I believe there should be one more chapter after this. Is anyone still reading this? I hope I didn't scare everyone off with the last two chapters.
Chapter Ten
Christine could remember the cold metal nose of the gun pressed against her temple. That the man smelled of sweat and fear. Even the cold, intense gaze of Erik as he held a gun in each hand, pointing in opposite directions.
What she did not remember was what happened after Erik had pleaded for her to be released. Her ears rang, her heart pounded, and she felt faint. If it wasn't for the fact that the man was holding onto her tightly, she might have.
The last thing she remembered seeing, before the world went black, was Erik moving forward and a lot of yelling. She squeezed her eyes shut and before she could scream at Erik to stop moving, to stop him from getting hurt or killed, a sudden pain crashed over her head and everything went silent.
When her eyes opened, she was staring at the night sky. It was colder than she remembered. Her brain could not keep up. Hadn't she been in the mafia's warehouse with a gun to her head? Was she dead?
She suddenly realized she was moving. No, being carried. Arms surrounded her and the beating heart against her cheek dulled her senses. She could not lift her head and her eyes did not want to move but she forced them to roll upward at who was holding her, fear striking her heart that she was being held hostage by that sweaty man.
Her body relaxed slightly at the sight of a familiar blurry black mask upon her savior's face. She had never been more thankful to see it.
"Erik," she managed to whisper, incapable of speaking any louder or clearer.
His arms tightened around her protectively as he continued to walk. "I've got you, darling. You're safe."
Christine was relieved by his calm, tenor voice. Her mind swirled in all directions, but she was able to latch on to one for a second. "Nadir…"
"The stupid old man is in the car. When he's healed I will kill him."
Christine tried to frown but the horrible pain in her head prevented her. "No."
Erik didn't reply and instead kept walking, to where she could only assume. The car? Home? Heaven? She couldn't think and her head hurt so bad.
Before she knew it, she was gently placed down on a leather seat and she dimly realized she was in the backseat of her car. Erik didn't hesitate, he closed the door and climbed into the driver's seat. With relief, she saw Nadir on the passenger side, head back against the headrest and breathing heavily.
She wanted to speak with him but she couldn't form the words. Couldn't hold onto a thought.
The car began to move quickly, she could feel. Then, from behind them, a huge explosion sounded that made her jump.
"Erik," she rasped in alarm and he glanced at her from the rear view mirror.
"It's gone, Christine. The warehouse is gone."
She shivered and held her arms, curling up in the backseat to protect herself. She was traumatized and tired and her head hurt. Why wouldn't it stop hurting? "Erik, my head…" She placed a hand to her forehead and winced. The knot under her fingers felt bruised and swollen.
"You most likely have a minor concussion. It'll be alright. I need to get us away from here and then I will take care of you."
"Okay." She looked over at Nadir who still hadn't said anything. Was he alright? "Nadir?"
"I'm fine, Christine. Do not worry, just rest." His voice was tired and hoarse. He did not look back at her and she wondered if he could.
She closed her eyes and rested her head against the seat. This was all her fault. Erik was probably furious with her. But he was alive. That was what mattered.
Erik drove them away from the warehouse, or where it used to be, for a long time. She could not keep track with her head in pieces as it was, but eventually, he came to a stop in a dark motel parking lot.
He looked back at her. "I will be right back. I'm going to get us a room."
She nodded slightly, just enough to not make her head hurt worse but acknowledge his words. He climbed out of the car and disappeared into the lobby.
"Are you alright, Christine?" Nadir suddenly asked and she was relieved to see him struggle to turn and look at her. Her vision was not as blurry as before and so she could see him clearly. His face was bruised and bloodied, his hair disheveled. His eyes were weary with exhaustion, but held concern for her.
"Oh, Nadir. I'm okay. Are you okay? I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have -"
"Do not apologize," he told her gently. His bottom lip was cut and swollen. "This was very much my decision as it was yours. Let's just hope our masked friend does not finish me off."
"I won't let him. You helped me. You got hurt because of me."
