All Rights Reserved

Chapter 7 - The Can of Worms

"I'm sorry," I began as I entered the living room. "But Chez Lexi's do not offer milkshakes," I announced before setting a soda in front of Mikael who promptly rolled his eyes as a grin appeared.

"I kinda gathered that when you mocked me for bringing you to have a milkshake."

Heat bloomed in my cheeks and I knew I was flushing. "I said I was sorry about that, but you can hardly blame me," I protested as I settled beside him on the sofa. "How often would a grown man ask for a milkshake? My brothers don't even ask for one unless you mean my younger one. But not since he was fourteen."

"Rude," Mikael retorted before flicking a popcorn at me. To my chagrin, it hit my face before bouncing onto the ground.

"Hey!" I scowled and grabbed one of my cushions and swatted him on the head with it.

"I give," Mikael quickly interjected with a snort as the cushion smacked him hard on the face, almost causing the bowl of popcorn that was balancing perilously close on his lap to drop.

"Good."

Smugly, I settled back as Mikael wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "What are we watching?" I questioned as I snagged the bowl of popcorn away from him.

"Not a romcom," he replied smoothly and I sighed in satisfaction. "Good. I'm sick of those. Those were Kat's favourites."

Mikael made a sound that sounded suspiciously like 'fucking knew it' and immediately grinned.

It wasn't a secret that Kat outwardly trashed and made fun of romcoms, even going so far to call them the devil's way of brainwashing, but as her best friend, I was privy to all her secrets.

And speaking of Kat.

"Did Kat give you any trouble?" I asked as the opening credits started playing on the screen.

"Trouble?"

The wide nonchalant eyes gave it away. Mikael was actually really good at deflecting questions and changing subjects but living with three brothers, I was really good at reading faces. And after knowing Mikael for about three weeks and studying his facial expressions and actions, I was almost close to figuring out his tells.

"She did, didn't she?" I pressed and Mikael shrugged.

"She did." He lifted a brow as one of his fingers played with the ends of my hair. "You aren't mad at her, are you? She's just looking out for you."

"I know," I murmured before turning my attention back to the screen. "What did you say?"

Mikael paused and now, I was very aware of how close we were.

It was our second date but we had been texting regularly and it felt like I've known him for years instead of the scant few weeks that was actual reality. Somehow, I was just so comfortable with him. I couldn't explain it but I felt at ease with him.

That was something I couldn't say about many people. To be perfectly honest, I only had that feeling when I was with Kat and my youngest brother, Henry.

Was it terribly awful of me that I couldn't be myself when I was with my own family?

But here, with Mikael, I felt like I could be at my dorkiest self and he would most probably join me.

"I told her that I liked you a lot and I wouldn't hurt you."

My heart stopped and I could only freeze at those words that had left his lips and entered my heart. The tone that he had adopted was soft and warm and just awfully heartfelt that it made me speechless.

It wasn't a declaration of love or poetry about my beauty or charm and nonsense like that. It was just words that were incredibly heartfelt and sincere.

They were perfect.

"Oh." I licked my dry lips before meeting his eyes and my heart sped up at the look in them.

They were dark and as they met mine, I noted that they flickered down to my lips.

Oh my god. Jesus, help me.

Who made the first move, I didn't know but I hardly cared. All that I could focus on was our lips meeting.

It was soft - incredibly soft. Gentle. Tender.

And suddenly, it was as if I was in a tornado or emotions, sensations. I felt everything at once.

The way his hands cupped my face, the calloused pads of his fingers brushed my cheeks, causing a shiver to shriek down my spine. How his other hand felt as it held the nape of my neck, arching my head upwards to meet his. The sensitivity of the back of my neck contributed to the torrent of senses I was in. The warmth of his body as it presses against mine to the back of my couch and how his hair felt smooth and soft as I ran my fingers through his locks.

This was it.

It was what I had been missing out the last time when we were at my house when Kat had interrupted.

Mikael dragged his lips to my bottom lip and bit lightly on it, causing me to gasp and heat pooled in the bottom of my gut. His tongue swept across my lip, laving away the slight sting of his bite as if he was asking for entrance and of course, I granted it.

The hand that had been cupping my cheek trailed down to the curve of my neck and the coolness of his hands caused goosebumps to prickle over my skin, causing me to let out a little sigh against his mouth.

"Lex-"

Was he really trying to talk now? Ignoring him, I tugged his head closer, fighting the grip I had around his neck before I pulled away and began leaving kisses on the side of his neck.

Thank Jesus and every deity that he was wearing a navy henley that left his neck exposed as compared to the turtlenecks that he was accustomed to due to the dismal weather of New York.

