so last night i was rereading this book, and i was reading all your comments while reading it, and the moments when Virtus calls Uri a 'fucking idiot' or some other ridiculous insult, and then all the comments on these insults from you guys are like "awwww he loves her <3" is such an amusing thing to me haha

i love u guys sm 

Chapter Twenty

Calm yourself Uri. You can do this Uri. Don't be such a coward.

Virtus was standing before me getting fitted for his wedding suit, and that meant I was going to have to get fitted too. No big deal. Except the one taking my measurements will be a man, and if he somehow feels any sort of curvature to my chest he's going to suspect something, and I personally, will never recover.

"This way, sir." And older gentleman beckoned me to a separate room. I followed him, and he asks me to stand in front of a full-length mirror, as he pulls out a measuring tape. 

First, he does my arms, the length of them, then the width. He makes to wrap the tape around my chest, and I panic. I suddenly take two long steps away from him. He looks very confused, but I let my embarrassment go knowing it'd be worse if he found out I was a girl.

It would be worse for everyone.

"Where is your restroom?" I ask and he awkwardly points to a door in the far corner. Quickly, I mutter a thank you, and move to the bathroom, and lock the door. I take my shirt off and adjust my binder even tighter until I see stars. My lungs feel compacted and squished and my ribs might just break.

My heart aches like it's struggling to beat, but I tell myself to endure it for a few minutes until he's done taking my measurements.

Checking my side profile in the mirror once more, I decide this is the best I can do to not look my own gender and proceed out of the unnecessarily elegant bathroom, back to the fitting room. 

The older gentleman was waiting patiently, and I pretended everything was fine and that I wasn't slowly suffocating to death.

He proceeds to do his job by wrapping the tape around my chest, right where my breasts should be. I study his face, praying I don't see any odd look that would give away what is in my pants.

"You are very small." The man comments with what sounds like a heavy Italian accent, "This will be my smallest suit made." He seems almost excited by the idea which is perfectly normal. It was considered an honor to make clothing for not just the Bone Cutter, but anyone even associated with him. Especially for his wedding. 

He measures my waist, and then my thighs. His hands move between my legs, and I begin to day dream about being anywhere else by here.

"You know Virtus well?" He asks me, and I mentally recoil. Great, small talk.

I don't really know how to answer his question, so I nod, "Something like that." Great answer, Uri.

"Yes, good." He says, almost as if conversing with himself, "Yes, he needs good healthy friendships."

I almost snorted. The mere idea of Virtus considering me a healthy friendship was almost absurd. We weren't friends. He is my boss, I am his intern who is stuck to his side like a tumor.

Not to mention, a healthy friendship doesn't consist of drunk kissing.

There is a knock on the door, and the man goes to answer it. Virtus barges in before he could even get the door open. For some reason I feel naked, even though I'm not. He eyes me up and down before asking, "Have you finished?"

"We are done." The man responds for me, and before I could get a word out to tell him I need to go back into the bathroom, because I really needed to loosen my binder, Virtus grabs my arm so quickly, I yelp as he pulls me out of the room.

"What are you doing?" I try not to shout, as I am already lacking the breath to walk let alone run as my lungs were being penetrated by my ribs right now. 

"Chelsea's father is on his way here." He says, his face set into a cold look of determination.

"Mr. Scott? Why?"

"Because he's an insufferable control freak who wants to pick my clothing."

"I don't understand? What does your clothing have to do with anything."

We turn a corner, "It has nothing to do with anything." He replies, "He just wants to control the wedding, because he wants to control the Bone Cutter." I grimace, as he continues, "So we are leaving before he gets here."

"But-" I'm suddenly thrown again the wall with a hand pressed to my mouth. 

"Fuck." Virtus hisses, looking over the corner. His body is pressed very tightly against mine, but I don't think he even notices. 

I reach up and remove his hand from my mouth. "Is he already here?" I ask as he shakes his head.

"Worse."

I dare a glance over my shoulder and around the corner to see Alan Rockwell, Virtus's father.

"Shit." I breathe, "That's definitely worse."

I remember Mr. Scott does not get along with Alan Rockwell. Them being here together along with Virtus could be catastrophic.

Virtus takes hold of my arm yet again, and drags me to a run beside him. I can barely breathe, but I attempt to keep up. My chest is on fire.

We go back down the way we came, moving down several flights of stairs, when we both see Mr. Scott walking in the front doors, accompanied by several body guards. I wondered why Virtus didn't have guards around him 24/7.

This time, we both stop together, and he quickly pushes me back up the stairs.

"Where do we go?" I pant, desperate to get my binder off, but trying not to look as though I felt like death.

He seems to be thinking, so I keep silent, and focus on my own use of oxygen.

He practically shoves me into an empty fitting room, and shuts the door behind us. "This way." He beckons to the window, and I frown.

"What do you mean this way?" I know exactly what he means, but I don't want to believe it.

