CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"You want to go at me big boy!! Huh! You want to go! Pretty boy?" The unknown man kept shoving his face at Nicholas while Nicholas remained calm and let the man rant as much as he liked, the only reason why he wasn't shoving a hand down his throat was because of Astra. She was the only thing stopping him from going killer mode on this guy.
He had the audacity to touch Astra, no shame right here, out in public? He so badly wanted to beat him up but as he tried to guide Astra away from the man, so they would walk away, the man burst out laughing maniacally. That got Nicholas to turn right back at him, disgust written on every corner of his face and anger etched deep in his eyes.
"yeah! Pretty boy, walk the fuck away" he shouted at Nicholas. Nicholas balled his fists, his knuckles turning so white, there wasn't any blood left to go towards his brain, his heart beat twice as fast and his anger pumped twice as fast and so did his movements.
The unknown man was sprawled out, face up, teeth knocked out of his mouth and blood splattered on the sidewalk. Nicholas had blood dripping down his knuckles, forming a flag of its own accord while Astra whimpered from the sight that befell her. It was a miracle she even knew what was happening before her because she started to whimper and son and bury herself deeper into the chest if the very man who had promised her forever give years ago and who had embarrassed her by allowing a young girl walk around the house, same house he had promised never to share with another woman. Who knew what else he lied about.
"Are you ok?" Nicholas asked Astra as her burrowing didn't stop, she began to shiver and shake so viciously, Nicholas had not only a change of heart but a heart attack. What was wrong with her? He picked her up in his hands, her weight was close to nothing as she folded into his embrace like she belonged there in the first place. He liked how she felt in his arms, he liked the softness that matches his roughness, she gradually began to close her eyes, wanting to drift off to sleep, she closed her eyes.
***
She awoke to the sound of shuffling, her eyes were slouching but her brain was already asleep, she could see the frown growing on Nicholas face, one swipe of her eyes and she realized that they were right in front of her house. She wanted to feel relieved but she knew that anything that had to do with labor or walking was not going to be possible because she was so out of it.
"Where the hell is it?" Nicholas tried his best not to shout and wake her up but he had been crouched under his seats for the past thirty minutes looking for anything that resembled a key or a chain to a key, he had checked her bag, her purse and came up empty except a few change here and some irrelevant things and of course the row of condoms she had passed away in a little side zip. He didn't know what to say or what to do.
It was obvious that the key to her house was nowhere in the car,she must have dropped it in the club. That again was another risky thing but he was not about to go back to the club, looking all desolate and tired crunching under the bar seats to see if maybe he would find a key, he wasn't going to do that. He had just a speed of thirty minutes and an actual journey of forty five minutes to get here in time,just enough time to rescue her.
He wanted to scream at her! Yank her or something like "why the fuck would you endanger yourself like that!" He silently breathed to himself after looking at the interior of the car for the zillionth time and confirming that that key was nowhere here. He got into the car,fed up and tired beyond control and threw one last final look at her as she slumped on the chair, sleeping peacefully.
At least she didn't throw up, he muttered to himself and as though on point, she woke up suddenly and retched on the floor with her eyes half closed. Nicholas refused to look at her anymore till they were well on the road to his house. The car had suffered worse, he kept telling himself. He slowed down his speed a bit, acknowledging that even though the police would not be so alert as it was nearly two am in the morning, he needed to divert any attention that was going to seek him out away from himself for a bit.
He needed to protect Astra, so that she didn't wake up becoming the hot gossip on E! News or worse making it to the papers, he would hate to have to see her fight for normalcy. It would be disastrous. He slowed down at a considerable speed, having the journey of a noal forty-five minutes turn into a complete hour and ten minutes on top. It was three-ten when his gate read his biometrics and let him in,his guards rallied round his vehicle till it came to a stop at the front of the house.
He got out of the vehicle, appreciating the fresh air that waded into his nose at just the right moment. He looked at James, almost feeling sorry for what he was about to witness.
"James, you may want to get a mask and also fetch me silk Versace nighties for women. Take the other car and get me the clothes first then clean every spot of the car. Not a single smell should come out of anywhere. Is that understood?" Nicholas asked James dead in the eyes. James made a ziplock expression,meaning his lips were sealed and air locked.
