Chapter 2: Vanishing Point
A/N: Hey, I'm back! Y'all have no idea how eager I've been to get back to this story. I don't know why, but the concept is just so interesting to work with and not just because Keanu is so dreamy. Most of the story is going to mainly be from the female OC's perspective since I believe that reading from John's perspective takes away from the mystery of his character. However, there will be certain points in the story where I'll have to expand on John's actions and feelings. I'm sorry if this chapter seems rushed or sudden. I have a million things to do in the next coming weeks and I wanted to get this out beforehand. I promise I'll make it up to you guys next chapter. Enjoy!
"John Wick." You repeated, letting the name resonate on your tongue as to accumulate familiarity.
So his name's John? That's pretty anticlimactic and common though the last name Wick made it significantly more fascinating.
You didn't know what name you were expecting to hear but it certainly wasn't that. In reality, you weren't really sure if he looked like a 'John' but what was a John supposed to look like? A middle aged divorced man with two rebellious teenage children that came to visit him every other month or a seventy year old supreme court judge with no family who's extremely dedicated his work. Those were oddly specific but they sure got the point across. Regardless, you were absolutely confident that the man intimately positioned over you was neither.
With this realization, your raddled subconscious allowed you the luxury of regaining your full awareness back in seconds. You found that were still lewdly situated and openly exposed on your side across the kitchen counter, still essentially joined together by genitals. Embarrassment came flooding in and you started to chaotically rack your brain with ways to convey just how uncomfortable you were at the moment. It was not an easy feat to tell a man that your were self-conscious about him still being inside of you and wanting him to pull out. Given that, the man above you was still staring resolutely at your now mortified face made it even more difficult not to mention awkward.
As luck would have it, John was able to correctly discern the emotion on your face and carefully withdraw from your body. You both loved and hated the feeling, going from full to empty within a matter of seconds. There was just something about he left your body filled with his essence and slowly withdrew as if he detested to do so. You were quick to clench your legs tightly together in response, knowing that if you did not the combined juices would start to leak out. You were able to lift yourself into seated position on the counter, limbs feeling incredibly too weak to offer full support. John wasted no time helping you off the surface and onto your feet.
"Thank you." You whispered.
Without his help, you probably wouldn't have been able to get down own your own due to shaky, unstable legs. Now you stood in the welcome cage of his strong arms, inhaling the distinct aroma of masculine cologne and gunpowder, and gazing up into his deep brown eyes. It was something you found yourself doing quite a lot when given the opportunity, it was hard to resist. The feeling it gave you was indescribable, heat would bloom inside your chest, your chest would start on an erratic pace, everything troubling your mind would dissipate at once. This man had the ability to entrance you just by being present - and you willingly accepted it everytime.
Before you could stop yourself, a hand came up to lightly brush over a bruised cheek. Expecting him to pull away from the contact, you were surprised when he responded in turn by leaning more into the hand. You realized in that instant that it was moments like this that you truly craved above all else. Just to be able to establish such a warm connection with someone like him, was all you needed.
Though you were reluctant to ruin the moment, there was something you needed to ask. "Are you going to leave now?"
There was no question that the highly perceive man could ascertain the clear emotion in your voice as you posed the question, especially since you'd deliberately asked in a tone that made it sound like you would break down in tears if he so much as affirmed your suspicions. You were more than prepared to use your puppy eyes to your full advantage.
The room was silent for a few moments before John put your worries at ease by stating, "I'll stay."
You nodded and hoped that your smiling expression didn't closely resemble a spoiled child getting their way because it was certainly how you felt at the moment. Seeing as you were an only child you kind of were used to getting your way.
While still in the man's embrace you chose this moment to run your eyes over the length of his clothing. There were tiny specks of red stains embedded in some of the black and white fabric. Knowing what he did for a living, there was no need to wonder if it was blood or not when you knew it was. A clear estimate of how long the stains had present couldn't be determined, all you knew was that once the stains start to set in, they were nearly impossible to get out. It appeared as though John and his clothing were in need of washing.
"You're dirty. Come on, I can run you a bath." You said.
