seven souls seven sins - Chapter 58: Chapter 58

Natasha's pov:
My eyes wander down to his feet, droplets of blood are scattered across the floor, and are slowly being washed away by the rain.
"Nat- It's not what it looks like." Nico tries to explain and steps closer to me, but I take a step back. "I thought you were taking the piss." I gasp in shock. "That asswipe deserved to die anyways." He cusses with not a hint of remorse in his eyes. "I can't believe you right now." My tone deepens.
"That man had a family, possibly a wife and kids." I point out as water droplets drip down my face.
"He fucking pissed me off." Nico takes more steps towards me, and I take more backwards. We're now under the bleachers but rain still seeps through the cracks. "So what? If I piss you off am I going to be next? Hm?" I shout at him, blood coursing through my veins. His eyes soften at my words.
"I would never hurt you." He reaches out to me.
"You just killed a man because of me." I add, my breathes getting shorter. "I don't really know you at all." I mutter, stepping back until my back reaches a metal beam. Nico takes a deep breath. "You have every right not to trust me-" He begins. "You took that man's life because he was doing his job." I state, looking Nico in the eye.
"I took his life because he was peer pressuring you." Nico admits and leans one arm over me.
He pants over me, me getting a faint hint of his familiar cologne. "I'm not going to just sit there and watch whilst you kiss someone else, not again." He confesses and closes his eyes trying to hide the green laced between them. "It's just a kiss." I mention, pushing off of him and walking back into the pouring rain near the carpark.
"It's not just a kiss, Nat" He follows me behind my back.
"THEN WHAT IS IT?" I turn around to face his speechless face. "WHAT ARE WE?" I lash out, seeking the truth. He's at a loss for words. "You're supposed to be my enemy, my family hates you. I'm supposed to hate you." I bang my fist against his soaking wet chest. He catches my wrist and opens his vocal cords.
"You're supposed to hate me, but you don't." He speaks from the heart.
"At the party, I asked if you felt the adrenaline, but we all knew the answer to that." He speaks again as the clouds cry harder. "Why do you think I fought Xander for you? Why do you think I brought you to my favourite food stall? Why do you think I get jealous every time I see a guy talking to you?" He questions with his voice getting louder each sentence.
"I don't want to hide my feelings from you anymore." He pants as water falls from the air.
"There are no feelings." I admit and stay silent as he continues. "There are but you don't want to accept them. You know that you're going against your brothers, you know that you're going against every fibre in your body, but your heart knows what it wants. You can deny it all you want, but you know deep down that a spark is there."
"And it's up to you to keep it alive." He towers over me as droplets pelt down on his hair, coating them with water.
A moment passes as my body tenses up. "Say something, please." He begs me. "My brothers are going to kill me." I admit, looking down to his shoes. "I can handle them. We can handle them." He tilts my chin up. A water droplet falls down, hydrating my lip. My eyes meet his verdant ones. I search and search for any signs of dishonesty, but I'm left empty handed.
He leans in, cupping the side of my cheek as his lips meet mine.
He pulls me in as I melt into our kiss. He parts my lips with his tongue, inviting himself in and mapping my molars in the process. I taste his lips, whiskey mixed with mint. I wrap my arms around his veiny neck as his hands travel down to my hips. I start lacking air so I pull away first.
Realisation hits me like a ton of bricks, MY BROTHER'S ENEMY JUST KISSED ME.
I stare into his emerald eyes but he looks down to my lips. "Not so scared of your brothers, now are you." He teases with a smirk which causes me to smile. "You have no idea of how long I've been waiting for that." He admits and wipes away his fading number from my cheek.
"Good things take time." I remind him as he just admires me.
He picks me up and twirls me around in the rain. Our laughter floods the arena. He gently places me down and we turn our heads to face the giant glowing white orb in the sky. "The moon is beautiful, isn't it." He voices out but he's only looking at me. "It is, it truly is." I respond, not knowing what he just said is a secret code.
I just realised that the ceremony is being held and I've supposedly gone to the bathroom for 10 minutes already.
"We should go to the ceremony, you don't want to miss that special moment, now do you?" I hold his hand and drag him to the P.E hall. As we enter, we're dripping water as we walk to our seats. Nico scurries over towards his team, acting as if nothing happened. I manage to sit down beside Adrien who immediately notices my state.
"The last time that I recall, the bathrooms were indoors." He mentioned with an arched brow.
"The one outside was quicker." I cover up and hide my hands under my thighs, resisting the urge to bite. He flicks me a worried glance but soon dismisses it as the ceremony continues. I sit there soaking in what the heck just happened 5 minutes ago. He kissed me. I'm head over heels at this point.
Time Passes:
"This is delicious." I lick my lips after devouring the pasta that we had for dinner. "You have Adrien to thank for that, he made the dinner to celebrate the big win on Wednesday." Vincent pats Adrien's back. I flash him a grateful smile. "Since it's Friday night, why don't we all play some board games together after dinner." Chase suggests.
"Family fun, sounds nice." Leo agrees.
"Xander, how about you and Nat can go set up a big round of monopoly whilst we clean this all up." Vincent orders calmly. "On it." Xander responds and takes my hand towards the sitting room. "Where are the board games?" I ask, following Xander to a row of hidden cabinets.
