Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 904 : Fights and Sleepless Nights

*Leo*

As I pulled into my driveway, all I could think about was sleep. It was late; it had been yet another long day as Franky and I continued to turn the wheels of our plan to take Michael down.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the kind of plan that would achieve success overnight. I had to admit, I was exhausted. Not only physically, but mentally, as well. Things with Bianca weren’t exactly helping, either.

Although, yeah, I had to confess I had been a pretty shitty boyfriend for the past couple of weeks. But what she wasn’t seeming to understand, was that I was doing this for her. To keep her safe. I was fulfilling my role as a man to provide and protect my family. I struggled to carry the patience within me for her to finally understand that.

After I parked the car, I stepped out onto the concrete with heavy feet. When I opened the front door, I had fully been expecting Bianca to be upstairs, asleep already. A routine I had secretly begun to hope for each night.

To my reluctant surprise, the air was filled with a desirable savory scent. I followed the invisible trail into the kitchen. There, stood Bianca wearing an apron and setting two plates full of food onto the table.

I sighed, internally. She had gone through the trouble of staying up late and making me dinner again. Most likely because she was getting tired of me avoiding her. Avoiding her relentless questions and desire to talk about shit I was never in the mood for.

However, seeing her standing there with an innocently hopeful expression on her face, I couldn’t help but to want to please her. So, I did.

I went further inside the kitchen and greeted her with a gentle kiss. I wrapped one arm around her, pulling her close to me.

“You didn’t have to do all this,” I spoke quietly.

I pressed my lips against her forehead and squeezed her lightly.

“I know, but I miss my boyfriend,” she shrugged, looking up at me.

My own shoulders drooped as I felt the guilt sink in.

“I know,” I breathed. “I’m sorry for that.”

She nodded her head with her eyes pointed in the direction of her feet. “Let’s just sit and enjoy a nice dinner together, yeah?”

I nodded my own head, agreeing with her. “I’d love to.”

We spent the next thirty or so minutes eating and talking lightly. I was surprised that she hadn’t brought up any heavy topics, like usual. Perhaps, she had finally understood everything and decided to give up the fight against emotions. At least, until I took down Michael.

Once we finished eating, I helped clear the table and told her to leave the dishes for the maid in the morning. All I wanted in that moment was to crash in my bed and fall asleep upon my head hitting the pillow. That’s how exhausted I felt.

Bianca followed me upstairs, rather quietly. I wasn’t sure why, but for some reason that made me feel uneasy. As if to feel like something was off with her.

When we reached the bedroom, I continued to walk in until I reached the dresser. I grabbed out a pair of grey sweatpants before unbuttoning my jeans and let them drop to a heap on the floor around my feet. After I slipped the sweatpants on, I shed my shirt and climbed into bed.

Bianca was sitting on the edge of the bed in a quiet, but determined appearing manner.

Shit.

I knew what she wanted and I dreaded what was about to erupt. I wasn’t in the mood for this shit and I didn’t have it in me to fight to prove otherwise.

“I want to talk,” she finally said.

“Bianca, please,” I sighed in an irritated fashion. “I’m not in the mood.”

“You’re never in the mood,” she said softly.

If I weren’t so exhausted from the current state of my life, my heart might have broken at the sound of her voice. I was aware that we still hadn’t spoke about whatever she had been wanting to tell me for the last week, but I didn’t have the headspace for anything other than taking down Michael right now.

“Listen,” I had begun, sitting up in bed and leaning my back against the headboard. “Once Michael is either locked behind bars or turned to chum for the sharks, I will absolutely sit down and talk to about everything that is on your mind.”

“But it can’t wait that long!” Bianca suddenly shouted.

Her outburst caught me off guard. I hadn’t expected that from her.

“Seriously?” I snapped, jumping out of bed. “Why can’t you let this shit go and just accept that you can’t possibly understand what it’s like to be me!”

“What it’s like to be you?” She scoffed, standing to her feet angrily.

“Don’t play dumb, Bianca,” I sneered. “Your role in life is not in the same caliber as mine. I’m sorry to say that, but it’s the truth.”

“Oh, is that what you think?” She laughed, raising her eyebrows. “Mister big, bad fucking wolf over here. Always using the, ‘I’m the Don,’ card.”

