Chapter 53
Marcello
Ellie blows out a breath, sitting back down. “Nash is okay, Ragazza Dolce.” I whisper into her ear in a calming voice, pulling one of her curls in between my fingers. I know she worries about them, and no matter how reassuring we are, she still doesn’t like it when they take the hard hits. I think she’d rather a gun be pressed to one of our heads. She could control that situation, but the three-hundred-pound defensive man is where she draws the line.
“He looks fine, but CTE is serious, Marcello.” Fuck, my cock perks up at her taking that tone with me. I bite my fist, suppressing a moan from my full name rolling off of her tongue. “I worry about you too. I’m sure you get punched in the head all the time.” She rolls her eyes at that last sentence.
1 I snake my hand around her dainty neck, grabbing her jaw and tilting her head up to meet my eyes. In the most menacing tone, I growl, “Roll those eyes again, Ellie, and see what happens.” She pulls her lips back in what I thought was a smile, showing me every one of her perfectly straight teeth… But it’s not a smile I want. It’s her scheming up some brat-shit smile.
In the most seductive tone, she divulges, “Whatever you’re thinking, it’ll have my eyes rolling into the back of my head on their own.” She chuckles like the like devil she is, sticking her tongue out, licks, and then sucks on the sensitive skin just below my chin.
I close my eyes in pleasure, completely forgetting what I was about to do or say. I bark out, “Enough!” She doesn’t instantly let go, but when she does, she’s back to that devilish smirk, and her eyes are back on the field like nothing even happened.
The Rebels walked off the field with another win tacked onto their record. I text Maverick, the head coach, and let him know Club Onyx has all the VIP tables reserved for their celebration.
The guys have press conferences after, but Coach makes the reporters keep them short. We’re still up in my box, waiting for the crowd to clear out to head to the club. I’m admiring Ellie’s stormy blue eyes and the makeup she’s wearing today. “This looks cool.” I run my finger across the shimmering skin on the top of her cheekbones; some collects on my finger, and I lick my finger clean.
My unhinged behavior just floats right by her. “Cool, Cello? That just aged you fifteen years.” She’s howling, making me feel at home with her laughter echoing through my bones.
“I’ve missed this so much, Ellie.”
“I have too, Cello. You’ve felt distant the past couple of years, but I know your life was flipped upside down, and I didn’t want to be the needy kid always annoying the fuck out of you.”
“You never annoyed me, Ellie. I had to settle my life, and if I’m being honest, I didn’t like being around you because it put a price on your head.” I keep everything I did buried deep inside me; she’s not ready to hear all of that yet. Including paying for the nurse who would come in and help with her mother, paying all her medical bills, and making sure she and her sister were always safe. I did all of that for Ellie. Her father will always hold a special place in my heart, but her goddamn mother, I could’ve strangled on multiple occasions. She would always find some way to belittle Ellie.
That woman’s karma was losing all control of her muscles and eventually her speech—never being able to hurt my Ragazza Dolce with her words again. I only hope Ellie said what her soul needed to say to her piece-of-shit mother. Ellie was always sure to protect Lyla from their mother, making all the anger Ellie’s to bear.
“Then what changed?”
“Everything.” That’s all I say. I stand up, hold my hand out for her, and start dragging her out of the suite, ready to get to my club and finally be on the receiving end of her ass shaking this time.
We parked in the back in the player’s lot; being a powerful man has its perks most of the time. Stepping through the doors, I have Ellie slightly in front of me. The hair on the back of my neck stands, and I never ignore my body telling me something is off. I turn around just in time to hear the footsteps coming up on us.
It’s the same Albanian fuck we branded a couple of weeks ago and sent on his way to fill in whoever fucking sent them after my Ellie. He has a knife pointed right at me, but he’s holding it like he hasn’t been trained a day in his life. I sidestep towards Ellie, grabbing his arm and pulling the knife free of his grip. I spin that same arm behind his back and up towards his opposite shoulder blade until I hear him cry out in pain.
I drag the knife’s point up his stomach, digging into his sternum, continuing up his chest. The blade”s at his neck, and he’s already begging for his life. I’m met with the resistance of his esophagus. I lean into his ear, but not too close, he smells like he hasn’t showered in days.
Seething, I grind my words out into his ear, “You should be embarrassed. The way you just came at me was…” I trail off, and snap his arm up higher, hearing the satisfying pop of his shoulder coming out of place, just how I wanted. I can feel the scream he lets out vibrating my bones, and I bask in it. Laughing into his ear again, I keep going with a menacing tone, “Pathetic.”
I turn us around so I can make sure I haven’t scared the living shit out of Ellie, and I’m greeted with her wicked smile. She rears back and kicks him in the dick and balls so goddamn hard I wouldn’t be surprised if they went back into his abdomen.
“That’s for trying to take one of my men from me.” She finishes that statement by spitting in his face. And if I weren’t holding this fuck up, I would be slow clapping right now.
Fuck, I love her.
1.Shleepin - Xavier Mayne, Chase Atlantic