Song: The Weeknd, Labyrinth - Losers (slowed + reverb)
𝔚𝔚𝔚
Josie
It happened on the third day of classes.
I was sitting alone in one of the empty seats along the last row in my art class, listening to the teacher explain our first assignment when the door had burst open, gathering all our attention.
I watched the young man walk into the room, looking extremely out of place and it wasn't the leather jacket or blank look on his face. It was the large tattoo of a snake that carried up from the side of his neck to his temple and disappeared into his hairline.
"Excuse me. I'm currently in the middle of teaching a class." My professor had said.
The man only ignored her and carried on, walking through the isles of seats set up with easels until he stopped at the one next to mine, and took it.
I watched his figure, equal parts curious and terrified along with the other sixty or so students in the class. "If you don't offer some sort of explanation, I'm afraid I'm going to have to call security." She continued from the center of the room.
And that's when the strange man finally spoke, his voice firm yet extremely quiet. "I'm in this class."
A long awkward pause followed, before the professor had decided to move on with the lecture. I sat and listened while feigning oblivion to his creepy stare on the side of my head.
It wasn't until the end of my chemistry lecture - the last lecture of the day, that I stood to pack my bag only to find the man sitting in the seat right behind mine, staring at me.
I nearly jumped in surprise. "May I help you?" I managed to calm myself down enough to smile at him.
He shook his head and my smile tightened. This was the third class of mine he'd been in. "Is there a reason you're following me?"
"I'm not following you." He responded, his voice levelled.
I flushed in embarrassment. Not realizing how self centred I must have seemed. "Right." I choked out, stuffing the rest of my belongings into my bag, needing to escape before I humiliated myself any further.
I took the opportunity to walk away, but his voice stopped me in my tracks. "But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking for you in every class."I turned towards him, raising a brow as he continued. "I need a friend."
And that was how I'd made my very first college friend: Rico.
It was the highlight of my day-no week. Yet the moment I stepped foot into the penthouse, I realized I had no one to share the good news with.
Wes and Kai were too busy with work these days, Margo had moved into the dormitories and Mina wasn't working the front desk today.
I was sitting alone in the living room, finishing up the last of my physics homework when a loud thud sounded.
Bolting up, I turn towards my bedroom, prepared to make a run for it only to stop at the sound of a loud, pained curse.
"Fuck."
The deep, rich sound of Nico's voice halts me in place and I let my shoulders drop as I turn to glance towards the front foyer.
At the sound of yet another curse, I hesitantly move towards the foyer, contemplating if I was even doing the right thing.
I hadn't seen or heard from him at all, not since that night. And while I was mostly relived he'd left me alone, I was agitated with him and the entire situation.
Yet, I still found myself padding into the foyer, only stopping to find his large figure hunched over with his hand placed on the wall for support.
I wearily take a step closer. "Is everything alright?"
I knew he was hurt but I didn't want to do anything seeing as the last time I tried to help, things didn't go so well.
Nico slowly lifts his head and I make out his tight jaw as he shifts. He's got a large muscular hand planted on the wall while his other clutches onto his side, over his tight black T-Shirt.
"You're med kit." He croaks gruffly. "Go fucking grab it."
I flinch at the harshness in his tone before spinning on my heels, prepared to scurry off and get it, but pause.
Why was I so quick to listen to him when he was nothing but rude?
Because you're a pushover.
Crossing my arms, I spin back around, lean my hip against the entryway table and eye the blood dripping down the side of his mouth.
He's injured, weak and obviously needs my help.
Of course I was going to give it to him, just not before I used the opportunity to demand some respect.
"No."
I watch his body tense before he slowly turns his head, his grey eyes brewing up a storm as they meet mine and I fight the urge to squirm.
Even injured and weak he remained dangerously calm and in control.
He wasn't the type of man people said no to.
"Not until you ask nicely." I declare.
I'll admit, it wasn't the best approach. In fact, I only thought of it because it worked on the first graders I use to babysit. But it wouldn't hurt to try, right?
