My Safe Place A Mafia Romance

CHAPTER SEVEN

AMELIA

Lucia's on a rampage today. She hated what I made for dinner, she threw her plate at me, smacked me across the face, and dragged me by the hair. She threw me on the ground before she started kicking me. I don't know what I did wrong with the food. I tasted it before serving it to her, and it was exactly the same as the last time. I'm crying for her to stop. Screaming for someone to help me, but no one ever hears me in this soundproof apartment. Lucia looks me dead in the eyes and screams, "No one will save you!"

I'm shaken awake again, this time by my papa. He's looking at me with concern. He picks me up and hugs me to his chest, he's rubbing my back while I'm trying to control my body from shaking. "It's okay Mia Cara, you're okay."

After a few minutes, the shaking stops, and my tears are dried. Looking down at my lap in shame, my voice cracks, "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, we just want you to be okay." Kissing my forehead he cups my face, "do you want to work out with us? All the boys are downstairs in the gym."

"I won't know what I'm doing."

"It's okay, we can teach you light stuff."

I nod my head.

"Great, I'll wait for you outside your door, we can walk down together."

Looking through my closet, I pull out my new workout clothes, grateful Elena planned for occasions like this. Once I'm dressed, I walk out to meet my papa. He smiles at me and places his arms around me as we walk to the gym. He tells me that it might stink in there and don't mind them if they get too loud.

As we step inside, I notice the back of Nico first, he's shirtless and in the boxing ring. His back is covered completely in tattoos. I think I drool a little bit. Swallowing hard, I look around and Anthony notices me first, he waves his hand at me, and I wave back with a small smile. Looking back at Nico, his attention is solely on me now, I give him a small wave and he smiles at me. I feel my cheeks heating up, I look away and walk towards the treadmill.

After walking on the treadmill for an hour and avoiding looking to my left, I see Leo and a pair of twins walk in. They're both loud. They spot me and start walking towards my direction. The one with almost black hair introduces himself as Giovanni, and the one with sandy brown hair introduces himself as Stefano. After looking them over, I realize they're Nico's brothers. I give them a smile and wave my hand in greeting.

Ready to walk away, they stop me and ask me to join them at the pool. Reluctant to agree, they both pout at me. Not knowing how to say no, they take both my arms and walk me to the pool. I sit on the edge with my feet dipped in the pool. Leo and the twins are doing laps in the pool, after about 20 laps, they start practicing diving next to me.

I hear my name being called, as I turn around to stand, I feel my leg slip, and I'm falling into the water. I don't know how to swim. I have a fear of big bodies of water. I feel panic setting in. Kicking and flailing my arms around to grab onto anything I can reach. I'm gasping for air and I'm choking on water. I feel a pair of arms grab me, and I instantly curl my arms around whoever's neck and wrap my legs around his torso, clinging for dear life. One of his hands is holding my leg, holding me up, while his other hand is rubbing my back, with calming words he repeats over and over in my ear, "it's okay, you're okay. Just breathe in and out for me."

He leans back and looks at me, I'm still breathing hard, my body shivering. It's then that I realize it's Nico I'm holding on to, he's the one who saved me in my moment of panic. Out of a moment of vulnerability, I lean down and turn my head into the crook of his neck, my voice cracks, "I hate water.. She used to push my head into the tub as punishment." My lips are quivering and my tears are forming, I hear a silent "fuck" and the vibration of his chest, his grip on me gets tighter. He stands there ignoring everyone, while holding me and rubbing my back in the middle of the pool waiting for me to calm down.

When he senses my breathing is even again, he softly asks me, "I'm going to lift you up on to the edge, and then I'll take you to your room. Is that okay?" Feeling my head nod. He walks us to the edge, lifts me up and sets me on the edge of the pool. He gets up, grabs a towel from whoever is holding it out to him, wraps me up in it, and lifts me up. I'm hugging his neck with my head down, feeling embarrassed, I ignore all the look of concern around the gym.

As we get to my room, he places me down on the bathroom counter. He brushes my hair from my face and looks at me, "I'm going to leave you to shower, don't sit here too long, I don't want you to get sick. Okay?" Nodding my head and answering with a quiet, "okay", he pecks my forehead and whispers, "good girl." And leaves.

Rubbing my palms on my face I feel my cheeks heat up from his last comment. Shaking my head, I rush off to shower wanting to wash away my embarrassment from earlier.

As I step outside my room, I see Nico leaning against the wall looking down at his phone. He's freshly showered and changed. Hearing me close my door, he looks up with a soft smile, "Everyone's eating breakfast downstairs. Let's go." He takes my hand, giving it a small squeeze, and walks me down to the kitchen. I see food laid out on the corner, but nobody is in the dining room or kitchen. Seeing the confusion on my face, he answers, "they like to eat breakfast outside. Come on, I'll help you make your plate." I point out everything I like, as he scoops it onto my plate. Feeling satisfied with what I have, I nod at him. He takes hold of my plate and walks in the direction of the back door. Nodding his head in that direction I follow him, I can hear talking and laughter coming from outside.

I'm too busy admiring Nicos backside to notice all the talking has stopped. I hear someone clear their throat and I look up to see him smirking at me, looking away, I feel my face heat up from embarrassment of getting caught. Clearing my throat I step to the side and notice there are more people here than I thought. They're all staring at me. I'm feeling nervous, "umm.. I.." looking to Nico for help.

He senses my dilemma immediately, "Amelia, the couple sitting next to your mom are my parents, and Anthony's and Elena's parents are next to your dad."

I nod my head at them and give them a small wave, "hi."

Nico's mom speaks up first, "hi dear, we're sorry to barge in your brunch, but we were too excited to meet you."

I blush, "it's okay, it's nice meeting all of you."

Nico places his hand on my back side and guides me into a chair. We're eating and I'm trying to grasp onto the multiple conversations around me. I'm looking around the table for the syrup for my waffles, without having to ask, Nico stands up, reaches for it, and places it in front of me. I thanked him quietly.

I'm finishing my last bite of waffle as I look up, I see Nico looking at me. I mouth, "what?"

He chuckles and takes his thumb to wipe the side of my mouth. I feel the stickiness from the syrup being rubbed away. He then takes his thumb to his mouth and licks the remnants away.

I stare at him in surprise, I hear someone clearing their throat, and we both look away. I'm avoiding looking away from my plate, I know I'm currently the color of tomato.

I hear someone else clear their throat, "soooo... should we do a movie day since we're all here?" Leo asks.

Everyone nods their heads in agreement. My papa responds, "great, we're leaving for a dinner party later and will be home late, you guys can order pizza."

The twins and Anthony shout "yes!"

God, am I going to survive watching movies with Nico all night? Probably not.