Aces & Spades

Bullseye

Bella:

I woke up, with Massimo's arm tightly wrapped around my waist, pulling me towards his bare chest, as if he was afraid that I would disappear. I gently outline his tattoos with my finger. First, the Roman numerals, tracing the dark lines until I reach the final flick. Then, the Italian quote that was on his ribcage, "Famiglia é tutto." I start with the F, but I feel Massimo's body shift quickly, so that he was on top of me, holding his crushing weight up using his arms that were planted beside my head. 

"Good morning." I manage to whisper.

"Good morning beautiful." He lowers his head, giving me a soft kiss, which slowly turned more passionate. I feel his tongue push at my lips, begging for entry. I part them slightly, which was just enough for him. 

He pulls away from my lips, giving me a small smirk before moving down to the crook of my neck, towards the top of the oversized jersey I 'borrowed' from him. He looks up at me with desperate eyes, as I nod my head. He slips it off admiring my bare body. 

I was only wearing a set of sage green lingerie, which just so happens to be Massimo's favorite color.  

"Fuck." He whispers out as he caresses my hips. 

He carries on his journey, making his way further down, past my stomach, towards the lining of my lace underwear. But I grab his face, pushing him away.

"Is everything okay tesoro?"

[Translation: sweetheart]

"Please give me some time to process everything." 

His eyes cast a sad glow but he nods his head. "Of course." 

"How did you sleep?" He asks as he sits up against the headboard.

I shrug my shoulders not wanting to speak. 

He seems to understand my cold nature, as the bed shifts, and he stands up.  

"I want you to come with me to learn some self defense today." He says casually as he grabs a towel from the closet. 

"Self defense? Why?"

"You know why. I need to make sure, for the moments I'm not there, you can take care of yourself okay?"  

I stare up at him as he reenters the room.

"You'll also learn how to use a gun today. In case someone enters the house, you need to know." 

"A gun- Massimo what's with the overprotectiveness?" 

I stand up in front of him, tentatively reaching my hand out to stroke the stubble on his jaw. He leans into my touch letting out a deep sigh. 

"I don't want to lose you again Isabella. Please. Let me have some peace of mind." 

His sad, unlit eyes cast a shadow over the floor, until I stand in my tip toes and kiss the bottom of his jaw. 

"You won't lose me Massimo. But I need time."

I let him go, watching as he moves to the bathroom for his daily shower. 

My heart aches to go back to where we were before everything came crashing down. But I can't. In the end he still murdered my parents. And in the end my parents turned out to be horrible people. I need to make sure that I don't react in an unreasonable manner. 

Until then I need some time. 

I end up making the bed, before getting changed into something comfortable for the session today. As soon as Massimo comes out of the shower and changed- which was packed full of tense, heated moments, we left to head to the shooting range.