My limbs felt heavy as I stretched myself across black silk sheets. There was no question where I was as the man's scent seemed to be etched into every crevice of his home. It was quite comforting.
My eyes opened to take in the room. Outside held a dark orange hue, telling me the sun was going down and I'd slept all day. My cheek was still stinging, a reminder that what happened was in fact reality and not a dream, but thankfully the bruise wasn't major because of Niccolò insisting I see a doctor. He refused to listen when I said I could handle it. My mother was a doctor after all and she hoped I'd one day follow in her steps.
I still didn't want to think about it. It was the men were hired, but by who? I had no known enemies and I certainly didn't have anything belonging to someone else. It was just weird; the entire situation.
Scratching at the door grabbed my attention and brought a a smile to my face. Zuko no doubt. His soft whine finally had me rising from the bed to let him in. The door was barely cracked before he bore his weight through and jumped on me.
He followed me to the bed but stopped once I climbed in and I frowned. "Come on, boy." I patted the space beside me but he stayed in his spot. He looked back out into the hall and I smiled knowing he was just scared of Niccolò.
"It's okay babe. Come, up!" His poor tail was about to fall off from all the wagging but still, he didn't move. "Um," I thought about the small selection of Italian vocabulary I knew, "saltare Zuko."
Saying jump did the trick and I grinned as he plopped himself across my lap. "Good boy." He pushed his snout into my hand as I rubbed his head. Zuko and I laid for a while but I couldn't stop my eyes from scanning the door every five seconds. "Where's your dad Zuko?"
His eyes scanned over me for a second before he went back to tucking his head into his body. Unsatisfied with his answer, surprise, surprise, I rose from the bed once again, this time to go looking for Niccolò.
Before I did, I found his bathroom pleased to see the new toothbrush and oddly, quite a few of my hair products. I ignored the products, instead brushing my teeth carefully since my cheek was still hurting slightly.
My reflection was not the prettiest sight. Somewhere in the mix of everything my bonnet had disappeared and my curly hair was a mess. I grimaced knowing I had a long day of detangling in my near future. Maybe I could just call Lorie.
I splashed some water on my face to try and rid myself of tiredness before I continued my journey to find Niccolò. When I walked into the living room I didn't expect to see boxes sitting all over.
Curiosity got the best of me and I opened the first box and the contents had my eyes widening. More of my stuff. My clothes. That led me to more boxes, which revealed more clothes and my confusion grew.
It was more reason for me to find the man, only it seemed he was nowhere to be found. It didn't help that I had no idea where my phone was and so I had no way of communicating with him. I heard shuffling and moved hesitantly to the sound even though I tried to convince myself that I was safe.
Relief flooded me at the sight of Valeria. "Oh, hey Val."
Her eyes found me at the sound of my voice and a smile broke out across her perfect features. "Quinn! Hey," she struggled through the door which proved a bit of a challenge when the one-hundred-pound rottweiler came into the mix. "Zuko, figlio di puttana! Back the hell up!" [Son of a bitch!]
Zuko paid no attention to her words and I rushed over to haul him away and grab the bags barely hanging off her fingers. Once she set the box down near the rest, she heaved a breath pushing strands of her hair away from her face.
I dropped the bags I took on the couch before turning back to her, "You okay?"
She sighed again before opening her striking blue eyes, "yeah. Other than the fact that I had to instruct grown men how to pack books in a box, everything is fine."
Her words made me smile. I admired how she didn't take shit from anyone. "what is all this anyways?"
"Last two boxes are panties and bras. Everything else - all the clothes you had there. The only thing we didn't touch was that little photo room. You'll have to talk to Nico about that."
I was trying to focus on the worst coming out of her mouth, but it was hard when all I could register was her saying panties and bras. "I'm sorry- panties and bras? As in mine?"
She seemed confused for a moment before realization dawned on her features, "oh! Don't worry, I personally went through everything and grabbed them. I had to. Can you believe he threatened to cut my cards off if I didn't? Like, imagine that."
There was no question who 'he' was. My question was why he had moved all my stuff into his place. Was Niccolò actually deranged?
"Where is he?" I was trying to keep my cool. Trying my hardest, because the poor girl was threatened. With money, yeah, but it seemed detrimental to her.
"Uh, I'm not too sure." She glanced at the thin watch wrapped around her wrist, "but I've got to go. I have a shoot in 30." She walked over giving me a hug, before she was out the door. "It was good seeing you. See ya!"
Great.
Even though I was pissed, I could admit I was happy to have my clothes on hand and so I grabbed some things to wear and headed into the shower.
It didn't take me too long surprisingly because I thought my hair would be harder to handle. It helped that almost my entire bathroom was now packed on one side of Niccolò's countertop and I had everything I needed.
I pulled on a long-sleeved cotton tee and a pair of pajama shorts with Rick and Morty all over them. My hair took most of my energy and laziness made me leave it in two giant braids after I doused the strands in my leave-in conditioner.