The murderous glare Nico sends my way has me doubting myself and when he grits his teeth and pushes off the wall, I force a look of indifference.
"Fuck you." He spits angrily before spitting at my feet.
I pause, too stunned to react before I slowly look down to my foot, spotting the patch of blood on my big toe and that's when I lose it.
He pushes off the wall, stumbling forward but before he can take another step, I stick my foot out, watching as he trips over it and crashes down onto the ground.
He lands on the cool marble floor with a thud, a hiss of pain following close behind, but I'm too angry to care.
He deserved it.
"Was that necessary." He grunts as he rolls onto his back and shuts his eyes. He tips his head back against the marble floor and the action accentuates the muscles on his neck.
I lift my foot until it's dangling in his face, pointing my big toe at him, "Was this necessary?" I snap, glaring down at him.
Never had I ever felt so disrespected.
He meets my stare with a lazy one of his own, until he finally speaks. "Huh." And then his tongue pokes his cheek, his hand still holding his lower hip. "Didn't take you for a red girl."
I blink, then blink again not knowing what to make of his response before I follow the path of his eyes as they move down and then up, only he's not looking up at me, he's looking up my sleeping shorts.
I gasp and stand straight, snapping my legs shut and pulling down my T-shirt as he chuckles.
"That was highly inappropriate of you." I snap.
He lazily smirks up at me, "I think we're past the point of inappropriate don't you think, Bambi?"
With flushed cheeks, I go to snap back but stop short when I trail my eyes over the puddle of blood pooling on the ground next to his lower hip.
"I think you have bigger problems to worry about, don't you think, Nico?" I throw back in his face.
He raises an unbothered brow and shuts his eyes. "I do?"
I hesitate, wanting to scream at him for being so careless, but I refrain. "Yeah, like finding someone to stop the bleeding before you bleed out." And with that, I force myself to spin on my heels and walk away.
I knew I wouldn't last long, my morals always did trump my pride, but the least I could do was try to demand some sort of respect.
I move to take another step but before I can do so, a firm grip wraps around my ankle holding me in place. I look down to see Nico's large inked hand wrapped firmly around it, traces of dried blood spattered across his rings and knuckles.
I shut my eyes and heave a sigh.
What was this man getting himself into?
I stay eerily still and when Nico speaks next, it's through gritted teeth, all traces of humor vanished. "Get me your fucking med kit." He grits out, his voice chillingly hard and dangerous. "Please."
And despite it being a half hearted plea, my heart does this weird thing where it flutters as pride swells in my chest.
It worked.
Suppressing the urge to smile, I toss him a nonchalant look over my shoulder. "See? It wasn't that hard."
His response comes in the form of a pained grunt and when I turn to see his droopy eyes blinking up at me, I bolt to the kitchen and return with my med kit.
I get down on my knees and immediately move to inspect the wound, but he stops me with another grunt. "No." He croaks and I flicker my eyes up to his strained face. "Not here. Just... fuck, help me up."
His voice is filled with tension and as much as I want to protest, I don't.
He maneuvers to his side, placing his free hand on the marble floor and using it to lift himself up, not seeming to need any of my help.
I simply follow after him, throwing the strap of my med kit over my shoulder while he uses the wall for support.
It isn't until he gets into the living space, where there are no nearby walls to hold onto that he hesitantly wraps his arm around my shoulder, leaning his weight on me.
The action knocks the wind out of me and I grunt, nearly collapsing on the ground, not anticipating his heavy weight while he leads us towards the staircase.
Nico immediately takes the majority of his weight off me, making it more bearable but not before muttering a, "Fucking useless." Under his breath.
I grit my teeth. "I'm this close to letting you go." I grip onto the railing and pull all my weight up along with what I'm carrying of his, hauling us up the first step.
We manage to continue up the stairs. "I fucking dare you." He grits out, tightening his grip around my shoulder, tucking me further into his side as he turns his head and speaks into my ear. "If I go down. I'm sure as fuck using your ass to break my fall."
