THIRD-PERSON POV
A month had gone by, and it was silent. Too silent, in fact, for the Russians. Everyone assumed it was because of what they were planning on March 6th, but no one lowered their guards in the slightest. Something was coming, they all knew it.
Everyone had been doing intense training the past couple of weeks. Except for Aria, who itched to move her body and join everyone. Leo and everyone else had been adamant about her not training her body until the doctor-approved. Thankfully, she had a doctor's appointment today to determine if she was good to go or not.
Her body felt fine, and her pain was gone. She didn't have any issues walking, moving, or anything. She was feeling like herself. Except she found that she became winded easier, mostly because she spent the last month being babied by Leo, fed everything she wanted, and forced to do nothing but stay on bed rest to heal. She didn't fight them, she liked relaxing. But it was getting to the point where she began feeling too lazy like she was wasting her time.
That was why she was buzzing to get to the doctor's office and find out if she could begin moving around once again. She had far too many skills to brush up on and not enough time to do it.
Leo was accompanying her today. A part of him hoped that she wasn't ready so he wouldn't have to worry for her safety, but he knew she needed to do this. He saw the frowns she had any time she joined them during training but wasn't allowed to do much except watch.
He was proud of everyone's progress though. Everyone was being more agile, strong, confident in what they were doing. Aria would catch up no problem, she was already phenomenal at everything she did.
When he saw her grinning, practically skipping over to him while he wiped the beads of sweat off of his brow, he knew he would be happy even if the doctor told him she was ready.
"It's the big day," she grinned, taking his hand in hers.
He laughed, "So it is, are you ready to go?"
"Mhmm, you're gonna need a shower though," she said with a fake disgusted face. He grinned, trying to pull her into a hug.
"What's the matter, baby? You don't want my hug?" He laughed, wrapping his arms around her.
She squealed, "I'm gonna smell like a sweaty boy, Leo!"
"Good, then everyone will know who you belong to," he smirked, digging his head into the crook of her neck. She laughed, at the feeling, the slight stubble on his cheeks tickling the delicate skin of her neck. Goosebumps rose on her skin when his lips placed a light kiss, surprising herself because she almost moaned at the feeling.
It had been a long month... a very long month. Leo hadn't wanted to do anything, saying it was too risky especially while she was still healing. She tried, of course, but he only allowed kisses. No straddling was allowed either, and no touching. He told her that once she was healed, they could go for it. Of course, he said it extremely strained, holding himself back, and then excusing himself to the bathroom with a tent in his pants. She was really hoping she was healed enough at this point because her fingers weren't cutting it. Not that she ever got a chance alone to do anything unless she was in the shower; Leo hovered and her friends and family came in and out of the house, trying to spend time with her.
Now though, she was excited and so glad this day was finally here. She cleared her throat, knocking Leo out of his daze of kissing up and down her neck once she realized where they were. Leo pulled away, making sure no one else in the background saw what they were doing.
"I'm gonna go shower," he mumbled, pressing a kiss on her lips.
She saw the tent and she just nodded her head. "Please hurry."
She allowed her smile to come back, she was going to ravage his body tonight. But first, she had to make sure absolutely no one was going to be around the house like they were for the past month.
She walked over to Damon and Fionn, "I need to have a chat with you two."
"Are we in trouble?" Fionn asked, looking at her warily.
"No, I need you to clear out this house tonight. No one inside. Got it?" she demanded.
"What? Why?" Damon asked, a look of confusion on his face.
Fionn's eyes turned mischievous, "Oh, you have that doctor's appointment today."
"Why does that matter?" Damon asked. She shrugged, trying to act like she didn't know.
"Well Damon, when two people love each other-" Fionn began, but she slapped his chest stopping him.
"I'm done asking questions," Damon said, faking a gag.
She rolled her eyes, "Just do what I said. You want a day off?"
They both nodded without hesitation. Leo had been crazier than ever on training and safety, which was fine, but it meant that there was no more slacking off. Which also meant that no one had a day off from training or the meetings for the whole month. Everyone wanted a break, and Aria knew that Leo needed one too, though he refused to admit it.
