Page 170 of Pistols and Plush Toys

Elliot had seen Mattia bring down the knife. He knew he’d continue to see it in his nightmares.

“Nikolai, you’re bleeding—” Elliot gasped, lurching forward and reaching for him.

“Is not so bad,” Nikolai said quickly. But even his face was hurt, with dried blood around his nose, swelling around one eye, and a split lip. “Doesn’t look so good maybe,” Nikolai added. “But doesn’t hurt too much.”

“W-we should wrap your arm,” Elliot said, too frantic. There wasso much blood.Could someone lose that much blood and be okay? “You’re still bleeding!”

“Doc will stitch me up, I think,” Nikolai said.

“At the house?” Elliot asked, voice quivering.

Nikolai nodded.

Elliot had no idea how far they were from the house. Was Nikolai really just going to let it bleed the whole time? He couldn’t! Cuts needed compression. Elliot had enough kitchen first aid training about knife wounds to know that.

“Can we—can we at least wrap it for the drive back?” He asked desperately. What if Nikolai didn’t realize how bad it was? What if he wasdying?“Please! Is there a first aid kit?”

A moment later a case thunked onto the floor in front of them, and Elliot jumped. It was red, with a white plus on the front of it.

A first aid kit.

Elliot nearly wept with relief.

“I drive, you take care of the Boss,” Alex said, glancing at them in the rearview mirror before focusing again on the road.

“Thank you,” Elliot managed, scooping up the kit. He set it on his lap and opened it, so grateful to be able to do something.

“Is not that serious,” Nikolai grumbled, but he didn’t argue any harder as Elliot pulled out a sealed bundle of gauze and ripped it open.

Nikolai’s shirt was in tatters, sliced open in sections, but parts were stuck to his bleeding arm. Elliot knew that when his arm got treated and stitched up the shirt would need to be completely removed, so for now he just wrapped the gauze over the shirt, pulling tight, to give Nikolai some proper compression. A temporary measure, until an actual doctor could see him.

His bottom lip trembled as he watched the first layers of gauze immediately soak through with blood. But Nikolai was silent, not so much as flinching as Elliot tightly banded the wounds. Elliot bit down on his lip to stop himself from falling apart and focused on his task.

“Thank you,” Nikolai said softly when he was finished.

Elliot nodded, not trusting himself to speak without sobbing. He stared at his hands instead, his red, red hands, and tried to will the tears from spilling over. He’d already cried so much today, first crying for Mattia and then falling apart in Nikolai’s arms.

Nikolai had been the one fighting for his life, sliced open and almostkilled,and Elliot was the one sobbing like a baby in the aftermath.

He sniffed and wiped at his eyes with his forearm to avoid touching his face with his bloody hands.Fuck.He couldn’t fall apart again. Nikolai was hurt. He didn’t need to be spending his energy comforting Elliot. He was hurt and he’d had to kill Mattia so that Mattia didn’t torture and killhimand—

Mattia was dead.

Mattia wasdead.

The car stopped. Elliot blearily looked up from his red, shaking hands to see that they’d arrived back at Nikolai’s house and parked inside the gate. He hadn’t even noticed they’d been close.

“Elliot?” Nikolai said gently. “We’re home.”

Elliot hastily unbuckled and opened his door, stumbling to his feet. There were more cars than usual in the drive, and the door to the house was already open. As Nikolai guided him forward, Elliot could make out the sound of people talking.

In the dining room there were two women and a man that Elliot didn’t know, as well as Dr. Williams.

One of the women was in the chair, leaned back with her eyes closed, shoulder heavily wrapped. On the table in front of her was a metal tray and a variety of surgical equipment, all bloodied. Dr. Williams was talking to the other woman, who had her hand gently resting on the injured woman’s good shoulder. As they came in, all eyes turned in their direction.

The doctor's eyes went wide. “Sit,” Dr. Williams demanded, striding around the table to get to Nikolai.

“Polina, how is going?” Nikolai asked, ignoring Dr. Williams to address the woman in the chair.

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