Chapter 14 Chapter 14
He stepped back turned and walked a few steps. “Eat something you look like you might pass out and I do not want my possession collapsing tonight.” I moved to the edge of the hall then slipped away into the crowd. I watched him talk to my father and his, Vito behind them like a shadow. Vito kept looking at me confused tense and I tried not to think about it. I used the moment no one was watching and vanished. It had been three hours since I slipped back to the university and hid in my dorm. I lay on my bed finally able to breathe again. My roommate was gone thank the gods. My head spun with Vito’s behavior, the funeral, her voice in my mind, and the wedding that nightmare of a wedding and my husband the word felt wrong even just thinking it. Alessandro would not leave my thoughts his stare his words above all his kiss and the absolute certainty with which he took what he wanted like I was already his. I rolled onto my side buried my face in the pillow as if that would help. At some point I fell asleep exhausted body and brain burned empty. I realized something was wrong when the mattress dipped. Someone behind me. I turned half asleep eyes half open. “Flynn if you…” I froze. That was not Flynn. “You hid well. But you should know something. I always take what is mine.” I was wide awake. My heart slammed against my ribs. Alessandro De Luca was sitting on my bed. “How the hell did you get in here?” My voice shook but he only raised a brow. “You really thought you could just leave?” He stood slowly not angry not rushed just sure. “You said yes Nicolai. In front of witnesses. What did you think that means?” I backed up until my spine hit the wardrobe. “It was forced everyone saw that you cannot be serious.” I jumped out of the bed backing to my desk in nothing but boxers. He followed fast too fast. Then the door opened. Flynn stumbled in froze. “Bro since when are you into dudes?” Alessandro turned his head slowly. No shock no pause just that cold stare that drained the room of air. “And you are?” “Flynn he is my roommate.” I cut between them grabbed Alessandros wrist pulled him with me into the hallway. The light flickered dull neon buzzing. I shoved him back. “Why are you here?” “Because you are mine and your place is not here. Your place is with me. Pack your things we are leaving.” “You are insane I am not furniture and I am not yours.” He stepped closer dangerously calm. “Say that again.” His eyes locked on mine. “I do not belong to you.” Something flickered there maybe I imagined it. “Then tell me why you are not screaming why you did not run why you look at me like you do not know whether you hate me or just cannot figure out how to get rid of me.” Silence. Then “You have five minutes. Or I carry you out naked.” “You think you can threaten me and I will obey? I have imagined being carried naked out of worse places but not by you.” He did not react. “Four minutes.” “You want to know why I do not run because I am Petrovich and I do not run from men like you.” “Good,” he whispered. Then he turned walked away and left me shaking hearing her voice again. You promised Nic never again.
Alessandro’s POV
I went back into the room and of course that useless roommate of his was still there hovering around him like a confused pigeon while they stood in front of a canvas. “Man you cannot just throw the painting out it is half your grade for the semester.” The door clicked shut behind me and the sound alone made Nicolai’s back stiffen. He did not lift his head but I saw the tension go through him like electricity. He still wore only those boxers loose enough on his hips that if he ran one more step he would end up naked in front of me and for a moment I hated that thought because it felt too real. I pushed it away and stepped closer. Now the roommate noticed me and blinked like an idiot. “Hey you are that guy from earlier.” I raised an eyebrow. “I am not that guy from earlier. I am the man he is married to.” Nicolai snorted. “Forced married.” I chose to ignore him. My eyes slid to the canvas and for a second even I forgot to breathe. There was Nicolai small laughing running through a field with a younger Selena and Vito all sunlight all innocence all softness none of it belonged in our world but it was there in paint vivid almost alive. I stepped closer studying every line every brushstroke that should not exist in the life of a man who carried death in his shadow. The roommate shifted nervously and I dismissed him with one simple sentence. “Leave.” “Hey hang on I—” “Now.” I did not raise my voice but the moment the word left my mouth he reacted like prey. He grabbed his phone murmured some nonsense about the lounge and got the hell out. As soon as the door shut I moved even closer till I stood directly behind Nicolai. I could feel the heat rising from him still trembling still refusing to face me. “Why this painting?” I asked quietly. “Because she loved discovering the world with me and Vito. I started it when she was still alive. It was for her.” He said it empty. Not cold. Dead. Like the pain was burned too deep to show. I watched the small versions of them running in that impossible summer and for a moment I saw the version of him that never should have existed the one he killed the moment he chose to live in our world again. “She would have loved it,” I said softly. “Do you want to take it with you and finish it?” Slowly he turned to me. Still only in those damned boxers. His eyes hollow. “No. I never want to see it again.”