Arranged marriage to the princess of the Red Scorpions

Alonso's head felt like cotton and his mouth felt dryer than sandpaper. For once, he wished he hadn't woken up again. Sadly for him, lady luck was not on his side.

The right-hand man rasped out a low groan as he rolled on his side to avoid the light.

Concussion, check. Busted lip and black eye? Absolutely. His muscles were only fire as well. Millions of tiny demonic flames poking stabbing with every move he made.

He probably should have been glad nothing was broken. At least not that he could feel yet...

Instead, 'fuck him' were the first words Alonoso mouthed the moment he had the energy to get his mouth working.

No way in fucking hell would he easily forgive Jovani after all of this. This was not what he signed up for.

Alonso couldn't bear the sunlight. Pressing his hands against his eyes was the best could to avoid it though. His battered body didn't have the strength to do much beyond rolling from side to side. A useless waste of energy considering how the sunlight shone in at just the right angle so it shone right atop him.

"Would now be a bad time to ask if I could just die?" Alonso didn't anticipate a humorless laugh to met his words. A string of curses rolled off his lips as his body coiled in response to the unexpected noise.

Fuck! Something had definitely been fractured if not broken in his body. Where exactly was impossible to tell as his whole body was consumed by white hot pain.

As the pain dulled to a blissful nothingness and his brain shutdown, for a brief blissful second he wondered if his plight had been answered.

"You know, I did give you a chance just a few days to go to die. An opportunity you repaid by breaking my nose." Shit! The moment that grating tone drifted into his ears, Alonso found him consciousness crashing back down to earth. The last place he wanted.

"Damn though mate. I didn't know the mafia could be so fucked up." The voice moved closer as did the abysmal owner it belonged.

"As mercs, we had far more honor than what I saw today. We never touched each other. Not even for a bucket cash and top shelf whisky. Your new boss though is a different kind of demon." Alonso screwed his eyes shut. Now was not a time in which he wanted to deal with the other.

"Cain, I would prefer if you pissed off right now." Alonso winced at how dry and cracked his own voice sounded to his ears. He really could have used some water but he wasn't about to ask the mercenary about.

"Are you sure about that? You'd rather be left alone here to die than let me help you?" With his eyes being closed, Alonso couldn't see how close the mercenary was to him.

The right hand man let out an involuntary low groan as cold fingers made contact with burning skin.

Had Cain's hands always felt so refreshing and soft?

Alonso couldn't stop himself from leaning into the cold caress that brought an unexplainable relief.

"That's right." Cain murmured in a low, encouraging croon. The mercenary kept every action soft and careful as he moved across the plains of the other's face.

One wrong move or too much and Alonso would retreat again.

"I remember a time when my hands made you do more than just this." Cain couldn't stop the words coming followed by a low husky chuckle. He could feel Alonso stiffen under his touch but didn't stop.

"Things were very different back then I recall. I think I prefer them to how things are now." The mercenary carried on softly despite feeling Alonso slowly retreating.

"You know things are never going to be able to go back to the way they were." Alonso's words were unexpected and caused Cain to pause for a brief moment. If the right hand man had his eyes open, he'd probably would've lost himself in the dazzling smile the mercenary fixed him with.

"We could try again. There have been plenty of people over time who made it work." The mercenary had a thousand more things he wanted to say. Except, now was not the time he would get the chance.

An unexpected rough knock on the door broke the moment. Cain let out a low, deep sigh. He'd forgotten about locking the door after he wanted.

"We need to talk." If Cain didn't recognize the voice to belong to Jovani, he'd have not bothered moving.

Knowing the Vedova Nera boss was on the other side of the door presented a different type of opportunity to him. One after seeing Alonso's state, he wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to confront the mafioso.

Alonso wanted to tell the other not to bother but the words stuck like glue in his throat. The right hand man didn't push his luck. If he started coughing now, he'd definitely enter a different kind of hell.

Neither man on the other side of the door had expected Cain to be on the other side.

The tall, rough mercenary blocked the doorway like a determined body guard.

"And what exactly do you think you're doing here?" The mercenary directed the question at Jovani who he couldn't help noticing didn't look much better than Alonso.

"We came to see how Alonso is." The uncertain expression on Jovani's face told him, this was not a situation he anticipated.

"Sams is more than welcome to come in. You however, I don't think you deserve to be anywhere near him after what happened. If Alonso could speak for himself, I'm sure he'd not want to see you either."

The mercenary gave Jovani a very serious take it or leave it look as waited to see what the other's move would be.

If Jovani knew what was good for him, he'd tap into his two ounces of common sense and leave.