Nikolai was patiently waiting for Angelo in the living room when his phone rang. He picked up with a flat expression, "I want you to lose my number." He said bluntly without bothering for niceties as soon as the call connected.
Silvia bristled on the other side of the call, "I’ll be more than happy to as soon as Angelo leaves."
Nikolai’s jaw hardened at her words, uninterested in continuing the conversation any longer.
His phone rang again almost instantly, Silvia blustering as soon as he picked. "You didn’t even let me say what I called for!"
Nikolai noted that she wasn’t speaking as quickly as he liked, already reaching out to hang up for the second time.
"Give Angelo the day off," Silvia said before Nikolai could interrupt her for the second time.
This caught the Mafia King’s attention, his brows furrowed. "What’s wrong with him?" He asked, not quite sure how he felt about Silvia being the one to tell him.
"He called me to tell me he felt sleepy but he needed to accompany you down to the casino." Silvia summarized, leaving out most of the important bits. She owed Nikolai nothing and the Mafia King had been rude first.
Nikolai frowned, he had always allowed Angelo to do whatever the assassin wanted. Why did it then sound like he was forcing a sick person to go to work? "I see," He murmured.
"I don’t think he’s sick," Silvia said despite herself, "He’s been working himself to the ground for the past decade, I hate to say it but he probably feels safe with you and that’s why he’s so tired."
Silvia also wanted to add that the last few days also had something to do with Angelo’s sleepiness but she put a cap on it. She didn’t like Nikolai, but she wouldn’t deny that the Mafia King had a positive influence on Angelo for some strange reason.
Nikolai’s decision to kill Luis had also given the Mafia King a few more positive points. It was the reason she had told him all that, reluctantly coming to trust him when it came to Angelo.
"I see," Nikolai repeated but there was a telltale note of pride in his voice this time that wasn’t there before.
"Knowing Angelo, he’ll probably come down to the casino by himself in a few hours." Silvia tagged on, hanging up.
Nikolai rose to his feet, his mind made up as he made some arrangements. He headed for Angelo’s room, setting up his things at the sitting area. By the time he was done and settling down, Angelo rolled over to his side to look at him, his hair getting in the way.
"Nikolai?" The assassin questioned sleepily, half-heartedly pushing his hair out of his face.
Nikolai looked up, Angelo was back in his hoodie, it reminded him of the first few days after the assassin showed up at his apartment. "I plan to work from home, go back to sleep."
Angelo looked like he really wanted to say more, but he drifted back to sleep before he could form words. It was a cold fall morning but the assassin wasn’t curled up tight. He had worn warm clothes and was bundled up in the blankets, but he slept more naturally, no longer curled up as a defense mechanism.
Nikolai was reminded of Silvia’s words, a lump in his throat that liquor couldn’t get rid of.
Angelo felt safe enough with him to sleep, the situation was completely ironic because anyone who let their guard down around Nikolai had only themselves to blame.
But Angelo, whose sleep schedule was just as fucked as his was blissfully fast asleep merely a few meters away, and for all his cold words, he had ditched work to watch the assassin sleep.
Nikolai wasn’t tired but he wondered if he would also fall asleep if he joined Angelo on the bed.
Jael clocked in to work at FluxCorp with his routine cup of coffee for Rosie, the week had been one of the calmest he could ever remember having since he was a kid.
After Asher made him and Rosie rush over for an exaggerated situation, his boss hadn’t bothered him. Asher was already back to work after taking a break to handle Caspian’s heat, things would probably be peaceful for another week, hopefully.
He was already a familiar face to the receptionist and a handful of employees, they mostly left him well alone, even when he rode the elevator with them. He strode right to Rosie’s office, intending to hand over her coffee only to run right into her.
Rosie just snagged him by his holsters and pulled him out of the office again. "Good thing you’re here, we’ve got an event in an hour," She rattled off as she pulled him down the hallway, leaving him holding her cup of coffee and his own cup of ice tea.
"We also need to stop by one of Lake’s companies before that to drop off something important." Rosie was really happy to have someone to drag along with her, and Jael doubled as protection, it was a win-win.
Jael on the other hand hadn’t been expecting the flurry of events as soon as he showed up. He had spent his days peacefully watching Rosie respond to emails or lounging in the recreation room, but he didn’t resist, letting himself be dragged off by her.
"What kind of event?" He asked when he could finally get a word in, standing in the elevator with Rosie still holding onto his leather strap like she expected him to run off.
Rosie looked the Beta over, he was dressed the same as always, a disheveled dress shirt, slacks and gun holsters strapped across his wide shoulders.
"One you can wear anything to," She reassured him, more familiar with him now.
Jael calmly lifted a brow, "Even my guns?"
Rosie didn’t blink, "Yes," She replied, exchanging Jael’s straps for her cup of coffee in his hand.
"Since we’re in a hurry, why don’t I drive?" Jael calmly offered as they made their way to the parking lot.
Rosie thought about it for a moment, Jael would get them to where they needed to be on time. "Sure."