STALEMATE [MAFIA] [MXM] ✓

21: MY TURN

The ride back to the station is mostly silent, though Jordan does question Salem about what happened after Atlas cut everything off. Salem just tells him nothing interesting, because honestly... nothing did happen. Salem made it known exactly how he felt about the situation, and took his exit.

Salem feels so unbelievably conflicted. So much has happened in the last 24 hours, and he just doesn't know what the fuck to do. By the time they reach the station, it's after nine o'clock, and Salem doesn't want to go home.

He doesn't want to go back to his apartment, either. He doesn't want to go anywhere. He doesn't want to be alone, but he doesn't really want to be around anyone. Salem seriously doesn't know what to do. He never thought he'd be in this situation.

It doesn't take Salem long to figure out a solution to all of his problems. Or, well, most of them. The one woman who has made everything better from the very beginning.

As soon as Salem is off work—which is immediately—he is shooting the lady a text and heading to her house. She responds with a message he doesn't have time to read, but it does contain a decent amount of hearts. The ride there is dead silent, Salem not realizing he forgot to turn on music until he's pulling into her driveway. He just can't stop thinking.

He can't get Atlas out of his head. Nothing new there, except this is different. Every time he closes his eyes, all he sees is Atlas' face. His eyes. The way that he was looking at Salem, seconds from ending everything. What if that was the last thing Salem ever saw? What if that actually was the end?

Then he starts thinking about how Atlas actually has killed people before. Many of them. That was the last thing they saw. That cold, unfeeling look. The way Atlas looked at Salem made him feel alone and unloved, and Salem knows that most people did not get lucky like he did. Most people met a gruesome fate, Atlas' dead eyes being the last fucking thing they saw.

Salem can't imagine. He can't comprehend it. He doesn't know what to do!

Salem parks in the driveway, pulling his hood over his head when he processes the fact that it's raining. He doesn't really care about rain, keeps a normal pace as he makes his way towards the front door, entering without knocking or anything.

Salem enters the house, scraping his boots on the doormat and removing them. He takes his hood off and glances around in the darkness, finding a source of light coming from the living room.

"In here, honey!" Salem hears Natalia's voice call from said living room. He doesn't waste any time, hurrying towards her. God, there is nothing he needs more right now than a fucking hug. He needs gentleness, he needs love and companionship.

Salem enters the room and finds her in the middle of it, arms spread out. Salem is immediately hugging her, accidentally lifting her off the ground a bit. She rubs his back, making shushing noises, and he just closes his eyes. He buries his face in her shoulder, body trembling. A second goes by before she's asking, quietly;

"What happened?"

A couple minutes later they're sitting down on the couch, the same spot Salem has spent so much time pouring his heart out and bonding with this lady. He cried over the death of his father, and she cried over the death of her husband, they've talked about almost every topic in the book, among so many other things. Right here.

Salem starts from the very beginning. He explains everything to her. About how he thinks Catrine is with Black Cross, and how he thinks she may know about his new living situation. How she has him investigating Atlas solely, and he's positive that it's all on purpose. He talks about how he doesn't know anything about Atlas, how even after all these years there are still so many secrets.