I stared at her for a moment, my anger replaced by shock from her words for a split second.

“When I fell in love with you, I didn’t know you were the Don of anything! You were just Leo and at least, back then, you acted like you gave a shit about me. It’s like now that I know you are in the mafia, you think you can just ignore me and neglect me,” I continued, angrily. “Those men in the mafia have clearly brainwashed you because I don’t know who you are anymore!”

“You don’t know shit about the mafia,” I growled. “You obviously are not capable of understanding what kind of mental toll it can have on a person!”

“Mental toll,” she chuckled, clicking her tongue on the roof of her mouth. “Yeah, actually, I do. I am very fucking aware of the mental toll things can have on a person. Especially, when the one person who is supposed to be there when I need them the most, becomes a fucking ghost. All I needed from you was some goddamn communication and you can’t even provide me that!”

“I’m trying to keep you safe! My apologies for not wanting to come home every night and talk about my goddamn feelings like you. You know what, fuck this shit,” I sneered, shaking my head as I grabbed my pillow from off the bed.

I walked out the door without another look in her direction and slammed the door.

“It wouldn’t have to be every goddamn night if you had spoken to a week ago, asshole!”

I heard her yell through the closed door as I stormed off towards my home office. As soon as I walked in the room with the heavy, dark stained wood desk and leather sofa, I felt like absolute shit.

I couldn’t believe I yelled at her like that. Even more so, I couldn’t believe she yelled at me the way she did. I had to have really pissed her off for her to speak to me that way.

It was my fault and I knew it. However, it was too late to go back and do anything about it now. We both needed time to cool off, anyway.

I threw my pillow against the arm of the black leather sofa and let my body fall onto the cushions. My arm found a resting place over my eyes and I tried to find the sleep that had been present before our fight. Unfortunately, it was gone.

I was full of adrenaline. Sleep was the furthest thing from my mind. I fucking hated that. All I wanted to do tonight was come home and fucking sleep. Goddamn-it!

My body ejected itself off the sofa and I began to pace the length of the office. Maybe I could try to tire myself out before the sun rises.

The thing that seemed to bother me the most, was that I really would have thought Bianca would understand why I was working so hard to take Michael down. After everything that had happened with Elijah, one would think a person wouldn’t want to go through that again!

Still to this very fucking day, she was in danger. Michael knows she lives with me. He knows she is the one person that I would kill for to keep safe. That’s why he targeted her in the first place.

Why couldn’t she understand that? Why couldn’t she see that? Feel the danger that surrounded us whether it was visible or not.

Michael could strike the compound, again, at any moment. We could be asleep and he could toss a fucking grenade in our front yard if he really wanted to. He got past our security before.

Even though I had amped up our security, it was still a possibility that I couldn’t rule out. Michael was a threat to our very way of life and she somehow seemed blind to that fact.

How was I supposed to worry about anything other than taking him down? To remove the threat from our lives.

I needed to have the peace of mind of him being gone before I could focus on anything else. It was like she didn’t think about any of this stuff enough, if at all. At what point do I just give up trying to make her understand when she had proved so many times before that she couldn’t?

If I had to be really honest with myself, I wanted the satisfaction of stripping Michael of his power. To take away the crown he thinks weighs heavy on his head.

No.

That fucking crown was mine.

And soon enough, I’d make that fact crystal clear to him while his face was smashed against the gravel.

Eventually, the pacing came to a slow halt and I laid back down on the sofa. The leather was cold against my skin and I struggled to find a comfortable enough position. My eyes still refused to remain closed.

I sighed heavily, deciding to just lay there awake. I had hoped eventually sleep would find me.

It was a Friday night, so I knew I would have to face Bianca in the morning since she wouldn’t have class. The flashes of our fight play inside my mind like a movie. I winced, remembering how harsh I had been to her.

How harsh she had been to me. Though, I deserved it. I knew I did. I had been avoiding her and pushing her away. She was right. About everything. And that was what hurt the most.

She wasn’t being dramatic or exaggerating. She spoke the truth and I couldn’t even admit it to her.

I had tunnel vision. I could admit that to myself. However, it was what I needed to solve our problem.

I could only hope we could forgive each other when morning rose.