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5.
Silver
Groaning, I grapple for my consciousness as the events from earlier wash over me, the fighting, the rescue...the moment when Relic told me who he is. Eyes flaring, I stare up at a high ceiling of what looks like a lighthouse and I’m lying in a narrow bed pushed up against the wall. I tense in alarm when I realize there’s tightness around my wrists and I jerk but nothing happens. I’m tied to the bedposts!
Thrashing, I cry out in fear, worming around on the sheets when Relic’s concerned face transforms above me. “Easy...,” he shushes, sitting down on the edge, “I had to tie you up. You lashed so badly in your sleep, you accidentally scratched yourself.” He nods at my upper arm and I notice the thin scratch but breathe out when his hands go to the ropes and he releases me.
“How long was I passed out?” I whisper and worry flashes in his eyes.
“Less than half an hour or so...” He strokes my hair but I flinch and he clenches his fist, his mouth thinning. “That scared of me now, are you? Because I’m a mobster?”
When I nod, he lets out a curse and I whimper, “Are you going to hurt me?”
“Hurt you?” he growls as if appalled and his profile turns stern. “I’d rather throw myself off the cliffs than hurt you...” Cursing again, he stands up and his shoulders are hard and angry. “Hurt you...,” he says as if it’s unimaginable to him and I can’t help but relax.
“Had I known you were dangerous I would’ve...” I begin but he cuts me off.
“Stayed away from me.” He shoves his hands into his pockets. “I got that. You have anything against mobsters in general or just the Nordic’s?”
Blood drains from my face and I lie, squeaking, “Mobsters in general.”
He gives a curt nod as if he understands but he’s still not happy and I’m struck by a bizarre need to make him happy, despite the anxiety. Whoever this man is, there’s still a need in me to be deeply penetrated by him, body, heart... Maybe it’s the roughness, the protectiveness, the maturity...whatever it is I crave it the way a sugar addict craves the pearly powder. And whatever it is that tortures Relic so much, I want to be the one who saves him from his despair. Once there was a man that I tried to save but it was useless, he didn’t want to be rescued but Relic’s different. There’s actual goodness in him and I drag an inhale when my eyes go to the muscles playing beneath his navy blue sweater.
Does he expect me to stay the night or did he just bring me here because I was knocked out and he couldn’t leave me?
I’m about to ask when there’s a large thump on the roof and I jolt. “What was that?” I cry, “that sounded as if a giant bird just landed.”
The corners of Relic’s mouth curve and he rasps. “It’s the wind, it’s picking up in force and it can get frisky here around the sea.” His face turns determined. “Silver you’re not going anywhere, if that’s what you were thinking.”
“But...”
“I’m tired after everything that happened, the car’s low on gas and the gas station closed. You’ll have to wait until morning, princess.”
He’s not telling the truth. Relic’s not tired at all, there’s enough strength in him to rip out this lighthouse from the ground and I put my chin on top of my pulled up knees. “Will you drive me back home tomorrow then?” To my surprise he doesn’t respond, just shrugs and I feel some unease lick my chest. “Am I being held captive?”
Relic throws me a displeased glance. “Don’t make me the villain when I don’t want to be, when I try really hard not to be.”
“Okay,” I breathe, “fair enough...” I won’t make him the villain then and I look around. As beautiful as this place is in its nautical simplicity, it also feels haunted...but by what I don’t know...maybe a memory, a memory that’s still so fresh that time hasn’t been able to erase it. I know all about those kinds of memories and I bite my lip. “How long have you lived here?”
“Thirteen more years or so,” Relic replies, bending down and picking up logs that he throws into the fire. “I lived in the city before that.”
“Why did you move here?”
He pokes the logs to get the fire to sizzle. “I craved the peace, the tranquility.”
“Peace from what?”
“My past,” he grinds as if he doesn’t want to talk about it and I shift. “You sure ask a lot of questions, little girl.”
Cheeks heating, I lower my gaze. I’m not trying to snoop but I do need to know more about him and something in the back of my mind is pushing me to find out more and more, though Relic doesn’t exactly seem keen on spilling his heart out. He’s a quiet man, a strong man, the kind who could break every bone in his body and still pretend everything’s just fine.
I’ve always needed a male like that in my life. One who almost seems...indestructible and I drag a deep breath when I feel that lick of arousal again. He’s a mobster but maybe I deep down want to be touched by one, be held by danger while it whispers in my ear that it’s perfectly safe. “I don’t know how you did it,” I whisper and he doesn’t look at me but I know he’s listening. “They beat you so much and yet you still managed to reach me, still managed to save me...”
“That’s right.” His big body shudders and he closes his eyes for a moment and when he looks at me there’s so much masculine might in his gaze I almost tear up. “No matter how scarred, no matter how bloody, I’ll always find my way to you,” he rasps and I go lightheaded at the fierceness of his tone.
“Promise,” I pant and he puts a hand over his heart as if taking an oath, nodding.
“I promise.”
