Edward
I stood there in my garage for a few minutes as I tried to just recover from what had happened. Vasili looked genuinely pissed off that I could not come up with a good excuse for why his car had disappeared. To be honest I could have just gotten him a new car that looked exactly the same and he would have barely cared, but I guessed it had completely slipped my mind with the crazy events of today.
Earlier that day
"Edward I think you need to distance yourself from Vasili," Marco said as we all sat down in my office in the yacht.
"And why is that?" I was trying to be as calm as possible, but I was not at all pleased with the cold shoulder Marco was giving Vasili.
"What do you mean by why is that? You could have gotten yourself killed Edward. We all know that shot was not meant for you. If I had not pulled Vasili away in time or you would have reached him before me, you could have died. He is adding a new level of danger into your life that you do not need," he was awfully sure of himself.
"If Amanda was going through the same thing would have you left her?"
"Edward you know that's different," he sighed.
"How? You barely knew Amanda existed a few years ago. You got to know her just as I got to know Vasili and I trusted you to take care of my little sister. Now I know you have no attachments to Vasili but I do," my voice was slowly rising as irritation seeped through me.
"Ed, I'm trying to keep you safe. Vasili he has... he has been through some things that you wouldn't..."
Anger immediately flared before Marco could finish his sentence. I silenced him with my hand showing him to stop, "Did I or did I not tell you not to dig any further into his past? I asked you not to, not only for my sake but for his as well. Marco whoever he was years ago is none of our business and when he is comfortable to speak about it he will. Who are we to tell him how he should have lived? We both have made our own mistakes. I don't see anyone judging you for the things you did when we were younger therefore your holier than thou attitude will not be tolerated."
"Edward he is not good for you trust me," Marco stressed his voice rising. Him and I barely ever got into arguments so this was new for both him, I and John who sat there looking between the two of us.
"Why Marco? Because his family was involved in some illegal activity and now his reputation has been tainted because of what his family did. You come from a bloodline of mafia royalty."
"That's different," he glared.
"Marco you need to stop. He had no control over that incident. Damn it if anyone is to blame it's myself. If I had not passed out and caused such a mess none of this would have been happening," I leaned back onto my chair feeling myself become slightly weak. John immediately stood up and offered to get me my medication, but I simply dismissed him.
"Edward look I'm sorry for making this so difficult for you, but I'm trying to keep your best intentions at mind. I know you care about Vasili. Anyone can see that, but you have to be careful. Be with him, but don't throw yourself wholly into him. There is too much danger surrounding him and I'm just asking you to think with your head and not your heart. Take some more time to know him before you make any commitment. He has been through a lot," Marco leaned forward and placed his hand on my shoulder. "I care about you way to much to see you get hurt, again."
With a heavy sigh I nodded and left the room. I had no idea why Marcos concern hit me so heavily and even though I trusted Vasili. Marco only warned me about things if he knew it was serious.
Finally deciding to go up to my penthouse I felt myself slightly deflate. Whenever I thought things were going smoothly for me something had to come and derail it completely. As I walked into my penthouse I finally checked my mail and noticed multiple news alerts about Vasili. It was a picture of him at his apartment balcony smoking a cigarette. I frowned slightly unaware that he was even a smoker. The second was of him holding up his middle finger to the photographer as he angrily walked back indoors.
I had no idea the lengths these people were going to just to take a picture of him even at his own home. "Vasili?" I called out having no idea which floor he was even on.
"In the kitchen," he called back still sounding a bit irritated with me. When I walked into the kitchen I found him grabbing a small tub of strawberry frozen yogurt. Great I had driven him to stress eating as well.
"You smoke?" I slid onto one of the six island chairs facing him as he leaned against the opposite facing kitchen counter.
"You saw that. These people are so fucking annoying I swear! I can't even scratch my ass without it making a headline," he rolled his eyes as he shoved a spoonful of yogurt into his mouth.
"You smoke?" I could not help, but chuckle slightly. His face was flushed as always and he had a blotch of red on his forehead.
"Yes. Only when I'm stressed though so don't think I'll get lung cancer anytime soon okay," he practically growled as he attacked the small tub.
"I wasn't. I was just surprised. I've never seen you smoke before," I shrugged and decided to get myself a glass of water.
