Mr. Mafia Man

Chapter XIX: The Apology

"Dmitry, you motherfucker, open the door right goddamn now, or I swear to god, I will knock it the fuck down."

Dmitry, Alexander and I looked at each other, keeping quiet, perhaps thinking that if we were quiet, the man banging on the door would go away. But no such luck. The banging on the door continues, before a pause in the knocks occurs. But before long a very loud crash occurs and the door falls straight off its hinges to reveal a very angry Nicolas standing in the doorway.

"I swear to god, if any of you have done a thing to Evelyn, I will castrate both of you."

"They haven't done anything to me, Nicolas!" I quickly clear up, not wanting to cause any undue pain or punishment to come to Dmitry or Alexander, simply because they were listening to my problems.

Nicolas searches my eyes to look for any signs that I was lying. "They didn't rape you or do anything like that?"

Dmitry snorts behind me. "Dude, I would never want to be with her, I'm gay."

Nicolas looks up, and for seemingly the first time registers the proximity between Dmitry and Alexander. Once he accepts the excuse, his body posture becomes more relaxed.

"Thank god, Tiffany said you left the apartment in a huff, and didn't respond to her texts and phone calls. I assumed the worst."

"This is the second time that you were sent to 'save' me. I'm a big girl, I can handle myself."

Nicolas responds to my prod with a barb of his own. "You think I like coming to rescue you? You're lucky I even come. I can see that coming here was a mistake."

"Just how you think that we were a mistake." I respond, fresh tears in my eyes. I briefly try to fight them off, but once I see that I was fighting a losing battle, I just rushed into the guest bedroom and shut the door.

I could hear Nicolas softly talking to Dmitry and Alexander while I curled up on the floor at the foot of the guest bed.

A few minutes later Nicolas softly opens and closes the door and pads across the room over to my ball of a body.

"Hey, Evelyn, I'm so sorry." Nicolas sits next to me while I continue laying on the floor. Dmitry briefly looks in, but quickly shuts the door and leaves us alone when he sees that Nicolas is in here with me.

"Likely story," I mumble and roll my body so my back is to him.

I hear him sigh and feel him lay down next to me. We lay there, close but not touching, in the dark for what seems like an eternity, but is probably only a couple minutes. I listen to his rhythmic breathing and fiddle my hands where he can't see them.

Suddenly, Nicolas breaks the silence. "There was an attack on my father yesterday."

A pause. I roll back over, this time facing him, to see him flat on his back, his hands behind his head, and eyes staring at the ceiling.

"If he's killed, I have to take over the Russian Mafia." His voice is shaking slightly. "I'm not sure if I'm ready for that responsibility yet." A tear slips down his cheek, but he quickly gets himself back in check, apparently not wanting to show that much emotion in front of me.

He turns his head to look at me, and even though I can't see his features clearly in the dark of the room, I can imagine what he looks like more clearly than I care to admit. Suddenly, I remember the way he looked like in the hotel room and flinch. Never again.

"Evelyn." The way he whispers my name sends shivers down my spine. I can feel his eyes searching my face for emotion, trying to read me like Tiffany does, but in a much more vulnerable way. "If you become romantically involved with me, it will make your life much more dangerous. My father has many enemies, and thus by extension, so do I. They might hurt you to get at me, and I understand if that is something you don't want."

"I can handle that." I'm not afraid of death, only of seahorses and some species of plants. If being in danger is the price I have to pay to be with Nicolas, it's an easy choice.

A strangled sob comes from Nicolas. "Yeah, but I don't know if I can."

I quickly sit up and pull his head into my lap, while he grips my hand tightly. "My mother died because of my father's enemies; my uncles and aunts are all dead, so are my cousins. Everything I have ever lost is because of the bastard, and I will almost certainly lose more. I can't lose you too."

"Hey, hey, hey, you won't lose me. I'm too annoying to die; don't think you'll get rid of me that easily."

Nicolas smiles a sad smile back at me, but it was through some tears. As he turns his head away from my gaze, and will no longer meet my eyes, I realize that he was uncomfortable, and decided to change the subject.

I lean back on my palms, while his head is still in my lap. "You know, when I was younger, I really wanted a guy like Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables to court me. I don't suppose you are anything like Gilbert, huh? Really messed up on that front."

Looking back down at Nicolas, I could practically see his smile as he ruffled his hair. "I do have the curls though."

My mouth drops open. "You read Anne of Green Gables?"

I can feel him shrug. "What can I say, I wanted a girl like Anne." Through the dim light, I can see him wink at me. "Really messed up on that front."

"Ugh." I push him off of me and quickly stand up, fully intending to leave. Nicolas grabs my wrist before I could go anywhere though.

"Hey, um, do you want to come home with me?" Seeing my hesitation, he falters a little bit but quickly clarifies his meaning. "Not to fuck or anything, but for convience. I wouldn't want you to have to get an Uber, and plus your car is at my house. Saves on gas."

I feel a little defeated at his explanation. Not that I wanted to have sex with Nicolas, at least not yet, but I wanted him to ask me to spend the night because he wanted to spend time with me, not just because it was more convientent or some shit.

"Sure." I reply coldly, making my move to leave again, but Nicolas tugs on my wrist. I wait for him to stand up before he speaks.

"I can see that I've done something that made you upset. Can you please tell me what I have done wrong so I can fix it?" Nicolas asks in a low voice.

"What are we referring to? You've made me upset so many times, it's uncountable." I was still a little pissed off about the whole thing. Nicolas frowns and waits and I finally give into his silent plea by telling him what was bothering me. "I don't like it when you tell me you are doing something for me only out of convenience or duty. Please, be a little more honest about your feelings, so I never have to be guessing."

Nicolas bends down to embrace me loosely. Lowering his mouth to my ear, he whispers in my ear, "I am so fucking attracted to you, and I want you come over so you can become more comfortable in my house. Maybe if you now it better you will spend more time there, and I will see you more often, and get to know you better." He steps back from my ear, looking pretty satisfied with himself. "Is that good?"

I mutely nod, and let him lead me out of the room to a dark living room. It looks like Dmitry and Alexander have already gone back to bed. Nicolas throws my duffle bag over his shoulder while still holding my hand and leads me out to his car. I am suddenly very tired, and decide I trust Nicolas enough to get me to his house safely.

Noticing that I am exhausted, Nicolas opens the car door for me and buckles me in before getting in himself.

The last thing I think before I'm out is: Maybe he's not as annoying as I thought.

Word Count: 1442 Words

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I'm actually really proud of myself in this Denny's tonight because this is officially the longest "book" I have ever written, or attempted to write, clocking in at just under 27,000 words as of the time of writing this (I write chapters ahead of time so this is counting some of those too).

I'm planning on making this book 35 chapters long (36 parts, counting the disclaimer), so we are over halfway done, but I still have a long way to go.

(Also, props to everyone who guessed that Dmitry was gay since the beginning, this chapter is for you.)

-3AMmayhem