Chapter 6: Building Bridges

*Seraphina*

His shock was evident in his expression, and despite his injury and the arm still tied to one of the bedposts, Alfred was stronger than I expected. He instinctively struggled against me, and it was all I could do to keep his free hand pinned down with both of mine. I straddled him, keeping him pressed to the mattress in such a way that whoever had just walked into the room wouldn’t be able to see much of his face at all. All the movement and grunts of effort only added to the picture I was trying to paint.

“Oh, shit.” I recognized the voice as belonging to one of my colleagues, and fortunately for both of us, he was easily the nicest and most sane of the bunch. Tyson mumbled out a quick apology, then shut the door behind him. The sound of his fleeting footsteps against the cobblestone flooring was music to my ears.

It worked.

A sigh of relief escaped me, and I half-laughed as I leaned back. Alfred’s anger-filled eyes met mine with such a fury that the sound died in my throat. He looked as though he wanted to tear me apart. I supposed I can’t really blame him. It was not the first time I’d invaded his personal space, and even if my intentions were genuinely good this time, they didn’t make it much better.

But…

There was something else to that look in his eyes. It looked like embarrassment, a sentiment echoed in the flush of his cheeks and the rapid rise and fall of his chest. Only then did I realize I could feel his heartbeat, that my palm was pressed flat against his bare torso, right over his heart. His skin was hot and smooth beneath mine, his shallow breaths beating against my hand.

We were both looking at the point of contact when I stumbled through an apology.

“I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “I was only trying to —”

“Get your hand off me,” he snapped in a low tone, the words cutting through gritted teeth as though he was in pain.

I jerked my hand away and got off of him, guilt heating the back of my ears. But I was angry too, frustrated with the lack of acknowledgment that I was trying to help save both of us from being thrown to the wolves. “I was trying to make sure you don’t get caught.”

He said nothing to that, but the blush was still on his face, running down his neck. Bright pink and unmistakable. I didn’t like the way seeing him half-naked scrambled my brain, gave me something other than pure resentment to feel against him.

“I need to check your wound,” I told him, walking to the bathroom to get the kit and disinfect my hands. “Can I at least do that?”

He made a sound of assent.

But this time, when I cleaned and redressed the injury, I noticed how he almost seemed to flinch whenever my fingers made contact with his skin. I frowned.

“Are you in pain?” I asked, staring intently at the broken skin and trying to look for any signs of infection.

“No,” he answered quietly, almost reluctantly.

My gaze lifted up to his, confused and filled with questions that he didn’t seem to want to answer as he quickly looked away. I didn’t know how to read him. His strength and build made it obvious that he’d done some kind of training, and the most recent injury on his shoulder was not the only wound he’d suffered over the years. There were light scars, faded and spread out like constellations of stars across a canvas of skin.

They spoke to things I wanted to ask him, to a background he kept locked up behind those impenetrable blue eyes. It was like staring at braille, an entire world bound up in a language I couldn’t understand through touch. But I tried to ignore the growing curiosity that only intensified the more time I spent with him.

“It’s healing nicely,” I said when I’d finished. I packed away the rest of the kit and then handed him two pills and a glass of water. He eyed them suspiciously.

“One’s to prevent infection, and the other is for pain management,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Again, if I wanted to hurt you, I would’ve done that a long time ago.”

He raised an eyebrow at me but took the medication anyway. What I didn't tell him was that those pills were cutting even deeper into a salary that could barely afford the plain food he’d scoffed at.

“You’ll need to reimburse me for them, by the way,” I said just as he'd downed the water. He wiped away a stray drop in the corner of his mouth. I’m the one that looks away this time.

“You know, you don’t technically have to help me like this,” he said. “You could turn me out on the street. Make me someone else’s problem.”

“And lose out on the five million? I don’t think so,” I said with a snort, taking my supper and heading out to the kitchen to gain some clarity away from the situation.

***

It took Alfred a while to talk to me again.

Over the next few days, I kept him tied to the bed and only freed him up to wash and relieve himself, or to eat. I changed his bandages regularly.

“Where did you learn all this stuff?” he asked one day, the first words he’d bothered to speak to me since our awkward encounter. He nodded at the first aid kit in my hands.

“Oh, this. It was just something I picked up out of necessity,” I said.

He scoffed. “Let me guess, you were quite the little rebel, weren’t you? You probably got yourself into all sorts of scrapes.”

