Page 14 of Pistols and Plush Toys

But he was weak and stupid and childish too, so he squeezed the soft fur against his face, smearing tears against the toy plush.

Eventually, his exhausted body escaped into sleep.

***

Elliot jolted back into his body at the crash of a door opening. He shot up in bed, scuttling back up against the headboard before his eyes had even opened. His mind was still in a nightmare where he’d been cooking at the diner and a fire had broken out. It had spread so fast, and Elliot had scrambled to get away as Mattia screamed at him about how he’d been so careless. He’d been sobbing, apologizing even as the flames licked closer and closer, but Mattia wasn’t interested in apologies, grabbing him by the back of the neck and holding him still. Elliot had felt the heat beginning to singe his skin and—

And then he’d been thrust into consciousness and he was gasping, ready with another apology for disturbing Mattia before the world swam into focus.

The person that had just barged into the room wasn’t Mattia though, but Nikolai. Elliot wasn’t in Mattia’s penthouse, but locked in this man’s guest room because he’d been kidnapped.

Kidnapped.

His heart thundered in his chest and he couldn’t calm his breathing. His body curled in tight as Nikolai strode quickly into the room and then stopped at the foot of the bed.

The stop was abrupt, like someone had pulled the wind from his sails. His expression dropped from one of urgency to confusion.

Elliot watched him, eyes wide and body shaking as Nikolai’s gaze dropped down and back up, then down again.

What—?

Then Elliot realized what had cut through Nikolai's urgent entry, what the man was staring at. Elliot was tightly clutching Apricot in his arms. He’d fallen asleep holding his stuffed giraffebecause he’d given into the weakness of needing the comfort, and now—

The shock of being woken so suddenly turned into a new trembling fear. He remembered all too keenly the few times Mattia had caught him with one of his stuffed animals. The way the man’s top lip had curled up in a sneer, disgusted that Elliot was playing with something so childish. He’d thrown out every one of those stuffed animals, destroying some on the way, and Elliot had been forced to swallow the tears, because mourning the loss of a child’s toy would’ve only incited Mattia more.

Elliot forced his hands to unclench from the soft fur, wishing he had had time to hide Apricot under the blankets, or better yet, stuff the toy back in his backpack, but it was too late now.

His knuckles ached as he dropped Apricot onto the bedspread, shoving the plush away with such force that it fell off the bed.Sorry, I’m sorry.

But his eyes stayed on Nikolai, on the predator in the room. Elliot hadn’t reallylookedat him yesterday, too terrified to focus properly, but as the silence stretched, he took in how big the man was, tall and broad, with muscled shoulders. His dirty blond hair was cut close to his head, and his eyes were a piercing shade of blue. He had a handsome, square jaw with a dimple and a slightly crooked nose, as if it had once broken.

Nikolai was wearing a thick gold chain around his neck, a matching gold chain bracelet, and several rings on each hand, though those were hidden quickly when Nikolai crossed his arms, his head tilting ever so slightly to one side as though trying to decide what to do with Elliot.

The silence went on too long, and Elliot’s body ached with tension as those blue eyes sized him up, no doubt measuring his worth. No doubt finding him lacking any.

Stupidly, he wished again that he had hidden Apricot so that Nikolai hadn’t seen the small plush animal. Even though Elliot was no longer clutching it like a child, it was probably glaringly obvious to Nikolai that Elliot cared about the toy. It would be an easy way for Nikolai to further cut him down.

At least it wouldn’t be new territory.

At last Nikolai opened his mouth. His shoulders drew back up, and his presence dominated the space.

“Your boyfriend, he is wanting to say I’m liar,” Nikolai said, sounding disgusted. “So we are going to show him I’m mean what I say.”

Elliot could barely swallow around the knot of fear in his throat.

“Get up.”

The order was sharp, biting. Usually it would have Elliot on his feet instantaneously, but the fear held him there against the headboard. He was still reeling from being woken up, and having Apricot—having a vulnerable part of him witnessed before he could do anything about it.

Nikolai frowned. “Does Alex need to drag you out?”

The further threat had his body unlocking. Clumsily, he slid off the bed onto his feet. For a second he was afraid his knees were going to collapse underneath him, but they held. Barely.

He was still in the clothing that he’d been wearing yesterday, and his T-shirt was badly wrinkled from sleeping in it. Nikolai looked him up and down again, and then turned and strode out of the room. The expectation that Elliot follow was clear.

So he did.

Nikolai led him through a lavish, beautifully designed house. In contrast to Mattia's minimal, white and chrome design aesthetic, this place was colorful, done in woods and bright blue accent colors. Everything was neat, but far from the sparse waythat Mattia lived. Even the hardwood beneath Elliot’s feet that he expected to be cold was warm somehow. Where Mattia's place resembled an Architectural Digest show home, this place looked lived in.

---