At this point I am convinced it is tradition to have an awkward bath scene in my novels. this marks my 3rd awkward bath scene so far. How long can i keep this up? who knows, but what i do know is that i can not be stopped

Chapter Eight

I dwell on Virtus's words all evening. Not just the fact that Alan wanted me dead, but the words that came after. "He kills people out of spite, when he knows it'd anger me. The Bone Cutter is not the only one who can get away with murder."

"He should be stopped."

"Doesn't matter what should happen. I won't stop him, you're just going to have to adapt."

I lay on the couch, my eyes stuck on the ceiling as Virtus was reading in bed. Adapt? Why won't he stop him? He's threatened to twice since I've known them. Why not just carry out the threat?

I glance over to him, and the moment my eyes make contact with him, he looks up from his book, and we lock eyes.

I quickly look away and turn to face the cushions of the couch, keeping my back to him.

I could still feel the burn of his gaze on my back. I refused to turn over the rest of the night.

I slept poorly, and I woke up several times throughout the night, convinced Alan had come back to release his rage on me.

He never did.

I was woken up by a hand on my shoulder, shaking me. I gasp and immediately sit up, expecting Alan, but instead I was face-to-face with Virtus.

"Get up." Is all he says, and I note the fact that he completely ignored my dramatic moment of panic as he woke me up.

Embarrassed of my own cowardice, I pull myself off the couch and follow him.

He pulled out some clothes, handed me an outfit, and then forced me to move into the large bathroom. I took in the room; there was a large bathtub, surrounded by stone. In the corner, there was a shower, the glass door to the shower was extremely pigmented making it impossible to see through.

That was going to have to be my destination out of this terrifying predicament.

"You first, intern." He sits on the ledge of the tub, nodding his head towards the shower. I watch him pull out his book and begin to read as I dumbly stand there.

He notices my hesitation and sighs, not even looking up from the page, "I won't look, if that's what you're worried about."

I frown, "At least turn around."

He gives me a look as if that was asking too much, but he does turn himself around, his back facing the shower.

Still not feeling entirely safe, I place the clothing on the floor near the shower, and I hop in. I close the glass door, and undress, my heartbeat pounding.

I can't keep this up much longer. He's going to find out eventually, it's a miracle he hasn't already.

Taking off the binder from around my chest, after wearing it for over forty-eight hours was unlike any feeling I've ever felt. It was as if a heavy stone was just lifted off my chest.

As I turned on the water, and stood against the shower wall waiting for the water to turn cold, I examined my body. The bruises Alan had given me back in D.C. were still as angry as ever and my shoulder somehow looked even worse. My ribs and underneath my arms were also bruised and sore from the tight binder I wore around my breasts.

My body was a canvas of bruises.

I stepped underneath the warm water, and immediately the aching of my body didn't matter. I scrubbed myself with soap, and when that didn't feel like enough, I scrubbed myself again.

When I was finished, I opened the glass door, and reached for the clothes I stuck on the floor. 

I quickly dried off with a towel, unwillingly rewrapped my chest with the binder, and put on my new clothes that Virtus provided.

I stepped out of the shower, fully clothes, my short hair still dripping wet.

"Your turn." I tell him, and he looks up at me, his face unreadable.

"Your clothes are all wet."

"Yes." I state flatly, upset that I couldn't dry myself off as much as I wanted too. I didn't like being undressed any longer than necessary. "I know."

I see the slightest shadow of a smile on his face, as he stands up, and I naturally turn my back to the shower, and wait until I hear him in it to open my eyes.

Immediately I see the book he was reading, and I grab it. The nine-hundred-paged book was heavy in my hands as I read the title over and over. 

David Copperfield

David Copperfield

David Copperfield

I see the last page that Virtus dog-eared and I open it to that page. Page six-hundred-nine. He had just started this book yesterday, and he was already on page six-hundred-nine? He must be incredibly intelligent to read that fast, or I was even more of an idiot than I thought.

I began to read where he left off, despite not understanding a thing that is happening.

I get somewhat invested in what I'm reading, and I don't realize the water turns off in the shower, and I don't notice Virtus come up to me until I glance up and see him without a shirt on.

I almost scream as I quickly turn my head, dropping the book into the tub.