You lead him by hand to the modest bathroom only accessible through your bedroom. Your whole apartment was nice, although it was the bathroom that you were most pleased about. The bathroom always smelled of freshly washed linen. There was no granite countertops, or extravagant walk-in-shower with multiple showerheads. You weren't ashamed to admit just how simple your bathroom was; just how you were fine with it. Fine with simplicity. Most people would say that having a small bathroom was a problem but you actually found it quite satisfying.
The taps were turned on and the sound of water filling the tub soon became the dominant sound. Reaching into a nearby lower cabinet, you retrieved a jasmine scented bath oil that you were quite fond of using and applied a generous amount into the water. After being told about the oil from your mother, you soon became addicted to buying them. This particular bath oil contained relaxing and supposed healing properties for the body and mind. Sitting on the edge of the tub you decided that the aromatherapy would be good for the slightly injured man standing calmly behind you.
There it was again - that lingering interest that begged for you to question any and everything surrounding him. Where had he been all this time? Where had those injures come from? It was a pain to constantly have to push those thoughts away and let your curiosity go unanswered. Too much curiosity would ruin the vibe. If John wanted you to know more about him then he would tell you of his own volition with absolutely no coxing on your part. Not that you didn't already have an idea of what he was; it was 'who' he was that you desperately wanted to know more about.
You didn't notice how deep in thought you were until you the rustle of clothing caught your attention. Seeing as how you did offer to run the man a bath, the sight of him undressing shouldn't have shocked you as much as it did in that moment - your eyes becoming glued to the exposed skin. Practically salivating as he started stripping down in strategic fashion, you had to maintain your composure by taking in a few calming breaths. Frankly speaking, it should be a crime the way you were ogling the tall, well-built man. The thoughts running your mind were beyond inappropriate. Even now, you were thoroughly convinced that the man was aware of your improper perusal.
Watching silently as he nonchalantly removed a gun holster with a gun from around his hip, then carefully removed a switchblade hidden against his calf, the man placed the deadly items onto the bathroom cabinet. A phone was also placed on the counter as well. There was little to no emotion as he did this.
John kept an aura of stoicism around him at all times, or at least when you were around. You just loved when a man had a controlled level of arrogance - a man who need he was the shit without being overbearing. He was also very quiet but you could tell that he was never a man of many words anyway. With him sometimes no response was a response in itself. You knew that some men's empathy only went as far as their attraction to you. As a matter of fact, one would argue that no man that was interested in you was going to disappear for days at a time without at least informing you first. But you know full well that this was a special case. John Wick was not a normal man. He'd only been gone for a little over a week but you missed him all the same.
Mentally shaking off the feelings, you did your best to ignore his unclothed form and started gathering the clothing within your arms. "I'm going to wash these before the stains set in." You explained, thoroughly convinced that the stains had already made their home in the fabric.
Showing emotion was something the man was not quite fond of in the first place yet he seemed surprised by the fact that you'd offered and even more surprised that you had no questions about where the blood came from. After receiving a simple nod from him, you were out of the bathroom and down the hall with a quickness that startled you. Opening the door to the small washroom near the kitchen, you started a fresh load with only his clothes and a sizable amount of washing detergent. There wasn't any way the stains would come out if you didn't use an excessive amount.
Once that was done, you tried to buy time by lingering near the operating washer and counting the time in your head. Essentially ensuring that by the time you went back to the bathroom to check on him, he'd already be in the water. Hopefully, your timing was on point.
By the time you ventured back to the bathroom, from the doorway you caught a glimpse of him stepping into the water and you quietly admired the never before seen tattoos on the man's muscled back. There were scars there too. The tattoos and scars only added to the mystique of his person as a whole and the danger he poised was beyond alluring and immeasurably sexy.
Something occurred to you at that moment, in your flustered haste you'd forgotten to moderate the tap so the water could be lukewarm and tolerable. Not everyone liked to bathe in scalding hot water. Yet he seemed perfectly fine with it, not showing any indication that the temperature bothered him. Instead, the man was resting his tired body in the scented water, inaudibly sighting in pleasure.
"Aren't you getting in?"
