"Do you think we forgot anything?" Lake asked for the umpteenth time as Davian drove them to the airport.
There was a procession of three more cars following because Lake had wanted to take as many things along as possible.
"We didn’t," Davian reassured him on reflex, "We went through everything together before we left the house."
It wasn’t often got to see Lake so worked so Davian was having a great time with his fussy mate, and it was just the two of them in the car, about to go to an island where no one needed his mate’s attention. Davian was over the moon.
"You haven’t touched the sandwiches I made you," Davian pointed out, his eyes dimming.
Lake glanced down at his legs like he had forgotten the carefully packed sandwiches were there. In the bustle of this morning, Davian had found the time to make him a quick snack. Lake treasured the carefully made sandwiches but he was too strung up to bring himself to eat them.
Mentally he went over the things he wanted to take along for the vacation, did he remember to carry the vintage camera Caspian had bought for him? Had he forgotten to take out the bag that held his swim trunks...
"I feel like you care more about everything else but me," Davian’s pouting voice broke into his repetitive thoughts.
Lake looked over to see his mate wilting, he was hunched over the steering wheel like a sad puppy with drooping ears. "Of course not," Lake quickly refuted, placing a comforting hand on Davian’s arm. "I just want our vacation to be perfect."
Davian knew that but it didn’t hurt to hear it, "You were up pretty late last night, and it’s already mid-morning. You need your strength so I made you sandwiches, there’s even hot chocolate in the thermos."
Lake bit back a smile at Davian’s little rant, he had a feeling that the untouched food in his hands had everything to do with his husband’s sour mood. So even though he didn’t have an appetite, he carefully ate the quick breakfast Davian made for him, his cheeks puffing out as he chewed.
Davian glanced over as often as he could while driving, starting to wish that he had had someone else drive so that he could get a front-stage view of his mate eating what he cooked.
"Aren’t you hungry?" Lake asked, a small hand already placing a small bite-sized piece of sandwich in front of his face.
"I ate while I made them for you," He eased his mate’s worries but it didn’t stop him from eating what was offered, pulling Lake’s fingers into his mouth and sucking on the digits.
Lake pulled away like he had been bitten, his face flushed, "Let’s eat together on the plane."
Davian agreed eagerly, the sun felt warmer this morning, like it was coming from within, like it was sitting right next to him, and maybe it was.
Nikolai hadn’t intended to leave Angelo in the ’safe room’ all night, he had just been occupied with other things. He unlocked the door and pushed it open without much thought expecting to find the assassin sitting on the bed glaring at him.
But instead, the door didn’t budge like there was something in the way, his first thought then was that Angelo had pulled a reverse card to keep the door locked. He tried again and was surprised when the door opened with ease, the person he had been thinking about standing right in front of the door.
There was no glaring, there didn’t even seem to be even a little bit of defiance left in Angelo, he looked beaten down, pale green eyes distant, eyebags underneath them.
The empty space between Nikolai’s ribs felt odd, if he didn’t know better, he would say he felt guilty.
Angelo broke the silence, "I won’t cut my hair," He said agreeably, "Don’t put me in the safe room anymore."
Nikolai was speechless, Angelo’s tone almost seemed pleading, none of the fire in his eyes, just exhaustion. He knew that Angelo had an aversion to sex but he didn’t think it would be this rough on the assassin.
"Come with me," He muttered, turning around to lead the way. He had planned to make the assassin clean up so he could drag him around again like he did last night but he couldn’t bring himself to do it after taking a look at him.
Angelo was in a bit of a daze as he walked after Mafia King Nikolai, the entire night had been an endless stretch of nightmares. At one point, he couldn’t differentiate between reality and his dreams, he really didn’t want to go back in there, he would rather have all his bones broken.
"Go take a shower," Nikolai said shortly when he led the way back to Angelo’s room.
Angelo was completely drained, he was pale, and even his hair was matted like he had dug his fingers through them consistently. He didn’t argue, obediently going over to the bathroom.
Nikolai frowned, he didn’t side of Angelo, it was like looking at a beaten-down dog, there was no fun in it. He watched the assassin slip into the bathroom, a thoughtful look in those blue eyes, he had some suspicions, but Angelo would never willingly tell him, and he would never ask.
Nikolai arranged for food to be brought up, preparing a glass of wine and leaving a note behind. Even as he started down the stairs, the thought of letting Angelo go, either by killing him off or releasing him didn’t cross his thoughts, his mood a little darker than usual as he stepped into the parking lot.
Angelo knew he had overdone it with the hot water this time, his skin was tender to the touch but he could barely feel it. All he could feel were cold hands on his arms, his waist, around his neck.
It took a while for him to notice he was alone in the room, and even longer to notice the food left for him. He was in a bathrobe, one that accentuated how unhealthily thin he was.
He slowly walked over to the tray of food, zeroing in on the note.
’Eat before you drink the wine.’
It was from Mafia King Nikolai, blunt and straight to the point. Angelo knew exactly what that meant, his tired eyes focused on the glass of red wine.
At any other time, he would have drunk the wine without eating a bite but he was really wary of doing anything that would have him spending an entire night in the ’safe room’. So he cleaned up the plates methodically, even changing into a hoodie and comfortable pants before he emptied the glass of wine.
He didn’t question why Mafia King Nikolai needed drugs to sleep, just like the Mafia King didn’t try to probe about anything about him even though he could easily get answers.
Angelo curled up on the bed, the windows were drawn and the room was well furnished but it didn’t feel unfamiliar. With the sweet dark taste of red wine on his tongue, his eyes drooped heavily, the tension in his body bleeding out.