“Yes and no.” I couldn’t properly filter the annoyance out of my voice. “I’m not much of a rebel, but I have gotten into quite a few scrapes. Especially in prison.”

That pulled him short.

“What?” he sputtered. “You went to prison?”

I nodded my head. Shock slacked his features.

“Well…on which charges?” he asked.

I hesitated, thinking. I didn’t know if I wanted to tell him the truth. I wasn’t sure what his reaction would be. But besides Caroline, no one else had my side of the story, and as much as I hated to admit it, I’d been lonely. I didn’t expect Alfred to sympathize with me, not given how we both seemed to wind each other up as badly as we did.

And granted, he hadn’t exactly been the most forthcoming with me about his own past. But anything would be better than the silent treatment I’d endured these past few days. A fact I think he’d come to realize as well.

I sighed a little, pulling out a chair.

Alfred looked inquisitive, adjusting himself in his perch on my bed.

“Public fund embezzlement,” I said finally, my voice deadpan. His brows drew together in confusion. “No, I didn’t actually do it. Yes, it’s ruined my life and future job prospects, hence my employment at this sophisticated establishment.”

The latter description dripped with sarcasm.

“You were framed?” he asked.

“Not exactly, no. It’s a long story,” I said, those old emotions I’d been wrestling with washing in like a tide. Thoughts of Eric and James and the heiress began to flood my mind, and it was like I’d been stranded on that sidewalk all over again, watching the man I thought I was going to marry give his love to someone else.

“Are you okay?” My head jerked up, and I was surprised to see something that looked like vague concern on Alfred’s face.

The queasiness in my stomach said otherwise, but I nodded my head anyway.

“I did it for my former boss. He was the one embezzling public funds to get access to capital for his business. He told me it was better for me to take the fall because I was a student then. An intern. He promised to help me start a new life when my bid was over. I know it was stupid, but I believed him. He lied.” My hands felt slick with sweat as I wrung my fingers together in my lap, a nervous tic I hadn’t quite outgrown.

“Why were you willing to put yourself through that for a boss?” Alfred asked, and when I looked at him again, whatever he saw in my face told the truth. “Oh.”

“Like I said, I knew it was stupid.” The chuckle that came out of me was anything but cheerful.

“And this man, he… he just abandoned you?”

It felt as though someone was pressing onto an open wound. But I also knew that’s the best way to stop the bleeding, that if I could just reach a point where talking about Eric no longer held such sway over my heart, then I could truly heal.

“Yes,” I answered, and it sounded pitiful even to my ears. “He’s with someone else now. You don’t have to say it. I should’ve seen it coming.”

“I wasn’t going to say that,” Alfred said quietly.

His reply caught me off guard. I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering if there was an angle to this conversation.

“No one deserves to be treated like that, Seraphina,” he continued. I couldn’t recall if it was the first time he’d said my name, but it felt as novel as if it was. In the lapsing silence, I wasn’t sure what to say. It wasn’t as though we’d suddenly become best friends, but somehow, it felt as though there’d been a shift, however small.

I’m not sure what he’d thought of me before or what he thought of me now.

But the hatred and venom he’d once regarded me with are tempered. I didn’t want his pity. But I’m also glad that he no longer seemed to think of me as an active threat.

“I have to get to work,” I said finally. “Do you need anything before I leave?”

He shook his head.

“Alright. You’ll be ready to leave within the next two or three days. You should be close to full strength.”

He thanked me, and I left the room, locking it behind me and trying hard to ignore that my pulse had imperceptibly picked up.

***

When my shift finished, I was utterly exhausted.

But the night had been good and the patrons generous, so there was little to complain about. I rubbed the back of my neck, applying some pressure to where a tension knot had chosen to twine itself.

My hand barely grazed the handle of my door when I was yanked back by a force that could only belong to a bigger man. A hand clasped over my mouth, effectively shutting down any attempts I had at screaming.

I didn’t hesitate.

I threw all of my remaining energy I had left into fighting back. I kicked out, writhed around, and tried to back my head against the face of my attacker. But the man was so large and strong that it was all in vain. In a panic, one of my feet struck the wooden door of my room.

“I’ve been waiting to get you alone.”

The creepy whisper was laced with the scent of strong alcohol. My skin prickled in disgust as I realized who this was. I couldn’t recall his name, but I remembered the voice and the face attached to it, one of the men who’d been eyeing me up since I first stumbled into Archeron’s kitchen.

My heart began to pound, fear slicking my skin with sweat.

“And now, it’s just you and me.”