At that very moment, your chest tightened and your eyebrows shot up. "Huh?"
"You're dirty...you need to bathe." John softly warranted, the glint in his eyes letting you know what he took your earlier words to heart about implying that he was 'dirty'. By saying this, he letting you know that you don't get away, you just get by for the moment.
By this point you were sure that your face had morphed into an expression of horror, eyes blinking owlishly at him. Realizing the gravity of the situation had words were stuck in your throat. How could you have forgotten the issue of still being filled to the brim by him only a short while ago? You were still walking around in a big t-shirt with his essence coating the inside of your thighs. Truthfully, it was not something one should be able to forget so easily.
This man had seen you in various states of disarray and yet you found yourself terribly self-conscious about your naked form being on display. In your intimate moments, you both had never stripped completely, some semblance of clothing always remained. The thought of objecting briefly crossed your mind a few times before notion of accepting ever emerged. And you weren't naturally shy by a long-shot but you couldn't hardly manage the thought of being exclusively naked in front of him. Undressing in front of him suddenly took the number one spot for scariest thing in the world. Despite being totally comfortable allowing the man to plunder the most intimate place on your body, conserving your modesty became the highest priority in an instant.
John's teasing gaze was beckoning you from your place at the door, silently urging you to move from the place and heed his request. It wasn't like he was forcing you to do this, you had a choice. Worst case scenario, he saw you fully naked.
The effort it took to push down the wave of anxiety was remarkable. With any more further incitement, you moved shaky palms to assist in easing off your clothes, the garments falling to the tiled floor softly. You were doing your absolute worst trying to pretend that your heart wasn't going wild inside of your chest and intense heat wasn't pooling between your thighs once more.
He was watching you with intent, eyes illuminated by the many lights within the bathroom. There was a hint of amusement dancing in them. Now that's what shocked you...that look. He'd never given you such a look before. John stretched his arms along the rim of the tub and leaned back in a reclining fashion. It was one of the sexiest things you'd ever seen.
It was at this point that you became aware and that there was no point in lying to yourself - you loved his attention. Practically craved it. There was nothing like being desired by a man, having his full attention, and having him release all his built up passion unto you ever chance he got.
The oval bathtub was surprisingly large enough to accommodate the both of you. You literally wasted no time sinking down gracefully into the water, the heat emanating from it was oddly satisfying. You were were sitting opposite from John between his parted thighs. The reality of being in the bathtub with a man for the first time was almost too much to process.
Reaching over to the adjoining nook, you easily retrieved body wash and a small towel. After applying a substantial amount of body wash to the towel, you lathered it up. Began scrubbing his body free of any evidence of his interesting day.
The purpose of bathing is for personal hygiene and you were determined not to let your unpredictable libido get in the way of that. Diligently washing every inch of him both above and below the water - skillfully transversing the slopes and contours of his skin. You didn't intend for the touches to be sexual in any capacity, only wanting him to get clean though you were sure that the sensations evoked some burning reactions within him. In fact, you'd be lying if you said that you didn't feel the same way. The nature of your sexual relationship was a clear testament to this.
You held the cloth under water for a few moments, letting it absorb as much as it could, bringing the engorged towel above his head, you squeezed water on the brown silken tresses. He closed his eyes as you do so without any prompting. The water stuck to the strands thus enabling the hair to flatten on and around his face. After giving him a small smirk of satisfaction basically confirmed to him that your intentions behind doing so were done for the sole purpose of taunting; drenching him in water just because you felt like it. Because it pleased you.
With a growing sense of confidence, you languidly trailed the soapy cloth across his abdomen, gently dragging your nails across the skin there. You couldn't help the way you paid close attention to the way the steaming water rushing down and over his porcelain skin. The soapy cloth
His eyes opened once again to reveal piercing brown orbs. You face felt flush when you realized that he was staring at your uncovered nipples. John's calloused palms felt good on your skin, fingertips dancing on skin much like you were doing. When his hands started a path up and down your sides you were quickly pulled away with a giggle. Of course it would surprise him that you were extremely ticklish.