"Don't worry, Christine. It's all over."
"What happened?"
"Erik got us out and then blew up the building. It was the explosion you heard," he explained.
"But how? The last thing I knew, that man -"
"Yes. He knocked you out. Thought it would get a rise out of Erik so they could shoot him. It worked but Erik was too fast. A lot of it is a blur in my mind, but I'm pretty sure he took out the whole room."
Christine shuddered. "Did he really?"
Nadir nodded. "You mean a great deal to him. He would move mountains to save you."
Christine's heart softened at the words. If it wouldn't hurt her head so badly, she would have smiled.
Erik returned shortly and opened her door. He was wearing his surgical mask and glasses. "I have a room for us. Two queen beds." He still would not look at Nadir. He spoke only to her.
"Okay," she said softly and let him pick her up, holding him to her just as tightly as he had before. As if worried she'd disappear if he didn't.
Nadir slowly followed, limping and in obvious pain. She hated that he was injured.
Erik unlocked a door to a motel room and sat her down on one of the beds inside. Nadir closed the door behind him. Before he had completely turned around, Erik's hand shot out and grabbed Nadir's neck, throwing him against the door violently.
Her heart jumped to her throat.
"How dare you bring her here! She could have died! She would be gone forever and it would be your fault! I asked you to protect her!"
Nadir grabbed at Erik's hand in a futile attempt to make him release him, struggling to breathe and speak. "She begged me to stop you!"
Christine tried to get to her feet but she became too dizzy. She grabbed her head painfully. "Erik stop!"
He didn't hear her. "Give me a reason, Nadir. So help me, your little life will be at an end tonight!"
"Erik please!"
"She loves - you!" Nadir labored to get out.
"It was my fault, Erik! I made him go. I didn't want you to die. Please! Please don't kill him. Please!" She cried helplessly.
Erik's shoulders shook and his hand did not release Nadir but she could tell he was graduallyloosening his grasp, for the poor beaten old man slumped against the door and let out a choked exhale.
The spidery hand slowly released Nadir's neck but he did not back away. "You may stay here tonight, but tomorrow you will be gone. I never want to see your face again."
Nadir nodded, hand going to his throat and rubbing at it. Christine was worried he'd pass out there by the door. "I understand," he said softly.
Erik let him limp over to the other bed and he dropped down onto it and let out a distressed sigh. Tears were embedded in Christine's eyes.
Erik kneeled next to her and tore off the sunglasses, putting them on the stand beside the bed. "Let me see." His voice was softer than she'd heard in a while and she couldn't help but swat at his hand. She ignored the confusion in his eyes.
"Don't treat Nadir like that," she told him furiously. "He helped me and it was my fault. I made him. He didn't want to, but I begged him to help me. I needed you alive, whatever the cost."
Erik's hand curled into a fist on the bed next to her, his eyes flashing. "The cost was almost your life, Christine."
"It wouldn't be a life without you," she countered, too angry to say the words sweetly. "You took off after we… and then just thought I'd be okay with you dead? Did you forget that I've lived that reality and what it did to me?"
"You would have been fine eventually," he told her, eyes averting shamefully.
"No, I wouldn't have! I cannot live without you! I love you!" It occurred to her she was shouting at him and so she lowered her voice. "I love you, Erik."
His eyes met hers silently and she stared back, as if she could tattoo the words on his heart with just her gaze.
Finally, he lifted his hand to graze a cold finger tip along the knot on her head. "Let me take care of you," he whispered.
She hated how he refused to communicate properly. Was this how it would always be? How frustrating.
For now though, she let him tend to her. He found a first aid kid in the bathroom and cleaned the small cut in the center of the knot where the gun had clipped her. There was a small packet of ibuprofen that she took with a plastic cup of sink water. Then, he left the room to find ice and returned to have her hold it to her head.
She laid back on the pillow and held the ice on her knot. She was exhausted now that it was all over. Nadir was alive. Erik was alive.
She closed her eyes unwillingly and fell into a deep sleep.