"Lex-" a guttural moan sounded from his lips as I sucked hard on a sensitive spot just below his ear and to my immense delight, his hands tightened on my waist (when had they been there, anyway?)

Slowly, I peppered kisses along his throat before pulling away as Mikael rested his forehead on mine. "What was that?"

"What was what?" I breathed out as our eyes met.

"That. This."

"Why? What about it?"

It took everything in me not to laugh out loud at the bewildered expression on Mikael's face. His jaw was slack as he blinked up at me.

"Nothing," he hastily replied before reaching up to brush his thumb along my lower lip. "I just didn't want you to think that I was asking for things that you weren't ready."

"You're not," I offered as I gave him a smile.

"Good." A smile tugged at the corner of his lips before he lowered his head down and eagerly, I waited for that shattering moment where his slightly chapped but soft lips met mine-

-just as a shriek sounded around the living room and I jumped from the suddenness of it.

"What the hell," I breathed out as a hideous zombie appeared on my screen. "Really? This one?"

Mikael looked sheepish as he shrugged.

"World War Z?" I laughed before settling back to his side before grabbing the popcorn bowl where half of its remains were gone and were no doubt scattered on my floor.

"You said I could choose," he shot back as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder, adopting the exact same position from earlier.

To my ever pleasant delight, his lips were red and swollen and there were hints of purple marks on his neck.

Huh, never had I thought that I would be the one taking liberties and leaving lovebites.

I could only snort before grabbing a handful of popcorn and depositing it into my mouth as his fingers rubbed some unknown pattern onto my shoulder.

It was almost surreal how quickly we could adapt to anything and yet, be this comfortable with each other. From one moment, we had been arguing, the next, kissing and now, we were enjoying a movie in a comfortable atmosphere.

I adored it.

Subconsciously, I curled against him, tucking my legs underneath my body as I rested my head on his shoulder and at this moment, I felt like I had it all.

Mikael, in return, moved his arm down over my waist and his hand continued tracing his patterns on my thigh with his eyes glued to the screen.

The movie continued and I stared transfixed at the storyline but somehow, from the position I was in, something shiny caught my eye and subtly, I angled my head and stared at it.

It was a knife.

No, it wasn't pointed to me and it wasn't glaringly prominent but it was extremely clear that there was a hint of the weapon on the side of his left shoe.

It wasn't very obvious if one wasn't looking for it, but Kat had one on her all the time and I was accustomed to seeing it. On some occasions, I even played a game with myself to see how well she hid it. More often, I lost.

But here it was. On Mikael.

And that reality crashed right into everything.

No one walked around with a knife at all times. Unless you were someone who needed it for protection or when you were expecting an attack at any point in time.

At that, I didn't know if I should be wary or not. I was conflicted.

Mikael had claimed that he was working for Kat's father and I knew that. I also knew that Kat's father had a somewhat shady history and business when they used to live in Chicago. Hell, even my parents had discussed it amongst themselves.

It was really not a secret. If it was, it was a terribly kept one at that.

Did that mean that Mikael was involved? Did that mean that he was a mobster as well? With his friendship with Kat, his residence in Chicago, where his job was, who he worked for; it was very obvious.

However, what stung was the fact that he had not informed me about it? Surely, he must know that I knew what Kat's family did. After all, I've known for since we were in diapers. Hell, I was practically another daughter in the Kolosov household.

Carefully, my eyes flickered to that blade that was barely obvious where the hem of Mikael's jeans had ridden up slightly.

Was I ready to deal with that particular can of worms?

I pressed my lips together and darted a quick glance towards Mikael who had his full attention on the screen.

No, I wasn't ready for that.

Pushing all thoughts away that were threatening to ruin whatever today held, I relaxed and focused my attention back on the screen.

I could deal with it another day.

* * *

A/N: I know. Four days. 

But can I just say that two weeks is equivelant to four days because I've been in hyperspace? What the fuck. Anyway, the only plausible reason for this late delay is because: Reylo. Like whateven. Blame tumblr and its black hole. I swear, I'm really sorry but that fucking fandom killed me and sucked me into space with it. Bleah. Hence, I've been binging on Star Wars and the fandom and I'm now a convert. It's remarkably odd how something so small can make me tumble down into a black hole (tumblr) FML. Anyway, this update is a little short but I HOPE THE K-I-S-S MAKES UP FOR IT

Sad news: I can say that the next chapter is the midpoint of the book. So maybe this book of mine will have 16 chapters in total. Or less. 

Please don't hunt me. Thanks.