"Then make sure no one is here tonight, and I can guarantee everyone will have a day off tomorrow," she told them. Fionn nodded while Damon looked conflicted.
"This feels wrong, but I really need a break," Damon shook his head.
She smiled, she felt like she was doing charity work for everyone.
Leo came back out in no time, his hair still slightly wet and messy from his shower. "You ready, baby?" he asked.
She grinned, nodding her head. She shot one more look at Damon and Fionn before walking with Leo. They got into the car and Aria was confused when he opened the passenger door for her. "You're driving?" she asked.
He nodded, "If something happens, I trust my driving more than anyone else's. Better safe than sorry."
He quickly jogged over to the driver's side, jumping in. The car roared to life, and the two were on the way to the hospital. Leo grabbed Aria's hand, holding it tight in his. He did this drive before, and every second was agonizing to him. He used Aria to anchor him back down to reality. She was fine, she was sitting next to him, everything was okay.
"A lot of black SUVs surrounding this black sports car doesn't look suspicious at all," Aria said sarcastically.
"You're right, maybe we should just go home and reschedule this appointment for next month," he told her, enjoying the way her eyes narrowed at him.
"You wish, lover boy. We're going to this appointment, and then, I will ravage that beautiful body of yours," she told him.
"Those are some very bold words, sweetheart," he grinned. "Don't get your hopes up in case the doctor says you can't do anything."
"Yeah well if she cockblocks me, she'll face a fucking army," she huffed, crossing her arms. "Knowing her crush on you, she'll probably say I can't out of spite."
"I'll just fuck you on her desk then, remind her I belong to you," he grinned, thinking a little too long about how good being buried inside of Aria would feel right now. God, he was getting sick of his hand.
"Could you imagine?" she asked, her voice a little bit too breathless. Oh, she could imagine it for sure, she couldn't get the image out of her head. She could practically feel herself becoming hotter at that thought alone.
"Wild," he said, side-eyeing her. He would do anything to stop this fucking car and have his way with her right now.
He placed his hand on her thigh, and she nearly gasped at the sensation. She pushed his hand a little closer to her knee rather than the part of her that was aching for him. "If we want to make it to the appointment, this hand is gonna have to stay lower down buddy," she told him.
Once they arrived at the appointment, Aria was practically jumping off the walls. She was so happy to be back to normal, fully recovered, but the doctor just so happened to piss her off.
"I would still advise you to be careful," the doctor told her. Aria's face fell visibly.
"But I feel fine," Aria argued.
"You can never be too safe," she told Aria.
Aria's eyes narrowed, "Can I have sex at least?"
"With who?" she asked.
Aria's eyes widened, "What?"
"Who do you think?" Leo spoke up from next to Aria.
The doctor cleared her throat, "I apologize for that. I would still advise waiting."
"Mhmm, okay, will do," Aria lied. Of course, she wasn't going to take the doctor's advice. What did she know anyway? "Just out of curiosity, how long do you think I have to wait before I can get pounded again?"
"I would give it a couple of months, at least," her doctor told her.
Aria's eyes narrowed once again, "Mhmm. Anything else I should wait on?"
"I think we've covered everything," the doctor said. "I'm glad to see you're doing better Aria. It was great seeing you again Mr. Moretti."
Aria became enraged when she saw the doctor's eyes flickering over Leo's body subtly. He didn't notice, too busy helping Aria into the jacket she was wearing before. But Aria noticed, oh she noticed all right. She huffed, glaring daggers at the doctor.
"Yep, thanks," he said. He placed a kiss on Aria's forehead.
They soon left the office, and Aria was huffing the whole time, and quite honestly talking shit.
"Who does she think she is? Saying I've gotta wait months? Psh, as if. I'm not listening to a word that comes out of her mouth. She doesn't know what she's talking about anyways," Aria went on and on.
"Maybe she had a good point?" Leo spoke up, but when Aria's head whipped around to glare at him with fury buried in her eyes, he wished he hadn't said anything.
"You agree with her?" Aria screeched, getting into the car. "I can't believe this."
She stopped talking until he got into the car on the other side. "How could you agree with her?"
"I don't want to put you in harm's way, she is a doctor," he tried to point out.
