Stick Together
Roman pulled the chair out for her and she sat down. She was a black dress, the neck wrapped around her shoulders, but covered her cleavage. It came down around her knees, black high heels. She was wearing the pearl necklace he had got her and her hair was done at the top of her head in a bun. He sat down across from her and grabbed the menu, she leaned on her elbow and watched as he sifted through the pages.
The restaurant was dimly lit under candlelight, with a glass vase with a rose in it at the center of each table. It was extremely expensive, but she wasn't surprised. It was, however, their first time going there, it was their anniversary after three years of being happily in a relationship. His eyes looked up from the menu at her and his tongue came out to lick his wooden lips.
"What are you looking at? I thought you wanted to come here." He was snappy, mostly because she insisted he didn't clear out the restaurant like he always did. So many people were staring and whispering amongst themselves and most of the conversation was about him.
"I did and I am very happy that you brought me here, Roman." He sighed and looked back down at the menu. She looked around the restaurant, woman were glaring at her as if she was a monster, they were glaring at him just as much.
"I am gonna go to the bathroom. I will be back."
"Hurry up, will ya?"
"You know what I want. Can you order for me?"
"Sure, sure." He waved her off as she left for the bathroom. She brought her purse with her, powdering her nose and reapplying her makeup. Moments later after her two woman walked in, one with brown hair and brown eyes, the other with auburn hair and hazel eyes. They stood on either side of her, prepping themselves as she was.
"So... You with Mr. Sionis?" Lina stopped applying her mascara, she looked at the brunette through the mirror.
"That's not really any of your business, but yes."
"Hmm... Shocked. He could go for someone much more prettier." The blond added, then they both left the bathroom leaving Lina to stare at herself in the mirror. She was beautiful... Right? She put her makeup away and stared back up at her reflection. She could see the dim in her eyes and despite telling herself that Roman thought she was beautiful, she still felt ugly after what they said. She was going back to her former self, a woman that rarely dressed up because she was too insecure with her body.
She went back out to the table and sat down across from him, the breadsticks were already put out as was the wine. She stared down at her empty plate looking into her reflection.
"What's wrong baby doll?" Her eyes snapped up to meet his and she licked her lips.
"Um..." She forced a smile and giggled nervously, placing her palms flat on the table. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
"Hmmm." Her eyes flickered over to across the restaurant, while approaching the table she had seen where the blonde and brunette were sitting. They had their dates on either side of them, she felt a hand engulf hers and turned her gaze to Roman.
"You aren't alright. Something is wrong."
"Nothing is wrong, okay?" She placed her other hand over his and caressed it.
"Really I am fine, Roman." He cocked his head to the side and took a deep breath.
"Good because tonight is your night. I want you to know that." The side of her lip quirked up slightly and her heart thundered.
"I love you."
"Love you to. Now why don't you move that pretty ass over here." She rolled her eyes, but pulled her hands from his to move her seat beside him. He placed a hand on her knee and as of natural habit caressed it. They talked about movies and money, trips that they had taken previously and old times.
Their food arrived and they are in silence, every so often he would wipe his mouth with the napkin and rub her leg with his hand. She started to get the impression he was warming her up for later and she didn't mind so much.
The waiter came to their table, but it was unusual as they had just ordered desert.
"Sir, the booth over there was wondering if you and your lady date would like to join them." Roman and Lina looked over to the booth, Lina knew the brunette and blonde who had waved at them when they looked over. Roman shook his head and turned back to the waiter.
"Tell them that we are celebrating our anniversary." The waiter nodded and went back to their booth to tell the couples. Lina tightened her grip on his hand and brought it up to her mouth to kiss his knuckles. He leaned in closer and pressed his forehead against hers.
"I wish you would poison them instead."
"I could do that if the waiter wouldn't be such a pussy about it." She averted her eyes down, her head looking down at his hand which she held tightly in her lap. "What's wrong? You are acting the same way you did when you left the bathroom."
