The MANny (Whip 4) ✔️

Chapter 5

MIHAIL

Time stands still for a moment, as we lie there staring at each other.

I can barely move let alone do anything else under that dark gaze, my nose full of a wonderful scent, something dark and intoxicating much like the man himself is.

We are so close, so very close, David's warm breath hot on my lips, making goosebumps break out over my skin.

"Mihail, dad, are you guys alright?" Leo's voice breaks through the haze, and in the next second, David is gone, jumping quickly to his feet and cleaning the snow from his pants in a nonchalant way as if he hasn't been sprawled across the ground just a few seconds before.

"We are fine, just a little accident." David says as he looks at me again, one of his hands slowly rising in offer. I take it, letting the man pull me up, but as soon as he does that, a groan escapes my throat before I can stop it as a piercing pain slices through my side.

"Are you hurt?" David immediately asks, coming closer to me as I clutch my ribs with a painful grimace.

"It's nothing, just a bruise. I'm fine." I say although I'm not sure if that is true. The wound I earned barely two months before when those men have kidnapped me in order to find out where Misha was, is healed, but the flesh surrounding it is still tender and the scar pink and very noticeable, and at the moment it hurts like hell.

"Let's get you inside, and out of those wet clothes, you don't look so well, you're very pale." David says, as he takes my arm and starts to lead me, his stern glare stopping all of my protests before I even have the time to voice them.

It makes me shiver, the glare, a warm feeling pooling at the bottom of my stomach at the feel of it, though I don't know why.

We enter the house, Leo trailing behind us with a worried look on his face as he watches me, making something inside me warm at the gentle look. Someone is worried for me, for my wellbeing, a new concept, since no one besides Misha has ever done so.

Well, my sister had, once upon a time, but that was a long time ago, I've been just a child then, and I've almost forgotten how good it feels to feel cherished and cared for, as if you matter.

"Can you climb?" David asks once we are inside, looking up the stairways that lead to my bedroom. I nod and slowly make my way up, David walking close behind me, his arms slightly spread as if expecting me to tumble down any moment and ready to catch me.

I sigh in relief once I see the door of my room since my side is starting to hurt more despite me pulling a brave face. I really need to lie down.

"You should take your clothes off; we need to check if everything is okay." David says, making my stomach turn at the thought of this man seeing me without a shirt on.

I hate how I look, feeling ashamed of the numerous scars that mar my body, making me look disfigured. It's a remnant of my previous life, the one that these days seems like a bad dream, especially since I moved into the Cross household.

But it hasn't been a dream, no matter how much I wish that it was, and I just need to take off my clothes to be reminded of that little fact.

"That won't be necessary, I'm fine. It's just a bruise from the fall. Nothing some rest won't heal." I say, my eyes averted to the side, unable to look at the man as I talk. I pray that David won't force the issue, because I don't know what I would do if that were the case.

David watches me for a moment, a frown between his brows as he does so, making cold sweat break out at the back of my neck before the man nods reluctantly.