ELENORA

The next morning, I step out of the room and find Mostro sitting at the kitchen island.

"Buongiorno." I greet him, grabbing a banana from the fruit bowl. (Good morning)

He grunts in response.

I take a bite of the banana before turning to him, wondering what his problem is, but I gasp, choke, then force my bite of the banana down when I see his eye is almost swollen shut. "What happened to you?" I grab his face to get a better look at his injury.

"Did Rico do this to you?"

Mostro shakes his head, removing my hands from his face. "Fuck no, Rico didn't do this to me. I wouldn't be alive if Rico unleashed his anger on me. Some motherfucker we roughed up last night, fought back," He informs me as I grab a piece of steak from the fridge and place it on his eye.

He gives me a questioning look. "It will take some of the swelling down."

"Seems like a waste of food if you ask me." But he holds it against his face anyway and then picks up his cup of coffee to take a long sip.

"Where is Rico anyway?"

"He's at the gym down the hall," He tells me. "He didn't want to wake you."

"Hm," I say as I keep eating. More like avoiding me after our text fight yesterday. After he left I sent him a text to let me know what he finds out. His response?

There's no need.

I repeat, there's no need.

Can you believe that? Well, let me tell you, I wasn't about to sit back and let him belittle my need to be a part of finding out who it is, and why they're doing it.

So I told him to suck a dick if he thought he had any right to tell me what I need or don't need. He didn't respond.

And then I couldn't sleep and ended up having one of my nightly one on one conversations with myself. A couple of hours later, the elevator ding alerted me that he was back. I debated if I should go out to the main room, but then the bedroom door opened and Rico went into the bathroom.

When he came out, I laid in the dark listening to him undress before he climbed into the bed and he wrapped his arms around me. He inhaled deeply before kissing my head and whispered. "Let me take care of you, patatina mia." (my little potato)

And then he was gone when I woke up this morning.

I throw away the banana peel. "I'm going to go work out."

Mostro looks up, still holding the slab of meat on his face.

"What? I work out." I defend myself against his scrutinizing eyes. He raises the eyebrow of his uninjured eye and I purse my lips at him before I turn away to grab some shoes and put my hair up.

When I'm ready, Mostro is standing near a door I always assumed was a closet, but when he opens it for me, I find we are in a hallway. "So, what's your real name? I doubt your parents would name you Mostro willingly, unless your parents are related to Maui?"

"Who?"

"Maui? You know, shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea, hero of men."

The blank look on Mostro's face is beyond shocking. "Oh come on! Really? That's it, we're doing a movie night. Maui is a co-main actor in the Disney Movie, Moana."

Still no signs of recognition from Mostro. "Anyway, his parents were major douche canoes and tossed him into the sea after he was born. Can you believe that?"

Mostro clears his throat. "Well, this gorgeous mug you're graced with is after several surgeries. My parents did call me Mostro because I had a cleft lip and I was born without a nose."

I stop walking, processing his words and he bursts out into his loud, rumbling laugh. "Shit, I'm just kidding." He wheezes. "Damn, that was good."

He keeps chortling as I shake my head at him. He sighs after he settles down. "My real name is Guerrino."

"So, how did you get the nickname 'Mostro'."

"It was given to me after we found ourselves pinned down by an old rival and I did what I had to do to get us out of there alive and it's stuck ever since."

I don't get a chance to ask him to elaborate on what happened as we arrive outside the gym door—the other huge guard, Ciccio, is standing post and nods as we approach. Music blares inside the gym and I slide the door open and walk in.

I turn the corner and stop, becoming entranced at the sight before me. Rico is doing push ups in a handstand position. Sweat trickles down his back as he moves up and down. I close my mouth realizing I'm standing there like a gaping idiot and head over to the weight rack but then switch directions and go for the treadmill.

Rico drops down on his knees and grabs the towel next to him and wipes his face and glistening body. He glances at me through the mirror in the room, but goes on about his workout, picking up a large set of dumbbells and begins doing alternating hammer curls.

I trip over my own feet as I watch his arm muscles move and constrict with the movements, but I recover, hoping he didn't notice. After a quick warm up I make my way over to the weight rack and I run my hands over the weights, sensing Rico's eyes on me through the mirror. I pick a lesser weight and stand next to him and begin doing squats and bicep curls.

He's moved on to doing crunches on the mat. I set the weights back and eye the pull up bar. It's been several months since I've done any but I'm sure I can still do a few.

I wipe my hands on my leggings and then I jump to grasp the bar. I adjust my grip but then realize there's no way I'm going to be able to lift myself up. All the pints of Ben & Jerry ice cream I've indulged in over the summer flash in my mind.

I'm about to let go when Rico comes up behind me and stretches to grab the bar; he places his hands outside of mine and slightly bumps into me.

"Bend your knees."

I do as he says, then his legs come around mine, holding me up in his. "Are you ready?"

I nod and he begins lifting himself up while at the same time giving me a lift with his legs under mine.

We do a few reps, but my focus is now on the fact that a certain part of his body is rubbing up against my ass and I end up losing my grip. I begin falling, but he lets go to try to catch me and we end up tumbling on the floor.

He falls over me and I exhale as his body weight lands on me. "Oomph!"

"Are you okay? Why did you let go?" Concern covers his face.

"It's been a while since I've done those, and..." I peer up at him. "Your um, package was hitting up against me and I lost focus." My senses are overloaded by him at the moment.

Rico grins and adjusts his position before I realize what he's doing as he pushes my legs apart. "Like this?"

I gasp when his erection presses up against the thin material of the leggings between my legs. "So you did it on purpose?"

"No, but what do you expect to happen when I'm in close contact with that gorgeous ass of yours?" He chuckles as he slowly grinds into me and pulls my right leg up around his waist and his hands slide down, squeezing my ass. "I never wanted anyone as much as I do you." His voice sends my pulse skyrocketing.