"It's just..." She glanced back over at the booth, they were glaring right back. The two broads had been expecting to catch Roman's attention to night, but he had his eyes on her. However, this did nothing to Lina's inner conscious. Roman knew about her past, she was bullied through high school and early college. Even as a dancer things were difficult for her, other girls were always jealous of her talent.
"It's just what?" He put two fingers under his chin and forced her to look back at him.
"They said you deserve a prettier girl."
"Who?" He spat out, his rage surfacing, she didn't need to answer. He switched his hand on her lap to grip hers and squeezed it. "You don't listen to those whores because you have me and they don't. Why do you think I buy you all this stuff?" He raised his other hand up lifted the pearls on her neck. "I want everyone to know that you belong to one person and one person alone. That you, the most beautiful woman in the world is mine... Well..." He held her hand up and caressed his thumb across her knuckles. "I would like you to be mine permanently." Her expression remained stoic, she hadn't expected this, her surprise was hidden under a mask. A mask she had used many times before, but she knew if it was what she thought it was she would cry out with happiness and kiss him all over his face, then suck his tongue so hard it nearly hurt him but in a good way.
He gestured his head down towards her hand, which he held her palm over his and waved his other hand over it. A ring appeared on her finger and she gasped, it was beautiful, the diamond on it was humongous and it felt slightly heavy on her finger. She looked back up at him and smiled, he brought her hand up to the mask of his lips again. Not once breaking eye contact like the romantic man he was.
"You have to teach me how to do that someday." She whispered, her breath almost gone, he pressed his forehead against hers again.
"I will teach you all you want as long as you say yes."
"I never said no."
"But you never said yes." She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth.
"Maybe." She chuckled at the tightening of his jaw beneath the mask.
"Stop teasing me."
"Is it not obvious already?!" She exclaimed with a bright smile, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him expecting his tongue to shoot out into her mouth. Her hands held either side of his face and he laughed victoriously when she pulled away. "Yes! A million yeses, an infinity yeses."
"Waiter!" He shouted, grabbing her hand in his and standing up. He reached into his pocket and threw a roll of hundreds on the table. The waiter walked over, a curiosity on his expression. "You see that booth over there." Roman gestured to the booth across the restaurant, the waiter nodded. "Tell the cook that I want a special order for them. And also package our dessert and bring it home for yourself."
"Uh... Y-Yes Sir. Thank you, Sir." He then walked her away, it seemed like they owned the world after that. She looked over her shoulder at the booth who was glaring at them. She didn't care, she had her man.
"When we get home you know where to go." She nodded, she knew exactly where they were headed and she couldn't have been happier to know that this time it would be different. They would be making love as a soon to be married couple, not girlfriend and boyfriend. That meant the world to her. She would be proud to take on the Sionis name, only because he shared it.
Jealous Much
After the wedding things seemed to settle down in the business, but as usual there was always some sort of illegal activity involved. Lina was allowed to quit her job and work alongside Sionis, something he wanted to do before, but she protested independence. He trusted her in controlling the finances of mostly everything he ever owned, but just because he loved her and she was his wife that didn't meant she had freedom to do as she pleaded. With Business, it remained business, their relationship was nothing when it came to business, simply built upon the boundaries of respect. But behind close doors, he did everything to make sure she knew that she was the only gal for him.
The business became more demanding and sometimes one would go up to the penthouse when another wouldn't, or neither of them would get sleep for hours on end. The weekends were there breaks... Sometimes. Roman got a new assistant, pretty, but he made sure she kept her distance. It wasn't that big of a deal to him when she would be flirtatious with him, he would not reciprocate. It wasn't until Lina got an assistant that he realized it mattered a lot.
Lina always complained about his assistant's flirting and he thought nothing of it. The day he watched that young, ambitious boy enter his building, he nearly flipped. Lina told him it was her assistant, she knew what she was doing. He was young and handsome, pretty much a direct likeness to his assistant.
Lina and Roman then began competitions, they would make bets on whose assistant was the best and somehow hers would always win. She would then explain that he went to college at a young age, having graduated earlier from high school at an advanced level. Roman despised the boy he would know as Collin. Collin flirted with Lina on a daily basis, but as Roman ignored the flirting, Lina did as well.
