He's Fire and She's Playing with It - Mafia Version

Chapter 44: Love You More

Two weeks swift fully went by and Ally heard nothing from anyone in the inner circle. She wanted her heart to be on the same page as her head, but the ache in it reflecting off of the tears on her face and that dim look in her eyes, only proved that no matter how much she wanted to stop it from beating for Adryan - it hadn't yet.

She spent hours and hours at Clara's, dreading to go back to her flat. The wreck of the cameras had been cleaned up when she got home from Adryan's, but it didn't stop the memories of his protectiveness - the very thing that she had hated and one of the reasons that she had left - to cause pain deep down in her stomach. He had cast her out, let her go, for her own sake. She didn't know what he had told his friends, but she suspected that he might've twisted the truth to fit his reputation.

Except Lissa. She was sure that he had to tell her the real reason or she would've dragged it out of him. She and Lissa had never been friends, she hadn't been closed with anyone of them except for Benjamin, but Lissa had nonetheless been her swore protector at the meeting.

Ally was grateful for her.

She wondered what would happen now. Would she just go back to her own life? She was already trying, working, spending time with her friends, and pretending that the ruthless pain didn't exist - but she still woke up to her own screams in the dark of the night.

And then there was the question of Benjamin. She hadn't heard from him. She just had to trust Adryan to hold up his end of the bargain. Information in exchange for Benjamin's safety. She trusted him, she had to. There was nothing else she could do. She had to stay away from him, take the way out that Adryan had so generously given her. She doubted that anyone else had ever gotten the same chance.

That hadn't stopped her from driving to Benjamin's flat the day after the meeting. She had watched the light turn on as the night fell and she had seen a silhouette. She had waited for over an hour until he had walked up to the window. She just had needed to see that the silhouette had really been him and that the shadow on the wall had belonged to him. She had watched the light turn off and the projector turn on. For a minute she had looked at the stars dancing on the ceiling, and then she had drove off, promising herself that that was it. Now that she knew that he was safe she would stop thinking off him.

She had broken that promise every night since, and the stars on the ceiling had become a quiet friend.

∞

The mirror was still fogged up when the doorbell rang. Ally was wrapped in a towel and she looked at the pile of black jeans and tight long-sleeved shirt on the floor. She swore to herself. She must start to remember to bring clean clothes with her to the bathroom. She pulled on the jeans, which was a struggle in itself because of her damp skin. Underwear had to wait.

She hadn't found her way out of the shirt when she headed for the door. Her head only popped out when she reached for the handle.

Benjamin's cocky half smile met her. He looked her up and down, from her dripping wet hair, to her bare feet. "Is this a bad time?"

"It always is when you show up." She crossed her arms and stepped aside to let him pass. "Timing isn't really your thing."

He stopped in the middle of the room and looked around.

"My timing is excellent. I choose to show up at the most inconvenient time of the recipient." He turned to her. "How's the stalking outside of my flat going?"

Her cheeks caught a shade of pink.

"You know, you can just call me."

She let her arms fall to her sides. "I didn't know if that was appropriate, or if it would cause you trouble."