Wildfire

(21)

Kenneth Deora

I woke up in a white well lit room. Which was not what I remembered.

I thought the excessive pain made me lose my brain functions. I couldn't think, move or speak.

I groaned when I felt the regions of my body that were hurting. Which was all of them.

"You're awake. Fucking finally." Mariana's voice was too emotional by her standards.

Come on Kenneth, speak, move, do something. "Don't move." I've only heard her say that as a threat but this was not one. It was almost a concern.

Almost because the partial reason she wanted me to be still was because she was changing the IV needles in my hands. "So that's what you have a degree in?"

Damn it.

"You should stop stalking, Deora. And no. I'm a licensed neurosurgeon." What. That took me by surprise. Why and how was she in the mafia now. So many questions. At least gain consciousness first.

I waited till she was done before pulling her by the wrist till our faces were inches apart. Her eyes fluttered close and as much as I wanted to kiss her till It was a medical threat to both our respiratory systems. Instead of her kissable, delicious lips, I leaned to her ear.

"What's going on, Mariana."

I felt her freeze as I asked her the haunting question.

I deserved to know why she was going around killing people who owe me money.

"Kenneth, Do you trust me?" The question caught me off guard. Did I trust the woman who had lied about her whole identity and threatened to kill me every two hours?

The answer was yes. If Mariana Montanari was scared enough about a truth being told then it was a destructive one. And regardless of whatever happened she saved me.

She saved me from my worst nightmares. Nightmares where I was accused of being a murderer. Again. Except earlier I was accused by the easily ignorable media but this time it was standing right in my face. Not asking rather telling me that I had killed someone.

"Mariana, I'm not a murderer. I didn't kill anyone." Before that could turn into a ramble she held my face in her hands.

"I know." I froze before the words were fully out of her mouth.

"You do?" she nodded. "I know you didn't kill him." I gripped her hands.

"I didn't mean to- I- it- he was drunk-" I mentally cursed myself for stuttering.

"Ken, breathe." and I did, she moved her hands to my shoulders. "Now tell me."

"He was home and mad, he got drunk and while he was coming to hit me, he tripped. The bottle ended up in his throat. I didn't do it. I swear-"

"I know you didn't." It felt so fucking good to know that the one who mattered the most believed me. If she believed me I was fine with everyone in this world thinking of me as a psycho killer.

"I know who you are, Wildfire." She took a sharp inhale.

I didn't like hearing the things they told me about her neither did I believe them. But I did know what happened. What she had survived through.

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Mariana Montanari

"You can ask me whatever you want." I couldn't believe I was really doing this but he had opened up to me and I trusted Kenneth. I knew he wouldn't hurt me. If he wanted to hurt me he had enough chances.

And now that the 8 men of my life were dead. Well 7 out of 8. Adam was still alive in the warehouse being tortured and he wouldn't receive the sweet gift of death till he spat out who watched me kill all of them.

"I don't wanna know anything. Let me know as much as you want, that's enough, Wildfire. I don't care what happened, you're still my wildfire and I'm yours to keep warm or burn to ashes."

He called me his wildfire. No one has ever called me 'their' anything. Not even their daughter.

+=={:::::::::::::::::>

Kenneth Deora

Now either I was losing my mind or Mariana had tears in her eyes. Before I could confirm my suspicions her arms wrapped around my neck. It took me a second to realise she wasn't just crying. She was shaking.

"They-" she tried to speak but her tears broke her sentences each time. My hands wrapped around her faster than I realised they needed to.

"I know why you killed them, wildfire. They deserved to die."

She didn't respond, she just cried letting years of her frustrations, her fears, her anger out.

I wasn't holding Mariana in my hands right now. I was holding Mary, who was so unbelievably broken that I feared if I let go she'd fall to pieces. I'd let her crumble as many times as she wanted to and put her back shred by shred every single time.

"I was eight." The crack in her voice powdered my heart and blew it into fire. "I got you, baby." That made me realise how she must've been a kid once, full of joy and innocence. How a demon would've taken that joy and innocence away from her.

I held her till her screams calmed down to gentle sobs and her piercing grip on me loosened. I was sure she drew blood. She had never been held and it showed.

"How are your wounds?" They had almost healed by now which made me ask, "How long have I been out?"

"A week. You fucking terrified me." I kissed her forehead. "Well I can cross that off my list."

"I still have the option to kill you."

"I'd die peacefully with you being the last thing I see."

She rolled her eyes but her blush betrayed her.

"Wildfire?"

"Yes?"

"Kiss me. Please?" She moved to straddle me. Her hands ended up on my neck and after what felt like an eternity her lips crashed on me. It was forceful yet gentle. It felt like inferno yet comforting. The ring of her phone interrupted the moment.

"I have to take this." I held her hips as she tried to get off me.

"Take it here." I watched as she picked up right when I kissed her neck. She tasted fucking divine.

She continued to talk with shaky breaths as I continued to mark every inch of her neck.

"What's wrong?" I asked when I saw her face laced with stress when she ended the call.

"Someone is either after you or me. Someone saw me kill them and still blamed you. Kenneth this isn't safe we should-"

"I can keep myself safe, wildfire. And if I can't, I'd rather spend my last days being yours."

"Do you not get it!? You could die! We need to end-"

"Don't finish that sentence, Mariana. Do you not get it? How hopelessly, desperately, helplessly in love with you I am? Not everything is a game of blood and knives. Sometimes there's a heart involved and you need to start using yours! Do you not fucking understand!?"

"Understand what!?"

"I fucking love you, Mary!" Before I could process my feet were on my way to her, my hands cupped her face. I wasn't kissing her. I was devouring her and goddamn I was one gluttonous fucker.

+=={:::::::::::::::::>