"And it's my body, how can she know my body better than I know it? And it's not like the training is lifting trains and fucking swimming in the Bermuda Triangle, it's basic self-defense and fighting," Aria pointed out.
"Anything can be dangerous," Leo pointed out.
"Don't be ridiculous. Even if she was worried about me having sex, how hard does she think we're going to go at it? I mean we get pretty rough, which I love, but still, it's not like you're going to destroy me. Unless of course, you do, which I'd kind of like, but it's not like it would hurt me," she exclaimed.
Leo shook his head, "We'll take it easy, we don't have to rush into anything."
"Do you not want to fuck me anymore?" She asked him.
"Of course," he said, noticing that there were two more cars following him, even though he only took five cars with guards with him.
"You don't want to fuck me anymore?!" Aria screamed.
His head snapped back to her, "What? Of course, I wanna fuck you, sweetheart. I've barely been holding on for this month as is."
"Then why did you agree to what I said?" she asked, feeling insecure. Maybe Leo just didn't desire her as much as he used to.
"I'm a little bit distracted baby, two more cars began following us," he said, pulling out his phone. Aria immediately turned around, noticing that the two cars had two different tints compared to the ones their guards drove.
"Claudia, two cars are surrounding your car, they're not ours," Leo spoke into the phone. He sat up slightly, pulling his gun out of his holster. "We need to lose them, and quickly."
Aria couldn't hear what Claudia was saying on the other side, but Leo soon hung up the phone. "Hold on tight, baby," he warned Aria, before turning sharply to the right. Aria yelped, grabbing onto the dashboard to stop herself from flying.
Leo slammed on the gas, driving through random roads. Aria noticed that they were getting further and further away from the city.
"Call Damon, please," Leo told her, keeping his gaze on the two cars behind him. Leo was swerving through traffic, and Aria was on the brink of an anxiety attack.
But she still pulled out her phone, finding Damon's number. As soon as he answered, she put him on speaker. "Hey the house is cleared-" he began saying, but Leo cut him off.
"Damon, we just left the doctors and we're being followed. Get Charles to track my location and send more people out here, two more cars are hot on our tail," Leo ordered him, meanwhile, Aria sat scared out of her mind. Also a little bit car sick by his driving, but she didn't voice it.
"On it," Damon said, hanging up.
"Aria, I'm gonna need you to drive," Leo told her, and her eyes widened.
"What?" she screeched. "I can't drive."
"I've taught you enough, you know your way around the gas and the brakes. All you need to do is hit the gas, and avoid all the other cars, I'll tell you where to go," he told her, continuing to avoid as many cars as he could.
"How am I supposed to get over?" she asked him. There was no way they could stop anywhere right now. They were in the middle of being chased by people who wanted them dead.
"Hop over, onto my lap," he said, moving the seat back to give them some more space. Aria hesitated. "I trust you, baby. You can do this."
"Okay, okay, I can do this," she told herself, moving to sit in his seat. She accidentally kicked him in the stomach while going over. "Sorry, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he groaned. "Please watch my balls though, I really can't pass out right now."
She rolled her eyes but took hold of the steering wheel when he was sitting behind her. "Put your foot next to mine on the gas, I'm gonna start moving my foot away," he told her. She did as he said, and soon it was her foot that was in charge of their speed. The car jerked for a moment as she slammed on the gas.
"Be careful," he called out, his heart pounding against his chest. He really hoped Aria was a good enough driver for this.
He began moving out of the seat, sliding into the passenger side. She giggled, squirming when he brushed against her ribs. "Don't touch me there, I'm ticklish," she told him.
"I'm sorry- Aria eyes on the road!" he shouted, turning the wheel to avoid a car.
"Sorry, sorry," she muttered, paying attention to the road. "I told you I don't know how to drive."
"Fake it until you make it baby," he told her. He managed to get into the passenger side. He opened the glove box, pulling a gun out from there, now holding a gun in each hand.
"You have guns in there?" she asked.
"Of course, who doesn't?" he asked. He pressed a quick kiss to her cheek before opening the window. He leaned his head out, looking at the enemy cars behind them, and began firing his gun at them.
"You're shooting them?" Aria screams as gunshots rang through the air.