Erik stood in the bathroom after checking on Christine as she slept. Nadir had passed out as well and he was half tempted to smother him with the pillow. The only reason he didn't was because Christine would never forgive him.
He slid the surgical mask off of his face and stared down at the sink, carefully avoiding his reflection. The cool air hit his bare skin and he shuddered. He had almost lost her tonight. Thank God, the man had decided to knock her out instead. He would have gone into a blind rage if he had shot her.
As it was, he couldn't really remember much of the night. The fury inside of him at the sight of Christine's lifeless body on the ground had made his brain shut off and he assumed he had blacked out. The next thing he knew he was standing in a room full of corpses.
He'd unchained Nadir from the machine - the machine he had invented to torture its victim - and made the man walk out himself as he took Christine's delicate body into his arms and left the warehouse.
Alone, alive, and the details of the day now weighing on his mind, he shook from delayed fear. Christine had been foolish, yes, but he loved her.
God, did he love her.
She wanted him to live. With her? He was uncertain. He would agree immediately to staying with her forever but didn't want to get his hopes up.
He took some water from the sink and splashed it on his terrible face, careful of his nasal cavity. It always stung horribly when water hit it.
Afterward, he cleaned the full face mask he had lifted from a costume shop on the way to Wyoming. It was covered in blood. His coat did as well and he assumed he'd been a sight to the young woman in the motel lobby.
Thankfully, a hundred dollar bill kept her silent.
He put the mask back on before exiting the bathroom. Nadir was still asleep. He ignored him and went over to Christine. She slept on her back, the plastic bag of ice he'd given her having fallen out of her hand and next to her head. He gently picked it up to not disturb her and sat it on the table by the door.
He knelt at her side, watching her eyelashes flutter. The bandage on her forehead reminded him of what occurred that evening and he tried to reign in his mixture of anger and fright. It was over.
For now, at least. Two of the buildings were destroyed. Headquarters had been next, in New York. It had been the plan. It was his finale as well. But now… he dared to move a stray strand of hair out of her face that had fallen.
Leaving her there after she had let him make love to her had been one of the hardest things he'd ever had to do, next to when he'd let her go to be with her boy. He didn't think he had it in him to leave her for a third time.
They could leave the country, he realized. He could take her to Europe. Or Asia. Wherever they wanted. The mafia was primarily in the United States and with two of their largest groups gone, they would not have the territory to search for him.
He could leave with her. Have a life. Well, a shadowed life of course. He'd never be able to have a full life as other men did. But he'd try… for her.
If she'd have him.
She said she loved him. He had stopped her from saying it, knowing that he still intended to leave her to keep her safe. He hadn't thought he'd be able to leave if she said it.
But now she had. It was ingrained into his head. She loves me!
Christine moved in her sleep and he held his breath. Her eyes suddenly shot open and he was startled to see her awake so quickly.
She blinked a couple times and found his eyes. "Erik," she whispered. He leaned in closer to her. "You're still here."
"I am."
She held a hand out to him and he took her fingers in his, holding it safely. "I was scared you would leave again. I didn't mean to fall asleep."
"You need rest," he told her. "I'm not going anywhere. Not without you."
A small little smile curved her lips and his heart warmed exponentially. "Will you lay with me?"
Erik's spine stiffened and he had a hard time finding words.
"Please?" She asked when he said nothing. Her big blue eyes pleaded with him. "I am scared you'll disappear."
"I won't," he promised. He released her hand and got to his feet. He too wanted to hold her to him, but he'd been worried of her reaction if she awoke to him touching her. She'd been very angry with him and even though they'd shared their bodies, he was unsure of where they stood at that moment.
He released some tension when he sat on the bed next to her. She curled up against him and clutched at his shirt, her ear on his chest. He steadied his breathing. He hadn't thought he'd ever see her again and now here he was, with her beside him, warming his endlessly cold body.
He wrapped an arm around her and rested his cheek against the top of her head.
Before she fell asleep, she sighed in what sounded like content, whispering her love for him.
