OFF-LIMITS

09.

Chapter nine | Layla
Nope, no, absolutely not.
I just cannot stay here anymore, I think I'm going to blow up from frustration, I did everything that a person can think of, it's been nine days since I got out of the hospital, how am I supposed to live in this hell for months? My thoughts are the only thing left with me, everyone goes out but I'm here with them 24/7 and they're slowly killing me.

"Come back to earth." A snap of fingers pulls me away from my thoughts and I stare at the glaring guy in front of me, Ezekiel, or as I call him nowadays, Ez, it's just easier and shorter and less scary, he doesn't like it but he doesn't mind it either so we'll work with that, "this is boring, as fuck." I say and he cocks his head, "what do you want then? You know I'm just here to protect you not entertain you." He says and I raise a brow.

"It's not like I persuaded you or something?" I say smiling and it comes out as a question, he shrugs off his shoulder, "nope don't worry I'm just pitying you, Damien isn't here, Adrian is in Russia and this woman hates you." He says, sarcasm heavy in his tone as he motions to Anastasia and I grab the nearest pillow and throw it at him, of course, it won't do anything but it lessens my fucking irritation.

He sighs and rolls his eyes, "what do you want, woman?" He says, his voice coming out accented, which means he's either mad or irritated, and in this situation, it's probably just irritation, just in a week I've noticed lots of things about this guy, I wonder if he notices the same things though, doubt it, I'm the only one who's bored here.

"Tell me more about Damien's family." I say, not really caring about Damien himself cause I'm mad at him, because...he never asked about me all day yesterday, and when he came home he complained about how hard everything was and just slept, we can't even have any time together, he narrows his eyes, "we won't go into fucking details just for your knowledge." He says flat-out.

I shrug my shoulders, "okay that was already expected." I smile and he rolls his eyes, "what do you exactly want to know? Don't ask generally." He says and I take my time to think, "their father." I say and he nods in understanding, "uh, he was a tough man, I wasn't around when I'm old but I was around the age of nine years old and he was one of the most feared men there, he was the pakhan, which means the boss." He says and I place the accent right now, "you're Russian." I say realizing that it was a Russian accent, and he raises his brow.

"About time you realized." He says I smile playfully, "just Russian?" I ask curious, "nope, I'm quarter Irish, quarter American, and half Russian." He says and I raise my brows, I don't know why but I think having different nationalities is just kind of cool, that sounds stupid, anyway.

"You're all American, aren't you?" He asks and I nod, "yep, simple." I say and he smiles, "ha, do you speak any languages besides English?" He asks as if he's curious and it kind of feels nice to know that someone is interested in knowing about your life, "yes, Spanish, me and my brother used to take courses when we were younger, I always thought it was annoying, to be honest, and I despised those sessions with all I had, Nash did hate them too, but he—he was kind of the smart "gifted" kid you know, so sometimes he'd actually enjoy them, me? No thanks keep this the fuck away from me, also I'm sorry if that was—too much." I hurry up to apologize, not wanting to make him annoyed.

It's not like I control the number of words coming out of my mouth most of the time, it's kind of—out of my control, but it pisses off some people and some even hate me for it, or at least they hate my company, I cannot make this man hate me right now, he's the only person I have here, I swear I'm not trying to use him but....we're kind of using each other? So I think it's fine? Someone kill me.

His brows furrow, "you're good—your brother, you mean that soccer player?" He asks raising his brows and a grin spreads on my face immediately erasing everything I just felt, "you know him? He's the best." I say smiling and he shrugs off his shoulder, "saw him on tv a couple of times, when the Americans say they want to watch." He says and I nod, not really wanting to get into details with whatever he means, but knowing that my brother succeeded in his life just brings me comfort, because knowing that at least one of his made his dreams true would make my eleven years old self so happy.

I slowly feel myself zoning out, my body feeling dizzy, the headache's pain just increasing as a nauseous feeling spreads across my belly, "You okay here?" He asks and I suddenly feel his hand on my shoulder as he shakes it gently, I blink a couple of times, "yeah yeah fine." I say and he checks my pulse, "Jesus when was the last time you ate?" He asks, fuck, I try to think of an answer quickly but it feels like my mind isn't working which makes this hundred times harder, "I don't remember." I blurt out, cause I genuinely cannot remember, he curses under his breath then a moment later I find a protein bar planted in my hand.

I look at it for a second, "eat it." He orders, I raise my brows playfully, "okay okay." I say softly  as I put it in my mouth, chewing on it, the best thing to do right now is do as he says, and well it's not the best thing I've eaten, but not the worst either, he glares at me, looking every bit scary like he did the first day I met him, "what?" I ask raising a brow, "boss said that you'd act like this but I didn't believe him."

"What do you mean by act like this?" I ask my brows furrowing, "that you'd act like everything is fine and that you're happy, but you're anything but." He blurts and my lips part, "are you kidding me?" I ask, there's no way Adrian noticed all that, it's not like he even gives a shit about anyone but himself, he raises a brow as we sit down again "do I look like the type who says jokes?" He asks roughly and I smile again.

"Not at all." I reply and he grunts, then after a moment he sighs and gets up, "I need to go back to work." He says standing up, my brows furrow, "isn't this work?" I ask shrugging off my shoulder, "right now my job is to protect you from any possible danger, and trust me when I'm sitting here chit-chatting with you, I definitely won't be able to protect you nor protect myself." He says raising a brow as he walks away, I sigh and run a hand through my hair as I drop my head back, a second later Ezekiel comes back in view with his brows furrowed.

"What? What's wrong?" I straighten, worry getting the best of me, "uh-well I have some news." He says and I stare at him waiting for a fucking answer, "boss took an early flight, and he has supposedly landed thirty minutes ago, fuck." He curses and my eyes go wide as both fear and excitement rush through my veins, it's just because I won't be lonely.

"The hell? Why are you staying with her like you're besties or something?" A voice joins and I turn around to see Damien walking inside, I smile and slowly stand up, he side hugs me but his eyes stay on Ezekiel, he's mad, "why the hell are you talking to her? Know your fucking place." He says harshly.

"I told him to talk with me, I was feeling lonely, no one is here." I say and raise a brow, "lonely? He's a fucking bodyguard, that's his job, no matter if you're lonely or shit, of course, Adrian would hire stupid people like this." He says and the look Ezekiel gives him could choke Damien if his eyes had the same effect as his hands, "uh—talking about Adrian, that fucker is coming today, let's see what our cute big boy was doing in Russia." He says and I almost laugh, that's just embarrassing, it's become obvious now who's stronger in these situations, he rolls his eyes when Ezekiel doesn't say anything, but he's not stupid to do so, Damien grabs my arm, his nails digging into my skin as we walk towards the room, I wince and push his hand off with all my effort, he stares at me like I killed someone for a beat before I hear the cracking of the door opening and we both turn around, my breath hitches when I see Adrian, "I hope you missed me, little bro," he says, his face blank and his eyes empty, but the moment they catch mine, it's like heat catches in them just like flames, and at this moment I realize that maybe...I like to play with fire.

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Also, I feel like this chapter contains mistakes so if there's smth wrong skip it pls😭