"Right here." Xander pushes a button under a shelf and a random cabinet juts out. "I've been living in this house for 2 weeks and even I didn't know that." I gasp in awe. "It's pretty neat, Leo helped to design it when we were reorganising the house." Xander mentions and searches through the box until he finds the monopoly box.
"Bingo." He smiles and places it on the coffee table. "Let me help." I offer and set up all the playing pieces on the cardboard board. "Who's gonna be banker?" Xander asks and runs his chin. "I'll be banker." Chase fesses up. The rest of my biological brothers enter the room and we all gather around the table.
"I wanna be the helicopter!" I snatch the gold metal before anyone else can.
After watching me, all the rest of my biological brothers dive in, grabbing their own desired pieces. "Are we all ready to start?" Vincent asks, making sure everyone is in the clear. He receives a collection of yes's and no's before He rolls the dice. "Can I just start to say that the youngest being the last person to roll is completely unfair." I pout.
Everyone just laughs at my annoyance which in turn makes me giggle too.
Time Passes:
"You have to pay me rent, Chase." I remind him as he lands on the most expensive property. "NOO!" He whines and shoves me my money reluctantly. I grab it and smile happily. Everyone else went bankrupt and now that Chase is too, it means that I've won. "How did you do it? You said you never played before." Chase scoffs.
"Don't play games with a girl who plays better." I repeat my iconic catchphrase.
Chase's breath halts. Oh fuck. "Where did you learn that?" He inquires, completely changing his whole demeanour. Game Chase was gone, Mafia Chase was in. I must've not been thinking clearly, I can't let myself get caught. "It's one AM, I don't remember." I shrug my shoulders and sit on my hands, resisting the urge to bite.
Everyone's eyes dart back and forth between Chase and I.
After feeling everyone's eery stares I begin to excuse myself. "I'll help clean up before bed." I offer and begin filing everything away neatly back inside the box. "When did you get this? It looks fresh." Chase reaches out for my hand and points at the cut that he gave me at the warehouse.
"I must've nicked it earlier." I shrug my shoulders but Chase still seems uneasy after my response.
My hands immediately rush to my mouth to bite my nail but I manage to hide them behind my back. Nobody says anything as I finish packing up but I can feel all their stares. "Nat, are you telling the truth?" Leo asks me as I stand up to put the box away. I walk a few metres towards the cabinet before replying, so that they can't see my fingers.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I try to turn the question onto them.
I put back the game and return back to the living room. The silence is interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. "Who's coming over at 1am?" Xavier sarcastically asked but nobody laughed. Majority of their hands rested on their hidden gun, waiting for Vincent's command.
"Let me check the CCTV before we investigate." He clears his throat.
Everyone looks on edge but I dismiss it. After a few minutes he whispers something into Adrien's ear. Adrien then gets up and leaves the room. "Where did you send him?" I let my curiosity get the bets of me. "I sent him to retrieve what was left on the porch." Vincent answers me directly.
His gaze lingers on me as Adrien walks back in with a bouquet of flowers.
But not just any flowers, hydrangeas. My favourite. Everyone has a confused reaction to the handful of flowers. "Thought of you at midnight. The moon is beautiful, isn't it. Love, Mr.Mysterious." Adrien reads out loud and I go red. He hands me the bouquet and I read the handwritten note all over again.
I feel Xander's piercing gaze stare at my side.
"What. The. Fuck." Xavier doesn't hide his true opinion. Xander reaches for my flowers and begins to read the same handwritten note. "They're harmless." I defend Nico. I have to text him later, he's gonna get his ass whooped. "This fucker is sending you flowers and it's harmless?" Xander bitterly growls as rage consumes his vision.
"It's not what it looks like." I snatch my bouquet back.
They even smell like him. "Why is he sending you flowers, Nat?" Leo questions whilst rubbing his chin. "I dunno. I need to get these in some water. Good night." I hastily exit the room and go towards the kitchen to fill up a vase. I hear my name being called behind me but I dismiss it.
It's just some flowers, can they calm down?
As I fill up the vase I hear footsteps behind me. I turn around to find Vincent leaning against the doorframe. "If you're here to yell at me, I'm not in the mood." I try to walk past him but he block my exit. "Let the flowers drink." He instructs and I gently unravel the bouquet and carefully place each stem into the vase.
"They look beautiful, I see why he picked them." Vincent comments as he walks over towards me.
"So you're not mad?" I lean against the counter trying to work out his game plan. "Oh I'm furious but I know that you're smart enough not to take things further than it needs to be." Vincent explains. "Thank you." I rush over to hug him. "You have no idea how refreshing it is to hear someone not nag over the small things." I hold onto him.
"I was once a teenager too, I know the feeling." He rubs his hand up and down my back
"Then what happened?" My eyes meet his. "It didn't work out. I was too busy with the mafia." He responds with a melancholy laugh. "But I trust you, Nat. So don't screw this chance up." He warns and we depart. "Your other brothers aren't quite on the same page so it might take them some getting used to but just give them time." He assures.
"Let's get you to bed, it's been a long day." He helps me up the stairs.
"Good night Vince." I smile at him. He places a soft kiss on my temple before walking towards his study. "Vincent, you should go to bed. Being locked up in the office all night isn't helping, go to sleep" I criticise and place my hands on my hips. He turns around and his eyes soften.
"Can't. I have to save Gotham when the night crawls." He smirks at me before entering his oak office.