"Well I'm not going to blow kisses up their ass," he told her, dipping his head back into the car as they sent bullets towards the couple in retaliation.
"Oh God, be careful!" she screamed over the noise, hoping Leo was as good at dodging bullets as he was at firing them.
She had no idea how she was managing to drive right now, but somehow she was evading the other cars on the road pretty well. She was just thankful it wasn't rush hour traffic.
Of course, she spoke too soon because up ahead the traffic was beginning to stop. "Leo, what do I do?" she asked him, panicking because she would have to stop the car soon.
"Exit, right now."
"I'm in the left lane!" she told him.
"Do it, now!" he told her, and she huffed before swerving the car over 5 lanes to reach the exit. Leo's body flew, smacking into hers. The car screeched, but she managed to get to the exit.
"Ugh, it's like a rock just hit the side of my body," she muttered, once Leo gained his footing again.
The other cars were still following after them, but they managed to lose one of the enemy cars. The only problem was that there was still one more directly behind them.
Bullets ricochet off of the windows and the back windshield, not able to penetrate through the bulletproof glass that many members of government and important figures had on their cars. Leo was so thankful for the upgrade he made to their cars.
"Leo we're headed into the woods," Aria told him, noticing civilization was getting further and further away from them.
"Just keep driving, baby. I don't know why I can't get them off our trail," he told her, reloading the guns in his hand before sticking his head back out the window and continuing to shoot at them.
When Aria saw the cars were beginning to get too close, she slammed on the gas once again, enjoying the way the car purred when it accelerated. They managed to get some distance between the two cars, mostly because the couple was in a sports car while the enemy was in an SUV.
Aria decided to turn on the radio, lightly humming to the song. Leo looked at her with wide eyes. How could she listen to this type of music at a time like this?
"Are you crazy?" he asked her. "Change the station. I hate this song."
She huffed, going to the next station. "Awh, it's like we're on a road trip," she told him, looking over at him.
He smiled, "A road trip would be nice, driving through open woods, singing along to songs. Let's look into it once our lives aren't being threatened."
The next time he looked at the car trailing them, one of the dudes in the car was sticking his head out of the window with a bazooka in his hands. Leo's eyes widened. Fuck.
"Aria, turn into the road over there," he told her, pointing at the dirt road that was soon coming up.
"Are you crazy? This car can't drive on a dirt road," she told him.
"They're going to blow us up, turn now!" he screamed, holding on for dear life when she turned down the road. The car screeched, almost flipping over with how fast they were going, but somehow Aria managed to keep it on the road.
The couple was bobbing up and down in their seats as the car hit every hole and bump on the uneven road. Leo saw an explosion from behind them, noticing how the rocks from the mountain closed the exit behind them. He cursed mentally, they were going to be stuck.
"Leo, am I seeing things, or did our only way out just get blocked out?" she asked him, noticing that otherwise there were only trees around them.
"You're seeing things, we'll find another exit," he told her, but he lied. He had no idea where they were, but he didn't need her to begin panicking now. They would get out of this, he would find a way.
After driving for ten more minutes, they realized that the cars from earlier were no longer following them. However, they also realized that they hadn't come across any exit the entire way. On top of that, the sun was only about an hour away from setting in the sky.
"Leo, are we lost?" she asked him, noticing how he was rubbing his forehead in stress.
"I think you know the answer to that," he told her.
"Hmm," she replied, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel.
To make every single thing worse, their car jerked, refusing to move no matter how much Aria pressed on the gas.
"Leo?" she called out to him.
"Hmm," he replied, not paying attention to what was going on around them.
"The fucking car is stuck!" she screamed.
He groaned, "Try putting it in reverse."
She tried, but it only caused them to become more buried in the thick mud. "It's not working."
He opened the car door to get out. He came back a minute later. "Yep, we're stuck."
"What do we do? I don't know how to survive in the woods," she told him, her panic at their situation beginning to grow.
She turned off the car, handing him the keys and getting out of the car as well. "We'll be fine, I told Damon to track our location, they're probably on their way as we speak."
"The entrance is blocked," she told him, frowning. "What if we have to stay out here overnight? And I'm hungry, what am I gonna eat? How am I supposed to go to the bathroom? I don't want to squat and have a bug or something crawl up my ass."