There was only one part of him to clean now. With no pretense for being coy, you directed your wandering hand to close the soft, wet fabric around his length beneath the water. Making the effort to lightly stroke him as a means to pretend as though you were simply cleaning him.
The physical contact told you everything you needed to know, that you two were getting to know each other on a deeper level. And him staying overnight obviously wasn't planned. Nevertheless, you felt like him agreeing to stay over did strengthen their bond somewhat. It wasn't like one or the other was making things more complicated; you both were imposing into the other's life indiscriminately.
After a while longer, exchanging affectionate touches and taking turns cleaning one another, you made the decision to leave the bath before your skin started to shrivel up like a prune. Instead of drying off in front of the man, you ventured into the bedroom to dry off and redress in an oversized t-shirt and panties. You faintly heard him getting out of the water before he followed you into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. Presumably, he brought no extra clothes with him and his only clothing was being washed at the moment.
"Um..I'm going to check on your clothes. I'll be right back." You left the room to place his clothes in the dryer. After having done so, you returned to the room to find him already in bed under the covers. Your weren't even gone longer than five minutes.
In defiance of the aura of detachment, he did look exhausted. Instead of falling asleep it was highly likely that he'd passed out.
Walking closer to the bed, you observed him fast asleep on the left side of your bed, an arm lying over his stomach. Despite everything, you were more than happy that he felt comfortable enough to fall asleep beside you. Without much prompting, you slid in the bed, maintaining a reasonable distance between you two. There were a range of emotions that you dared not put a name too as you stared at his sleeping visage. His usual hardened face was relaxed in the midst of sleep. You watched his chest rise and fall with every breath until you felt sleep creeping up on you. Turning over, you sighed and buried your face in the soft sheets.
Presumably it's the middle of the night when awaken whilst rolling unto your left side for comfortability. The soft sonance pulled you out of sleep. Moonlight from the window on the opposite side of the room allowed the barest of light into the room. John is still on his back in a deep slumber and you were loathe to disturb him when he looked so peaceful. He was ruggedly handsome.
An idea crossed you mind at that time, whether it was good or bad you couldn't really ascertain. Reaching over to your nightstand, you picked up your phone carefully not to let too much light into the room in order to avoid waking him. You went to the camera app and turning on the flash. One quick picture was all it took - it was all you needed.
The blinds were closed but that didn't stop light from peaking in through tiny crevices. It's now nine o'clock on a Friday morning and find yourself briefly entertain the thought of emailing your professors and telling them that you were coming to class with no explanation whatsoever. Forgetting to set your alarm was a pain in the ass and luckily you hadn't woken up late but now you planned to sit on the edge of the bed until you were late anyway. This was the life of an undergrad apparently.
The other side of the bed was cold and empty. The body once lying there having been gone for some time now. The least he could do was tell you that he was leaving, not that he really owed you an explanation. The truth of the matter was that it perplexed you about how he was able to leave the bed without alerting you with a single movement or sound. You were not a heavy sleeper in any sense of the expression. In the end, you guessed that it was a crucial requirement as a killer to go undetected when doing most tasks. Even something so simple as not waking another person up as you left the bed.
This didn't disappoint you however, it wasn't like you'd wake him up with kisses then prepare breakfast for him. That was way too personal and domestic. There was no way you'd be willing to bare your soul to him and truthfully you knew better than to expect the same from him.
The sight of the wad of cash on your nightstand near your phone almost sent into cardiac arrest.
The morning air was a little chilly but as you wrapped your jacket more tightly around your form, you summarized that it would hopefully let up by noon. Today was one of those crisp bustling days in the New York streets where thousands of pedestrians were constantly on the move and minutes quickly turned into hours if one had plethora of tasks that needed to be completed by the days end. Multiple signs flickered and buzzed and cars whizzed by unapologetically. Reaching the campus could never be an easy feat when there were there were busy masses of people scurrying to their destination in every which direction but that didn't stop you from continuing on with a hurried stride.
There were about twelve buildings on the campus that made of the campus; each building was a different department for students based on their program. Instead of heading straight to the journalism department, you went right into the student center where on-campus was located.
