His Mafia Prince
Chapter 37: He Forced Me

Chapter 37: He Forced Me

(TYLER)

Sasha’s remark thrills me just as much as it alarms me. I’m glad he realizes that I’m not a girl as he might have suggested earlier. Then again, he’s making it clear that he’s having trouble not noticing me sexually. He slides back into the covers, the mattress bouncing beneath him. My pulse races ten times more now that I’m conscious of him beside me.

I turn and face away from him. I curl myself into a ball, my dick throbbing on my abdomen. It won’t go down. It’s so fucking frustrating because I don’t want to be attracted to Sasha. But Sasha is honestly the most handsome alpha I’ve ever seen. I wonder what his face looks like when he comes, or how he sounds when he fucks. I already know what he tastes like. I want more.

"My parents had an arranged marriage." He says, jolting me out of my pervy thoughts.

"Yeah?" I swallow, trying to sound as normal as I can get. "They seemed to love each other so much. I wouldn’t have known."

"Yes. They were very in love. It didn’t start like that, but they fell in eventually." He clears his throat. "Their marriage was to strengthen both of the families’ syndicates. They made a great team. You know... my mother was the only one who could calm him down when no one else could."

"I know. I saw that myself. They seemed close."

"They weren’t just close. They were in love. I worry about Mother now."

"Why?" I scowl, rolling over to face him. "You think she might hurt herself?"

"Yes. I can’t help worrying about that." He rolls over and faces me too.

It baffles me that he is letting me in on his fears. I can’t believe he is, but I’m glad he trusts me enough to tell me. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I don’t know." He shrugs. "Maybe you’ll stop hating me someday and we can be friends? Maybe we’ll grow closer?"

It’s hard to believe him right now. "I don’t know about that. But I doubt your parents’ relationship began with your father threatening your mother to marry him, or he’d have her killed in the most painful of ways."

He laughs gruffly. "Ours was a different situation."

It is very uncharacteristic of Sasha to delve into such conversations. He is overwhelmed with his job, his father’s death and his mother’s state. That’s the only reason I think that makes sense in this situation.

"You’re afraid she’s gonna try and hurt herself?"

He hesitates for a bit then answers me. "I worry about that, yes."

"You want me to keep an eye on her?" I ask quietly.

"You’d do that for me?"

"Yes. I wouldn’t mind. I like her. She’s nice to be around."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I’d be happy to."

"That would be such a relief. God... that... that would actually be quite helpful. I’m swamped right now. I’m worried I may not be able to keep an eye on her as I should. "

"I can keep an eye on her."

"Whew..." he exclaims. "That would be such a relief. I’d ask Jericho but he’s busy fixing some business deal that went haywire before father died. He’s already in too deep. I can’t ask him to."

"Alright. No problem. I’ll try spending more time with her."

"Thank you, Tyler." He says, his tone unusually quiet.

"Sure." I nod.

"You know... you know, I just don’t want to lose her too."

"Don’t worry," I say softly. "I will watch her. She’ll be alright. It’ll be ok."

He clears his throat. "We should get some sleep now anyway. We have a big day ahead. You’ll get to meet the bigger part of my family. But be warned, it’s a big, boisterous group. I bet you’ll be worn out by the end of the day."

I can feel him pull back, and his walls are going up again. He now sounds like the Sasha I know. He rolls over so that he is facing away from me again. I feel bad, and I can’t help but worry for him."

"Goodnight, Tyler."

"Goodnight, Sasha," I say, sliding into the covers. We are oddly in tune tonight, not just physically, but emotionally too. He is grieving and uncertain about the future. On the surface, Sasha is a very confident man, but tonight, he opened up to me. His worry washes over me.

He can’t let anyone see him grieve. He’s spread far too thin yet he has to keep his head up and pretend to be strong. He must act like he is fine. He’s worried about his mother’s state, that she might perhaps harm herself, and he trusts nobody to watch over her or keep her safe.

But he trusted me.

Me.

A wry smile tugs on my lips as I close my eyes. I don’t understand why it thrills me that Sasha trusted me with his mother, but in truth, I’m thrilled. I don’t like him as much, but I have to admit that his putting his faith in me warms my heart.

By the time I wake up, Sasha is gone. There’s nothing but an imprint of his head on the pillow beside me. That’s the only evidence that he was ever in bed with me. I sit up and stretch a bit, but when I step down to get dressed, I feel a wave of dizziness. I clutch on the bedpost until I’m satisfied that the dizziness has passed then head to the dresser.

Minutes later I head downstairs for breakfast. As usual, the morning buffet is set, and Lucia is seated beside Jericho. There’s no sign of Sasha, and I’m surprised at how disappointed I am at that.

I need to tread carefully. Just because Sasha trusted me with his mother doesn’t mean he can be trusted. He’s still the same guy who sent goons to beat me up back at the camp. He’s still the violent monster who gave me a death ultimatum if I failed to accept his marriage offer. He would have killed me and probably carried out his threat to cut my tongue out if I said no. And I doubt it would have bugged him even in the least of ways.

Whatever Sasha does always has to protect his interest. I cannot afford to be swayed just because he was nice to me for a second.

"Hi, Tyler. Good morning." Lucia greets me warmly as soon as she sees me. I notice that she looks paler than usual. The gaunt circles beneath her eyes tell me that she hasn’t been sleeping well.

"Good morning." I smile.

"Today will be very hectic for you." She says.

"And for you too." I scowl. "It will be much harder for your family."

"I can’t wait for the day to finally end," Jericho says.

"Marco, my brother, will be coming over with his family. They are out of state and it wouldn’t be okay to let them sleep in a hotel room. That means he’ll be staying for a few more days, which will sure be more tiring."

"Oh," Jericho says. "I almost forgot Uncle Marco is coming with his family. Are Riley and Chase coming too?"

"Yes," Marie says. "Marco says they insisted. It’ll be great having more people around. At least it will bring back more life to the house"

"When will Angelo arrive?" Jericho asks.

"He said he’ll meet us at the cemetery." Lucia smiles tightly. "I’m sure he’ll spend most of his time glaring at Sasha. No doubt."

"He acts as if he has the right. He has so much audacity thinking he’d take Sasha’s position and step in as head of Triple Triad Syndicates. He’s enraging. I knew he’d be troubled the minute Father brought him in."

"I thought he’d accept his place, but as it seems, he has more aspirations than we thought. I know for sure that he won’t accept Sasha’s marriage. He’ll just come with some sort of a scheme to thwart it."

"He’ll really do that?" I frown.

Jericho laughs harshly. "Of course, Tyler. You need to watch out for him. He sure won’t be happy because your marriage snatches the prize right off his hands. Trust me, he’ll hate you on sight."

I scowl. "He can’t blame me though. It’s not like I married Sasha out of my own free will."

"What do you mean?" Lucia quirks an eyebrow and exchanges glances with Jericho. It is then that I realize I’ve fucked up.

Shit.