Chapter 18 #2
"But not while you have to protect me." I read the subtext, and he doesn't deny it.
"Just-" There are barely there voices nearby, distracting Alexei from me.
He frowns, searching the space until he finds the window. Instinctively, he knows what to do next and goes to the window, opening it as he peers down. He lets out a soft curse before he calls out to the people below. "Look up and don't shoot, asshole."
"Rushkoff?" Nic's voice.
"These better not be yours." Anton's voice is a growl.
"Do they fucking look like mine?" Alexei scoffs at the insult.
I rush to the window and he lets me push up next to him.
"Uncle Anton!"
Nic's eyes shoot up to me. "Oh, thank Christ."
"Sage?" Freddie.
"Anton, Freddie, I'm here."
Nic doesn't miss the fact that I'm not addressing him. You'd think a life or death situation would be enough to thaw my annoyance towards him. After all, it usually doesn't take anything for me to forget my pride and run right back into Nicholas's bed.
They're sitting ducks out there, idling in the garden. But we're sitting ducks in here too. I panic, looking between my family down there and the boy who saved me up here.
"You need to jump down to him, princess." Alexei's voice is soft as his lips brush my ear, pushing back an errant strand of hair.
"Sage, jump to me," Nic says.
I look down at him before turning contemplative eyes on Alexei.
"What about you?" I whisper.
"I'll be good. Go," he says and I see the linger of a smile on his lips. "I'll paint your little theater red for you. You just watch."
He nudges me towards the window. Nic opens his arms for me and I cannot believe I'm about to do something so incredibly stupid.
My legs tremble as I slip out of the window and onto the ledge.
Closing my eyes with little bravery, I yelp as I leap down, and Nicholas catches me, effortlessly cradling me in his arms. I don't even get enough time to look up to see Alexei, to ponder if he's okay, and will be okay, before the three of them are on me.
"They're here for her again," Freddie says.
"Again?!" I blanch, still being held bridal style in Nic's arms.
"Take her until this is over, brother," Anton says. "We'll clean up this fucking mess."
I don't get the chance to protest. Nic doesn't put me down, he just runs across the lawn at full speed. I can see where this is going. There's a storage cellar under the stables. It's supposed to be our secret evac point.
"Thank fuck you're okay," he breathes as he exerts himself with the run. He could just put me down, but I don't mention that. Despite my pride, I feel safe in his arms and still, even though he humiliated me again, that's exactly where I want to be.
"There were men coming out of my room," I say.
"You weren't in it?" he asks.
"No, I was bothering Alexei."
"You weren't where you were supposed to be."
I hear the subtext. You weren't where you were supposed to be, and it might have saved your life.
Nic shuts the door to the underground cellar above our head. Securing it with a bolt and pressing the panic button to seal it with steel before he climbs down.
I sit with my back against the wall and my arms hugging my knees, surrounded by bottles of expensive wine and the stale smell of damp stone.
"That should do it," Nic says, brushing the dirt off his hands and coming to sit down against the wine rack across from me.
"Will they be okay?" I ask.
"They know what they're doing," Nic nods. "We just need to convince them that you're long gone and the attackers will either die or give up."
"Because they're after me." It's not a question. It's an accusation.
Nicholas doesn't say anything, and I can see him visibly sharpening. I'm not getting any answers out of him tonight. If ever.
I scoff out loud. "Whatever."
We sit in silence for a moment. I can't hear any of the noises of fighting or see any bursts of light from the fires, so the cellar must be well insulated.
My mind wanders to what we've left behind at the mansion.
I left Alexei alone, with no less than five men still chasing him.
Five men who think he was protecting the very thing they'd come for.
For some incredible reason that I cannot fathom the motivation of... I worry about Alexei Rushkoff.
I don't want to go back to that mansion and find that he's not in it.
"It's quiet," I say.
"The cellar is soundproof," Nic confirms. He sits with his legs stretched out in front of him and his arms folded, not looking at me.
This whole time, he's jumped at the chance to be my bodyguard.
To keep me close and to keep me safe. Now he looks reluctant to be here, and I wonder if I should tell him to just piss off.
To leave me and go fight alongside his brothers.
Even though being trapped inside another cellar makes the scars on my back and belly tingle with nervous energy.
So badly that part of me thinks being out in the open would be a less painful reminder of my trauma.
"How will we know when it’s safe?" I ask, watching the ceiling like I can see right through it.
"Anton will come and get us. He knows where we are."
I nod and a tear slips down my face.
Nic sighs, erasing the space between us. "Don't cry, Sage." He comes closer still and wipes a tear from my face. When he sees I'm not going to stop crying, he settles for sitting beside me with his back against the wall too.
He wraps his hand around my shoulder and pulls me in tight to his side.
"Why are you so hot and cold to me, Nic?" I ask, the words coming out on a restrained sob.
He sighs.
"We're obviously compatible," I say, the most tactful way to point out that we're really good at sex. "What's the problem? Do you not-"
"That's not," Nic sighs again. "That's not the problem, Sage."
"I have feelings for you," I say. "Can you not see it?"
He's silent for a long time. It's only when I think he's not going to answer me that he finally does.
"I know," he whispers. "I have feelings too. Doesn't change what I said."
"This is still because of my father?" I clench my fists.
"It's more complicated than that," he says, resting his head on top of mine. "It's just complicated, Sage, for lots of reasons. One of which is... was your father. Now, Anton. Victor. It's not appropriate for me to be chasing after you. We both know that."
"Who cares what's appropriate?" I roll my eyes.
Nicholas says nothing, which only makes me angrier. "You do," I huff. "You care what's appropriate."
"I'm not right for you," Nic says, jaw grinding and voice tense. "Just leave it at that. We're not a thing, Sage, and we don't have a future."
He blows out a breath that I feel skating across the top of my hair from where he cradles me. "Please, accept it. Please stop making me say it."