I try to move out of his grasp but even at his worst, he's still so terrifyingly strong.
I continue up the steps, glaring up at him while my temper flares. "I despise you."
"Sure you do." He grunts under his breath in indifference before pulling me further into his side and purposely leaning most of his weight on me.
I grunt out, taking yet another step up what seems to be the endless staircase. "This would be a lot easier if you didn't weight like a thousand pounds." I huff in exhaustion.
It was a miracle he wasn't crushing me to death.
"This would also be easier if you didn't have the arm strength of a fucking twig." He breathes as we get to the top of the stairs and I pause, needing to catch my breath.
I look up at the brute, suppressing the urge to throw myself back down the stairs just to get away from him and I calm myself down.
He was so infuriating and rude.
I'd never wanted to curse more than I did in this moment.
"By all means, take your fucking time." He snaps before tugging me along into on of the two long hallways, and towards the black double doors at the end of it.
He once again drops more of his weight on me - in punishment, I'm assuming- and I cant control my lips as a curse flows out of them. "Asshole."
He pauses for a moment, but I keep us moving forward while he turns and dips his head, chuckling into my hair. "I don't think you're going to get the reaction you're hoping for." He murmurs sardonically while I push open one of the large doors and walk into bedroom.
I'm instantly met by tall ceilings and endless windows looking down onto the city of New York, but I don't gawk for long because his inappropriate words draw me back. "You know how I feel about hearing you swear." He drawls huskily in my ear.
Flashes of that night play back in my mind and I suddenly can't stop replaying the sound of his deep voice telling me how much he liked hearing me swear.
Beyond flustered and aggravated, I move towards the large bed and push him down onto it where he's back hissing out in pain.
Good.
I take the moment to look towards the large windows that spanned two of the four walls. It was magnificent, never dull and most importantly, never dark up here.
The bedroom itself was meticulously clean with the only tones being that of black and grey.
"You're gonna have to take it out before I pass out." He hissed and I look back to see him sitting up on the bed, using his free hand to lift his T-shirt over his head.
When I understand what he's taking about, I rush towards him and grab his T-shirt, holding it above the gash on his lower hip.
"You were shot?!" I exclaim one hand holding the T-shirt in place, the other hastily unzipping my med kit.
He leans back against the pillows and reaches over to the nightstand for an unopened bottle of what I now know to be alcohol. "Yeah." He opens the cap and brings the rim to his lips, taking a big swing.
"I need to make sure it hasn't hit a major organ or artery." I rush out, slipping on my latex gloves.
"It hasn't." He croaks as he shifts, sighing out in satisfaction as he takes yet another swing of the alcohol."Just pull the damn thing out and patch it up." He orders nonchalantly, like this was nothing new.
His chest heaves, drawing my attention there and when I look closer, I notice little shards of glass embedded into his skin.
"What on earth happened to you?" I breathe in complete horror.
"Doesn't matter." He says, shifting uncomfortably as he reaches into my bag and pulls out the bottle of Tylenol.
I watch him pop three into his mouth while he uses the whiskey to chase it down. But I ignore him as I focus on the task at hand.
Luckily, I had my fare share of working with bullet wounds.
All I needed to do was follow the procedures and protocols that I'd already memorized.
There was a big possibility that he would lose lots of blood, and in that case, I'd give him mine.
It was nothing new, I'd done it many times back in the Colony. We often had a shortage of blood and considering I was O negative it came in handy.
"Jesus, are you always this fucking uptight with this shit?" He says after a while. I knew he was referring to my need to constantly clean and disinfect the wound but I wasn't taking any chances.
I'd already pulled out the bullet, but there was still a chance of infection.
Luckily it seemed as though he was wearing some sort of protection because the bullet wasn't embedded deep inside him.
"There's no need for all this other shit. Just stitch me up." He continues, his tone filled with annoyance and I resist the urge to roll my eyes.
Was he always this annoying?
I ignore him, continuing on with what I'm doing.
