Vitale's End

Nothing I can't handle

I was pulled from sleep with a sudden jump. It was another nightmare. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, I realized the sounds I was hearing weren't coming from the TV. That meant the power was still out. It also meant that the strange grunts I was hearing, were coming from somewhere in the house.

"Please don't be having sex," I muttered as I carefully opened my door.

Looking across the hall, Andrea's door was open, revealing his deserted room. Oh god, please don't be having sex somewhere that I can see. The entrance to his study was ajar, revealing the darkness of the room. He wasn't there either. So where was he, and where was the grunting coming from?

The closer I got to the steps, the louder the noises were getting. The sounds of pained grunts and fists coming in contact with skin made me stop mid-stride. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't relieved to know I wasn't about to walk in on Andrea having sex with a random woman, but the conclusion that someone had broken into the house quickly clouded that.

Peeking around the corner at the top of the steps, I felt my stomach drop to my feet. Andrea was on his knees, his neck locked in by a masked man's hold. Armin was just across from him in the same hold. They both had visible busted lips and other wounds.

My eyes raised in alarm. What was I supposed to do? I haven't seen my throwing knives since the night of the charity benefit.

Before I could even begin to think of a plan, a searing sting spread across my arm and a thud sounded behind me. Clutching my burning arm, I looked back at the white wall behind me to find a knife lodged within the blank space. Removing my hand from my arm revealed bright red blood.

"That bastard," I muttered, hiding behind the wall. Luckily, that same bastard had terrible aim, barely skimming my arm enough to cause any serious problems.

Peaking around the corner of the wall, the anonymous men began moving quicker, hurrying to finish their task. I felt panic rise in my stomach.

Without thinking twice, I removed the blade from the wall, throwing it with quick agileness. The blade found its home in the masked man's neck. Within seconds, he was dead.

As the man holding Andrea dropped to the floor, he sprung forward, taking the man down that had Armin in his hold.

My feet quickly rushed down the cold stairs before I removed the blade from the dead man's neck. I threw the knife at the second man. He fell within seconds.

Settling my breath, I grabbed the bloody blade, cutting the zip ties from Andrea and Armin's wrists. "So much for a quiet stay."

Andrea and Armin slowly turned, eyeing me with contradicting expressions. Armin looked at me with wonder-filled eyes. But Andrea, his was unreadable.

Andrea turned, "I need you to go get Damien. While you do that, get someone to clean this mess up. We need to figure out who did this."

"I'm on it," Armin nodded, giving me a parting nod before disappearing around the corner.

Andrea remained quiet for a moment, sweeping his gaze over the two bodies before finally settling on me. "You should go back to your room. You don't need to deal with this."

I stood silent, watching as he slowly made his way to the stairs. Drops of blood fell to the cold floor from his injured body. "You're bleeding."

"It's nothing I can't handle."

I marched up the stairs, following Andrea and his dismissive attitude. "You don't have to do that on your own. I can help you."

Placing a first aid kit on his bathroom counter, Andrea spoke without even looking at me. "I do not need your help."

"Just like you didn't need my help five minutes ago downstairs."

Andrea's head swiveled over to mine. His bright green eyes held my determined stare. His jaw clenched and unclenched before he finally let out a heavy breath, turning the first aid kit slightly in my direction.

We sat in silence as I began taking everything I needed to clean the small cuts and gashes on Andrea's skin out of the kit. He hopped on the counter with a small wince.

I saw blood stained on awkward parts of his shirt. "I'm um, I'm going to need you to take off your shirt."

His body stilled for a moment before he collected himself. "Right."

I tried my best to hide the sharp intake of air that came from my mouth when I first saw Andrea without his shirt. His chest was sculpted with tan muscles. Everything looked smooth save some small pink scars here and there and two new cuts. Purple bruises were already forming on his ribs.

When I felt my eyes observing his chest too much, I hurried my attention back to the kit. But I could still feel his eyes on me.

"This is going to sting," I muttered, lightly dabbing an alcohol soaked gauze on one of the cuts at his rib. He swore under his breath when the gauze first touched his skin, tensing beneath my hand.

I did the same with the other cut on his peck, making sure they were both cleaned well before I decided what else needed to be done. "The cut on your rib is shallow enough to not need stitches. But the one on the top of your chest needs a few."

Andrea simply nodded, watching me with that same unreadable expression as earlier.

I worked in silence again after dabbing numbing cream around the wound. I waited just a few minutes before I started stitching his chest. The wound wasn't bad, luckily. It just needed about six stitches.

"Where did you learn to do this?" Andrea asked amidst our silence. I was about two stitches away from being done.

"I learned to stitch up my brother after he came home from certain tasks or got into bad fights. I guess I figured it was a good skill to have if I was bound to be stuck in the mafia lifestyle."

Andrea nodded again, slightly rubbing his hands together in his lap.

Finishing the sutures, I made sure they weren't too tight and everything else was clean including two small gashes on Andrea's face. "Well, it looks like everything is good for now. Make sure you keep everything clean. I'll look at your stitches again tomorrow."

"Why did you save us? Me and Armin, I mean?"

I froze for a moment, shocked at Andrea's question before I proceeded to put everything back in the kit. "I figured if they killed you, I wouldn't have the security I do now. And if they didn't kill me then, they'd certainly come looking for me and that would put another target on my back. I didn't want to run again. So I had two options: die or save you."

When I met Andrea's stare, his face was unreadable but his eyes were bright with emotion. I couldn't tell what he was thinking, and then again, I don't know if I even wanted to know.

"Anyway, try not to tear your stitches."

Just as I started toward the door, his voice stopped me. "You're bleeding."

I looked down to my bleeding arm, slightly shrugging, "It's just a small cut."

"Let me help you," he said, starting to stand.

A playful grin lined my lips, "It's nothing I can't handle, Andrea Vitale."