Riley's POV
I woke up with one of my books open next to me, I fell asleep reading but the sun was still up, meaning I wasn't out for long. I slide off the bed and leave the room, looking down the hall but the house is silent. I make my way down stairs and there's a note on the counter top:
Damien and I left to handle some business, Lucas and Dom should be back soon. Don't touch anything. - V
I crumpled the paper up and chucked it into the bin, then suddenly got the urge to touch everything in sight. I ran my hand along the counter as I walked through the kitchen, making my way to the huge back sliding glass doors. I slide one open and step into the backyard, leaving it open behind me.
The yard is huge, there's a pool the size and shape of a long rectangle. There's two basketball courts further out from the pool and what looks like a garden. I start walking towards the garden when I spot three men in suits walking the perimeter of the yard and instantly feel uncomfortable. I turn around and head back inside, closing the door behind me and locking it.
I head to the other side of the house, touching everything on the walls along the way. I reach a room that looks like an old timey study. The desk is made of an expensive dark wood and there's papers stacked on top of it, the walls have expensive looking art on them with the same kind of wood as frames. I sit in the fancy chair behind the desk and spin around in it, sifting through the stack of papers on the desk. I pull on the drawers but they're locked. Feeling bored I get up and leave the room heading down the hall until I'm standing in front of a steel door. There's a handprint scanner and you need a code to get in so I don't even attempt it. My attention is shifted to the sound of people walking through the front door. Lucas and Dominic are both carrying multiple shopping bags and I recognize a few of the brands.
"Put all the bags in the living room then we can go get Riley" Dominic said placing bags on the floor next to the couch.
"Go get me for what?" I say stepping into the room.
"Surprise!" Dominic shouts, dragging out the 'i' sound and gesturing towards all the shopping bags. "Its all for you, sit sit, I wanna show you what we got"
I take a seat on the couch and Dominic sits on his knees on the ground in front of me sifting through a bag. Lucas takes a seat on the other end of the couch just watching us.
He shows me all of the creams, lotions, soaps, candles, clothes and stops to let me feel the fabric and smell the fragrances after each item. He was acting like this was 'show and tell' and it was kind of cute. By the end of it I was smiling ear to ear and my eyes were full of tears and no words came to mind but "Thank you." My words came out as more of a whisper.
"Wait, why are you crying? Did you not like the swim suits? We can exchange them or was it the candles? Because if it was the candles Lucas was the one who picked them out so you can blame him because –" Before I thought about my movements I ended up dropping to the floor and wrapping my arms around Dominic's torso. It took him a second to register the sudden movement but when he did he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a tighter hug. Lucas and Dominic exchanged worried stares, not really sure what to do next.
I have never received gifts like these before or watched someone be so excited about buying things for me that I couldn't help but break down in tears. They were happy tears of course and with instinct I ended up in his arms but after a moment I realized I had my face buried in the chest of a man who basically kidnapped me and I pulled away, sitting back on the couch. "Um, thanks for the gifts" I sniffle and my cheeks are red with embarrassment.
"Of course," Lucas says, shifting on the couch to face me.
Luckily they take the hint and choose to pretend like I didn't just sob into Dominic's arms, "We'll bring the bags up to your room for you, did you eat lunch? I can make sandwiches." Dominic stands up and heads to the kitchen before I can respond.
"He cooks when he's nervous, you get used to it with time" Lucas says to me before following him into the kitchen.
I take a moment to collect myself and take some deep breaths, once I am calm enough I make my way to the kitchen and sit on the barstool I had breakfast in. Watching Dominic prepare food was entertaining, the way he moved around the kitchen and the way the veins in his forearms made themselves visible when he was holding the knife. "What do you want on your sandwich Riley?" I didn't hear his question, my chin propped on my hand, eyes watching his hands cut a tomato into nice even slices. "Riley?" He asks again, waving his hand in front of my face.
I snap out of my daydream, "Oh um, I'm not picky." He nods in response.
Lucas chimes in. "I don't want lettuce or tomatoes on mine."
"I know I know, you're like a picky child when it comes to food" Lucas sighs at Dom's response and slips out of the bar stool "I didn't mean it like that Luke! I don't see you as a child!" He calls after him but he's already carrying shopping bags to my room.
I felt gross and in desperate need of a shower but I was also starving so I stayed in my seat until he was done making my sandwich. He slid the plate in front of me and I lifted the top piece of bread and took off the lettuce and the tomato and put them on the side. "Oh no, not you too" Dominic sighed and shook head, grabbing the lettuce and tomato off and putting them on his sandwich.
I let out a soft laugh at his dramatics and his eyes darted over to me "Woah, so she does know how to laugh.." He speaks as though I'm not right in front of him and I roll my eyes then take a few bites of my sandwich.
He's done with his sandwich and washing his plate before I'm half way through mine. "Done" I slide my plate forward and he takes one look and slides it back to me.
"No you're not. Finish it" His voice is harsher than usual.
"No, I'm full." I stand my ground and stare directly back at him.
"Three more bites." He's staring right back at me and I roll my eyes, picking up the sandwich and taking a few more bites before setting it back down and slipping off my seat.
