The Limits of Forever

Chapter 17- Blood

Happy new year lovlies
Hope this new year is better than the last for all of us x

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The door to Sebastian's house is slightly ajar. I guess because of the "cameras" that Axcel says are everywhere they don't really need to lock their doors. But I can't seem to shake my gut feeling that something bad is happening. 

I nudge the door. I would've thought the house was empty if it wasn't for the muttering at the far end of the hall. I follow the sound to the kitchen, where Axcel and Sebastian are standing across from each other. 

Sebastian’s eyes meet mine and widen. He looks down at his hands and I follow. My gaze lands on a gun. His fingers over the trigger. His hands move swiftly, tucking it away. If I hadn’t looked when I did, I wouldn’t have seen it. 

‘Get her out of here.’ He says. His voice is gruff and hoarse like he was shouting at the top of his voice for the last two hours. 

Axcel turns around and moves just enough for me to see the pool of blood at his feet. A man lies on the floor, his eyes wide. There’s a bullet hole right through the centre of his head. I gulp and I’m scared that my eyes are so wide that my eyeballs could fall right out. 

‘Sebastian, why’s there a dead man on the floor?’

He looks at me and then glares at Axcel.

‘Now.’ he says. 

Axcel steps forward so he blocks the kitchen from view.  

‘Lets go Alexis.’ He says. 

‘No, move.’ I say. 

Sebastian has a dead man on his kitchen floor and a gun in his back pocket. I’m not about to walk away from this. 

Axcel moves to turn me around and lead me out but I step out of his way. 

‘Alexis, let's go.’ He says it with a firmer tone.

He steps closer to me, his hands stretched out. 

I suppose this is the moment where your fight or flight instincts take over. And since my curiosity seems to get the best of me in situations like this. I choose to fight. 

I bring my hand up in a tight fist and punch him in the nose. A resounding crack sounds. 

Axcel's hands fly to his face. ‘Oh that’s blood.’ His voice is muffled by his hands being over his face. He brings one down, looks at it and then looks at me and then back at his hand.

His eyes travel towards mine slowly.

‘You're scary,’ He says, pushing his finger in my face. Then he turns around to face Sebastian. ‘She’s scary.’ 

I grimace at the sight of the blood dripping down from his nose. At least my dad's recreational activities are coming in handy. They seem to be especially useful around Sebastian. 

‘Fine, I’ll do it myself.’ Sebastian says. 

He steps over the body, that my eyes can’t seem to stop flicking too. 

‘Sebastian, why is there a dead man on the floor?’ I say. My voice is almost a whisper. 

He grabs me by the shoulder, spins me around and pushes me away from the kitchen. 

‘Get off me.’ I say batting away his hands. 

He lets go just before we reach the door. ‘Lexi, you have to go.’ 

His eyes are pleading with me. I feel like I probably walked in at a very bad time. I cross my arms over my chest. 

‘I’m not leaving, till you tell me what happened.’ I say. 

He won’t look me in the eye.

‘Lexi.’ He runs his hand over his face with an exasperated sigh. 

‘Well, it’s either, you shot him in the head,’ I pause. His gaze reaches mine and I raise my eyebrows. ‘Or, he banged his head on the counter. Do you want to know which one I think it is?’ 

He looks away. I know he’s searching for the right answer. But it's a simple question. 

‘Sebastian, it’s not a difficult question.’ I say snapping my finger in his face. 

He blinks at me. ‘I shot him.’ He says it quietly but confidently. 

Even though I knew the answer, I wasn’t prepared for it. At least my body wasn’t, my face shows utter disgust.
 
The shock of seeing the dead man has already worn off but the curiosity hasn’t. 

‘Why?’

This time he doesn’t look away. He shrugs. ‘He took something from me.’ 

I narrow my eyes. ‘What are you doing?’ I say sharply.

He lets out a strained laugh. ‘I’m answering your questions Alexis.’ 

I roll my eyes. ‘No, I mean.’ I stop to collect myself. ‘First, you have a huge wound in your arm and you don’t seem to care. Next, I see you with a gun and a dead guy at your feet. What's happening?’  

He looks away. 

‘Sebastian. It’s not a difficult question.’ I say, shaking my head. 

‘It's just,’ He pauses to rub the nape of his neck. He still won’t look at me and his voice sounds so distant that I have to actually concentrate on the conversation to understand what’s going on. ‘I don’t want you to not want to be around me anymore. I like having you around.' 

I stare at him. I feel like that's the first time he's said that he wants me in a non possessive way. In any other situation I probably would've smiled. 

'Sebastian, what could you possibly say that would make me not want to see you again.' 

He looks away for a split second, mummers something under his breath and then whispers 'It's the mafia Alexis. I run a mafia.' 

His words don't register with me for a while so I pretty much just end up staring at his face and blinking slowly. And when they do register all I can muster to say is, 'Oh.' 

He steps closer to me but I step back. He opens his mouth to say something but a huge clatter sounds at the front door. Four men storm through with cleaning stuff and a folded up body bag. 

'You have to go Alexis.' Sebastian whispers. 

He looks torn. I have the feeling he doesn't know what to do in this situation. He's saying one thing but his face is telling me another. 

He wants me to stay and say that the whole situation doesn't hold any weight in our non-existent relationship. But he needs me to go because whatever he's about to do is probably worse than what I've already seen.

I take Lucia's envelope from my bag and press it on his chest. 'It's from Lucia.' I say quietly before I turn and walk out.