He felt a tear disappear under his mask.
Christine woke once more, a small ray of sunshine creeping in behind the black out curtains momentarily blinding her as she opened her eyes. She was on her side and she heard footsteps behind her.
Realizing she was in the bed alone, she shot up in panic, and immediately regretted it. Her brain was pounding. She groaned and grabbed at it.
"Christine?" The soft spoken voice behind her caught her attention and she was relieved to see Nadir exiting the bathroom door, looking a far cry better than he had the night before. His lip was less swollen and his hair was flattened back down. The bruises around his eyes were more prominent and he still had a limp when he approached her.
But he didn't look as tired.
"Where's Erik?" She quickly asked. "He's here right? He didn't leave?"
Nadir put a hand up. "Calm, Christine. He's here. Well, he stepped out for a moment. He wanted to get you food."
She steadied her breathing and tried to calm her racing heart. "Good," she shakily said. He didn't leave.
"Are you alright? Your head looks quite painful."
She delicately traced the knot with a light finger. "Yeah, it hurts pretty bad, but I think I'm okay. Sleeping helped."
Nadir sighed and sat in one of the chairs at the table. "I'm sorry you were hurt. You should have left me."
Christine gaped. "How could I have left you? You were only there because of me! I couldn't just let you be killed by them!"
Nadir lowered his head and stared at the table silently.
"Nadir. You don't have to leave. I'll talk to Erik. You can't just go. You don't even have a car."
Nadir laughed bitterly. "Do not worry about me, Christine. The fact that I am alive at all speaks volumes on how he feels for you."
"What do you mean?" She asked.
Nadir gave her a sheepish smile. "He knows you'd never forgive him if he killed me. I have you to thank for my life."
Christine crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, he's right. I wouldn't. You were only there because I needed you. He should understand that."
"He does. He is just angry that I agreed to take you there. He's right. It was my job to protect you until it was over. Instead, I took you practically to your death."
"Yes, well, he shouldn't have just decided to go off himself without saying anything to me."
Nadir chuckled. "I dare say I agree."
Christine sighed and carefully climbed out of the bed. She still had her shoes on, she realized. She excused herself to the bathroom and slowly walked. She still felt a little dizzy and her stomach twisted uneasily.
After she relieved herself and she was running some water over her face, trying to get the grime off of her, she heard the motel door close. Erik must have returned. That or Nadir left.
Heart beating a little quicker, she left the bathroom and was relieved to see Nadir still sitting at the table and Erik setting down a plastic bag full of food and drinks.
"Erik," she breathed in relief. She had half a mind to worry last night was just a dream: when he had held her to sleep. She rushed to him and surprised him by wrapping her arms around his middle. Her hands slid up and clutched at his shirt. He wasn't wearing his coat. "You didn't leave me."
Erik sighed and ran a hand over her hair. "I promised you I wouldn't."
"You promised you'd say goodbye to me and you didn't," she said into his shirt, still hurt by it all.
Erik finally wrapped his arms around her. "Yes I did. I apologize for breaking it."
Christine huffed a little and then pulled back to look up into his masked face. "I'm glad you're alive. That you're alright. I was so scared."
Erik's eyes beamed down at her. His fingers took a strand of her hair and curled it around one. "I was attempting to keep you safe."
She took a shuddering breath. "I know."
Nadir getting to his feet, broke their conversation and Christine noticed the quick glare Erik gave to him. She placed a hand on his arm. "Erik. Let Nadir stay. Just until we can take him to his car. He's still injured."
Erik stared at the man who was limping back to the bed. "I will do as you say, Christine. But only because of you."
Nadir waved him off dismissively, not offended in the slightest. "Do what you will, Erik. Just please, for the love of your God, don't hurt the poor girl again."
Christine lay her head on Erik's arm and looked up at him to see his golden gaze glowering at Nadir. She smiled and slid a hand up his chest, gaining his attention.
Yellow met blue. "I won't," Erik vowed softly to her.
