nik silently let his head fall against the wall he was propped against.
"ffffuuuuuuuuuck. i knew this would happen. i mean, she's worth it, but jesus. thank god the public knows me as amory." he talked over it quietly.
of course this would happen, he let his guard down when he was with her. the pictures were blurry, and the only recognizable feature of tessa was her golden hair, and his was the hat, but still.
She switched contacts and texted Nik. 'I'm SO sorry!' She entered her passcode and headed inside. She tossed her phone to the side, not caring where it ended up, and immediately went to the bar.
Alcohol, I'm in need of your embrace.
he noticed the text, and quickly responded with 'it's okay! im sure we both knew this would happen. i can retrace the writer, and convince them to shut their trap. depending on your opinion, they can admit to making a false article, or just shut up.'
She chugged a quarter of the random bottle that she grabbed, then noticed her phone flashing. She set the bottle down and grabbed the phone, reading the text. 'Do what you want, I'm not too worried about my reputation. It's you that I'm worried about, since I know that you want to remain relatively anonymous. Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna get drunk.'
he smiled at that,
'honestly, i have an alias. i don't mind all that much. good luck with getting drunk, love. see you tomorrow.'
'Ciao!'
She chucked her phone again and hopped up the stairs to change into something comfier. After stripping, she went braless with just an oversized shirt that she may or may not have bought from the men's section for this sole purpose. Her hair was a mess, but eh.
She went back downstairs and grabbed the bottle, flopping onto the couch and drinking herself into a stupor.
nik decided to follow her example, but definitely not as drunk. couldn't risk it in this city.
he jumped down the fire escape, heading to the bar where he knew the manager and most of the employees.
when he got there, he ordered whatever was cheapest, drinking it slowly along with a water.
"so, a, heard you have a girl now?"
dammit, jeff.
Tessa was perhaps on her second bottle already. She was sprawled across her couch, softly singing to herself in Italian–surprisingly fluent considering her current condition. She was so out of it, and she was way past the point of blackout drunk. She traced her fingers in the air in invisible patterns only seen by her, smiling idly to herself.
"amory."
nik looked up, brows furrowed. "what."
"i really think you should leave."
"j, i've only had half a bottle. what do you m-"
"amory, the watch."
that got him on his feet, just as he heard the door click open. fuck. he dodged into the back room, practically flying through the employee doors as he fled for his life and business. as he left, he heard a conversation going on
"who was that that just left?"
"sam. awfully shy dude. he only comes in when it's empty, you know the drill."
"he was running too fast to just be shy. who was he?"
it was just thumping and yelling from there.
Tessa got up and stumbled over to the bar once again, grabbing some vodka and shot glasses. She no longer remembered why she was drinking in the first place, but that didn't stop her from going until she dropped. She vaguely thought about Nik and wondered what he was doing–and how soft his lips looked–but the sight of the newly found vodka quickly seized her attention. She grinned goofily and grabbed it with a squeal of triumph.
nik crouched under some stairs, head in his arms. he didn't know if he was crying or not, he couldn't be bothered to care at this point. his torso ached, god, his wrists burned. he had sent a text to tessa, a quick warning.
they're after me. they got him.
it was cryptic, but she'd figure it out. smart woman, she was. he hugged himself, rocking back and forth. he wasn't sure if he was fully hidden, but he couldn't run any more.
Her phone buzzed from somewhere, and she temporarily forgot about the vodka as she stumbled over to it and read the text. It was cryptic and from Nik. Not good–even her drunken mind could comprehend that. She bit her lip. She was in no condition to go after him.
Ty.
She texted the consigliere of the Rawling crime family, telling him that he needed to find a guy her age. She roughly described him. Ty was the perfect guy for the job–big and burly, silent and brooding, and he took shit from absolutely no one. Even Tess was slightly afraid of him, since he had fired a gun at her to 'test' her reflexes. Let's just say that she always made sure to stay on guard around him.
he had recovered slightly, but found it nowhere in him to move. nik noticed that he was shaking at one point.
after about a half hour, he heard footsteps and bolted up, not noticing the footsteps getting faster as he scrambled for footing until he officially got up, blinded by desperation, and stumbled straight into what felt like a living brick wall. shit.
Ty grabbed Nik to steady him, matching Tessa's description to the boy before him.
The rough Italian was respectively tall and built out of pure muscle, with dark blue eyes and cropped obsidian black hair. "Nik, I take it?" he asked gruffly, his Italian accent thick.
he looked up, taking a moment to respond.
"that depends, who's asking?"
"So that's a yes. Your choice kid–deal with a drunken Huntress or spend the night with a crime family." Ty wasn't giving away any personal details. Even his closest friends didn't know much about him. They didn't even know his last name.
nik dry-swallowed, gaze flicking around.
"i can handle either, but i'd appreciate the drunken huntress. she probably needs help."
"Then follow me." Ty started walking away, not even looking to see if Nik would follow.
he took a shaky breath, starting to follow. he looked around constantly, tugging at his shirt and rubbing his wrists. he slightly resembled a crack addict, though the hardest drug he had done was weed. just a nervous boy.
Ty's cell phone rang, and he dug it out. "Ciao… Sì, l'ho trovato… sì, sta bene… va bene, è agitato ma comunque illeso… non è affar mio e lo sai… Smettila di bere e dormi, Theresa… buona notte." He hung up and put away the cell phone.
nik didn't even bother to ask what he said, simultaneously scared to ask and not caring at all. he just wanted to get off the streets, drunk huntress or not.
Ty was silent the rest of the way to Tessa's place. Once there, he punched in her passcode–sighing as he did so because he understood the meaning of it. "There."
"thank you. respectfully, i hope i never have to see you again. goodnight." he swung around, looking for tessa, and found her laying on the couch.
time to die, fellas.
Ty left without another word.
Tessa was sprawled across the couch, still in her "comfy" outfit, and holding a bottle of vodka with two other empty bottles of different kinds of alcoholic beverages. She was on her back, so she was looking at Nik upside down as she grinned goofily at him. "Yourrr okaaaayyeee!!" she slurred.
"i am okay. a little rattled, but okay." he was definitely more fucked up than a 'little rattled', but he didn't let it show. this time he knew how to handle all this.
he went to sit next to her, gently taking the vodka from her and setting it on the far end of the coffee table. when it was situated, he opened his arms to her.
"You don wan me neearrr youu…" she muttered regretfully, eyeing the lost bottle of vodka as she sat up and situated herself away from Nik. Now that he was here and no longer just a passing thought…
Well, let's just say it wasn't good.
"why is that?"
he put his arms down, but maintained an open posture.
She hummed as she put thoughts into words. "Mmm…. excited." Yup. That was the best she could do. She adjusted her shirt–for reasons unknown, since there was literally no point.
he almost laughed.
"if you're still ~excited~ when you're sober, then we can talk. for now, here." he got up to get her a bottle of water.
"drink this, and then let's get you to bed, yeah?"
She scowled at the bottle like it was personally responsible for her fucked up life. "Col cavolo che lo bevo."