His Broken Mafia Queen

7. B E N

I don't feel good. Why am I even feeling s**t? I shouldn't feel s**t.

"Arghh…" I groan as I feel a slap on my face. I will wait it out. I am waiting for death to take me.

"I said wake up, asshole!" Another slap on my other cheek. It stings like a b***h.

"Hey, stop it; he is already beaten enough." This time it was a feminine voice.

"Good, he deserves the extra pain. Let him slap him some more." Upon hearing this other s**t's words, I managed to c***k my eyes open.

"Oww…" Even opening my eyes hurt. "Fuck." I twisted myself a bit on the sofa until I sat upright. 

"Suicidal beauty two is finally up." Trying my best to ignore the enormous headache in my brain, I followed the annoyed voice leading me to an accusing set of hazel green eyes. "I told you if you are dying, it will only be on my hands."

"Painkillers, baby daddy," Not an inch in my body does not hurt. The f**k is wrong with them! They should have let me bleed to death instead of that t*****e. "Then you can yell all you want."

Rick scoffed and looked away from me while Jane approached with a set of pills. "I tried to patch you as best as I could, but you will take a while to heal."

I gulped the pills with the water she brought as well, meeting her worry-laced eyes and feeling guilty for putting her through that pain. "It wasn't my plan to heal," I murmured while handing her back the rest of the glass of water. In an instant, I found myself soaked with the remaining of the ice freezing water I just gave her. "What the hell--"

"You don't get to wish that, Ben. You are not leaving me, not you too!" I was met with Jane's blazing eyes that swirled with too many emotions. "b***h!" 

"Indeed a bitch." Rick's smug smirk had me rolling my eyes at him.

"I am going to check up on Jass and the baby. Do you need anything before I go, Ells?" Wait, what? 

"N-no, I am good." She is here? What is she doing here? She is right beside me. On the same sofa as me. We are just a seat apart. Is she hurt? Isn't she supposed to be in Rehab? What happened? God, I couldn't even turn to the side to look at her. What's wrong with me? "Thanks, Jane." Her voice seems tired too.

"So, hear me out very carefully, you suicidal bastards," Oh, oh, mama bear is aiming for the kill. "We are so done with your s**t with keeping dangerous secrets and finding every opportunity to get yourselves killed, so that's how it will go..." I tried to look at anyone but angry Mia and met Jason's eyes, who weren't any better with Abby's head laying on his lap asleep. We messed up their night, and they are furious with us already. "Rick is staying here for a while, so he will share Ben's house--"

"That was originally mine before I moved to Italy, as you all claim." I don't like this new cranky Rick. Asshole.

"Right." Mia rolled her eyes. "Anyway, he will keep an eye on you, Ben. He has his men and some business to run  related to the mafia from here anyway,"

"So, you basically are my prisoner, suicidal bitch." I flipped him the bird while Adrian snickered from behind him. Speaking of Adrian, he seems angry and keeps shooting  Rick daggers. What's wrong with that dude too?

"Stop interrupting me, Rick." Mia threw a pillow at Rick, who dodged it and fell on a barely awake Blake, who only blinked at us idiotically. Someone give the man a bed. "As for Ella, we already got rid of that British weirdo. You are safe, and no one will come after you again. He was a loose end that I forgot to tie. So,..." Mia looked at Jason then Blake, and they both nodded for her to go on. "Seeing what you have been trying to do for the past months, we decided that it would be better that you continue your treatment from here."

"B-but..." Ella tried to protest.

"No buts, Ella, you keep pulling s**t like that..." I saw Blake pointing at her wrists, leading my eyes to them, and I frowned. "And then this attack, and you expect us to let you stay on your own. Not happening, not until you actually show some progress."

"Your room is already set up, Ells; when you are ready to go up, let us know," Jason said softly, but Ella just huffed.

"What a pity you guys have turned into." Rick scoffed as he lit a cigarette. "I am the one with a lost memory again, and you here are the ones who keep attempting suicide. what a bunch of pussies."

"It's not the time, Rick," Jason warned; he like each of us getting fed up with that new Rick.

"You are not any better, you know. f*****g hoes before your girlfriend and kissing your best friend's girl." Woah, Woah, low blow, Adrian. 

"First of all, this gullible girl back in Italy is not my f*****g girlfriend, and I can f**k whoever I want. It's no one's damn business. As for your girl for me, it never happened. If you haven't noticed, I can no longer remember s**t. SO, get over your f*****g self."

"You get over your f*****g a*s, Rick. You are a pitful scumbag that feels bad for himself and keeps lashing at everyone. A scumbag that because of him, I can no longer trust my fiancee and always having trouble."

"You are the one with the trust issues, man. Maybe you ain't satisfying your girl enough, and that's wh--" Like a bull, Adrian threw himself on Rick, both falling with a thud on the floor.

"YOU Asshole!" s**t! "You don't get to talk about my relationship after you screwed it." He punched Rick in the face while Rick, as a comeback, put the lit cigarette on Adrian's cheek. Ouch, That must have hurt. Blake stumbled to break it off, but he ended up falling on his a*s.

I laughed out loud at that and heard her cute laugh beside me. "He is drunk." She said, and automatically, I looked at her to find her indeed directed her words at me. "You look awful, by the way."