A month or so passed and then Roman had had enough, he had cracked open like an egg, the tension releasing from him as his annoyance turned to anger. He went to Lina, she was sitting on the couch. Paperwork stacked up on the coffee table, a dossier file open on her lap, and a cup of coffee on the corner of the table. She was wearing one of his button up shirts, black pajama shorts and bunny slippers. She was wearing those glasses she always use to wear when she previously worked as his assistant. She never stopped wearing them as she couldn't read close up otherwise, so eventually he found them to be cute on her.
"Lina, we need to talk." She looked up from the files, a knowing smile forming on her face.
"Alright, sit down Roman." He did as she requested, her feet finding themselves on his lip. He mindlessly removed the slippers and began to caress them, she had such soft
feet. "You can tell me anything. What's on your mind?" She looked back down to the files on her lap, multitasking as she listened to him.
"I hate your assistant, you should get a new one."
"But why?" Her voice was teasing, she knew exactly why.
"Because he is too flirty with you, he wants you Lina and I don't like it."
"Your assistant is just the same, I don't like her. Last time we talked about her, you said that you wouldn't fire her because she was valuable. I happen to think otherwise."
"Is this entire dilemma because you wanted to prove something to me?" She snorted and shook her head, her glasses slid down to the tip of her nose and she gazed at him.
"No, I needed someone to take care of the little stuff in terms of finances. Collin isn't going."
"Well, I don't like him."
"Well, I don't like her." He squeezed her foot before shoving it off his lap and standing up.
"Besides don't we have some sort of meeting today or something?"
"Something like that. I'm not telling you what time, you should know." She chuckled when he glared over at her.
"Tanker!" He shouted while staring at her and she looked back down to her book. A goon walked into the penthouse, he stood taller than the others and was one of Sionis's body guards.
"Yes, Boss."
"I want you to-"
"Hey Butcher." She waved at the goon absently and the goon nodded.
"Good to see you missus Sionis. How are ya?"
"I've been good. How are the kids? Do they like the toys I sent them?"
"They love'm and the missus would like to thank you for the makeup."
"Tell her no problem." Roman raised his hands incredulously.
"What the fuck is this?" He glared back over at Lina, who glared right back. "His name isn't Butcher, it's Tanker." He raised his voice at her.
"I call him Butcher and you are gonna have to accept that." She raised her voice right back, Roman's fists clenched.
"What the hell is your problem lately?!" He yelled at her.
"I'm gonna go." The goon muttered while slowly easing his way towards the door.
"No, you stay!" He pointed the goon and the goon stopped in his place, visibly shaking with fear.
"What is my problem, Roman?!"
"You've been bitchy so much lately."
"I'm just busy." She snapped at him, eyes scanning back down to her work.
"Busy?! You are fucking busy?! Well isn't that funny. You wouldn't even be working right now if it wasn't for me!" She pulled the files off her lap and threw it onto the table as she stood up.
"You wouldn't be able to live without me." She said in a heated rage, he growled.
"I don't think you want to test that because I won't hesitate to fucking put you down." Her expression softened, she bit her bottom lip. "Lina, get the fuck out of here! I don't want to see you!" He turned his back to her.
"I have nowhere else to go." She crossed her arms and looked down at the wooden floor.
"Then I guess you have to stay on the streets for a little while."
"Until when?" Her voice was soft now and the will to fight in her had disappeared. They had gotten into arguments before, but he had never kicked her out. There was a reason she was being the way she was, there was a reason she didn't think he was ready for yet.
"Until I call for you. Tanker, take her out." The goon hesitantly walked did as requested, tears stung at the corner of her eyes as she was led out, but she already knew the way. She couldn't tell him. He had kicked her out because she was acting like he needed her more than she did. He didn't need her more, he didn't need her for anything other than affection and that was something that wasn't exactly a necessity.