He opens the window, the old wood around the glass from when the building was built in the early twenties screeches as he does so. The fire escape is presented to us as rain slicks down the rails.

We are several floors up in the building. There is no way I'm stepping foot out there.

"No." I shake my head, "Nope." I take a step back, but Virtus reaches for my hand, I manage to dodge his attempt by twisting away. "I'm good up here. I'll take my chances with Rockwell."

His eyes narrow, "Uri."

I don't look at him. I train my eyes on a very interesting painting on the wall. "I'm not going."

"Yes you are."

I shake my head.

And just like that, he wraps both arms around my waist, and pulls me up over his shoulder. I gasp realizing just how intimate this was, and how dangerously close he was to feeling something he shouldn't feel, and knowing something he shouldn't know.

"Put me down!" I order in my most demanding tone. "Do you have any idea how degrading this is for a man to be picked up like a woman? Am I nothing but a child to you?"

"Something like that." He says, not really paying attention to my blabbering, as he bends down, his arms tight around my waist, and pulls us both through the window, out onto the fire escape.

He puts me down, shutting the window so I can't hastily climb back through.

Rain beats down on us both, and I cling to the railing, terrified of the drop below. "This is not what I signed up for." I speak mainly to myself, feeling the ache of my chest from the binder that was still way too tight.

"Shut up." Virtus says as his hand is on my back, pushing me forward.

We slowly descend down the stairs, and I feel my short hair growing more and more damp on my head. I glance up at Virtus, who is moving right beside me, not going faster or slower, but equally my speed, as if to encourage me to continue forward.

"I don't understand." I have to raise my voice as the rain begins to beat down harder, "You're the Bone Cutter, don't you top even the Scott family?" And it's not like he hasn't told his father off before.

Why is he going to such great lengths to avoid them?

"This way." He ignores me, as we finish moving down the last flight of stairs, and he's now pushing the ladder onto the ground.  He moves as if to say I was to descend the ladder first, so I did, eager to get off the fire escape for good.

When my feet hit the solid ground, I exhale a small sigh of relief. My chest was beginning to feel bruised, and I'm started to experience some dizziness from the pain. I lean against the side of the building for support, as I watch Virtus climb down. 

When he get to the ground, he looks around, deciding where we should go next. When his eyes meet mine, he frowns, "What's wrong?"

What isn't? "Nothing." 

"You're pale."

"I just climbed out a window eight stories high." It wasn't a total lie.

He stares at me, as if he doesn't believe me, but does not further the subject. 

I follow him out of the alleyway, where the car was parked. Virtus cautiously looks around to make sure Alan or Mr. Scott wasn't around to see, before we both climb in.

As soon as the building was no longer in sight, I watch Virtus relax. 

How odd, it is as if he is scared of them.

The rain is loud against the roof of the car and can barely see out the window. I dare another glance at Virtus, who is once more composed, and like his usual self, though he's dripping wet from the rain, and unfortunately, so am I.

The ride to Virtus's home is painful, my chest aches, and my vision keeps blurring, but I force myself to endure it. 

It would be such a relief, I think, if Virtus knew that I wasn't a boy. If I could just tell him. Would he still let me stay around him? If he did, things wouldn't be so chaotic. 

I wouldn't have to pretend to be a boy when it is just he and I alone.

That thought alone makes me consider yet again, if I should tell him or not. 

When we return back to his home, we walk in, and Virtus instructs that we need to get clean and change into dry clothes. I don't argue, when he tells me I can shower first.

Making sure he's not looking, as his back is turned to me, and his eyes are glued to a book, I jump into the shower, the glass foggy and unable to be looked through. I tear off my clothes in the running water, because I am paranoid that Virtus would peek.

When I pull of my binder, I'm horrified at the bruises painted on my skin. It's worse than I could imagine, and what is even more concerning, is that despite having the binder off, I'm still in an indescribable amount of pain.

My right side is swollen, and completely black and blue. I touch the raw skin, and wince. 

God, did I break a rib?

Even doing something as simple as standing makes the pain worse, as I lean against the cold shower tiles in a desperate attempt to ease any sort of pressure on my side.

I need to lay down.

Unable to lift my arms, I don't even bother washing my hair as I dry myself off, and with tears in my eyes, take much longer than I should have putting the binder back on. 

Part of me preferred the consequences of telling Virtus the truth, rather than putting it back on.

Taking a deep breath, I pull a t-shirt over my head, and step out of the shower. 

Virtus looks up, his eyes immediately narrowing at me, and I know he knows something is wrong, "You're pale again."

I don't have the energy to fight back. "I'm fine." I wasn't fine. The room was spinning, and I could barely pay attention to anything happening.

When I'm finally able to lay down in bed, as Virtus does his usual routine of picking a book from his large accumulation of books, and reading in silence, I don't bother trying to stay awake this time. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I black out.