Chapter 5. Talk rough with me

Damien woke up in his bed alone. His room was dark, and he felt chilly. He looked around to see if Adeline was still here, but she was gone. Of course, she left. Why would she stay? Damien thought. Her scent still lingered in his room.

He got up and looked at his wound in the mirror. He had to hide it from his dad. The last thing he needed was to be verbally abused by his father about how useless he was and how much of a scoundrel he was for picking a fight with some puny gang members.

He went downstairs to find Maxim and Mrs. Petrushka.

"Damien, honey, why are you walking around? You need to rest!" Mrs. Petrushka exclaimed.

"I don't feel like lying in bed all day. Where is Maxim?" he asked.

"Here I am," Maxim spoke behind them. He walked in and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

"I just wanted to tell you guys that I'd prefer it if you guys keep my injury a secret from my father," Damien said.

"What? Why? He needs to know these things. He is your father!" Maxim raised his eyebrows.

"I don't care. You know how he gets. He will punish me for it. Please don't tell him," Damien pleaded.

Mrs. Petrushka sighed. "Alright, dear. I won't tell him. Just be careful, alright?"

"Maxim?" Damien looked at the medic.

Maxim shrugged. "I'm just here to do my job. I won't tell him if it's that much of a big deal."

Damien exhaled. He knew he could trust them. He decided to call his friends from Systema. It was time to do something about those junior mafiosos.

"Meet me at the parking lot behind the market," he told them on the phone, then headed there.

After a few minutes have passed, his friends Dimitri, Viktor, and Sacha showed up. They were the three guys in Systema he trusted the most.

"What's the problem? I was in the middle of getting laid," Viktor barked.

Damien lifted his shirt and showed them his wound. Sacha whistled. "Whoa, someone fucked you up, huh?"

"Not one person. Those assholes from the Italian Mafia outnumbered me," Damien sneered.

"Is that right? You want us to go take care of them real quick?" Dimitri made a slicing motion over his throat.

"No need to murder anyone. I just want you to rough them up real good. You can even maim them. I don't give a shit," Damien shrugged.

Dimitri grinned. Torturing unruly men was his favorite thing in the world. The guys favored Damien and his family, so they didn't hesitate to help him whenever he needed it. Damien gave them the names and pictures of the guys who attacked him.

Damien went back home. Maxim had given him twenty stitches, and they were already starting to feel bothersome.

"You're very lucky," Maxim said as he inspected his stitches.

"You have a very skewed view of 'luck,' Damien said bitterly.

"I'm serious. If the knife had stuck half an inch more, it would've hit your kidney. You should thank your little friend for dragging you all the way over here. If it wasn't for her, you would've bled to death." Maxim frowned.

Adeline. She was unbelievable. Whenever he tried to forget about her, she would stick her ass in his face again. It was as if he couldn't get away from her even if he tried.

At school, Adeline saw Damien hanging around by his locker. She couldn't believe her eyes. What the hell was he doing here? She expected him to lie down in his bed and rest all day after getting stabbed so viciously.

"Adeline," he calls for her when he saw her walking.

"What?" she barked.

"I want to talk to you. About yesterday..."

"Don't worry about thanking me or anything. I did what anyone would've done," Adeline said quickly.

"Don't tell anyone about this," Damien said gruffly.

"It's none of my business, and I prefer it if you don't talk to me," Adeline scoffed and walked off.

Damien grinned. Still acting like a bitch, huh? What did she expect? Him chasing her around like a puppy? Not gonna happen. Damien Sky never chased a girl in his life, and he wasn't about to start now. He decided to get her out of his mind and headed to his class.

At class, he was summoned by his guidance counselor's office. Damien wondered if he did anything wrong or if the school found out about the incident between him and the junior mafiosos. Did Adeline tell them? She wouldn't do that, would she?

"Mr. Sky, please have a seat." His guidance counselor Ms. Thomas smiled brightly. Damien relaxed a bit. If she was smiling at him, that means he wasn't in big trouble.

"What's going on?" Damien asked.

"Oh, nothing bad. I was looking at your grades, and you've been excelling in every class. Great job!" Ms. Thomas beamed.

Damien couldn't help but secretly feel proud of himself. It wasn't like anyone at home cared about his accomplishments, except for maybe Mrs. Petrushka. She was the only one who cared.

"Yeah...thanks," Damien mumbled.

"Well, I see here, you haven't applied to any colleges or universities. Why is that? Your SAT score is excellent!" she said.

"Who cares about colleges?" he barked.

Ms. Thomas stopped smiling. "Your grades show you have a great potential to get a degree. I have high hopes for you. Won't you consider going to a good school?" she asked.

Sadness enveloped Damien. He lied when he said he had no interest in college. His dream was to attend Yale University, but his dad would never let him leave town. He wanted him to stay and take care of the family business alongside Nikolai and Natasha.

"I will think about it," he said grimly. He excused himself and went back to his class. He saw Adeline hanging around with her nerdy friends, but he didn't say hi. He figured it was better to go back to act like they were strangers.

After school, he heard loud sirens behind the school. Damien smiled to himself. It looks like his friends kept their promise to him. He headed to the back where the fences were. A group of students was standing outside and chattering among themselves. He pushed through the crowd to see what was going on and held back his laughter.

The junior mafiosos were tied up on the fence. Their bodies were beaten and bloodied.

Great work, guys, he thought to himself.