Him (A mafia story)

Chapter 13

After he opened up to me, Nikolai and I had come to an unspoken agreement that I would be staying with him. While he was still his usual, asshole self, after opening up he'd started having moments where he'd be nice. I'd stay in his room most of the day, we'd ignore each other when he'd come home and then we'd fall asleep in his bed together. It was a weird dynamic, but it worked.

He hadn't taken me back to the estate, but I'm pretty sure that's where he spent most of his days. During the day, when he was here, he was cold and downright mean, but at night he got gentler. I was getting so used to being held when I slept that I was starting to have trouble sleeping when he wasn't there. This morning, when I woke up, he had already left for the day.

He usually woke up before me, so this morning was no different. Like I had for the past two weeks, I stayed in bed until noon. It was around that time that I started getting restless, so I'd head downstairs and run on the treadmill he had in his living room. I missed running outside with Julian, but Nikolai never forgot to lock the doors on his way out. The front door was the first thing I checked every morning when I went downstairs and it was always locked. I guess if the house burned down, I'd burn with it.

Granted, if he did leave the door unlocked, I'd make a run for it. He was getting nicer with me and sometimes acted like he cared, but I didn't quite trust him yet. I didn't know what time he'd get home, like usual, so I decided to read for a few hours. When the words started blurring together, I put my book down and made my way back to his room to take a bath.

Even though we'd been sharing it for two weeks now, I didn't want to call it our room. It felt too boundary breaking for my taste. I was a guest and that was it. Nothing here was mine.

I grabbed a towel from under the bathroom sink and ran myself a warm bath. I liked to take advantage of the time I had alone by treating myself to long baths. I stripped out of my clothes and stepped into the water.

As an afterthought, I added soap where the water was still pouring from the faucet to make bubbles. You were never too old for a bubble bath. I leaned back against the tub and closed my eyes, letting the warm water soothe me. I don't know how long I stayed like that, but I didn't hear Nikolai come home.

I tensed as the bathroom door opened and I instinctively gathered the bubbles in front of me and brought them towards my chest. Nikolai walked into the bathroom looking exhausted. There was a cut on his forehead and the front of his white dress shirt was splattered with blood. He barely glanced my way as he loosened his tie and unbuttoned the shirt.

I relaxed a little when I realized he was too tired to even bother picking a fight with me tonight. I couldn't help but stare at his reflection in the mirror as he removed the shirt and tie. There were a few bruises scattered across his chest and abdomen, as if someone had landed a few hits on him. That wasn't the most alarming thing, however. The thing that concerned me the most was the fresh stitches sewn in his shoulder, where a bullet had obviously landed. It didn't seem to be bleeding anymore but I could tell it had bled quite a bit, considering the state of his shirt.

My eyes trailed back to the cut on his forehead. What the hell happened to him? I had so many questions, but I was afraid of asking them. Suddenly, he looked up at the mirror, making eye contact with me through the reflection. "It's rude to stare."

That's all he said before looking away and wetting a white washcloth under the sink. I watched him dab it on his forehead, staining the white red. "Are... Are you okay?" I asked tentatively.

He stopped what he was doing, almost as if my question surprised him and turned around to face me. He studied me for a few moments, leaning against the vanity, before his eyes found mine. "I've been through worse." His gaze was intense.