The Carrero Contract - Selling Your Soul (Mafia Romance) novel Chapter 83

‘Did I ask for the great fucking Alexi Carrero to come on down here and start acting like the prize wanker you can be? NO, no I fucking did not! I asked Mico, MY FRIEND, for help! Someone who actually gives a crap about me, and in no part of that conversation did I say … bring that prick of a cousin of yours as I miss being treated like shit!’ I throw sarcastically, standing taller and lifting that defiant chin while I am the one who steps forward to him ungracefully. I am in the full throes of Diva mode as she finds her feet and blows the cobwebs off.

The distance between us shortens and two very pissed and buzzing people get their rage on, face-to-face while the atmosphere turns to static around us and sizzles with the effect.

Alexi seems to grow about five feet instantly, but I care not. This bastard will never make me cower at his feet again. I have learned one thing in his absence—I am the one who gave him the power to wound me and I won’t ever do that again.

‘Well it looks like you found yourself a man who treats you so much better, Princess.’ He smirks cruelly and reaches out to touch my swollen face smugly and gets himself a massive hand slap over his wrist for the effort. My knee-jerk reaction to the disgust of him laying a hand on me that echoes with the noise of the thwack as my skin hits his.

‘DON’T YOU FUCKING TOUCH ME!’ I explode at him, shoving him back bodily in the chest with flat palms, using all my might as rage consumes me erratically. He stumbles and that cocky half laugh, half disbelieving look he gives me, sets off my psycho side. She has been hiding for months but I guess she does need a good airing.

I turn on him to face down that demon of a wanker I do not want in my apartment and do what Camilla does best. I pick up the nearest object to me and lob it at his head! Even though we are not very far apart and a slap would have better aim. I know it’s a bit schizoid, but after all, that’s how he makes me.

‘Jesus Christ!’ Alexi barks and ducks as a stray shoe from the table whizzes over the top of him, and he dodges out of my way like a panther with amazing reflexes. He wasn’t expecting that and the shocked expression fuels my desire to do it again; a slight kick of enjoyment at unleashing some sort of payback on the utter arsehole.

‘Camilla, for God’s sake!’ Mico yelps from across the room but I just blank him out. I have a lot of fucking angry words yet to come out and I will happily let them be accompanied by missiles aimed at Alexi. I turn and head for my bags by the door, now he has scooted sideways away from it and lift one to throw at him impulsively. It’s heavy enough to hurt but light enough to throw: perfect weapon.

‘You’re fucking crazy!’ Alexi snaps again, dodging my weightier attempt and it only fuels to make me so much more volcanic. Annoyed he would have the nerve to call ME crazy!!!

I grab an armful of random shit from the floor—shoes, a book, a couple of ornamental trinkets and one by one I start throwing them in his direction, on a hateful roll without a breather so he has no gap to come at me.

It feels amazing to be honest, even if I AM acting like a crazy person. Alexi deserves so much worse than things being thrown at him.

Although Mico is near him, and both split and scarper in opposite directions as I let loose and give a good go at being a baseball pitcher. Alexi is the aim, but he’s too bloody fast and my near misses are fuelling my annoyance and frustrations all the more.

‘Camilla!’ Mico tries to get close but I aim a shoe at him and he runs for cover too. He has no idea how mad I am at him for defiling my space with this demon, and he better get out of my way or become a victim of my throwing ability.

The man on the outside of the door walks in, turns and walks straight back out when he sees me launching things. I guess he wanted to know what was going on and shuts the door behind me to shield himself. No wish to be part of the crazy woman’s breakdown.

Sensible man!

‘You are a complete fucking bastard who deserves everything I can throw at him!! You have no idea how much I want to ram something down your throat right now!’ I yell at Alexi as he moves speedily towards me to catch what I am throwing, but I just run in the opposite direction and throw things over my shoulder at him to keep him at bay. Alexi may be faster than me but his self-preservation is honed in on dodging items rather than catching me. I get to the couch and slide behind it, so he cannot physically get to me, and find another treasure trove of throwable prizes.

Hairbrushes, hairdryer, more shoes, bags, pots, anything that was thrown around and I launch one after the other right at that prick’s smug head. I am on a roll and I have enough fight in me from months of pining in pain to fuel me all god damn night! He keep’s slapping and whacking them away, annoyingly.

It’s very therapeutic as I expel so much hurt and heartbreak at the hands of this man. He has no idea as to the depth of sadness I have dealt with for the past months, or how much shit goes on inside of me while battling squalor to survive every day.

Mico is keeping out of the way now and trying to shout over the noise at me to calm down, but it’s falling on deaf ears while I have Satan in my sights.