Nicholas moved toward the passenger side of the car and unbuckled the seat belt he had clipped on for her. He took her by the waist and the legs, chopped her up a bit and she was cradled in his arms, vomit dried on her lips and on the side of her face. Partially dried vomit smearing on Nicholas's white shirt, already splattered with blood drops from the unknown man.
He didn't mind any of it, he had protected her the way he wanted to. He had come for her and not even vomit could change that. He smiled at her as she snuggled further into his arms, even though she was in the same process, smearing more of the vomit on him.
***
Headaches don't even begin to describe what it was that she was feeling, it didn't describe the half of it. She was having her head beaten like a drum repeatedly and her ears rang as well. Whoever didn't let the curtains down did her a solid. She gradually got used to her environment and suddenly she had a strange sense of dejavu. It felt she had been here before, it almost looked like she was in Nicholas's house...
Her ex house. She didn't want to believe what it was that she was seeing, so she tries to stand up and she gasped. "Whose clothes are these!" She screamed to herself,checking every corner of herself and noticing that every part of her was cleaned and changed. She had been washed and dressed. Panic began to set in motion; she didn't know who he was, she didn't know where she was. Her eyes darted left and right, and she caught something on top of the dresser close to the bed. It was a note and a rose.
" What the hell!" She said to herself as she stretched her arm out and snatched the note off the dresser, allowing the soft Buda of the rose to hit the floor, giving a very almost inaudible thud.
She opened the note, noticing that it smelled like lilacs, her favorite flower. There was only one person who was close to her enough and who was recent enough to know that sort of information. She opened the note and read out loud even though her head was banging like a party was going on in there.
The note read " My darling Astra, I hope you had a good night's rest. There's some water to calm down your head, you shouldn't get up too quickly and you shouldn't move too quickly either. You had quite the night, I have business to attend to but I may be back as soon as possible, try not to miss me too much. N.M'' she wanted to squeeze the life out of the note but she was baffled. How the hell had he come to take her away? Her last memory was of her in the club dancing so much, dancing the hurt away. Dancing like she was up on a stage and she was in total control of her life. She behaved that way, so how the hell did she end up here, in a room she barely recognized and in new…
Was that Versace? She asked no one in particular. It wasn't important what she wore even if she was impressed by the choice of clothing, she was puzzled but not too puzzled that she opted to lay down and wait for her 'savior' to come and sit by the bed and answer her questions. No ma'am, she was getting the fuck out of here and to her own place and fast while the evil bastard wasn't here to ruin her already ruined morning.
She stood up so fast,she had forgotten what doctor Nicholas had prescribed and she got to learn the hard way. Her face kissed the bed, lucky for her as she would have easily fallen flat on her face on the ground and wouldn't have been able to locate herself for the next twenty minutes as she was right now. When she finally came to, she got up slower this time and walked to get the glass of water he had mentioned and like a cat, she tried to look for any evidence of her clothes nearby.
Fearing the worst, she abandoned her mission and while she didn't know how long she had been out, she didn't know if he was back,she was certain for one thing and one thing only. She was getting the fuck out of this place.she wasn't going to wait for him to show up. She left her room, quietly closing the door behind her and careful swipes of her eye movements told her that her purse was not anywhere close which brought her to the entrance. She may have a chance that he may have kept her things there,with the mindset that she was going to leave which she was in fact already doing. Set and cemented to be honest.
She crept towards the spiral staircase that flowed and made no noises as she walked down the stairs even though her head ached so badly. She was right though, her things were kept just where she thought they would be.
At the entrance in case she needed to leave. It was funny how she realized that there was nobody present in the house, the last time she had been here, there had been a butler who had answered the door but now, there was not a single soul down here at all and while in times past that might have worried her, it didn't. She was beyond relieved at the departure of the staff, at least no one would see her walk of shame.
She picked her purse and found it a bit heavy. She opened it and was surprised to see a few wads of new notes. She was super sure she didn't bring that much money to the club but she wasn't sure, so she called an Uber and it arrived just in time. She took one last look at the building that held her heart in pieces and closed the door. Better to be gone than to be here when he came, she couldn't face it.