You were currently six weeks into the fall semester. Your professors had only begun to put names to faces and single out their favorites in the class. Besides maintaining a neutral attitude towards college and you only attended because you knew it what most young people leaned towards. From your perspective, college was somewhat of a scam that heavily favored capitalism.
The two classes dragged by so excruciatingly slow that you were inclined to believe that the universe had made the cosmetic decision to only fuck with you today. The professor droned on and on about the subject matter and for you it went in one ear and right out the other. When you got a text from the group chat about meeting at Alexis' job you left the class twenty minutes early.
Alexis worked in a really high-end clothing boutique in Midtown and had a boujee white man for a boss that really hated to see you and Jasmine come around. Honestly with the way he acted toward people of color, it actually puzzled you how Alexis even got hired.
It was probably made worse by the three of you cackling loudly in the lobby area where Alexis was supposed to be helping customers.
"Soooo I have news." You started.
Both of friends were at attention.
Jasmine leaned on one of her hands as she got you a raised eyebrow look. "Okay spill."
You shifted on your feet. "Okay so, right after y'all left...he came to the apartment."
The gasps and looks you received were nothing short of humorous. "I know you fuckin lying."
You had to shrug and turn your head away in order not to laugh in their faces. Their reactions were already anticipated and with no effort at all they could reduce you to the most intense laughing fit known to man.
"Nope." you said.
Alexis was beyond giddy to hear about the new development. "What happened?!"
You played the nonchalance up just to get a rise out of them. "He just dropped by the apartment and talked, that's it."
"I'm not accepting that, I need details." Alexis asserted.
And Jasmine was right behind her. "Yeah bitch cough it up."
"First off what time did he come by and what did yall do?" Alexis questioned, ticking off fingers as she emphasized what she wanted to hear.
You were preparing yourself to be judged by both his conduct and yours.
"Do I really need to say what happened. Y'all already know what went down."
The way they screeched after hearing this would have your eardrums ringing for hours afterwards.
"Oh my god..you bitch! Really?" Alexis shrieked.
"Yeah. I managed to snap a picture while he was sleeping, you know after we did the deed."
Alexis nearly jumped over the counter as you unlocked your phone and Jasmine nearly knocked you to the floor trying to peer over your shoulder.
"You mean after he dicked you down?" She asked.
"But why are you taking sneaky pics now? All this time y'all been fooling around, you'd think he'd be your man by now." Alexis probed.
You don't know what possessed you to grab your phone to take a picture of him while he slept, only summing it up to be an impulsive action that you felt the need to perform.
"He's probably got dirt that he don't want uncovered or misses at the house. Those are legitimate concerns for a man that you have to sneak pictures of."
"Shut up."
You didn't believe that for a second. Sure he was secretive and guarded but who wouldn't be when they were in the profession that he was. The kind of profession where you offed people without a second thought and disappeared for days at a time with no contact. There would be a lot of speculation and mystery surrounding him and it wasn't your place to question and demand that he telling you about it. What good would it do to construct and entertain a false narrative or assumption about him. One thing you would not do was go looking for any negative reasons or aspects about his character. At the end of the day, nothing or nobody could sway your opinion about the man.
In the back of your mind, you knew what was going on even if he omitted telling anyone who he truly was and what he did for a living.
Not to mention that John had saved your life. Twice at that. Now he was sleeping with you and leaving you money.
Ignoring your intuition came with its own set of heavy consequences. Were you ready to deal with the fact that you were sleeping with a man who was always required to be armed for his own safety. Did you really want to discuss the situation in full detail? The notion made you tense up involuntarily though there was an optimistic possibility.
After all, you did in fact witness him shoot scores of people, perhaps it was his way of ensuring your silence. The idea made sense though it certainly was a weird way to go about it, not that you were complaining.
You could decide to voice any concerns or true feelings about him with your friends but for now you choose to keep your inner thoughts close to your own chest.
"All in favor of a girls night out in celebration of a friend receiving a healthy dose of penis...say I." Alexis proposed.
"I." You and Jasmine simultaneously respond.
"Motion carries. Let the record show that a girls night out will officially begin tonight after seven."