I frowned seeing Niccolò still missing after my shower and instead of thinking too much on it, I moved into the kitchen to look through the fridge. The fruits caught my eyes first and so I grabbed the parcel of grapes, strawberries and pineapples. I hoped the latter was sweet. The pitcher of orange juice was next and I happily lured myself a glass, enjoying the slight tartness of the drink.
Halfway through cutting the stems off my strawberries while simultaneously stealing a bite every few, I heard the door slide open and Zuko's giddy steps let me know Niccolò was back.
"Why is my shit in your living room?" I didn't have to turn becuase I heard him walk up. Instead of answering, I only heard the tap start running.
I grabbed another strawberry pushing it between my lips before turning to face Niccolò. His back was still turned to me so I only took him in as I waited for his reply.
"Whatever." With the roll of my eyes I turned back to my now completed fruit bowl tossing the contents around lightly.
I felt him before I heard him and by the time I did it was too late. His hand was around my jaw before I could gasp, tilting my head to bring me back for a kiss. The bowl rattled against the countertop as it slipped form my fingers due to my shock.
His tongue played leisurely with mine as his other hand travelled up my stomach to cup my breast under my shirt. My body reacted on its own and I found myself arched against him as his fingers toyed with my pebbled nipple.
I broke my mouth from his, pulling myself from him even though I wanted nothing more than to continue. "You haven't answered my question."
With my back to the counter I pulled the bowl of fruits in front of me, effectively creating a barrier between us.
"Why arent you wearing clothes?" He dipped his fingers to grab a strawberry and I watched the fruit disappear between his lips. That led to me taking in his features - something that never seemed to get old. He truly was a work of art. The eye contact was what I couldn't handle and when my eyes clashed with his, I brought my attention back to the bowl stuffing my face instead.
"That was my shirt you stuffed your hand under just now. Yeah? Clothes." He only looked down at my words and I lowered my bowl to hide my barely-there shorts. Clearly, he didn't mind them if it made him want to attack me like that.
"Come sit with me." He wrapped a hand around my waist and guided me to the couch where he plopped me beside him. "We'll get back to your lack of clothing another time."
I only huffed and kicked my feet up across his lap. He ran a palm down my legs, and I took in the French tips on my toes that needed to be redone. That made me look at my nails. I could do with a new set.
"Let's talk about last night." My eyes found his and the calmness in his features along with the fact he was still caressing my legs caused me to shrug.
"What about it?" I didn't necessarily want to remember the event. It would only lead to me remembering my shower and the slight pink I saw in the water as I bathed.
"Did they say anything of significance? I need you to talk me through everything that happened." I realized I would rather talk about my lack of clothing.
I scooted back a bit more, adjusting the pillow as I leaned back against the arm of the couch. Niccolò watched me silently as I popped a grape into my mouth.
"Okay," I swallowed before continuing, "so I was texting you. And-" I remembered the squealing and knew I was never going to say that. I hid my smile instead but he saw.
"What?"
I shook my head, "nothing." His stare was suspicious but he only squeezed my ankle softly to continue.
"Anyways, I saw light on the floor and saw that my door was cracked. When I got up, I felt Asshole 1 and I managed to land a punch on him. I did kickboxing for 6 years so that helped." I popped a pineapple chunk into my mouth before continuing. "When I realized there were two of them, I tried to run outside after hitting Asshole 2 in the the throat. The one I punched in the nose was Chip appearently, and he kept calling dead guy Donny."
I thought about what else I could share as Niccolò rubbed at my ankle encouragingly, "what else?"
"When dead guy slapped me, Chip said boss said not to hurt me. Whoever the hell boss is." I thought some more, "oh! I mean it could be nothing but weirdly, they called me princess."
"Princess?" I had to look at him because he seemed far too interested in what could've just been a stupid nickname.
"Yeah, I guess Asshole 1 was bleeding, he called me princess. Said he didn't think I had it in me." I scoffed remembering the words. Asshole.
Niccolò was suddenly standing already on his phone. He pressed the device to his ear while handing the TV remote to me. "Felix, spero che quello stronzo sia sveglio. Sto arrivando." [Felix, I hope that fucker is awake. I'm on the way.]
"You're leaving?"
"I'll be back in an hour." He walked off and I didn't try to understand what he was thinking. I'd wait till he was back. I couldn't hide my surprise when his shadow came over me.
He tilted my head back, kissing me upside down. "You're staying here until I'm sure you'll be safe, that's why your shit is here. Good job." His words were too sudden and didn't give me time to hide my smile so I didn't try to. He stared at me for a bit longer before lowering his head once again for his lips to meet mine. "I have to go."
I raised up to plant another kiss against his lips. "Okay."
Zuko strolled in lazily and I could tell he was sleepy. I raised my head and patted the space beside me even though I knew we'd end up squished and he'd eventually go on the other side of the couch. "Saltare." He followed my command and I rubbed his head, "good boy."
I looked over to see Niccolò staring at us with a curious expression. "We'll be here." He only nodded before turning to leave and I could've sworn I saw him smiling.
another one, enjoy
over 30k reads btw, thanks lovelies ily xoxo - AJ