"I haven't been stressed to smoke. I was just having a hard day."
"That was the day after Mary left right?" He simply nodded in response. "We never really talked about that."
He sighed and rubbed his temples, "there was not much to talk about. We broke up because I picked you. What more is there to talk about?"
"I don't know I'd just like to know more about it. You were a bit vague about it," I stood next to him and forced him to put the tub of yogurt down. He placed his hands on my shoulders as I wrapped my arms around his waist. "I would just like to know what happened."
"I got home and found her doing research on you. Practically every single bad thing that has happened to you and was in the tabloids. She was doing research on all your exes and seemed pretty much interested in making your life hellish. I got angry and called her out for it. She threw a tantrum then I found out she was using me for money and status. I broke up with her and told her to leave. She slapped me and I came over to yours," he looked into my eyes the entire time he spoke and I wondered if he knew it helped calm down my nerves. Marco had gotten into my head.
"Are you okay about it? I could understand if you were a bit upset about it," I rubbed my hand up and down his back lightly.
He scrunched his face up and shook his head. "Such things don't keep me up at night. Plus there is no reason for me to be hung up over it when it was bound it happen anyway. I have you and that is what I should be paying attention to."
I smiled softly and pressed my lips to his. He melted into the kiss and held me closer to him. After a few seconds I pulled away from him slightly and looked into his eyes. "You'd tell me if something was bothering you right?"
He clenched his jaw and opened his mouth before closing it again like a fish. In deep thought he bit his lip then answered. "I trust you Ed, but such things are hard for me to talk about. It will just take some time."
"I understand that. What about us? Would you tell me if something would affect us?" If Marco was right about whatever he knew that would harm not only Vasili but also me, I would expect him to be open about it. If there was anything that could come back to haunt both of us he would tell me. Right?
"Why are you asking all of the things all of a sudden?" He tilted his head and pulled away from me. "First of my Porsche goes missing. Marco and the guys are giving me weird looks. You nearly get assassinated and now you're acting suspicious."
"There's nothing suspicious about wanting to know about someone you might end up being in a relationship with. Sometimes a little bit of transparency could go a long way especially for us. We are always in the public in," I tried to reason but it was clear something I had said had triggered him.
"Edward you are always in the public eye. I'm just your friend to everyone else. We aren't even fully together yet to be going into such deep and personal things. We argued over who slept on which side of the bed a few days ago. We haven't even gotten through the tiny things for us to be tackling the huge things yet." In my mind I knew what he was saying made sense, but I could not get Marcos worry out of my head. "Did Marco say something to get you so riled up?"
"He..." I closed my mouth as soon as I felt myself nearly cave in. If I told him what little information I knew it would definitely set him off.
"He researched into my family didn't he. What the fuck Ed? How did you allow that to happen?" He pulled my hands off him and put distance between us.
"I told him not to and I told him not to tell me anything. I didn't want to invade your privacy."
"And he felt that he could!" He threw his hands up in the air and just from the anger on his face I felt guilty. I should have just told him the truth about everything. About his car and that the shooting in Greece was actually meant for him, but how did someone even begin to tell someone they cared about that someone out there wanted them dead and you had no idea why. If I told him about that I would have to tell him about a lot more and I was not prepared to come clean to him. It was hypocritical that I expected him to tell me more about himself when I still had a whole other life he was unaware of.
"Vasili I wish I could fully explain."
"No. I don't even want you to explain Edward. I just wanted for us to be us. For us to enjoy this new small period of time we had before anyone knew about us. Before Marco or your sister or whoever else found out about us. Just for us to be sure," he cried out, "I can't even leave now because I have no idea where the fuck my car is and you can't tell me where the car I brought with my own hard owned money went. You can't do such things without talking to me Ed. I know to you something like that means nothing, but for some of us who had to literally bleed through the skin of their feet through hours of dance to get the money they have it means a whole lot. That car is mine not yours to play with."
"Vasili I'm sorry," just watching him fall apart in front of me left me with a hole in my chest. Even though my ego did not want to accept what he was saying he was right.
"Just stop Ed. I can't do this right now. I'm going to my room." With that he left me alone in the kitchen feeling more than disappointed with myself.