𝐑𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧 ✓

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞

RopeBurn

"Let's fall in love for the night
And forget in the mornin'"

Elvira

↽———⋆♥︎⋆———⇁

     My bare feet only rested in the snow for a second before Marco lifted me into his arms. The blood on my hands were nothing but a temporary warning not to cross Marco Russo, or the people he cared for. The gunshot wound to Alexei's hands would be a permanent reminder that touching what Marco believed was his was a mistake.

     Carefully, he placed me into the backseat of a black car. Marco buckled me in like a child, making sure my feet weren't hanging out of the car before shutting the door. He had said something to me before he had, but of course my ringing ears didn't allow me to hear it.

      A wet cloth touched my skin a minute later, the cold touch causing me to flinch. "It's okay." He reassured me, with gentle hands he wiped the blood from my hands and wrist. It wasn't the first time I had touched blood, but it was the first time I had been the cause of it.

"I didn't plan on hurting him, believe it or not.." his eyes begged me to stare back into them, the blood stained cloth was tossed to the floorboards. "Can you lend me your feet, please?" He began undoing his shoes, slipping the three layers of socks from them.

"You shot him, Marco. Twice.. you shot him twice." Hesitantly, I moved my feet into his lap. As much as I wanted to kick him in the jaw I couldn't bring myself to. Between being cold and scared shitless I didn't have the energy nor courage to.

Marco removed his leather gloves, warm hands coming into contact with my frozen toes. If I had stayed any longer out in that snow surely I would have lost a toe. "He was hurting you, Elvira. Your wrists are already beginning to bruise." He rolled his socks onto my feet, using the two top layered ones from his own feet. "Turn the heater on maximum would you?" I hadn't noticed the same girl from my store in the front seat until now. She silently did as he asked, the warm air hitting me like a truck. "I apologize, though. I should have handled it better." I brought my feet back, tucking them under my thighs to keep them warm.

"You're.." I started, choosing my words carefully. "You're different." He laughed at my words, removing his last jacket and neatly placing it over my legs to keep them warm. It left him in nothing but a thin white shirt, and my body warming up with the extra layers of clothing.

"Two years is a long time to be away from you, Elvira. I did as you asked though, I received therapy and attended couples counseling. Though they said it wouldn't be as effective seeing you weren't there." He spoke slowly, calmly. It wasn't the same man that shoved me under the bath water.

"Couples therapy is for couples, we weren't couples." It was quietly said, but he didn't seem to be bothered by my words.

The streets I had grown accustomed to slowly passed us by, the snowfall turning the dark town into nothing but a white mess. "Your family is in Italy, well.. your mother is. I couldn't convince your brother to come see you." His eyes never parted from me.

"My Abuela?" She had been so sick when I left. Was she even in the right condition to travel so far?

Silence

"Oh." A crack in my voice gave way to a broken damn of tears. It only started as two, but once the seal was broken more seemed to pour out. Trying to hide the tears from him was pointless now, he knew me too well for me to lie my way out of it.