When I walk into my room the bags are all over the floor at the end of my bed and I start hanging the clothes and putting the bathroom stuff in the connected bathroom. I stare at the two toothbrushes in my hand and decide to use the electric one because it probably works better and put the pink one in the cupboard as a backup. I lay out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt for after my shower with some of the undergarments they bought from victoria secret.
I go to start the water in the shower but stop when I remember the bandage on my left palm from the stitches. Damn it, I can't get my hand wet. I lift the bandage on my burned hand but it still looks gross. How am I going to take a shower if I can't get my hands wet?.... Damn it, I'm going to have to ask one of them for help.
I change into one of the bikinis so that whoever helps me won't see me completely naked but can still help me wash my hair. I look at myself in the new full size body mirror and my eyes fall to the cigarette burns on my arms and scars across my stomach and thighs. There's some yellow bruising by my ribs where I had taken a beating last week. I can't do this, I can't let them see me like this. There's a knock on my door and then it swings open before I can respond.
I quickly wrap my arms around my torso to hide as much as possible "What the hell? I didn't say you could come in!"
Dominic's eyes looked me up and down slowly and I couldn't tell if he was looking at my breasts or my bruises but he squeezed his hands into fists then met his eyes with mine, "Going for a swim?" He didn't bring up the marks on my body which is exactly what I needed.
"Um no I..." I look down at my hands then back up to him, "I can't get my hands wet because of the stitches and burn so.."
"So?" He doesn't pick up on what I'm insinuating or he's going to make me spell it out for him on purpose.
"I need help, washing my hair and stuff"
He pulls his shirt off almost immediately and starts unbuckling his jeans, "I volunteer, I'll take a shower with you."
I cover my eyes before he pulls his pants off "Stop and put your clothes back on your not showering with me." I peek through my eyes and he's buckling his jeans. "Just help me with a bath." I roll my eyes and go into the bathroom, he follows, keeping his shirt off.
"I wouldn't wanna get my shirt wet" He teases with a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips and starts running a hot bath for me.
While the bathtub fills up I can't help but look at his chest, it's covered in tattoos and a few scars. His muscles look like they are carved from a god, there's a scorpion tattoo over where his heart is and my eyes land there. Until he clears his throat and my eyes dart to the floor, embarrassment flooding my cheeks.
I step into the bath, keeping my hands out of the water and lay back dunking my head and wetting my hair, the water feels amazing. I sit up and theres a bath bomb fizzing at the other end of the tub.
"It's called a bath bomb, theyre relaxing" He smiles and I giggle at the silliness of the situation.
He rests on his knees at the edge of the bath and I turn so my back is facing him, he starts to gently rub shampoo in my hair and on my scalp. I close my eyes and he's right, I feel very relaxed.
"Can I ask you something?" I question as he continues to wash my hair.
"If I can ask you something in return, put your head back" He rinses out the shampoo.
"This morning, when I went to Damiens room and he was sleepwalking and ..., why did he do that?" I turned to face him, pulling my knees to my chest waiting for his answer.
He sighed looking at me with sad eyes, "Last year, Damien was sent on a job." He motions for me to turn back around and he starts conditioning my hair. "The target was a 40 year old white male, he was running underground child sex trafficing and we had been looking for him for a long time. Victor sent him out on the job alone. Damien found a spot on the roof of a building over from his apartment, it wasn't a clear shot but he thought he could still make the kill. A 12 year old girl stepped into the line of fire as he pulled the trigger. She died and he got away." He rinses the conditioner out of my hair. "Victor says sleepwalking is like his body's way of dealing with the trauma."
"That's so sad." I stay facing away from him because there's tears in my eyes.
He lathers a washcloth in one of the body washes he bought earlier, it smells like lavender. "Victor says you know how to fight, is that true?"
He gently rubs my shoulder with the wash cloth and doesn't answer my question "It's my turn to ask a question, remember?"
"Fine" He moves the cloth down my back. "What's your question?"
He moves the cloth down my side slowly then to the front of my torso, right underneath my bathing suit top and my breath hitches. "Do I make you nervous?"
All I can focus on is his hand moving the washcloth to the other side of my torso, sending chills through my body. There's a long pause and my answer is interrupted by a knock on the bathroom door.
"Do you know where Dom is? I can't find him"
"Yes, I mean.." I glance up at his eyes then look back down at the water in front of me, "I can dry myself off, you can go. Thanks" Once he pulls his hand out of the water I bring my knees to my chest and avoid eye contact with him, my cheeks red.
A small smile tugs at the corner of his mouth while he dries his hands off then opens the door. Lucas's face goes pale and I realize what the situation looks like, him standing there shirtless.
"Oh" Lucas looks over to me and then back at Dominic. Then back at me, his eyes landing on the scars on my arms and what he can see on my thighs. "Wait, are those sca-?" He takes a step forward and Dom places his hands on Lucas's chest.
"Shut up," Dominic says, lightly pushing Lucas out as he steps forward, closing the door behind him, leaving me alone.
I climb out of the bath, dry off and brush my teeth, wrapping the towel around my body before going into the bedroom. They closed the door on their way out so I dropped my towel and slid on the clothes I had laid out on the bed.