8 : "old married couple."
song : not today - alessia cara
"If you do not stop tugging on this goddamn cuff, I swear to whatever god that you believe in, I will shoot your hand clean off." Vitale seethed from beside me as he pulled me behind him towards the extravagant building that sat atop a hill.
"Oh, shut up, would you?" I bit out, glaring at him as I gave up on trying to squeeze my hand out of the cuff. Though small, my hands were not small enough to fit through the opening and that was something I needed to come to terms with before Vitale stayed true to his words.
In the past half an hour, he had managed to become even more infuriating than he had been in all the time that we'd been handcuffed. On the car ride over, he decided that trying to pick the lock with a bobby pin he snatched from my hair was a good idea. To no avail, he failed miserably and actually broke my poor bobby pin instead of unlocking the cuffs.
This wasn't what bothered me so much, it was the fact that every time I tried to rest my hand on my leg, I was pulled right back over to him so he could continue on with his futile attempt.
Not only that, but he only got more and more persistent with his gun threats as I whined for him to stop. I couldn't help it! The way he had the cuffs angled they were biting into my wrist and it wasn't the most pleasant feeling in the world.
"You guys fight like an old married couple." Kyle groaned from beside me, earning a cold glare in his direction from the both of us.
"Your a real hoot, Kyle." I deadpanned, "Whoever created you must be real proud."
"My mother is proud, thank you very much!" Kyle beamed, showing all of his perfectly white teeth that belonged in a Crest commercial. I all but rolled my eyes at his response.
I chose to not respond to him, treading behind Vitale who was very tightly gripping the piece of paper in his hand. He stoped abruptly just as we came to the door, spinning around to face me in a flash. An annoyed look in his green eyes, per usual. I was becoming increasingly used to the death threats he sent with his eyes.
"Listen very closely," Vitale uttered roughly, tugging the cuff up higher on his arm and then repeating the action on me, "you are going to behave, and you are not to speak unless spoken to. This is not a place to joke around or act like a child, unless you want to get shot. Unfortunately for me, I am handcuffed to you without a key and I would rather not be handcuffed to a dead body." He said, interlacing our fingers together on our cuffed hands, pulling our sleeves down to at least hide the cuffs. We couldn't hide the chain but it wasn't too noticeable if the cuffs weren't visible.
Apparently Big Bad Vitale didn't want these people to know that he'd been unwillingly handcuffed to some girl. Well, I hope he knows that the feeling is completely and utterly mutual.
"If you mess this up for me, I will not hesitate to shoot this cuff and then you. It will not be them that you will have to worry about, princess." He breathed the word with detest, it sent shivers down my spine as his cold green eyes bored deep into mine. I knew that he meant every word he said, and even if he didn't, I wouldn't want to find out if he was bluffing.
"Sure, whatever." I rolled my eyes. I could feel my heart speed up, overly aware of the hand laced through mine. It was weird to hold a hand that was so much bigger than my own, comforting in a way if it didn't belong to the intolerable man that it unfortunately did.
The pain that had been encircling my wrist slowly started to fade. It was almost relieving to feel the discomfort and biting pain that was overwhelmingly constant over the past thirteen hours to finally diminish. As much as I hated holding hands with this jerk-wad, I was glad that at least for a few moments the pain and irritation subsided.
Finally, Vitale was advancing towards the door and inevitably pulling me behind him. I had expected him to knock and wait for someone to answer the door to this gigantic house, so you can just imagine my befuddlement when he waltzed in without a care in the world.
Without knocking or even calling out once the door was swung open, he just trudged through the building. He was obviously on the hunt for something or someone, and I was increasingly curious as to what or who.
The house was about as nice as I'd expected from looking at the outside. It had a large chandelier hanging in the foyer, below it sat a large and beautifully intricate water fountain. The walls were painted an off white color that went nicely with the marbled flooring (I had a weird thing for marble anything. Seriously. Give me marble or give me death.)
It was empty, asides from us three and that made me even more anxious about the fact that Vitale just rudely barged in. Climbing the stairs that sat to the far right, Vitale seemed to know exactly where he was going.
"Don't you think you're being a little...I don't know, intrusive? Invasive? Rude? Weird? Odd? Asshole-y?" I offered, whispering lowly in case anyone was around. It didn't seem like it, but you can't ever be too sure when your life is on the line.
Clenching his jaw, his eyes darkened even further. His hand tightened around mine in response, "Grace, what did I tell you?" He asked darkly as he continued on.
"That I'm your favorite human on this Earth, but this isn't the time to discuss that, Vitale."
