Keep Me Close

Don't Ruin This

Erik POV
"Rise and shine time to start the day!" I heard the all to familiar voice of The Persian say. He stepped into my bedroom and threw open the shades on my windows. I groaned when the sunlight entered the room, its brightness spreading across my face. I felt a pain in my head as soon as I woke up a bit more. Then I remembered last nights events, I remembered how much Sierra and I drank. Sierra... Surely that was all a dream...
"Erik, why is there lipstick on your cheek?" I heard Nadir say to me. It was real. She was real. The conversations were real. "Erik?" He said again. Then the pain in my head retuned, and I lost my patience with Nadir,
"Daroga I do not recall giving you keys to my home" i said coldly sneering at him. He only have me a sarcastic grin.
"Erik in all my years of living with you when we were younger, do you really not think I never learned how to pick a lock?" He said with a devious smirk.
"Get out of my bedroom. Now"
"Gladly. There's coffee downstairs. Also, that lipstick is really not your shade. May I suggest something a bit darker" he said joking as he stood in my doorway. I swiftly got up from my bed and slammed the door in his face.
"Why am I friends with him?" I muttered quietly.
"I think the real question is why am I friends with you?" He said from the other side of the door.
"Can you ladies keep it down! Im trying to sleep!" I heard Lily yell from her bedroom down the hall.
"Sorry love!" I yelled back. I heard Nadir leave waking down the hallway, his shoes clicking on the floor. I bathed, removing the lingering smell of scotch and lipstick stain form Sierra and dressed myself casually. As i left my room I saw Lily leave her room at the same time, she still wore her nightgown and her hair was a mess, I chuckled at her.
"What?" She snapped at me,
"Nothing just admiring my daughters beauty" I said laughing at her. She looked at me crossly and stormed off into the bathroom. She was not a morning person. I stumbled down the stairs to see Nadir sitting at he dining room table reading the news paper. I glared at him and he only chuckled at me.
"So, are you going to tell me how that lipstick got on your cheek?" He said with a smirk.
"I had a date I suppose you could say" I said pouring myself a cup of coffee and joining him at the table. He looked up from the paper and gave me a shocked look.
"Who's the poor girl you've kidnapped now?" He said. I narrowed my eyes at him.
"It was never kidnaping, it was simply seducing Daroga" i said coldly at his remark knowing that it was a touchy subject.
"Anyways, whats her name. I want details about your new plaything" he said, this made me angry. She wasn't a 'plaything' neither was Christine.
"Sierra Allen, she used to be Lily's music teacher" I said taking another sip of coffee and reaching over to rip the paper from his hand.
"How old is she?" He asked inquiringly.
"Twenty four" I said knowing there would be an age remarked following.
"You certainly like the younger woman. Christine was 16 when you got her pregnant. Erik, she could be your daughter for Christ sakes. Why don't you like woman your own age?" He asked enraging me a bit more. I knew that he wasn't wrong though.
"Because, woman my age are old and tired. They don't possess the light and joy of a young woman that I need in my life of darkness" I said.
"Why her? I though you said to me a few years back that you could never love someone the way you loved Ms Daee. Why now?" He asked this time sounding a bit more understanding.
"Because she understands. She's been through a lot, shes so broken and damaged. Her fiancé died a year ago, she hasn't been able to look at someone the same way as I haven't been able to do either...." I said trailing off remembering the way I made her blush last night, and the way her hand felt in mine. "She made me feel like I was no longer alone. I no longer would have to walk in the darkness alone. She would always be there, because she knows how it feels to be alone." I said reminiscing about last night. I looked back at Nadir, he wore a small grin.
"Don't let this one go old friend" He said taking the news paper out of my hands and continuing to read. I enjoyed the silence in the room until,
"Father! Where are my tweezers? Have you been plucking your gray hairs again?" I heard Lily yell from upstairs. I looked at Nadir as he burst out in laughter.
"No!" I lied to her as i ran my fingers through my hair.
"Turning gray now are we?" Nadir said through his laughter. I grumbled at him in response. "Don't let your girlfriend see that" he said returning to his reading.
"She's not my girlfriend... yet"