Fell In A Concrete Jungle (Nicholas Ruffilo/ Bad Omens)

24: One thing at a time

~Gemma's POV:~


One week, one week had passed since I had come home to my apartment. Nicholas would sit outside my door from sun-up until sundown waiting to see if I ever came out of my apartment. Even going as far as to knocking on my door asking if we could speak, I of course ignored him.
My heart hurt knowing he knew my mother and never told me—he knew her, worked with her and kept it from me, and it hurt more knowing Aarron was the one to tell me since Nicholas didn't want to mention anything about it.
The phone they had gotten me sat inside my bedside drawer, not being touched as I didn't want to see any of their texts. When Nicholas wasn't outside my door, it was Graham situated out there and even though he made my skin crawl, I rather deal with that then to face my emotions to Nicholas. "Gemma, can we please talk" Nicholas's voice sounded so gentle on the other side of the door.

It made my heart want to crumple, for me to fly the door open and invite him in and just be in his arms—but the anger seethed through me, ready to strike at any moment. Not saying a word, I looked through the peephole of my apartment door seeing him leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes fixed on the door. "I know you're there, Gemma, please" he said sighing.

I ignored him and continued my day for a little before going and looking back through that peep hole, he was stepping closer to the door. Stepping back from the door, I gasped when a note slid underneath the door. Scooping it up, I unfolded the piece of paper seeing his neat writing.

Can you please open the door, we can work this out. It might help if we talk.

Grabbing a pen from my counter, I scribbled on the paper underneath his writing.

Leave me alone, you can go to hell if you think I am even going to think about speaking to you right now.

Sliding it back to him, I heard the sigh from deep within his chest when he was annoyed. "Gemma, we need you—" he stopped his sentence as if unsure he even wanted to risk saying it out loud.

Walking away from the door, I sat down on the bed in my room looking out the window—the sun was setting on the concrete jungle, and for once it didn't rain most the day, the weather was still colder but without the rain it wasn't too bad. I wanted to know why my mom was against my dad, but it wasn't something I could so easily ask Nicholas without feeling like I was going to meet that same wall he always built up around me.
Anger still coursed through me, grabbing my sweater I slid it over myself before opening my window—Nicholas had mentioned how he used the pipe beside my window to get up and down the night he got my stuff, and the security near this area of my father's compound were usually always playing cards and smoking.
Making sure I had no phones on me, I slid myself down the pipe carefully making sure I made no noise as my shoes made impact with the ground, earning a hiss from me from the sudden contact with pavement.
I did have a knife on me in case I needed it, but right now I needed to know more about my mother and there was one person I knew would get me them.

The walk to the bar on the other end of the city which took me over an hour to get here thankfully without any disruptions or even media noticing me on the street with my hood up and head down. Pushing the door open, I felt the warmth of the restaurant we had our meeting in slam into me—I remembered Helen mentioning he often came to this place for his deals and even just for his meals as he cherished the place.
Scanning the crowd, I saw him sat at the bar with a drink in hand. Striding over, I slid myself on the barstool earning a glance from him, a brow raising as I slid the hood off not even caring about how he was one of the last people I wanted to see. "Didn't think I'd ever see your face around here again" he said downing his whiskey.

"We need to talk" I said not even bothering to look at him.

As if sensing my anger, or hurt—he nodded his head before lifting his hand to the bartender, "another whiskey for myself and get the lady a tequila shot" not arguing, I nodded my head once the shot was in my hand, tipping my head back as the contents burned down my throat. "Must have been a day if you're accepting a drink from me" he said taking a drink of his own. "Make it quick though, Saunders, I do have a meeting with someone soon and they aren't your biggest fan" he checked his watch.

"My mom, when did she start helping your guy's movement, what even is your movement about?"

"Your father wants to seize The Grey, there are art pieces in there he wants, mainly for power—some pieces not even public can see within there, and he wants the weapons the guys hold as well as the power that they have, no one wants to mess with the Omens group, your dad wants all that power so he can take over more then just the jungle, princess" furrowing my brows, he continued, "he wants all the surrounding areas too—if he had control of The Grey, his peers would see him as not only brave enough but strong enough to take down the group, your mother worked with them giving them intel even, and since she died no one knows where it is, not even your father."

