Solitary

Chapter 56- What Makes an Honest Man

Nikolai

I didn't think she'd remember. I really didn't think she'd remember. Her face impassive, any trace of humor wiped off her face as he eyes dig painfully into mine.

The smoke from her joint drifting in the air between us.

Her golden eyes, piercing mine pulling me closer to her. But her question demanded an answer and she didn't look to be in a forgiving mood.

And I promised to be honest.

I look away, searching for the right way to tell her this. Clenching my jaw right as I thought about the numerous amount of reactions she could have, none of them turning out good.

But she's asking to know.

I couldn't help myself as I grabbed her hands in mine. Something in me trying to find the strength to tell her this horrible truth, and I clenched onto her tighter.

I lift my eyes only to pause only to see her eyes already filled with tears. Freezing entirely as I've never seen her cry. My beast whimpering inside me at the sight of her unshed tears with a sad smile on her face.

A look like that can break a man. True sadness behind a smile that isn't anywhere near the truth.

"That bad?" Her voice sounding broken. My hands flew to her face, but she moved out of my hold. Sniffling and blinking away the tears that threatened to fall, like she was hurriedly trying to shove a skeleton in the closet and hide it away.

Clearing her throat as she propped one leg up on the bench.

"Well we don't need to talk about it now right?" She says and grabs the bottle forcing out a laugh. "You got shit to do anyways, I'm just here to rob your bar."

And with that I watch as she chugs down the entire bottle in one single breath, slam the now empty bottle against the keys, a distorted sound erupting from the piano. Groaning before looking up at me with a cool smile.

"Whatever it is, I'd rather not deal with it at this present moment." She mutters before standing from the piano bench.

Walking calmly over to the bar and raiding it for what it could offer. I decided to not intervene this time, watching her take three more bottles down. Tear the foil of one open and chugging it back.

My Sol. I'm so sorry.

I went about the rest of the afternoon taking care of meetings. It got word to me that a guard Theo was keeping Solus company. But my mind kept drifting back to Sol's face as I struggled to find the words to tell her.

I allowed myself slight entry into her mind. Slowly, I saw that she and Theo were at the grand piano talking about childhood bullies. Theo explaining his own bullies and Solus doing the same. Then both laughing as the explained how they got their revenge on them.

Moving further into her mind, just up until the moment I was about to tell her.

It was in her mind how hard I was struggling, my mannerisms, my difficulty in the choice of wanting to keep her safe but, to also keep my promise and tell the truth. She saw that and knew that what ever information I had, especially anything regarding her father and her, she knew it wasn't something she was prepared to deal with.

She wasn't prepared, and she didn't know if she would ever be prepared. So she stopped me and saved us both the trouble.

Back slowly out of her mind, I sit back in my seat and turn my attention back to the meeting at hand. Mostly due to anything pertaining to any wandering lycan groups or packs wars.