He grabbed her shoulders, making her look at him. "We'll be fine. We have some emergency things in the trunk, and I'm sure we won't have to spend the night. They'll get a service to move the rocks and they'll find us."
At least he fucking hoped they would be. They had no service on their phones and their men weren't following behind them when they entered the woods. But he couldn't tell her that. The panic that was already on her face was enough to make him offer her all his support to soothe her nerves.
He opened the trunk, taking out some blankets, a couple of nutrition bars, and two bottles of water. He closed it, placing all the items on the trunk before wrapping a blanket around her shoulders. He wrapped one around himself, giving her a bar and a bottle of water too.
She smiled, taking them from him, before sitting on the trunk. It was flat enough that they could lay down and be draped across the back windshield no problem.
He sat next to her. "Let's tell stories to get our minds off of everything."
"Well what should we talk about?" she asked, taking a bite of her bar.
"We can talk about the first day of school and how terrified you looked when I approached you," he grinned, opening his bottle of water and taking a sip.
She laughed, blushing at the memory. "Yeah well, you had quite the reputation back then. Rumors were swirling around school that you got kicked out of your school in Italy, that you were taking care of "business", how else was a girl supposed to react?"
"Imagine how I felt, about to talk to the girl I was in love with after being gone for like two and a half years. I was so fucking nervous asking if I could walk you to class," he admitted.
"Awh," she cooed, wrapping her arms around him. "My big, bad mafia boy was nervous to talk to me."
He huffed, "Yeah, what about it? You didn't exactly make it easy for me, looking so cute and beautiful and just sitting there all innocent like."
"So I made it difficult for you because I was myself?" she asked, laughing at the thought.
"Yeah, because you're perfect," he told her, pressing a kiss to her lips.
"I'm not perfect," she blushed. "I have flaws."
His eyes widened. How could she not see everything he saw when he looked at her? How dazzling her smile was, how generous she was, her beautiful eyes, her gorgeous smile, her amazing body, how intelligent she was, how she was so unapologetically herself. In his eyes, she was perfect.
He placed his hands on her cheeks, "There is not a single thing I would change about you because all these things are a part of you, and you are so fucking amazing to me. In my eyes, no one is even close to being compared to you because you are something else, you are like no one else. You are you, and that is fucking perfect to me."
Her heart thudded against her chest as she took in every word that left his lips. There wasn't a single moment of hesitation in his words, and he spoke with such conviction that he believed what he said was absolutely true, and it sent a shiver down her spine. Words couldn't describe the fluttering in her chest, the pride, happiness, adoration, and love that was flowing through her body.
She completely forgot about where they were, what happened less than an hour ago, and all she could think about was the boy that sat in front of her right now. Sometimes she wished that he had never gone to Italy because perhaps their relationship would've blossomed sooner. They could have gone to homecomings together, studied together, done any normal teenage relationship thing together.
But alas, he sat before her, and all she could do was pull him closer to her, her lips barely grazing his. "I wouldn't change a single thing about you either. I want all of you, every part of you exactly how you are for the rest of our lives," she told him, pressing her lips against his.
The bliss that fell over him confirmed the only thing he was sure about himself; he was utterly and hopelessly in love with Aria.
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Hello and happy Friday everyone! So glad you can all join me whenever you're reading this chapter. eww lol that sounded too happy but I'm so excited to post this chapter because this book needed a car chase and a stuck in the woods with no one but each other trope lol! I fucking love it. Don't worry, it's not just gonna be a fun little retreat, oh no that's not how i work around here ahahhaha. we're gonna get deep, right into the gut of these bitches and i can't wait. How boring would it be if i just let my characters enjoy their lives? Lol. Anyways, I again won't be posting over the weekend because i work 40 hours a week, started my summer classes, and i write this book every day lol i need the days off. let me know what you guys think, don't forget to vote! I absolutely adore our conversations together. Oh and to my og returning readers u guys are the best and to the people that comment on every chapter, you guys keep me motivated to write and i love you guys. Ugh so sappy but I'm having a good day so deal with it lol. Love you all and I'll see you in the next one!