Luca returned from the balcony, his eyebrow raised at my glass, and the bottle that had returned to the countertop. I watched him walk to the counter.
“Would you like a glass?”
“No. I don’t need to add day drinking to my mess of issues.” Luca said, truthfully.
“Well, I don’t have a problem adding day drinking to my shit list.” I said, pouring another glass, this one fuller than the last.
Closing the bottle again, I shoved it back into the fridge. I knew one glass of wine was fine and that it would be alright; it was pretty normal for me, but a second glass was not. And what I had poured into this one glass was what should have been in two different ones. I stood at the counter and sipped it until it was about halfway gone.
Remembering the fact that I had to change the sheets for Luca, I muttered cheers to myself and drank the rest of the glass in one go. It wasn’t great going down. I set the glass back down and made my way down the hall.
Grabbing the sheets out of my closet, I stripped the bed down and tossed it all on the floor. I pulled the sheets on. I pulled the comforter on the bed and reached to tuck it in and hit my toes off the leg of the bed and yelped. Instead of checking my foot, I went to hide because I was hurt.
Sitting on the floor beside the bed, I made sure I couldn’t be seen while I looked at my toes.
I honestly felt like a fool for hiding over it, but it was something I always did when I was hurt. I had done it since I was a young boy and It was something I had never broken out of as an adult.
“Theo? I heard you yelp, are you—--Are you hiding?”
Looking up over the side of the bed, Demitri was standing beside the bed and Luca wasn’t far from him.
“Go away. I’m fine.”
“Why are you hiding?”
“I hurt myself. This just happens sometimes.” I said, feeling tipsy from the wine.
“Do you want to come out so I can look to make sure you’re not badly hurt?”
“I’m not.”
Luca stepped around Demitri, and he grabbed me off the floor. Dropping me on the bed and forcefully grabbed my ankle and looked at my toes.
“Luca, you don’t need to be so rough.” Demitri said calmly.
“He wouldn’t listen. Easier this way.” Luca replied.
“How do you know I wouldn’t listen? Huh!”
“If you would not listen about taking my cash, you will not listen about this.”
He wiggled my toes, and it hurt, but he let go of my foot.
“Nothing is broken. They are just tender.”
“I could have told you that.” I said.
“Could you?”
“Yes!”
“I doubt that.”
I crossed my arms and looked at Demitri instead. He flicked his eyes down towards me and they were piercing. His eyes were stunning. I closed my eyes, so I didn’t stare at him openly in front of Luca.
“If you are done here, I would much prefer that you come out to the living room.”
I flicked my eyes open again and narrowed them on Demitri.
“You know, I’m not stupid, right? I know exactly what you mean by that. And I’ll have you know, this is hardly the first time I’ve been drunk.”
“I didn’t say that, nor did I imply that. What I meant was that I want to keep an eye on you so that I know you’re not doing something unsafe while you are under the influence. That is all, Theo.”
“You take this babysitter shit pretty seriously.” I grumbled. Leaving to the living room first.
“I have to. If something happened to you while I was supposed to be watching you, I am the one who needs to answer to Maddox.”
Demitri sat back on the couch and I laid out on the other one, watching tv. I forced Luca to sit beside Demitri while he did his own work. Neither one of them complained. The TV was playing some random movie, but I flicked my attention to watching Demitri and Luca work.
Closing my eyes after a while, I listened to the sound of the Tv and them working away until those sounds disappeared.
Moving my arms, I tried to push away whatever was so warm when I started to wake up. I grunted, kicking my legs next. Opening my eyes, I was tucked into the spare bedroom in the dark. The curtain was closed, all but a crack, and I could see the sun setting. Finally kicking the blanket off me, I laid there for a while before I moved around. The cool air was pleasant on my legs and stretched before rolling back over and taking a breath of the pillow that was originally behind me.
The scent on the pillow was spicy and deep. Like Demitri. Remembering that this was the bed he was borrowing, I sat up and looked around the room. His bag was sitting on the top of the dresser.
Getting out of the bed, I wobbled towards the living room after fighting with the door handle for longer than I would like to admit.
Luca was on the couch, lounged back, clearly sleeping, his phone close by his side. Demitri was gone, and so was my keycard that I set on the table. If I really wanted to know where Demitri had gone, I could just call Maddox. I didn’t though. I knew if he was gone; he was needed.
I sat on the couch and watched Luca for longer than I should have. But he looked peaceful laying there. Checking the time on the stove, it was late, around ten. There was no way I was going to be able to sleep tonight. The light pounding in my head was more aggravating than it was painful.
I wondered if Luca had eaten dinner before he had laid down, settling on waking him up. I was careful to do so. Marco had definitely scared me a few times when I had to wake him up suddenly.
Staying slightly farther back, I touched Luca’s chest and gave him a gentle shake. He didn’t wake. I shook him a little harder, getting closer. He scared the shit out of me when I went to shake him harder still and he flipped his eyes open, looking right at me suddenly. I ripped my hand off his chest and held it over my chest.
“What time is it?” He asked, stretching out on the couch, before he started to sit up.
“Around ten pm. I woke you up because I was worried you hadn’t eaten. I didn’t want you sleeping here on the couch all night, either.”
“I didn’t, I was working.”
“Do you know where Demitri went?” I asked.
“He isn’t back yet?” Luca said, looking actually confused.
“No, is he supposed to be?” I said.
“He left after he took you to the spare room to sleep. That was hours ago. There was a shipment issue and Sasha called for a hand. That was at or around six.”
“You didn’t go?” I asked, being nosey.
“Maddox and Alessio both told me to stay here. They had enough hands for the job.”
“Hmm. That sounds like stolen shipments again.” I muttered.
“Does that happen a lot to Maddox?” Luca asked.
“More in the last few months, before we didn’t have that issue so often. Now we have gangs trying to move on to our territory. Maddox makes an example out of them and they stay away for a few months and then they try again.”
“You know a lot about the issues, for someone who is just his lawyer and cousin.”
“Sometimes I am privy to more conversations than I would like to be. If I’m being honest.”
“That has to be hard.”
“You have no—-”
My phone was going off loudly. I hunted it down and put it up to my ear.
“Hello.”
“Get suited. You need to go get Demitri from the local police station. In the spare warehouse, they found Demitri trying to get back in the warehouse, and they arrested him for breaking and entering. I tried to politely tell them he was my employee checking on our warehouse, but they are refusing to let him go.”
“And Sasha?”
“He is attempting to pull some strings, but they are refusing to let Dem go. So please kindly go fucking get him.”
“I’m on it. I’ll call you when I arrive at the station.”
Luca looked at me and waited till I hung up to speak.
“What happened?”
“Demitri got arrested by a neighbouring police force and I need to go spring him. They are refusing to let him go.”
While I went to the bedroom and got dressed, Luca chatted with me.
“This has been a shitty day, hasn’t it?”
“You’re telling me, first my ex. More of my ex, now this shit.”
“Demitri is going to be one of two ways, livid or deathly calm.” Luca said. What he said was straight facts, too. There was only one of two ways that Mafia men handled being arrested, even if it’s accidental. Deathly calm or livid.
“I’m praying he is calm and keeps his anger at bay if he is angry. Makes my job easier.” I said.
Grabbing my bag, I slipped my boots on and fixed my pants. Double checking over myself in the bathroom mirror before I walked down the hall, tucking my phone in my breast pocket.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can. You’re welcome to whatever. If you need anything, here is my number. Text me.” I said, digging through my bag and finding one of my cards and passing it to him before grabbing my wallet and my keys. Rushing down the hall and into the elevator, I texted Maddox, telling him I was leaving now.
Comments (1)
See all