movements, this was deliberate, sensual, and seductive as he wound the sponge over her skin. A masseuse couldn't have treated her skin better as his hand wove the suds around her body, under her breasts and along her abdomen and thighs in sweeping movements.

Even with the way her entire body tingled with what he was doing, not once did his skin touch hers. It was all the spongy puff assaulting her senses while he remained a step back from her. The thought snapped her to attention, and she blinked rapidly as she realized she was letting him weave a spell without so much as the tiniest actual physical contact. She was worse than a Disney princess. She took a step deeper into the shower, further under the water and away from his hand to rinse the soap off. "Why do you have the water so f*****g hot?" he grumbled behind her. "I'm going to lose the outer layer of my skin if I get in there." When she looked over her shoulder in surprise at his words, he held up his forearm, "there's no way I'm putting my c**k in boiling water. Either turn it down or step back in this direction so I can wash your hair."

His words gave her pause and she reached out and turned the temperature down. Within seconds he stepped closer to her and wrapped his arms around her and drew her backwards against him. His lips pressed to her shoulder. "Your skin is like lava," he whispered thickly.

"Thought you were going to wash my hair." She leaned her head back against his shoulder, her face turned away staring at the tiles.

"I am." He replied quietly in her ear, "and then we're going to talk."