"No wonder you've got no friends." He continues and I pause to look up at him. He's downed a third of the bottle and I now realize he's somewhat inebriated.
"I do have friends." I rebuke, his statement getting to me more than I'd like.
He hums, tilling his head back and taking another swing. "Oh really?" The corners of his lips tilt into an amused smile and I go back to tending to his wound. "Name one."
I open my mouth with Mina's name on the tip of my tongue but he cuts me off. "The girl that works as a part time cosierge downstairs doesn't count."
I snap my mouth shut, hating the infuriatingly arrogant look on his face.
"Rico." I suddenly say, looking up at him and when he raises a brow, I continue. "He's a relatively new school friend and he's lovely."
"Rico, huh?" Nico repeats, rubbing at his jaw in though. His tone condensing, like he doesn't believe me.
"Yes." I growl as I begin to stitch up the wound. "And unlike you he's not an ass-"
"Careful." Nico drawls my attention back up to him and I watch him take another swing, his eyes dancing with mischief and staring into mine. "Call me an ass again and you won't leave this room until yours is red."
I pause, the implication of his words leaving me too stunned to speak.
Did he just imply that he would... spank me?
The thought has my entire body flushing a deep red and I dip my head and continue to stitch him up.
I eventually move onto pulling out the shards of glass on his chest with my pliers, sitting up on the bed and making sure not to hurt him.
Nico's still awake, his eyes lazily watching me while he occasionally sips on the alcohol and we both bask in the silence.
I keep my gaze trained on the inked skin of his chest, not able to keep my eyes from trailing south to the ridges of muscles lining his abdomen.
"Where'd you learn to handle all this?" He demands almost softly, his voice droopy with fatigue.
"What?" A bitter laugh escapes my lips and I can't control the nasty feeling that crawls it's way up my throat. "Surprised that the Virgin Mary can handle blood and gore?"
He goes silent, but I can feel his gaze on the side of my face, silently demanding for me to look at him but I refuse.
I knew where that petty remark came from. My anger from that night was still simmering and although I knew Nico didn't care. I did.
But there was no use in holding onto that anger.
I heave a sigh. "I grew up in a small town." I begin softly. "We were too far from any of the big cities and we only had one medic. Part of my role was to shadow him until I was qualified enough to double as the school nurse where I tended to the other students injuries."
He's still silent, watching me intently, but I don't look up. I continue to remove the little shards of glass.
"Even the kids that picked on you?" His tone is lazy yet still so sure. I halt my movements and look up at him.
"How are you so sure that I was picked on?" It may have been true, but he didn't know that.
"Just a hunch." He shrugs, his eyes staring into mine. "Answer my question."
My eyes trail back down to his inked skin and I avoid his eye. "Even the kids who picked on me." I confirm.
"So you were always a coward." He muses and I catch a hint of disappointment in his tone.
My eyes flicker up to his. "That doesn't make me the coward. That makes them weak." My frown deepens. "But you want to know who the real cowards were? The people that sat by and did nothing."
I blink at him, not hiding the double meaning behind my words.
His eyes narrow an inch at me before he raises a brow."What? Were you expecting a knight in shining armour-"
"I was expecting a decent man." I cut in. The terrible feeling of watching everyone laugh at me while he sat by and did nothing settling in my stomach.
I turn back to pluck a shard of glass from the skin right above his heart. It was the same place the tattoo of a dead flower that I'd once drawn laid. "But I should have known better than to assume."
He tenses. I can't tell if it's my words or the fact that I'm touching the tattoo that's so delicately hidden above his heart.
"You should know that I'm not a good man." He replies, his tone detached and emotionless. "And if it took that night for you to finally open your eyes and see that I'm a bad man, you've got bigger issues to worry about."
I shake my head, a frown marring my features. "Not a bad man." I correct as I look up and stare into his eyes, my voice soft. "Just a pathetic one."
𓆩❤︎𓆪
I'm not a doctor so don't come at me if I'm wrong about how she tends to his wounds. None of this is shit is realistic.
I broke this chapter into two. Next pet should be up already❤️