The truth about August

Three

My black heels clicked on the paved floor as I kept going, walking away from something I was sure I shouldn't have walked out of.

What was I doing? This was not part of the plan at all! I should've been leaving with him towards his flat by now, not walking alone in the dark after insulting his sad life!

My nerves and anxiety were eating me inside out. I just walked faster, trying to get to my apartment the quickest possible.

I was sure The Ravens, cringe, wouldn't be too happy about tonight's outcome, I wasn't very familiar with their ways of handling business but judging by my fair knowledge of gangster movies I was assuming they didn't offer their debtors some tea and cookies.

I would have to find another way to raise money for my father's expenses. I just couldn't go on with this plan, that man was impossible! Disgusting, irritating and utterly distressing! I had been too close to actually slapping his face and I couldn't afford to lose my temper with that man, he had the words 'bad news' written all over his face. I shouldn't have ever agreed to this.

The cool air scratched my lungs as I walked as fast as I could, my mind rushing with everything that had happened. Way to conquer a man! By making fun of his lonely, miserable life. And I called myself a pro!

I huffed as I hugged myself tighter, trying to shield myself from the chilly wind. Tonight couldn't have gone worse!

As if the damned cosmos had heard my thoughts, I suddenly heard soft steps approaching me. Panicking, I increased my speed while I kept hearing the steps becoming louder, and then I could tell it wasn't just one, there were more.

My breath was erratic as I started jogging with my high heels on, something I had learned to do through plenty of my past jobs, but to no avail, when one rough hand gripped my arm and almost made me fall to the ground as they turned me around harshly.

I let out a little yell when I saw three men rounding me up, one of them still holding my arm tightly. I realized I had seen them before, they were part or The Ravens.

Swiftly I freed myself from his grip, using a move I had perfected from self defense, something that had been of much use since my days of living alone.

"Hold it there, girl!" One of them jumped as I stood upright.

"What do you want?" I called, already getting the idea.

"What do you think we want?" The bigger one said. "You were supposed to finish the job!" He demanded.

"You will have to find someone else to do it, I can't" I said and pounced to leave. One of them grabbed my arm once again, but let it go once I was facing them.

"That's not how this works, darling. Once the deal is made, you have to finish it!" He groaned and I crossed my arms.

"Listen, I tried. I really did. That man is impossible, I will never get inside his apartment, no matter how much you people pressure me, it's out of my han-"

The biggest of the three pounced and grabbed my hair, holding it down, making me get on my knees as I cried in pain.

"Let me go, you scumbag!" I screamed as I tried to scratch the skin off his hand and arm, but then the other two held my arms and I was completely contained.

"You will go back there, and you will finish the job, do you understand?" The man whispered inside my ear. I screamed again as he pulled my hair tighter.

"Fine, but I need more time. I can't do it today!" I yelled.

"You stupid useless whore. You will finish this tonight! Go back or you know what's going to happen!" He groaned into my ear and I screamed again.

"What? You will kill me? How unpredictable" I shook myself and he shoved me to the ground, my face hit the pavement and it burned.

"You stupid whore! You can't even do one thing right!" He yelled and the next thing I felt was a hard boot kicking my stomach. I groaned in pain as I tried to get away, but the man held my hair again and I screeched.

He pulled me up to my knees again, making me look at his ugly face and I did what I felt like doing, which was spitting on his eyes. The man groaned and cleaned himself with his sleeve, holding my hair tighter. In that moment I was sure this was it for me. I wasn't even that surprised, after all, what did I expect from messing with these types of people? I was terrified, I swallowed my tears when I waited for them to do the next thing. However, all I could hear then was a small, teeny tiny clicking noise from the far back.

"Leave her if you still prefer your brains stuffed inside your skull!" I heard a familiar, rough voice sound on my back and even I froze.

The hand grabbing my hair slid off and all I could see afterwards were the men looking at each other with a startled expression and then running off into the darkness with their hands in the air.

My chest was still rising and falling like madness, while I stayed there sitting on my knees, trying to process what was happening.

Soft steps sounded on my back as the man approached me, I was still too shocked to look up to his face when he stopped at my side. I noticed my hands were trembling while trying to calm myself down.

August Frost crouched beside me then, warm fingers pressing themselves on my feeble shoulder and just then I gathered enough courage to look at him.

He was staring at me with an almost undetectable look of concern in his icy blue eyes. My panting was the only sound between us while he assessed my current state.

"Are you alright?" He asked, but his eyes didn't really change a lot until he looked down at his hands, just then I noticed his gun and a chill ran up my spine again. I remembered who he was, and decided I should just try and escape before things escalated.

"I'm fine" I quickly stood up, flinching with the sharp pain of my injured knees. "Thank you for defending me" I didn't look up to his face as I tried to walk past him.

"Wait, are you sure you can go alone like this?" He called, moving to stand next to me. My eyes quickly landed on the shine of his metallic gun again, but this time he noticed.

"Pardon me" He said, swiftly placing the gun back on his belt. I watched him as I tried to contain my nerves. Nothing was making sense.

I moved my gaze towards his blue eyes again, and let them wander there. The small tint of concern was stronger now, and I wondered if even contemplating this was sensible of me.

"Hm-" He suddenly cleared his throat. "I could treat you, my place is just around the corner" He shocked me by saying.

My heart was beating maybe almost as fast as when I was being threatened to death. The moment to make a comparison of the possible outcomes of each scenarios took place in my head, and I decided declining his offer would mean unsurprisingly worse things than agreeing to go with him, so I nodded.

And then, I let the ice man guide me towards his building, his home, while I couldn't comprehend what on earth had just happened.