The Mafia Boss's Rose

Chapter 10 - Dimitri

     The first day at the gym I hadn't looked at the door, I'd been curious about who would be dumb enough to interrupt our meeting but I didn't bother to look. Rick, the gym's manager will just tell me, I already scare him half to death so it won't be a problem. I'm smoking a cigar with my feet propped up when he comes back in.
"Sorry Don," he states, his hands shaking even more than when he left. It isn't that I have a scary persona, which I do, but rather the fact that he's seen what I do to people who forget to respect me. It isn't pretty. If I don't have the respect of my men and those around me, then they will question every order and detail. If they do that while a gun is pointed at there head, it will give someone the chance to pull the trigger.
"Who was it?" I say, gently spinning to face him.
"Just a girl who didn't know better." I'd heard her voice through the open door, it was velvety soft and it made me want to get up and see her but he shut the door quickly and I thought better of it.
"Mhm, what'd she want?" I respond letting a puff of smoke billow through the air.
"A job." He rubs his head.
"And you gave it to her?" His head shoots up and his eyes lock with mine.
"Yeah, she was persistent." A crooked grin forms on my face, somehow that's appealing.
"Hm." My thoughts travel back to business, "What are we gonna do about those Italians? They came into Moscow a couple months ago. I'm going to need to go back home in a couple weeks and I don't want any Italians to be there when I get home. They should no better."
"Yes sir." He says quietly knowing my train of thought.
"Although I don't want a blood bath, that may be the only option. Talk to Vimmy, set up a day, we're going to scare them into their senses." I go to leave and as my hand lands on the door handle,
"Just don't hurt the girl, please sir." He's never spoken out to me and he just met her so why would he care? I turn to face him and see a solemn look on his face. I tilt my head to the side and make a tsk, tsk sound.
"Why would you care?"
"She seems to be a good girl."
"How would you know? You just met her."
"There's a fire in her eyes, sir." I tilt my head to think about it and shrugging a shoulder, I leave. I go out to my truck and realize she probably parked next to it. It pissed me off but I'd have a talk with her and scare her out of her mind when she started working here in a couple days.
     When I had gone into the pub my mind was on making a deal with the Irish. The Russians could probably take over the Italians on our own but I want to save as many of my men as I can. We walked in and as soon as I laid my eyes on her I knew. I knew I was screwed.
     She wasn't ever leaving my sight. She was sitting there reading a book, in a pub, who does that? The waitress brought her, what I assume is whiskey. When she said thanks to the waiter, I recognized her soft velvety voice from the gym. I asked one of my men who had been working out at the gym and would have seen her if that was the same girl.
"Yeah that's her," he nods his head. I didn't stop staring at her the entire time. I know she could feel my gaze on her because of the way she shifted as if she was uncomfortable. For some reason she wanted the attention of the Irish guy, Connor. I scoffed to myself and while my men talked to me, I'd only take my eyes off her for a second. I didn't care who noticed I was staring which was the entire pub, pretty quick. The only one who didn't take me staring at her as a warning was Connor. Idiot. Finally after way to long, she glanced back at me.
Her blue eyes were like an ocean, lighter around the outside and darker as it got closer to the middle. It was breathtaking, she was breathtaking. Her dark auburn hair made her eyes stand out even more and for a second I had to knock myself back to reality. She broke eye contact and after a long time and my brothers idiotic actions I walked up to her. I knew that my men were going to make a point to the Irish because I had told them too. We weren't stupid enough to get drunk right after making a deal. I walked up to her and shielded her with my body in case one of the Irish were dumb enough to pull a gun and shoot something.
     The second I touched her it was like a wave of electricity, I watched her breath catch in her throat. Her eyes widen ever so slowly and even if she didn't realize it, she gulped. It brought a smirk to my lips, knowing that I affected her the same way she was affecting me. Rick, that damn gym manager was right. She had a fire behind her eyes that people would kill for, I just had to make sure that it was well lit. I held her in place and sure enough that temper rose to the surface. When I'd leaned my head down I'd breathed her in. She smelled like roses and sunshine, something I knew no one could put into a perfume.
     I had my men follow her after that night. I wanted her protected. When she had escaped them, which I don't know how because they were well trained and she'd have to think like them in order to escape them, it had scared me half to death. I was worried sick about her. I'd shown up in her apartment, waiting for her, wondering if she would ever come back. She had, thankfully and she'd yelled at me multiple times, it was starting to become a habit. When she'd flinched like that it had made my heart stop beating. It was like someone had punched me in the gut with an iron fist. I had just frozen. I needed to know who had hurt her so I could kill them.
     Maybe she knew that, maybe that's why she didn't tell me, but I have to know who would have hurt her. She was under my protection and I wouldn't let anyone or anything hurt her. I'd only been mad because she'd scared me half to death. What would have happened if she had been kidnapped or used as ransom? I had to protect her at all costs, I took on that responsibility as soon as I laid my eyes on her. She is mine, no if's, and's or but's about it.
      I'd carried her to her bed that night and just played with her hair as she'd fallen asleep. The smell of roses calming me and I fell asleep with her curled up on my chest. I had woken up at 2am and left her there, warm and cozy. I knew that she was safe now, my men watching the apartment, stationed outside to protect her.
When she finally started at the gym I decided that she wouldn't train any of my men. Not because I don't trust her or that she doesn't know how to fight, she can fight as well as I can but rather the fact that my men would be all over her. She's drop dead gorgeous and I'm not letting my men or any man for that fact get within ten feet of her. I'd protect her with my life, somehow deep down I knew that.
Having her up against me when Vimmy and the rest of them showed up was hard. I wanted to flip her around and kiss her but I couldn't. Vimmy had seen the turmoil on my face and he'd made a crack at me for it. When I'd let her go and she'd turned around and yelled at me, I thought I was going to do it. Roses wafting the air and her damn temper turning me on.
I knew I was done for. When I'd almost kissed her but pulled away, it was because I knew I wouldn't be able to stop myself. I couldn't get enough of her as it is, led alone if I kissed her.
     I'd left and gone to the managers office, sat down and lit a cigar. I knew she'd left after a couple of hours, I have my men following her and so I decided to get down to business. I called a few of my top ranking men in and we started planning our attack. We were in the middle of picking how to attack the Italians and how the Irish would be placed when my phone went off.
"Yep." It was one of the men I had following her on the other end of the line.
"Slow down, slow down." I say listening to a string of curses and muttering.
"What do you mean?!" I yell as I stand up and start pacing, excuses being made over and over again.
"I'm gonna fucking kill you! Do you understand me?" I hung up the phone and called Vimmy,
"Get down to the gym now!" My voice was rough and extremely angry, any other man would have been terrified but Vimmy knew me to well. He didn't even reply knowing better when I was this like this. I heard his truck start up from the other side of the phone, alerting me that he was on his way before I hung up.