"So he knew my mother worked with them?"

"Honestly? I have no clue; I hadn't seen your mother much before she died—my group worked with them at the time but after Luna's death. . ." he seemed sad at the thought of her.

"Why did my mother help them?"

"That you need to ask them, I can't tell you that."

"Why not? You were so sure on telling me how my mother worked with them." The kindness in my voice was gone, I didn't care how I sounded.

Aarron looked at the door as he stood from his seat. "I may have told you that, princess, but I can't tell you everything—ask them, now, I have a meeting to get to" he walked past me as he headed towards the door where a man with dark hair stood—glasses pushed up to his face as he looked at me.

Who was he?
Sliding the hood back over myself, I got out of my seat making my trek towards my apartment.
This time took a bit longer as I avoided some areas the guys warned me about.
Getting to my apartment, I walked past the front desk "did you go out when I was on break Gemma?" my father's guy called.

"Yeah" a blatant lie.

Walking down the hall to my apartment, I was stunned to see it wasn't Graham standing there at my door—it was still Nicholas, his eyes widening at the sight of me. "You snuck out?" he snapped standing straight.

Unlocking my apartment door, I looked at him. "Shut up and get in."

He didn't hesitate as he stepped into the apartment, circling around so he was facing towards me as I slammed the door closed once more. "I went to see Aarron" he went to bitch me out until I raised my hand to silence him, I seen my mother do it often with my father's men, I wonder if she ever did it with the guys. "I am done with the games, Nicholas—tell me what you had with my mother, how did you even meet her?"

He sat on the edge of my sofa, puffing air from his cheeks. "Well, ugh. . . When we were younger, Noah and myself that is—we both knew your father was, well, corrupt" he looked at me as if expecting me to flinch at his like I would have before, "Noah and I tried breaking into one of your father's parties, to get information on why he wanted The Grey so badly, since Noah had inherited it of course, but your mother spotted us and before anyone else could she dragged us into the hall demanding what we were doing—so we told her, we fully expected to be killed right then and there but she instead told us she wasn't going to even press charges" his voice was so soft as his blue eyes sunk their gaze on me.
"She would come see Noah and I, sneak away and come give us tidbits on where your father would be, times and who he would be seeing—before her death we got close to closing in on him, to exposing the world of how corrupt he is, how the money he has is from the blood of those he has hurt, how he executed my family for being innocent, for seeing how dangerous he is. . ."

"When was the last time you saw my mother?" the question burned my eyes as I looked at him.

His gaze softened, I could swear he had tears in his eyes. "The night of your twentieth birthday, she came and consoled me for missing my family—she told me if anything happened to you, she wanted me to watch over you, but I told her nothing was going to happen" wiping away tears that slid down my cheeks, I looked down at my feet feeling like the world was spinning. "I am sorry Gemma, I wanted to tell you but the more you knew the more danger you are in.. . Especially with your father, and we didn't know if you'd believe us."

"I believed you since the night of my father's engagement, Nick. . . If you had told me I would have done my best to try and help you, but instead you pushed me away and still considered me the fragile person" I couldn't stop the tears that flowed from me.

He reached out, tugging me into his arms as he held me. "You are far from fragile—reckless tonight since you snuck out, but you are not fragile" he cupped my cheeks in his hands, "I promise here on out I won't lie to you anymore, you are part of my team" the words slammed into me.
Leaning forward, I pushed my lips onto his, standing between his legs as he rested on the arm of the sofa as I ran my fingers through his hair. He didn't hesitate as his lips worked with my own, his hands still cupping my cheeks before pulling away after a moment, the loss of contact had me wanting to protest but he instead leaned in kissing my forehead. "One thing at a time, my moon."
Not arguing, I rested my head on his shoulder as he murmured out once more, "one thing at a time."