“I… We…I just figured you might like some company, while Nik was out.”
“Yeah, that’s nice and all, but what’s the real reason?” I wasn’t fooled. I knew there was more to it than he was saying.
With a sigh, he relented. “Nikolai thought it best if you weren’t left alone.”
“That sounds more like the truth,” I said, nodding. I was more amused than offended. Zedd on the other hand looked a little hurt.
“Hey! I did volunteer to come around and hang with you, so I wasn’t exactly lying. Of course, we weren’t told that you were a whiz in the kitchen, otherwise, I’m sure I wouldn’t have been the only one.”
“So where is Nikolai at the minute?”
“You know I can’t tell you that. Nikolai gave us strict instructions. When it comes to you - no work talk.” He dumped the spatula in the pan and crossed his arms, doing his best to give me a stern look.
“Picking up Drex after his car breaks down is work talk?” I asked. So therewasmore going on than he was willing to let on…
Zedd laughed. “Hey, I know where you’re going with this, and it’s not going to work!”
“Fine, I’ll give up. For now.” In the meantime, we had a lasagna to finish making.
“It’s Marino. Excuse me,” Drex said as he pulled away from the table to answer his phone.
“It’s unlike Marino to still be working at this time of night.” My eyebrows furrowed in curiosity at his words. Who the fuck was Marino?
The game had suddenly come to a crashing halt, with all the brothers fully focused on Drex as he paced up and down the foyer, I sat silently.
When Drex finally hung up and re-entered the room it was with renewed urgency. “We need to go, Marino’s place on Fifth has been hit.”
“The damage?” Finch asked, starting his own game of back and forth.
“A busted window, some graffiti,” Drex spoke as he pocketed his phone and shrugged on his jacket.
“The money?”
“Some, not all. The alarm went off and the police must have arrived before they could grab it all.”
“Do we know who?”
Before Drex could answer, finally someone realized that the brothers weren’t alone in the room. Nikolai caught my eye across the table as if noticing my presence for the first time since Drex picked up his phone.
“We can discuss this more at the shop. You guys head off, I’ll catch up.” Nikolai cut in, opening his mouth for the first time in a solid ten minutes.
I stared into his eyes trying to get a read on him. Did he not trust me? Or did he not want to frighten me? Being honest, I thought it might’ve been too late for that second one. His large and looming presence had fucking scared me half to death the first time I laid eyes on him.
“Oh.” Zedd was surprisingly the second one to catch on to the fact that I was still, in fact, sitting there, listening to every word they were saying. “Sure thing.”
They quickly filed out the door, Nikolai hung back until we were alone. It was strange that I didn’t really want them - him - to go. I had been starting to enjoy myself. I felt at ease with Drex and Zedd, and it was nice to have company. I’d spent so much time lately alone, or with Nikolai. I didn’t consider myself a social person, but I was starting to miss even just seeing another face.
“I have to go. We can resume this another night.” I nodded because, well, that really wasn’t the reason I was bummed out. I was sour that Nikolai was leaving, again. I knew that he had to work, I heard Drex on the phone. But I often wondered if that was all that he was doing when he left the house at night.
I tidied up and settled myself on the sofa in the theater room. If I had to live anywhere and never leave, it would’ve without a doubt been the theater room. I had yet to figure out how to work the fancy pants DVD player so instead, I flicked through my options on Netflix. The screen in here was huge and curved, like the fancy ones you get in expensive cinemas. It wouldn’t have fit in my old apartment, that was for sure.
I picked something light, a sitcom that sounded funny from the description, to pass the time with. Despite the jokes and the canned laughter that signified I was supposed to be laughing, I gnawed on the inside of my cheek the whole way through the first episode.
I tried to keep my eyes on the screen but often found myself drifting to the clock on the wall. I was not waiting up for Nikolai, I reassured myself for the umpteenth time. I just really liked the theater room, and watching crappy shows that I never normally watch.
Despite my worry, trying it’s best to keep me awake, my eyes got heavier. After a couple of episodes, I felt myself drifting off to sleep. The surround system usually was pretty good at blocking out most outside noises, but the laughing track wasn’t enough to cover a screech from outside. I startled awake at the sound, I couldn’t tell what it was - person or mechanical. I hit pause on Netflix and turned towards the still closed door. And the front door—
A deafening sound erupted behind me. I would recognize that sound in my sleep. Gunfire. More gunfire than I had ever heard before, pounding into the front of the house. My scream broke free before I could stop myself. The smashing of glass windows was only barely audible over the gunfire itself. Luckily, I didn’t think anyone from the outside would have heard my scream. I clapped a hand over my mouth, my scream falling to a whimper, as I got onto the floor.
