Luca
“Five more reps, then a water break.”
Ariana and Lil both groan as they lift the small weights.
“I’m thinking it’s time to disown Luca,” Lil tells Ari.
Ari shakes her head with a frown. “Not even a full week in, and I’m going to have to file for divorce already.”
“Not funny, Ariana,” I growl. She sets her weights down and picks up her water bottle with a grin.
“Shit, you poked the bear,” Lil says as I stalk toward Ari.
“I could make jokes about how I like it when the bear pokes me, but—” I silence her with a kiss, but she just grins again when I release her.
“Trying to drive me crazy, Minx?”
“What? Never. Now, get back to work. Believe me, you’re going to want to win your first fight as a married man. I got you something special.” She wags her eyebrows suggestively at me before turning to strut away.
“Baby, we’ve talked about this.”
“Yes, but I’m not happy with the outcome of those talks.” She crosses her arms over her chest, and her little pout turns to a full-on frown.
“You said you didn’t think you could handle going to one of my fights yet.”
“I’ll just leave my guns at home.”
“Any time you leave this house, I want you to have at least one gun with you.”
“There’ll be ten men with guns around me, Luca.”
“I won’t be able to concentrate if you’re there, Ari. Not right now, not with him out there.”
“That’s not fair.”
I sigh and rub my hands up and down her arms. “I know it’s not. And I’m sorry, baby. I really am. But keeping you safe is my main priority, even if it pisses you off.”
She steps away from me, dragging her feet as she walks to the window with her arms still crossed. In the reflection on the glass, I see her wipe a tear away.Fuck.Closing the distance between us, I wrap my arms around her, holding her back to my chest. She doesn’t melt against me like she usually does, but she doesn’t pull away. I drop my head to rest on top of hers.
My resolve breaks. “Alright, I’ll get security set up so you can go tomorrow night.Do notleave your gun at home. If you shoot someone, you shoot someone.”
Her breath stutters as she exhales. “No, I’ll stay here. You’ll be too distracted and lose or get hurt. Or both. If it’s my fault, I’ll just get more pissed.”
“Ari—”
She stops me with a shake of her head. “I’m tired of the fucking fear, Luca. I can deal with security detail for general purposes, but I hate this shit. I’ve hardly left the house in weeks because someone who was supposed to love me tried to kill me instead and isn’t done trying, and I just want for none of us to have to even think about that.”
I turn her around and pick her up. Her arms go around my neck, her legs around my waist, and she buries her face against my shoulder. Wrapping my arms under her ass, I hold her while she sobs.
After a few minutes, I walk to the bed and sit down, resting her on my lap so I can run my hands gently up and down her back. “You don’t need to hold it all together. Fall apart if you need to. I’m here. I’ll collect all the pieces for you.”
“I know. You married a mess, you realize that, right?”
“I married my favorite person in the whole fucking world.”
She slowly stops crying, but neither of us moves for a long time. “You’re supposed to be training,” she whispers.
“I’ll sit here as long as you need me to.”
