Dangerously Delicious

15.

Yet, I still chose to keep Arianna in my life.

"No, I don't. She needs to be with someone who will be there for her and not treat her like a random bitch. Someone away from this world. With you she will get killed," he spat.
In one swift move, I got the gun that was magnetized below my desk and aimed it at his head.
"Repeat that statement one more time and kitten will be one friend short. Don't you ever talk about her and have the word bitch in the same sentence. Whatever history you had with her, I'm good with that. It's in the past. I don't even know if she will have me in her future. This is all new to me so stop being a fucking pussy about what's going on between us," I said taking off the safety to emphasize my point. Stupidly, he stayed in front of my desk, right in line of my gun. His eyes betrayed him. I saw the anger and jealousy before it all settled to pain. I can't sympathize with the guy because I've never been in love but I guess to have such strong feelings for a woman means she's something special.
You can feel it with Arianna. Just stand in her presence and you can feel how sweet, strong and loving she is. 

What I became concerned about was the love he had for my kitten. What if she loves him the same and still felt the connection between us? Can that happen? Can someone have such strong feeling for two persons? 

"Stand down Michael. You gave Ari your blessing. Both of you felt the change in your relationship, why are you so against this?" Stephen asked trying to sit up. Michael took a step back, eyed me close then turned his back on me. Guess he still has an inkling of trust in me to turn his back while I still had a gun pointed at him.

"Raizon, he's no threat, just a man still in love with his best friend," Stephen continued with a sympathetic tone.

"You still love her?" I asked lowering my gun.

"Yes. Seeing her again at the club after nearly a year of us being busy with our businesses it just clicked. She's the one. She has always been the one. I've loved her since freshman year at college. When you meet her you just feel relaxed, knowing it's all good now because she's here. After a month of hanging out and talking, we all decided to stop by her restaurant for a surprise lunch. When I first saw her coming towards us, I knew right away, I lost her. She was still cheerful and caring but the connection we had shifted. When she looked at me I saw the apology in her eyes. I began questioning and sifting through my memories of her mentioning another man or dating one but couldn't remember. I brushed it off and gave in to our lunch date...."

"Then the delusional ex came in," Stephen interjected with a scoff.

"Ricardo Melvin. We've met but he's not a good listener. Got word of him still skulking around her old apartment and restaurant," I commented.

"She dates him for a year then called it off. She told us a reason why they broke up, a reason but not the reason. The day of his unwelcome visit, she told us why they split," Michael continued but this time he had a confused expression.

"You figured it out too huh? I wanted to ask her the real reason why she left when we visited the bookstore that..... afternoon but the subject of Raizon came up instead," Stephen said turning to his friend first then me.

"I promised the guys I will talk to her about the guy she has been thinking about and slowly tell her it's you but I knew we all sensed she was hiding something from us. Something about her ex. Its bugging us because sometimes she thinks she can do it all by herself but other times......" he continued, shaking his head probably at how well he knew Arianna. "I told her about you and was about to tell her about the Mafia but you know."

"Due to the trauma she forgot about the conversation about me and the shooting," I said leaning back into my seat.

He nodded his head before we all lapsed into silence.