Fleeting Gossamer (James Wesley)

[1] An Arrangement

He strode in through the front door unceremoniously,  shrugging out of his crisp tailored jacket and setting it aside absentmindedly, not caring that it fell to the floor a second later. He unbuttoned the hem of his collar, the muscles in his throat tensing as he relished the cleaner air,  far from the grime and greasy flecks that clung to every pore ans fibre of his being. With a heavy sigh, he threw himself down on the sofa,  it's softness welcoming and gentle.
     He pulled his phone from his breast pocket and set it down on the coffee table. And he sat there staring at it. He still hadn't wiped the blood from his face, the mark of another brutal death at his employer's hand of rage. Anatoly was well and truly out of the picture now. He should have been overjoyed. He should have been proud to stand at his employer's side, knowing that things would be tilting further in their favour. Their better tomorrow was inching closer by the day, by the death. Each of them was necessary, he always told himself, for the legacy that would be left behind when the old city burns and the new arises from the ashes.

"You can't keep doing this, Wesley." A voice like silk echoed through the living room as his attention finally broke from the device on the table.

"What?" he asked,  almost tempted to smirk in his usual way,  to deflect. To hide the fact that he knew full well what she meant.

She gestured around the room with her free hand while the other clutched a glass of wine. "Showing up like this. It's late. I would have thought you'd be sweeping all of Hell's Kitchen for your next-"

"Don't." He was quick this time, quick to shut her down, to plead for an end to their constant discord. He closed his eyes, chastising himself. "Please."

Her frown softened to a canvas of smoothed lines of sleepless nights and hours of unhinged dread. She slid next to him on the sofa and rested a hand on his knee, her eyes pained and searching his. It wasn't long before they fell on the sight of the blood on his skin,  soaking his collar.

"Please," he said again,  catching her hand in his as she reached out to touch the smear on his cheek. "It isn't mine. Anatoly, the Russian, became rather..." he cut himself short and noted the look of suspense in her eyes,  waiting, craving the truth. "He became an inconvenience."

She scoffed in disbelief and angled herself away from him. She didn't fail to notice how he winced.
"So you killed him?"

"No." It came out sharper than he'd intended and he regretted it the moment it escaped his lips. He had been better at hiding despise than frustration. "I didn't... I wouldn't have.. "

"Unless he told you to," she matched the sharpness of his words, only this time she meant it. She wanted the words to cut, to bleed. She crossed her arms,  setting her glass down on the table beside his phone. She eyed it with disgust. "And if he asked you about our arrangement, about where you go when you're not at his side-"

"I would never divulge the details of our arrangement, not even to him."

Something flickered in her eyes. He was sure she either thought him foolish or bluffing. She arched an eyebrow.  "Does that not scare you, Wesley?"

He shook his head and inhaled sharply as he rubbed at his collar. The blood stained spread and clung to his fingers. His fingertips brushed his own cheek. He bit back a wince.

"No," she muttered below a whisper, almost in accusation, "because you're not a man motivated by fear,  Wesley. That's not what drives you, is it?"

His silence was all the confirmation they needed on the matter.

Letting his shoulders sag,  he reached out a hand towards the table. She watched him carefully as his fingers lingered near his phone. At the last moment, they steered towards the glass of wine. He took it and took a long sip. He smiled as he savoured it.

"1975 Brunello Di Montalcino,"

She grinned, "A personal favorite," she replied teasingly as she placed a light hand on his shoulder. "The conditions of our arrangement remain unchanged. You're welcome to stay as long as you need. You know where everything is,"