I hadn't even heard a peep from Kyle since we stepped foot in this house. He must be really good at the silent game. Like really good. If there was an award for the best at being silent, he would win i–holy shit. Where did Kyle go?
Turning around to look, my eyes widened significantly when I realized that Kyle was not in fact the best at being silent, he was missing. He had disappeared. Tugging hard on the cuff, I planted my feet into the carpeted ground to prevent us from moving any further. Vitale, becoming caught off guard, stopped abruptly when the cuff wouldn't let him go any further.
"What the fuck now, Grace?" Vitale seethed, his dark eyes finally finding my own for the first time since we entered the building.
I'm going to slap him silly if he calls me Grace one more time.
"Kyle is gone." I hissed lowly, trying to keep our conversation private even though it felt as if we were the only two people in this whole house.
"Seriously? That's really what you stopped me for?" He gritted, stepping closer to me, "I know he's gone, Einstein. He's tending to something, now let's go." He bit out, interlacing our fingers once more.
"You're a real jerk-wad, you know that?" I mumbled, watching the ground as we continued on down the narrow and darkening hallway. He decided to not reply to my comment, which was probably a good idea.
After the long and boring walk, we finally came face to face with a large, dark oak door. I felt my hear immediately race as if it was bound to give out at any moment, failing my body. My mind was running in a frenzy with the possibilities of who or what could be behind this door. It could be anything.
It could be Mr. Big from Zootopia for all I know. I mean, realistically, probably not, but still.
Landing two hard knocks against the towering door with his knuckles, Vitale stood confidently beside me. I gripped his hand harder out of anxiousness. He shot me a look I couldn't quite decipher, but then again how could you ever decipher any look this man throws in your direction when nine times out of ten it had an underlying emotion of anger.
I swear, this man could be clad in the most expensive and beautiful suit, surrounded by thousands of pony's dressed as unicorns, and an unlimited amount of cotton candy at the tips of his fingers, and he would still look at you like his stupid, beautiful eyes were seconds from scorching you into a measly pile of ashes.
A deep voice from the other side of the door abruptly tore me out of my daze, "Come in." The voice called out, sending shivers down my spine for some reason I could not explain.
Vitale swung the door open hard enough that it bounced lightly off of the wall. Waltzing in like he owned the place, much like he had through the front door, he tugged me behind him. Not like he had much of a choice since we were currently and very unfortunately attached to one another.
"Bianchi, what a pleasant surprise." The man said form behind his desk. He had sandy brown hair and tanned skin that glowed more than my pale skin ever could. He had the shadow of facial hair that casted across his face, his pink lips pulled up into a cruel smirk that made me feel increasingly uneasy.
"I'm just here to drop off the document for the warehouse over in Stepford. I wanted to see that it got to you without any issues."
"Stepford? Like The Stepford Wives? That was such a good book!" I whispered more to myself than anyone else, since I figured that none of the men that stood in this room currently had read The Stepford Wives, or even seen it.
Call it a hunch.
Vitale turned his head slightly only so he could glare at me through the corners of his eyes, but it was enough to shoot me straight into submission. With the one look, I pulled my free hand to my mouth, pretending to zip it and lock it, throwing the imaginary key over my shoulder. Something about the look he was icing me with told me that he didn't appreciate the act.
"Who is this?" The nameless man pondered, his brown eyes perusing me brazenly. I narrowed my eyes at him wordlessly. I only bit my tongue for my own benefit, seeing as I knew Vitale would gladly play out the words he'd threatened me with only minutes before.
"No one." Vitale bit out, making me move my narrowed eyes to his infuriatingly handsome face.
I don't understand how he literally was in the same suit he wore last night, the same clothes he slept in (if he even slept, maybe he's some sort of robot that doesn't need sleep in order to function properly) and here he is, having the nerve to still look just as gorgeous as when I'd met his stupid face last night.
Stupid sack of shi-
"Well, she does seem like someone, no?" The man said, amusement dancing through his dark eyes. His smirk only grew as he said the words that he knew would wear on Vitale's nerves. After spending not even a full day with Vitale, I'd come to the observation that he was a man of minimum words. If he had to argue with you, or repeat himself, he was not a happy camper.
But when was he ever a happy camper, anyway?
Vitale seemed as if he was going to reply to the infuriating man that sat behind the desk and still remained nameless to me when the door swung open, this time not quite as hard as Vitale had opened it.
Swinging open, another person walked in as if they owned the place. What was it with these men and thinking they owned the ground they walked on?
My eyes trailed up to the owner of the intruder, and I felt my heart nearly stop dead in its tracks as my eyes widened.
"Gabriel?"
• • •
Me @ Gabriel:
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