"Fuck." I hiss, grateful that at least he was wearing pants.

I know I need to calm down. Men seeing other men shirtless is completely normal. The men who had reason to be uncomfortable around other shirtless men probably were uncomfortable for very specific reasons.

I shuddered, the last thing I needed was for Virtus to think I was a gay man. That would only make things ten times more uncomfortable between us.

He ignored me and grabbed the book I had dropped into the tub.

"You are so fucking weird." He says to me, and I decide not to point out that I'm not the one who can't even take a shower without someone being in the room with me.

He puts on a shirt, and I'm waiting for him to leave the bathroom but instead he pulls out some ribbon from the sink drawer, and begins to knot each individual peace with random strands of hair. The ribbon cam dangling down to his shoulders, swaying around his arms as his head moved.

Today he was dressing as the Bone Cutter. That is when I remembered he was supposed to announce his proposal with Chelsea Scott. 

I watched him hide each knot under other strands of hair, making the black ribbon almost look part of his hair, except for the extra length flowing down his shoulders.

Then came the gold chains.

He intertwined chains of gold between separate locks of hair, some chains flowed down like the ribbon, others swung around his scalp. 

When he was finished, he got up, and walked out of the room, and we both entered his large closet. One wall hung several iconic Bone Cutter coats and other clothing, another wall was his regular clothes, and the other wall was millions of dollars worth of jewelry.

Diamonds, rubies, pearls, gold, silver; it was all beyond my comprehension.

He pulled out a diamond necklace and put it on around his neck. He then picked long silver and red ruby earrings, which contrasted his dark brown hair.

He chose a crimson red coat, and swung it on.

He looked like the Bone Cutter I would watch on television, not the Virtus I just shared a bathroom with.

There was something bout the powerful attire that allured me. I wanted to stare at him, part of me even wanted to touch him.

I refrained myself from doing so.

I felt incredibly bland standing next to him. He had given me a navy blue button-up shirt, with black jeans and of course a belt because none of his clothes properly fit me.

"Here." Virtus said, as he walked behind me, and before I realized it, he had swung a pearl necklace around my neck, and was latching it on.

His fingers gently brushed the back of my neck as he did so, and I had to swallow hard from making any noise. My surprise wasn't the hardest part about keeping silent. My discomfort from being touched by him as softly as had occurred, was.

His touch was unexpectedly gentle.

I stared at the pearl necklace around my neck, and couldn't help but frown, doubt bubbled in my chest, and I had to ask, "Is this appropriate?"

He doesn't seem irritated that I asked. "What do you mean?"

"Men don't really wear pearls unless they are a Bone Cutter, it's-"

"It's what?"

I wince. "A bit feminine."

His eyes narrowed slightly, and I couldn't tell if I had offended him, or downright mocked him. "Does it burden your masculinity, intern?"

I wanted to laugh at him, I couldn't help but think my lack of masculinity was being suppressed by a binder underneath my shirt, instead I only shake my head, "No. This is fine, though I'm unsure why you're having me wear it at all."

"I suggest you get comfortable with your uncertainty." And that was all he said on that. 

We moved out of the closet, and I fondled the pearl necklace. I couldn't help but assume the necklace was just a fancy dog collar. It made more sense in my brain than anything else.

Virtus walks with a stride he doesn't have when not in the Bone Cutter attire. His stance is somehow taller, and yet it wasn't confidence that radiated off of him, it was almost more forced, like bitterness. Not with pride, but with malicious motive.  He was being driven with a violent obligatory impulse.

It was almost as if he loathed being the Bone Cutter at all. 

I didn't realized I was observing him until we got into the car that was waiting outside of the building, and before he could even pull out his book, he turned to me, "What are you thinking?"

"Huh?"

"Your eyes haven't left me since we left the apartment. Do I look amusing to you?" He sounded uncomfortable, as if it was his own lack of confidence that bothered him most.

"You look like power." Is all I could say, and we stared at each other for a long, silent moment. His eyes bore into mine and I saw a form of resentment not for me, living in his gaze like an unwanted intruder. He was an angry man, and I desperately wanted to know why.

When he could not think of a response. He cleared his throat, pulled out his book, and began to read, as if the last minute never happened.

I could not forget so easily.