I smirked or tried to ignore those animals fighting with Mia and Jason now interfering. "You don't look any better yourself." Our gazes met as soft smiles toyed with our lips, and I noticed how much I missed that girl even as a friend. "What happened, though?" Whoever that guy was, he indeed made a number on her. Well, not the same as me, but still.

"Just bad Karma." She shrugged then we heard an animalistic yell followed by baby Damien's cry. I looked at the guys to find now Adrian was pulling on Rick's hair as he straddled his back with Mia, almost piggy-riding him, trying to take him off Rick, whose hands were in Jason's as he tried to slip him from under Adrian. I looked at the Sofa where Abby laid to find now Blake accompanied her with his body slumped on the floor and his head on the sofa. How they manage to sleep through all that chaos is beyond me. "What about you?" My attention was once again stolen back to Ella.

How should I reply to that? "Just a misunderstanding." As if-- I scoff to myself.

The front door slammed shut, and everyone froze. We heard heavy approaching footsteps and wondered who the hell would that be. It was way past midnight. Not so late, Valerio's rugged face appeared before he froze in his footsteps, taking in the scene on the floor. "Is that kind of a kink around here?" His face threw me off, and I couldn't help the laughter spilling out. Poor guy not used to our s**t.

"No, just some working out with friends," Mia murmured as she got off Adrian, who got off Rick. 

"Or some psychopath lashing out on others." Rick sent daggers towards Adrian, who was ready to attack again when Mia caught him.

"Enough with this f*****g night already. All of you find some f*****g place to crash. And tomorrow, we will solve it all." Jason yelled while massaging his head. "f*****g babies." He went to lift Abby up while Mia kicked Blake with her foot so that he can move his a*s up.

"That's why I am here for," Valerio said before taking off his shirt. "I will crash on the sofa in the backyard, and the men are out securing the area until we leave for Ben's house tomorrow."

"My house too," Rick said as he claimed the sofa that Abby was previously occupying.

"Sounds good, Val," Mia murmured, completely ignoring Rick as she came to help Ella up. Then she looked at me. "You sleep here on the sofa as a punishment."

"That's how you treat your patients?" I smirked at her.

"You deserve it, Jerk," Mia said from the stairs. 

"Love you too," I called after her while Ella snickered.

"Shut up," Rick grumbled. "I am sleeping."

"Bigger jerk," Mia yelled from upstairs before Rick started fake-snoring. 

I missed their lousy asses. All of them.

>>>>>

"Home sweet home," Rick announced once we stepped into our once again shared house.

"Your home is in Italy," Valerio reminded him while dumbing Rick's bags in the living room. "You are here to deal with some s**t here and because you need the break."

"Whatever you say, daddy," Rick mumbled as he lit a cigarette and threw himself on the armchair.

"Is he always that charming?" 

"And even more since he woke up from the coma." Valerio sighed. "Beer in the fridge?" 

"Yeah, help yourself," I said before claiming a seat on the sofa and flipping open the t.v.

Valerio came back and looked out from the window. He was supposed to be leaving at night. We stayed the whole morning at Mia's and Jason's, and it was now almost noon. "Lariene's house is still on sale?" I nodded even though he was still looking outside. I know Lariene's mother died from an overdose, and since then, it has been on sale, seeing as Lariene thought she would be staying in Italy with Rick forever. But now, witnessing how careless Rick is towards her, I think it's a good thing that it is still up for sale because with the way things are going, I am not so hopeful anymore for that relationship to bloom back.

The rest of the day passed in Rick and Valerio talking over the business they have got to handle here and what Valerio will be doing back home. It was dinner time, and we ordered pizza, seeing as we are some lazy booties.

"Your pizza sucks here, man," Valerio commented as he took another careful bite. "You should taste our Italian ones. They are the ones that can be indeed called pizzas. Not this dough shit."

"Just f*****g eat." Rickrolled his eyes as he sipped his beer. "Until I come back, you and Marissa will be in charge and always keep me informed."

"Lariene is--." Here we go again.

"Is a f*****g stranger." Rick snarled. "She will be out of the picture soon." I sigh at that, not liking how he keeps treating Lariene. She made a mistake; she earned up to it and has done nothing but put herself out there for him and his family. She is in constant danger just to prove her worth to him, and he is being an a*s as usual. "You have something to add after that sigh, Ben?"

"You know very well what I have to say, Rick." I take a gulp of my beer. "Such a coward."

Rick scoffs, "says the guy who let others beat him rather than facing his shit." I ball my fists, barely holding myself back from cracking his head open. He has gone so far, and I understand his behavior, but God, everything has a limit. The doorbell suddenly rings, and Valerio volunteers to open it, seeing the tense atmosphere we are in. Moments later, he comes back in, scratching the back of his head nervously. "Who was that?" Rick wondered, his eyes set on the tv. I look at Val once more and see him looking behind his back nervously before a tiny figure appeared before my eyes. s**t.

"It's... um... it's..."

"What the f**k is wrong with you? who I--" Rick stopped mid-sentence when he turned in his seat and saw her with arms crossed and sharp eyes. "You!?" 

"What?" She lifted her brows dangerously. "You thought you could run?" s**t is so gonna hit the fan.