‘Will you stop? I came here to talk, not be maimed, for fuck’s sake!’ Alexi is still yelling at me and still making me worse. He brings it on himself just by breathing in my direction.

‘I won’t stop till I knock your fucking head off, you wanker. I hope I break your nose or your teeth. I hope I take out an eye!’ It’s juvenile, but damn it feels like being alive again and despite my feverish head and rather crazed erratic mood, I am actually fighting for once. Camilla is still in me. She isn’t dead! She has just been hibernating.

Mico walks at me from his side, palms raised as he tries to get past me to his cousin as a shield and I pause when I realise he is aiming for Alexi not me.

‘STOP. STOP!’ He soothes in a very loud tone and pushes Alexi back by the shoulder, so he comes between us slightly, widening the gap from the couch and brings a tiny halt to our war. I continue glaring at my arch nemesis over his shoulder and Alexi returns the favour. Both of us fuelled on mutual dislike and giving as good as we get in terms of filthy looks. Alexi’s eyes are so dark they actually look coloured for once, and his jaw is stiff as he grits his teeth and gives me his best death stare. It does nothing anymore. The power he once held over me is gone.

‘You two are a fucking nightmare!’ Mico sighs heavily as I take a breather from swing arm and lower the trainer I am holding. My shoulder aches from the exertion and I take the moment to catch my breath, unaware I was heaving until now. Lungs ready to explode and body screaming at me that I am in no fit state for this kind of behaviour. Physically, I feel like I have run a marathon, and I am perspiring profusely under my clothes. I guess being sick has its downfall when I need energy to leave at least one scar on that pretty face. A bloody nose would be nice.

‘Make him leave!’ I bark back and get an annoyed frown from Mico this time, which makes me pipe down. I don’t want to be pissing off my hero, even if he has questionable loyalty! I mean why else would that tosser be here, if Mico hadn’t told him?

I’m losing the buzz anyway, the fun is fading away, and tiredness is coming back. I guess it was a temporary high from the shock of seeing the idiot again and it is expelled already. I’m still fuming internally, although shock and something else is sweeping through my body, and I just feel raw and vulnerable now—emotions threatening to the surface. I’ve been on one hell of a rollercoaster these past twelve hours and I wonder if part of me is in a state of delirium … I do feel odd.

‘He came to talk. You are going to put that down and come over here and listen! Stop being a fucking Diva, Camilla!’ Mico snaps at me, his dad tone is full-on aggression, and he lowers his brows in a similar way to his cousin which only riles my temper once more. I am still equally annoyed at Mico.

‘I am not coming out until that bastard goes way over there!’ I sulk and point to the far corner of the room with the toe of the shoe I am holding and nod at Alexi smugly, getting another icy look as he sighs and shakes his head before turning on his heel. He obviously realises I am not going to comply until he does and for once is being smart about it.

Surprisingly!

‘Overdramatic much! Psychotic females,’ he murmurs under his breath, but I hear him, and that snap of fire he brings out in me triggers the toss. The trainer flies through the air quite poetically and catches him unawares right in the centre back of his skull with a dull thud that is a short-lived victory and seems to bring the entire room to a deathly silence. That tiny little trigger of regret swirls from inside of me as I remember a cushion throw way back in his apartment and Alexi’s volatile reaction even then.

He spins like a psycho, my breath catching in response, eyes venomous and moves so fast in a lurch towards me that Mico grabs him frontally and tries to rein him in. It’s a fast-reflexed manoeuvre, and he’s barely controlling his viciously enraged prisoner as he attempts to jump my couch and throttle me. Alexi is seething and I think I just flipped his kill switch. My body literally turns cold.

All the blood drains from my veins and I realise I just went a step too far as Mico endeavours to hold onto him as he tries to fight towards me. I start arming myself with heavy objects in readiness for battle, and know that if Mico cannot control him then I better be ready to protect myself. Heart pounding and my eyes never leaving his face I gather an arsenal to my chest.

‘I’m going to fucking kill her!!!’ Alexi yells at him and me, eyes boring into mine with the stormiest chaos within their depths; a guy who has snapped.

I glare back, unwilling to show him any fear or back down, even though I am quaking right down to my toes and know this was a stupid move.

He doesn’t own me anymore, and he has no right to be here, but it doesn’t mean he won’t try to punish me.

‘Just fucking try! I will stab you in the god damn throat, you psycho!’ I screech back, wielding a hair tong that’s about as pointy as the shoe and probably incapable of penetrating skin, but I wave it manically anyway as though I intend to use it.

Mico loses his grip on the fighting beast, and before I get a chance to re-arm myself with something more suited for impalement, I drop my finds impulsively in fright. Alexi comes thundering towards me, jumps the couch to get at me and I hightail it with my heart in my mouth at full speed away from him.

