CLAIMED // 18+

Chapter Nine - Elaine

"Wow, oh wow!"

Paulina hasn't stopped 'wow'-ing and giggling like a maniac ever since I told her everything that happened to me over the last week. She's my best friend, occasionally my roommate and we're practically like sisters. We first met when I was 11, in the orphanage, and we clicked almost immediately. There's nothing we keep from each other, so naturally, I gotta tell her how I met the man of my dreams, and how I even lost my V card at the same time. She's constantly gushing about it, asking for all the juicy details. I might as well write a report of everything that happened word by word and make things easier.

"Girl," Paulina sighs, wiping her eyes as if she just finished shedding happy tears or something "I'm so happy for you!"

"I know, I'm happy for me too!"

She laughs, we both laugh for a good second. This is good.

Except for the fact that I didn't tell her who the man is.

Or, more precisely, what this man is.

A mafia boss. That's what he is. But I can't tell her that... yet. I know that I must tell her. Ever since my mom died, she's the only one I got. I can't keep this a secret forever. However, I'm worried about how she'll react. Dating the leader of a crime organization as infamous as the Miguel family is far from normal. In my case, it's crazier. Paulina is well aware of my dad's involvement with the Miguels, and she knows everything about how they came to my place every month for money. Although they didn't ever throw any tantrums, they are people the cops are searching for on a daily. They do illegal stuff regularly-- it's their whole concept.

Sebastian... I'm sure he did stuff too. I can't blame him either, that must be how he grew up. And I don't exactly wish to bring this up when I'm with him.

Not that I'll remember to, though. When I'm with him, I feel the happiest. His warmth makes me so comfortable, I hoped I'd never run out of it. His luscious touch, his soft kisses, the way he calls me 'angel' and 'beautiful' and how he tells me that he loves me and already misses me-- I cherish all of it. He's the most precious person in my life right now, and I don't intend on losing him anytime soon. For the past years of my life, I've been living in shame and guilt. With Sebastian, I forget it all.

I'm afraid of hurting Paulina, because she's my closest friend and she'll be worried. So, maybe I'll keep this a secret for a little while longer. Just, a little while longer. Hopefully.

"You're seriously in love with him, aren't you? Gosh, I'm so jealous!" she screeches gleefully, hugging me so tightly against her body that I find it hard to breath.

"Thank you, Lina. Now, can you please let me go?"

"Oops," she lets her hands off immediately "sorry, I just got too excited. But wait, let me ask you something."

I raise my brows, wondering what she could possibly be asking me.

"Lainey--" she finally asks "what does he do? This Sebastian?" she does air quotes with her fingers around his name.

"Oh, um..." I gulp my throat, trying to come up with the quickest and safest lie. Paulina strictly doesn't want me to hook up with a financially screwed dude. And, to be honest, it does come from an experience in the past.

Sebastian is the first man I fell in love with, in a long while.

It was five years ago when I met another, who was truly my first, but it was unrequited. And he broke my heart in a way that it took me years to mend it back to one piece. That guy never liked me back, lied to me, and used me at the same time. I was too naive to understand, and for the next couple years, I couldn't open my arms up to anyone.