Silent Storm [ManxMan]

Chapter 14 ~ Deal

"The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget."

- Thomas Szasz

[Midas POV]

That little...

I was struggling to force air into my lungs and the burning pain wasn't helping one bit. River had left me on the bed, wheezing in pain only ten minutes ago but it felt like an eternity. Even though he had made a marvelous job at cleaning my wound, sewing it up and wrapping a bandage on I could still feel it clear as day. The fact that the little piece of shit had used my wound as an advantage to get away had me boiling with anger. He hadn't even answered my question before he fled the room.

I had realized that the question about why he hadn't killed me while I was unconscious had made him uncomfortable but that didn't mean I wasn't going to demand an answer.

I wanted to know why.

I needed to know why.

And I sure as hell wasn't going to let him get away with this.

[Ten minutes later]

When I staggered into the kitchen a few minutes later my eyes immediately landed on the still shirtless boy standing by the counter. He had his back on me and I took a deep breath to calm my flaring temper. It would do me no good to be angry when I was in this state because I wouldn't be able to back it up physically.

"Aww don't be like that, you know I only did what I had to do to get away." River said, having turned towards me. I wasn't surprised about the fact that he knew I was there. He was a skilled assassin after all.

"I have a right to be like this. You deserve to be spanked until you cry." I retorted in a dark voice as I watched him pour boiling water in a cup on the counter. He swiftly put a teabag in the cup and turned towards me again.

Although I had a hard time not staring at his lean and perfectly sculptured chest, his face was the most stunning thing I had ever seen and I almost choked on the air I was still forcing down my lungs.

He was smiling at me, and it wasn't a smirk or a teasing sort of smile... no it was a genuine smile that left me breathless. I could feel a sudden tightness in my pants as I watched him smile at me and I knew that I was in deep shit.

Feelings were unnecessary. I had said so myself countless of times and yet here I was, feeling for the first time in... well... forever.

Great.

"Here." River suddenly said and my eyes landed on the teacup in his outstretched hand. I raised an eyebrow at him and frowned.

"Are you trying to poison me now?" I said and I watched River's smile widen as he shook his head in amusement.

"No, I'm trying to make you feel less angry with me. I don't want to watch my back today because I'm tired since you decided to wake me up this damn early." He said as he pouted and took a step in my direction. He still had his hand held out towards me and I studied him for a second before I finally took the cup from him. He rewarded me with a playful smile and I frowned at that.

"Answer the question and I might consider going easy on you." I said as I raised the cup to my lips. I watched his expression intensely but when he stayed calm I took a sip of the hot drink and swallowed it down. It was perfect. I could see River waiting patiently for my reaction to the tea he had made me and I decided to ease his mind. I held the tea out towards his face and nodded slightly.