King of the Don's

sixteen

Briar

The next morning when I woke up, I found was lying directly on top of Vaughn, my face comfortably burrowed right where I loved it, on the spot where his neck met his shoulder. I was plotting to move off of him so he could get more sleep, but when I went to move I felt super sore from what I assumed was hypothermia.

So I decided to relax for a second, and study the planes of his handsome, rough face, which was admittedly a little creepy on my end. Gia had told me Vaughn was thirty five, but his face didn't reflect it much. The only sign of aging from what I could tell was from his salt and pepper hair around the edges, and faint lines around his eyes.

I continued admiring at his face, and my eyes caught on his scar Against my better judgement, I reached out to touch it. I was still super curious about how he got it, and honestly? I found it pretty hot. I had never been attracted to something like that before, but when I saw Vaughn, I don't know, it just did something to me.

As soon as I made contact with his skin, his light eyes opened immediately. I was honestly expecting him to snatch my wrist away like he did before, but he did nothing instead, only laid unmoving under me.

After a second, he said something, but I realized I couldn't hear as good as I normally did, so in a natural response I reached up to touch my hearing aid, and remembered it wasn't there anymore. Ah nuts.

"The doctor said your hearing aid was broken from the water," He told me in a louder, more clear voice, and I was pretty disheartened by his news, but he reassured me. "We'll get you a new one soon."

I nodded my head, and his usual scowling face softened. I scooted off of him while crossing my legs, and focused back on the rough line on his face. He surprised me at his next words, "You can touch it, my little lamb."

I gave him a lopsided grin and ran my finger over the rigid, whitened skin. In return, he moved his hand to grab onto my thigh, his thumb running along the inside, closer to the apex. 

"I was honest about what I said last night, about you not being a prisoner here anymore." He told me, and while I was excited to hear his reassurance, I was still a little confused, "What does that mean, exactly?"

"You have to stay here," He started, "And you may come and go as you please, but you have to have a bodyguard with you at all times, only for your safety."

"Okay, I can live with that." I decided, knowing we both needed to bend a little, "But what about my job, and like, my life before all this?" I asked the question that's been floating around for a while now. Plus, that's assuming I still have a job, and anything else to go back too.

"You don't need to work, I can buy you whatever it is that you want." He told me, and I frowned, "I still have tuition to pay for-"

"I will pay for your tuition, and I will talk to the dean of admissions, Carlos is an old friend of mine, and I'm sure he'll work with me. So if you want to just focus on that, I'll be more than happy to support you."

I narrowed my eyes, as I felt him move his thumb in a soothing motion, "So let me get this straight, you want me to live here with you, pay for me to go to school, and spend your money?" I asked, and he nodded, "Yes."

I let out a startled laugh, "What's the catch?"

It was an important question that I needed to be answered, like, what does he expect from me? What does he want for the future? What happens if he gets like, I don't know, married? What happens then?