Morozov

Chapter 17

"Mallory" he almost whispered in the softest tone and I hummed in response, not taking my eyes off his lips.

"I'm sorry."

His words pulled me out of the moment rapidly and I looked up to his eyes again. "What?" I asked, confused as to why he just ruined this moment.

"I'm sorry for what happened on Tuesday" he said with a guilt written expression on his face. I waited for him to go on. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just- lost control. I was so frustrated at the trainees and when that boy spoke to me like that I saw red."

I waited for a few seconds, not sure of what to say. "How is he?" I asked quietly, hoping the answer wouldn't disappoint me. "He's okay" Ace answered reassuringly and my shoulders, which I didn't even notice had tensed, relaxed again.

"Why didn't you talk to me earlier?" I asked, suddenly a bit angry about it again. "I'm very stubborn to be honest" he admitted awkwardly while scratching the back of his head.

"I was pretty disappointed to be honest" I said earning a nod in response. "But" I added but made a quick pause causing Ace to look up at me with hope and curiosity in his eyes. "I won't be mad anymore if you promise me that we will talk about our conflicts in the future and I want to go to a fair with you tomorrow" I put on a smile at the end of my request and he chuckled in response.

"I think we can arrange that."

———

The next day came and we both got up. It was a very foggy and cold day so I wrapped a fuzzy blanket around me as I made my way to the kitchen. Ace was nowhere to be seen but I knew he was awake since he stood up at 6 a.m. every day.

I spotted him outside smoking so I quickly made 2 cups of tea and rushed out. I hated when he smoked but I couldn't do anything about it, by now.

"Good morning" I said as I came out. I should've put on a winter jacket. Ace shot me a confused look as I placed the tea on the wooden railing of the veranda and took the cigarette out of his mouth. I flicked it away earning a annoyed look.

"You shouldn't smoke. It's bad." "I am bad" he stated with a boyish smile and I rolled my eyes at his statement.

"I made tea" I changed topics and handed him one of the cups. He gave me a surprised look but I ignored it. "Why aren't you wearing a jacket? It's cold" he asked, not looking away from the forest that started a few feet away from his mansion and stretched to the horizon.

"You're wearing none either" I cussed causing him to look at me for a second before turning his gaze to the cup still standing on the railing.

"I don't get cold, I'm the devil" he winked at me before taking the tea and going inside. I rolled my eyes and followed him.

"I have to go to the office for like probably 2 hours and afterwards we'll go to the fair" he stated and I frowned.

After our breakfast I went to my room to get dressed. I told Jaqueline to take the day off. I wanted to get ready on my own, not that I told her this.

I put on some dark grey straight jeans and a black turtle neck. Then I put my hair up and did a decent make up look when I remembered how untidy Ace's office was and an idea came to my mind.

If he wasn't capable of cleaning the mess on his own, I would just do it for him. I put on a pink, black and grey checkered warm coat and combat boots and then I went downstairs and looked for Dan.

"Can you drive me to target?" "Uhm yeah, sure" he said and we got in the car. When we arrived at target I bought a fancier looking ashtray than his, a pen organizer and essential pans to put in it.

When I was done getting the basic things it was time to move on to the fun part. "Dan, let's go to the decoration aisle."

At the end of our visit we had a shopping cart full of Halloween decorations for Ace's office and the mansion. I was really sick and tired of the plain walls I had to look at all day so I thought some decoration wouldn't harm anyone - Halloween was right behind the corner anyway.

As Dan helped me to load all the stuff in the trunk he spoke up. "I don't want to put you down but I think Master Rodrigues won't like this" he said with a concerned look on his face. "He decided to marry me so he's gonna have to deal with it" I winked at him and could see him struggling to suppress a chuckle.