Sebastian finished cooking, and when it was time to wash up, he pulled me with him, and he washed the blood off my hands twice before he let me leave. “Wait in the living room and don’t even bother looking in the kitchen, Rhory.”

“Ok. I understand.”

To be completely honest, I didn’t want to see what the kitchen looked like right now. All I knew was that there was blood in there, and he had called someone to come clean up the mess. That was it.

Sebastian brought the food out and all the utensils. “Do you need me to help you with anything?” I asked.

“No, sit there and wait,” he said, heading back into the kitchen. In the kitchen, I heard him say that if the mess wasn’t cleaned up tonight, he’d hang a tarp in the doorway to hide the kitchen. We ate in silence, sitting on the couch, and he would look back at the doorway before he continued to eat. If he was that worried about it, it really must have been bad.

One man came from the kitchen and was careful to make sure he wasn’t tracking anything to the livingroom. He bent down and said something in Sebastian’s ear, and he set his plate down on the coffee table.

“Rhory, pause eating and come here.” He said and made the ‘come here’ movement with his fingers. Setting my plate on the table, I walked over to him, and he forcefully pushed me onto the couch. He pulled my head and shoulders into his lap before he covered my eyes. “Don’t fight me on this, Rhory.”

“Ok.” I said and let his hand rest on my eyes without fusing about it. I wasn’t stupid. This had to do with the mess in the kitchen, but I had no clue why I couldn’t see what was going on.

He uncovered my eyes a bit later and went to the front door to check on whatever it was they were doing. I wanted to know too, so I followed him, and stopped just before the kitchen door. Something sticky, wet, and cold wrapped around my feet as I stopped there. Reaching down to wipe my feet, the substance coloured my fingers a deep red. Taking another step forward, I took in the kitchen’s horror.

Deep red blood was everywhere, from the table to puddles of it on the floor. I didn’t miss the mark where they had clearly removed something, and my stomach turned as I realized the item removed was a body. He killed someone in the kitchen right then. No wonder he had sent me to go deal with my bed. He didn’t want me to witness him killing someone.

“Rhory. I believe I told you to stay away from the kitchen.” Sebastian said as he slipped his hand over my eye again.

“I stepped in blood just before the doorway. It was an accident.” I said and let my back rest against his chest. Swallowing the lump of dryness in my throat.

“You’re going to give yourself nightmares.” He huffed, uncovering my eyes, and picked me up. “Clean up this fucking puddle here.”

He carried me to the bathroom and set me on the edge of the tub. He turned the water on and grabbed a bottle of regular body wash from the shelf. “I’m going to wash your feet. After you dry them off, go watch tv in my room. I still have things to deal with regarding that mess in the kitchen.”

“Alright.” I muttered and looked away from the tub as he washed the blood off. It was so much more blood than earlier. It was caked on my feet. “Please tell me this isn’t normal.” I breathed.

“It’s not. I rarely kill people in my kitchen.”

“Right, well, that’s good then. But I think you might be right about the nightmares. I can still the cold sticky blood on my feet even now, submerged in warm soapy water.” I confessed and looked up at the ceiling. “I’ve never seen that much blood…”

“Most people never do, unless you’re one of those few unfortunate people.”

His hands massaged my feet as he cleaned them, and it felt good. I leaned closer to him without realising it until his body heat was radiating through my shoulder and arm. Moving away from him, I made the mistake of looking down at the rose-tinted water and I was thankful that the scent of body wash covered that of the iron scented blood.

“I’m going to hire someone to rip up all the flooring and whatever can’t be cleaned. I’ll refrain from killing around you again, Rhory.” He said, as he drained the water out of the tub before rinsing my feet once more. He moved to get me a towel, kneeling behind me.

“Spin around so I can dry your feet.” He said, and the softness of his voice was off-putting. Doing as he asked, I spun around, and he dried my feet off before he let me leave the bathroom. “Go to my room, Rhory.”

“I am. I heard you tell me the first time.”

In his bedroom, I sat on the bed and looked around for the remote. Reaching under the pillows, my hand grazed something cooled and made of metal. Slowly wrapping my fingers around the object, I swallowed deeply, pulling it out from under the pillows. The black handgun almost looked fake, but I knew better. Lifting his pillow, two more weapons were underneath, two more hunting knives to be correct. Carefully, I moved the weapons to the top of the nightstand. Him touching me in this bed was one thing, though uncomfortable. I could deal with that. The gun and knives. I couldn’t do that. Not under the pillows. That gave me such horror filled thoughts. It was just an accident waiting to happen.

After making sure there were no more weapons in the bed, I laid back into the pillows. Just like before, I found his bed far more comfortable than the one in the room he gave me. Wiggling my way under his blanket, I settled into the bed and waited for him to come in. His pillows had the same scent on them that the body wash from the bathroom. The scent alone was nice but breathing it in off his pillows felt lewd. My heart did something strange when I thought I might get caught, and I forced my eyes closed.

I heard him come into the room a bit later, and I made the mistake of opening my eyes. The towel wrapped around his waist hung dangerously low, until he dropped just removed it, his back turned to the bed. Through slightly parted eyes, I watched him move around the end of the bed, the muscles in his back and ass flexing under his skin. Betrayed by my body, I was turned on by watching this man just moving.

After this morning, how could I even react this way to him?

I didn’t understand the reaction I was having, and the very thought of looking away at the moment or closing my eyes felt like a loss. When he turned around, our eyes met, and I flushed in embarrassment. His hair was wet and messy, dripping water down his chest. “Rhory, I thought you were sleeping.”

My mouth felt like I was chewing sand, and I found it hard to find words to explain my way out of this. Sitting up, I slapped my hand over my eyes, or rather I tried to, but I hit my nose, and I felt the blood running down my face. Scrambling to keep the blood from hitting the blankets, I stood up too fast, and Sebastian was the only thing that kept me from falling on the floor.

He pinched my nose and tilted my head forward, grabbing a tissue from the top of the dresser in his room and wiping my face.

“Pinch your nose while I get you another tissue and put something on.” He said, and I grabbed my nose when he let go. I went to tilt my head back, and he pushed my head forward. “Tip forward, not back.”

“I got it.”

“Quiet, and just pinch your nose.”

He moved to get dressed, and when he turned, I lifted my head and reached out my free hand and touched the tattoo that went down his back and over his ass cheeks. My fingers moved on their own and I followed the ink until he was out of reach.

“Rhory.”

“Wow. I’m sorry I---hm.” I muttered, tipping my head down again. What the hell was I doing? I had clearly rejected and regretted his touch this morning, and now I was freely touching him, intimately.

He made his way back to bed, a pair of sweatpants on his body, again hanging dangerously on his hips, much like that fucking towel. He moved my hand and while looking at my nose; he got closer to me.

“Do I have a fever?” I asked. He looked a bit confused, but used his hand to check my temperature.

“I don’t believe you do.”

“Huh. Strange.” I muttered and reached up, pulling him closer to me again. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m pretty sure, Rhory.”

“Check again.” I said.

He sighed, but this time he bent down to check and when he leaned in to stabilize himself, I leaned forward and pressed my lips against his. The taste of mint toothpaste was still fresh. He pulled back for a moment, looking me up and down, before he kissed me again, this time rougher than before.

When he stopped kissing me this time, he pulled a hand through his hair. “I don’t fucking get you. You reject me this morning, but kiss me now. Mark my words Rhory, I am going to fuck you. That is one thing I will fucking get.” He grabbed a shirt from the closet as he left the room, and I felt like I had got soaked to the bone with ice water.