My breathing becomes desperate panting, a level I've never reached from exercise alone. There's something about his scent that's sending my arousal into hyperdrive and I inhale his aroma deeply when his mouth comes on my neck, sucking hard and I react instinctively, pulling him into me with my legs.

I lift my head, touch my lips to his neck and begin kissing him, tasting the saltiness on his skin from his sweat, but I don't mind. Rico groans at my kissing his neck as he keeps grinding against me and gets harder against me. I move my lips over him and can't resist it any longer as I find his mouth and kiss him.

He moans into my mouth as we kiss, his hands are kneading different areas; my breasts, thighs and ass.

Someone clears their throat, but I don't want to stop kissing Rico and by the way he keeps kissing me, he doesn't want to either.

"Boss."

Rico and I stop; he hovers over me, breathing hard as he looks up and I move my head back to see Mostro and Ciccio, both avoiding looking down at us. He reaches over for a small remote near his phone and shuts the music off. "What? You know I don't like to be interrupted when I'm working out."

I start chuckling under Rico and he looks down at me as I cover my mouth. His tongue moves inside his cheek in a way to keep himself from smiling before he looks up at his men. "Well?"

Mostro clears his throat again but doesn't get a chance to say anything before we hear Rosetta's voice. "Federico?" And then she appears next to Ciccio. She doesn't bother hiding the disapproving look on her face and I push Rico back, moving away from under him and sit up.

Rico eyebrows furrow watching me but he leans back on his heels, placing his hands on his thighs and then addresses her. "What can I do for you, Zia?"

Rosetta lets out a huff of air as she adjusts the scarf she's wearing around her shoulders. "You have not checked in some time and I was getting worried."

Rico exhales standing then holds his hand out to me to pull me up. I gaze up at him before taking his hand and the corner of his mouth lifts in a small smile. I try to pull my hand from his when we are standing, but he interlocks his fingers with mine.

"You know I've been busy."

"Spending your time wisely, I see, amore."

"Zia." Rico's tone is a warning.

"What?" She shrugs as she walks further into the gym and looks at herself in the mirror, moving her hand through her hair and wipes at her lipstick. "Well, I'm glad to see you've put those awful and hurtful words that Elenora shared with the family about your first impression of her, behind you."

His hand squeezes my hand and his thumb rubs circles. "She knows I made an unfair judgment."

"So, you've actually apologized for your insults and moved forward, that's great!" Rosetta smiles at us both, but it's not genuine. She knows Rico never apologized. His words from the first night we met play through my mind again, I never apologize, never.

It's the harsh reminder I need to get a grip of my deprived hormones. He looks down at our hands as I pull mine from his. "Excuse me, I have to make a phone call. Rosetta," I address her and she nods at me.

"Elenora." Rico's tone is laced with annoyance.

"I'll see you later." I look over my shoulder at him and his eyes meet mine searching, but I turn away and Mostro follows me out.

__________________

After running errands most of the morning, I have Mostro take me to my storage unit, where I keep most of my photography supplies. Living in New York doesn't give me the option of being able to store much in my apartment, since every square inch in the city is literally living space.

I yank up on the storage door and look around, everything organized and labeled. I start digging through some of the boxes; looking for things I'll need for a few of my upcoming jobs. "Okay, I think that's it for now," I tell Mostro, setting the items outside the storage unit and then pull the door closed. My phone rings as I close the padlock. I pull my phone out, sighing when I see Rico's name.

"What?"

"Ouch, no hello?" I can picture him smiling.

"I guess I'm starting to pick up your habits." I start loading some things into my hands but Mostro grabs most of it leaving me with a single bag. Rico chuckles into the phone.

"Where are you? You left without saying goodbye."

"You were busy."

"My Zia didn't stay long after you left."

"She hates me," I mutter.

"She doesn't hate you. She just...doesn't like everybody."

"A family trait, it seems."

He chuckles, again. "That's not true. I like you, Elenora, most of the time. So, where are you?"

"At a storage facility near my apartment." I give him the name of the place. "I needed to grab some supplies for work. You could have called Mostro, you know, he's with me."

"True, but it's not his voice I wanted to hear." I can't help the blush that creeps on my face.

"I'm leaving a meeting just a block away. Wait for me and we can have lunch together." I hear him tell his driver the name of the storage facility.

"Fuck," Mostro states and I look over thinking he's losing his grip on some of the things he's carrying but he drops it all with a look of distress on his face. I follow his gaze and see five men in suits facing us at the end of the aisle, they each have guns in their hands.

"What happened?" Rico asks in my ear.

"There...there's five men, Rico."

I hear a string of curse words as he yells at his driver to go faster. "I'm coming, don't hang up."

"Drop your shit, and get behind me." I do as Mostro says and he pulls his gun and starts firing, and then pushes to run. I scream as the bullets start zipping all around us.

"Keep running and don't look back, Nora!" Mostro yells.

I turn a corner, while Mostro is still shooting back at them. But before we reach another corner Mostro grunts—he's been hit.

"Rico, Mostro's been shot!"

"Leave him and keep running!" Rico instructs me but I can't leave him. I put my phone in my pocket and try to pull Mostro up, but he's too heavy for me.

"Go, keep going!" He shouts at me and pushes me away.

"No, I'm not leaving you behind!" I lift his arm over my shoulders and he grunts in pain as he helps me lift him and we keep running, struggling together to get to the door at the end of the hall with an exit sign above it, but as we step out, my heart drops when I see they led us right where they wanted.

Several more men are standing there in the alleyway, waiting for us next to a few SUV's. "Fuck," Mostro mutters.

One of the men steps forward in front of the others.

"Kill him and take the girl."

****

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