Not So Delicate ||18+

Atticus ~83~

"Hey, baby." I whisper softly, kissing all over her sleeping face, trying to wake her up. She was knocked out on Cal's bed wrapped up in about three blankets. "We gonna go watch this movie or nah?"

She doesn't respond, still snoozing the night away. I chuckle softly and start unwrapping her from the sheets, making her let out a soft whine, her eyes peaking open before closing again and angling her body so that it was hard to take the blankets off. Her short hair flittered around her face, hiding her sleeping features from my eyes.

"You gotta get up, baby girl. The movie starts in an hour." I say softly, kissing her temple before straightening up, and looking down at my girl. She was mine.. and if all goes well, she'll be mine forever.

"5 more minutes.." She whispered, her eyes still closed and her breathing coming out in puffs through her lips. I smile softly and walk out of the room. Callan had told us everything that happened so that we knew not to do anything with her until she was fully recovered. He mentioned her piercings and almost beat Zachary up for not telling him he did them.

I walked down the stairs and sat on the couch beside Zachary, frowning at the show on the TV. For a person who's into classic novels and poems, he was obsessed with modern-day TV shows and soap operas.

He looks at me and adjusts himself on the couch to lay his head on my thigh, stretching his body out on the couch. I huff and cross my arms, watching the TV. My eyes are begging to be gauged out.

"Turn that off, man." I huff, rolling my eyes and letting my head fall back against the couch. He scoffs and grabs the remote, shifting the channels.

"You don't like anything. Can't even watch a cartoon with you." He grumbles, mindlessly flipping through the channels.

"It's all just stupid. Don't you have a whole ass job you should be tending to?" I look down at him, seeing his mouth open and fake snores coming from him. I shove my finger in his mouth, making him sit up quickly and cough before striking my arm.

"Bastard." He groans, getting up off the couch and walking away. I chuckle lowly and wipe my finger on my pants, looking at my watch. I stand back up and walk to Cal's room, seeing Brooklyn up and on the phone with Milo. I lean against the doorframe, smiling at her when she looks at me.

"Anyway, I'll talk to you later, I have to go. Love you, bye!" She says, waving at the screen where Milo waved back and blew a kiss before hanging up. She looks at me and smiles cutely. "I don't think I can walk properly..."

"Yeah, I don't think so either." I walk over and sit on the bed, pulling her closer. She kisses my jaw softly and rests her forehead on my shoulder. "Dante is gonna be accompanying us. Don't try anything."

"You can't keep me from the love of my life." She says dramatically, placing the back of her hand against her forehead and sighing.

"Fine. We're staying home."

"No no, I'll behave!"

~~~

We walked into the theater, Dante and Brooklyn conversing about random things. I didn't mind, Dante was a very loyal man and had a wife. Amaya is also very loyal and trusts him a lot. And plus, he knew what would happen if he tried anything fancy on Brooklyn or any other woman.

I bought a ton of snacks and we made our way into the movie room. It was pretty empty surprisingly since it was a very popular movie playing. But then again, it was almost 1 in the morning.

We sat down and got comfortable. Dante went and sat towards the back of the theater to give us privacy. After a few minutes, the movie started playing and Brooklyn's eyes twinkled at the name of the movie. I wasn't focusing on the screen, only on her. She snacked on the popcorn, her eyes never leaving the screen.

Every few minutes, she would tilt her head my way and give me a random fact she remembered because of the dialogue. Almost halfway through the movie, I saw a group of guys walk in, sitting at the front of the theater, their attention immediately on the screen.

My chest felt heavy for some reason. It was like the air in the theater shifted and whipped. Brooklyn felt this too. She looked at me and then at the guys, putting the popcorn on the ground and straightening up a little. I eyed the guys, they were dressed normally, one of them even in pajamas. It was probably the popcorn.

I gently rub Brooklyn's thigh, feeling her relax a little and direct her attention to the screen again. Something still nagged at me though. It felt like I wanted to puke but I wasn't nauseous. I get a text from Dante. He feels the change too.

Who the hell are these guys?

That's when I notice one of them looking over their shoulder, his eyes trained on us. My eyes sharpened and my jaw clenched.

Bad news. That's who they are.

"Go to Dante and tell him it's a code black. I want you to listen to him and not disobey. Do you understand?" I whisper, my body leaning a little towards her to keep it discreet. I was glad that she didn't break eye contact with the screen, whispering a soft 'alright' before standing and going to Dante.

I knew I should've brought my gun.

I watch as one of the guys whisper something to another dude, and on cue, the giant screen turns white, lighting up the whole room. I saw the glint of a gun barrel. A whisper of blank ink, and a face that I see in my mirror every day.

Alek.

My eyes zero in on the guy who stands up and turns around, his eyes on me. Right on time, I duck as a bullet flies my way. I hear Dante's gun go off, shooting the guy in the shoulder. The movie pauses and turns off, the lights turning back on.

The police were no doubt already called.

I needed to get Brooklyn safe. No. Dante has her, she's as safe as she can get. I grab one of the guys by his shoulder, throwing him to the ground. I was bringing nothing to a gun fight. I think Zach's soap operas are finally getting to me.

In the corner of my eye, I see Dante descending the stairs, his gun held high and Brooklyn behind him, sheltered. He shot towards where I was, trying to hit anyone but me. I saw Alek make his way towards me, smiling sinisterly. I grab the gun from the unconscious man, checking the ammo before looking back at Alek.

"Brother. How are you?" He grinned, his voice was like mine, it was like hearing a recording of myself.

"I'm not your brother." I grit, punching one of his men. He charges at me, grabbing me by the shoulders as I grab him by his.

"I can't wait to kill you. I know that much." He hissed. I punched him in the face, throwing him off balance for a moment, and using that opportunity to kick him to the floor, Dante was handling the other guys, so I just had to worry about this bastard.

"Likewise."

~~~

Y'all I suck at writing fight scenes, don't come for me. Anywayyy, we are officially 85-90% done with this book!

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