She stayed outside the Sionis building for what seemed like forever, she was still in her pajamas. Eventually he sent another goon down to collect her and she considered not going back up at all. Her resolve would break and she would tell him, that would be her biggest fear. She went back up to the penthouse floor, Roman was drinking again with his pills.
He put the bottle of Vodka on the counter and leaned against he counter before looking at her again.
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright." She calmly replied, he expected her to come and give him a hug, but she didn't. She went back into the living room and gathered her paperwork, bringing it into their room to work in there. He took a shower and when he got out she was fast asleep, the files stacked on the desk across from the length of the bed. He didn't hold her that night.
A month went on and they talked less, Lina mostly stayed in their room unless she had work to do. She didn't wear the dresses he got her as often as she once did, but he knew she still loved him because the pearls were always around her neck. She would get sick in the mornings, but he completely disregarded it. One day she confronted him while he was working in his office. She walked in wearing a loosely fitting robe that he had gotten for her. She looked scared, upset and depressed.
"What's wrong sugar plum?" He tried to sound comforting to her, it had been a while since they willingly confronted one another on anything, but work or homely necessities.
"I haven't been truthful with you Roman." He should have known, his immediate reaction was that she was cheating on him. He didn't want to believe, but he always questioned why she bothered with a man whose face was covered by a mask for the rest of his life.
"I should have known you would stoop so low..." He grunted out, he stood up and sped around the desk with long strides. He would kill her for hurting him, for breaking his heart like the last one did. "Who is he?" Her eyes widened and she shook her head, she rose her hands up in defense.
"No, no! I didn't. I would never, it's just-" She stopped, it felt so hard to say. She ha never gone through this before and the fact that she had to go through it alone was hard. She needed Roman."
"It's just, what? Who do you think I am?"
"I love you." She whispered, then she picked her hands up to her face and sobbed. Roman sighed and stepped forward into her, wrapping his arms around her.
"I am sorry, I mean it."
"Then why do you keep doing this?"
"You have barely talked to me for a month, Lina. We haven't had sex in a very long time and it's killing me."
"Well expect to wait longer."
"What do you mean?" She didn't know how to say it, it was three simple words. She grabbed his hand and placed it over her stomach, looking up at his face for a reaction. Her stomach had slightly protruded out these past few weeks and the morning sickness was getting better, but still terrible.
"I'm pregnant." She huffed out, closing her eyes, afraid of what he might say.
"I thought it was impossible." He whispered, she heard him gulp, it was silent and she refused to open her eyes. "The doctor said I was sterile. That I couldn't make you pregnant ever." He grabbed her chin and forced her to move her head in his direction. "Look at me." She opened her eyes and stared into his. "Whose is it?" She scowled and pulled his hands away from her, taking a step back.
"It's obviously yours!" She yelled at him, he had never seen her so angry before. "I'm not some whore, Roman! I would never do that to you, you're my husband!" She sniffled and wiped some tears away. "I'm your wife and you still think that I would do that to you, when I said 'yes', I meant it."
"Baby, I'm sorry."
"No. I am pregnant now, I can't do this alone. You are gonna have to put your faith in me, all of it Roman." She crossed her arms and looked at him, he was shocked into silence. His wife was having a child, their child and he was excited and surprised and most importantly enraged that she hadn't told him sooner. But she was scared; he was thinking about the fact he would have a heir, she was thinking about the fact that they were going to have to take care of a child in their business. Roman's family was horrible and he promised from that moment he would never raise this child like they had him.
"I want to have this baby with you." He said, her breath hitched and she nodded.
"I'm sorry, I hadn't told you. I just... I can't... I told myself we would never have one and now-"
"I know, but this should be a good thing." He stepped forward and placed both hands on her shoulders. "We will work together. How far are you in?"
"Three and a half weeks."
"Oh baby, I am so sorry for treating you the way I have." He wrapped his arms around her and she accepted, burying her head into his chest. "We will be alright, we will be just fine." He cooed in her ear, while caressing his fingers through he hair. "I love you."
"I love you more." It was true, but she didn't mind.