Squealing in absolute terror, heart racing like I am high on drugs because I know what comes with an Alexi eruption of anger, and the bastard is fucking fuming. I’m not dumb enough to not expect something awful in retaliation.

He catches the back of my t-shirt, yanking it firmly so I almost fall backwards with the sudden stop, to get a hold of me once he clears the furniture and is now in the space I occupied. I turn and bend to manoeuvre out of it just as fast, and he pulls it right off my head leaving me in a sports bra, not giving two shits if escape is the result. He doesn’t relent, throws it aside angrily and keeps coming behind me with intent. Chasing around my fucking room as Mico attempts another capture of one scary as shit Carrero and fails. So now there are three of us running around the room in a ridiculous game of catch the mouse.

I throw objects at him that I grab on passing and almost fall as I climb over the couch after a full circle of the room, and I manage to grab a long-handled spoon on the table on the way past. Alexi just jumps after me, clearing it easily like some superman athlete who cannot be taken down from his pursuit. He skims it at speed, so I turn on him and start waving and swinging it at his face to battle him off—the deranged motions of someone trying to wield a wooden spoon as a sword and meeting a very fiery dragon with claws made of steel.

Alexi dodges my vicious assaults and grabs both my hand and the spoon in a crushing grip, hot skin burning mine with a sizzling connection; in the blink of an eye he yanks the blooming thing out of my hand ferociously. It makes me yelp with the force he uses and continues to grip me cruelly, all of my bravado melting away like ice on a hot pavement. I remember how terrifying he can be and I pour into my own shoes as terror takes hold.

Mico loses his absolute shit, halting whatever heinous act King Carrero had in his head for when he caught me and yanks me away from him brutally, so I am left balancing precariously for a moment as I right myself. Putting himself between us angrily as he intervenes what could have come to an awful head.

‘That’s it!!! I will let you both fucking kill each other and just god damn leave if you don’t cut this shit out. I am too old for this crap! GROW THE FUCK UP! BOTH OF YOU!’ He lets Alexi loose and shoves him back hard, a visible telling off that cools his jets instantly. Weirdly, returning a sense of human to that evil scowl and I drop my bunched and ready fists to waist level in semi-shame, unwilling to relent just yet.

I am trying to figure out if he really would leave me alone with this knob head, and if he did, I wonder if Alexi would finish what I failed to do back in his apartment that night. He’s definitely angry enough, and we both know he has the skill to end my life without much effort. I wouldn’t put it past him!

‘She needs to stop acting like a deranged mental case and calm the fuck down! I came here to help!’ Alexi goes for the last word but Mico spins his head towards him and I can only guess it’s a murderous look as Alexi bites down into sulky mode and glares away from him, to me, and then walks off towards the back of the room in a strop.

Boy takes a telling off, it seems!

His whole body is tense and poised. Like a caged animal waiting for its dinner, or a child who is moody and just had a scalding. I wonder if he is trying to reel in his own bad temper and impulsive need to snap my neck, by walking away to breathe. I cannot decide on which and stupidly it gives me the urge to laugh maniacally at him, which earns a glare from Mico at me too.

I really think I am losing the plot.

Mico brings my attention to him with another sigh and a head shake and I finally drop my hands in defeat, also scalded and trying to simmer down. Body vibrating with exercise I didn’t need and lungs trying not to self-implode as I calm. I can feel those judgey eyes on my face and he quietens his tone.

‘Who did this to you?’ Mico’s face softens hugely; his tone warm once more as a finger comes up and moves a stray hair from the mess of what I am being brought back to … my face. I presume my eyes are already black and blue as he studies me.

Alexi turns against the wall in the background, catching my eye as I can feel him boring into me, and leans against it stiffly. Watching me like a wolf, fully tuned into my answer and I just shrug it off nonchalantly.

‘It’s nothing. Part and parcel of my current existence. I am more concerned about that.’ I point at the door that is vibrating as the man on the other side drills something and Mico glances around too.

‘This place isn’t the best.’

Like I don’t know that!

I raise a brow in sarcastic silent response at him. He just shrugs back with a smile.

‘I told him to secure all the windows and even put a lock on your bedroom door as a secondary secure room,’ Alexi butts in, eyes eating at me still, pitch smoother and less violent but I just blank him. I don’t want him to be my saviour, even if he has calmed down immensely and is brooding in the corner.

I never asked him to come here, and he is still not welcome, no matter how quick of a turnaround in demeanour he has just had.

I come out of my self-inflicted temper and walk back to sit on the couch in tired defeat. Mico comes and sits at one side of me and places his hands on his knees as he evaluates me a little more closely.