An Artistic Talent

Comments: Gabriel’s POV. I got inspiration to write this a few days ago and I started a rough draft when I should have been doing something else…So be glad, I actually updated now and not next Friday. Don’t forget to review at the end.

An Artistic Talent
Chapter Six

I had been up almost all night. Anger, fear, and the feeling of danger cursed though my veins. It was safe to say I was afraid of Aria being hurt again. I didn’t want it to happen again. I didn’t want to see her bleeding in my arms. Not now, not ever.

Aria was fast asleep curled against me, her head against my chest. The fingers of my left hand combed through her dark hair. My other hand brushed against the her bare back; scars littered her tanned back and I brushed my fingers over a select few as she shivered. I wonder what caused them, bad accident or maybe a fall from a horse unto a patch of briers. Neither seemed very likely, to me they looked like the marks I have on my legs. These marks were too close together, some even overlapped. They seemed to neat…intentional. I felt that I needed to know. I would know. Gently, I moved away from her and slipped from the bed. The chilly air bit at my skin and I covered Aria up with the sheets. The wood floor was cool against my feet and I shivered. I pulled my pants on and grabbed a shirt from the back of one of the chairs. With a look back at Aria I left the bedroom and ventured into the study.

While the computer booted up I looked through a file on my desk. Possible holding locations and pictures of those places soon found themselves strewn across the mahogany desktop. I cross-checked the locations with those from files on my computer. Places that wouldn’t work, those that couldn’t be possible locations. The locations and pictures of buildings belonging to the Italian Mafia entered the shredder. Those with pictures and information on buildings owned and used by the Irish Mob went into a separate file for future use. By the time the sun rose and started to filter through the roman shades I had three possible places including a high rise office building.

Unconventional maybe but it would be a good place to hide someone. No one would think to look at an office building. Bad news though the building is in London. One of the other places, a house is in Florence, the closest, and the last is an apartment building in France. I never knew Russia had buildings in some very interesting places.

“Done yet? I’ve been standing here for an hour and you haven’t noticed me,” Aria said from the doorway.

“I’ve been busy,” I said without looking at her.

“Need any help?” She asked without emotion.

“No and you should leave me alone and eat,” I said sternly.

Her fist slammed down on the desk, “Stop being so fucking arrogant. Just because you don’t want my help doesn’t mean you have to bitch at me.”

The study door slammed seconds later as she left and I leaned back into my seat. She was right about one thing, I am arrogant. But I need to do this myself, she can help me later. I heard a door slam and leaned back in the chair to look out the window as she stalked off towards the beach. She would be fine on her own, of that I was certain but I couldn’t help but feel slightly worried, she was still healing from her wound and I didn’t want her to do to much that would make everything worse. I shook the thoughts from my head and stared down at the three photos laid before me. The office building would be left for last since it was farther away. First we’d visit the house, then the apartment building, then the office building. The photo’s now back into their file I stood and grabbed a duffel bag from the closet. It already had everything we would need.

“Are you going somewhere?” I asked Aria minutes later as I joined her at the boat.

“I was waiting for you,” She replied. “Where to?”

“Florence,” I told climbing aboard the boat.

“Florence it is, you can drive though, I’m still pissed off at you and sore from last night.”

I smirked at her and she rolled her eyes she sat down in one of the seats. The duffel bag fell into place between us and I took the wheel. Reaching over I picked Aria up and deposited her in my lap. She whimpered suddenly and I nuzzled her neck. My hand reached around her and turned the motor on and then took the wheel. While I directed the boat my other hand slid down into her jeans and caressed her. She pushed against me and shivered. Another whimper escaped her throat and I nipped at her neck before moving that hand to the wheel. She elbowed me in the gut, but instead of leaving she seemed to curl against me. After a few seconds her breathing evened out. She was asleep.

Almost three hours later, but what seemed like days I was waking her up.

“Time to get ready, we just docked,” I told her in a whisper.

“I’m ready, have been since we left,” She pulled aside her windbreaker to show me the two underarm holsters carrying guns and extra munitions. “I also have a K-Bar in my boat and a few shirukens in my pocket.”

“Umm, I love girls who carry and can fight,” I responded. “Then I don’t have to worry about saving them when everything turns bad.”

“I love a man who can protect his girl,” she whispered enticingly, “just not ones who are arrogant.”

I rolled my eyes at her and she laughed, “Let’s go.”

“Demanding-“ I cut her off with a kiss and when she pulled away she looked slightly winded. “much,” she finished lamely and I smirked at her. “Why didn’t you kiss me like that last night?”

“It wouldn’t do for me to show you all my tricks on the first night,” I replied slyly and she pushed me backwards. “What was that for?”

“For being a jackass,” She responded.

“Damn, I’ll never get used to saying swears.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No, your just not the kind of person, in my eyes, who would swear.”

“Well, in my eyes, your still a jackass.”

“Sweet, no comebacks for once.”

“That was a comeback.”

“Haha, right and I’m a monkeys uncle.”

“Aww, I never knew you liked monkeys.”

Gabriel 1, Aria 3.

“You know everyone is looking at us like we’re on crack?”

“Gabriel, we are on crack.”

“Since when?”

“Last night, well actually we’re only high.”

“That’s nice to know.”

“So where is this house?”

“Right there,” I said pointing to a red thatch roofed house across from the docks. “It doesn’t look like the kind of place where they would be kept does it?”

“No, it looks to nice. But no one would think to look in a place like this,” She sighed thoughtfully. “What do you say I take a look and then you-“

I cut her off for the second time, “Not a chance.”

“Oh shut up and stop being so fucking possessive.”

“Fine, go check it out.”

Gabriel 1, Aria 4.

She didn’t even look back at me as she started down the docks to the street. Without even thinking she climbed the stone wall instead of going for the exit to the street. I sighed and made sure the boat was locked up before I followed her, only I used the exit to the street. By the time I got to the street she had already knocked on the door and was now waiting for someone to answer. I stayed where I was and watched the door open and a young girl peak out. Aria glanced back at me and I shrugged. She said something to the young and kneeled down before her so the girl wouldn’t need to look up. Aria fished something out of her pocket and handed it to the young girl who shook her head and said something. Aria said something to her and then stood waiting for the girl to disappear and close the door before she came back over to me. She crossed the street and shook her head.

“Your sister was there for a few hours, the little girl thought she was sick because she was pale and needed one of the men with her to hold her up.”

“They drugged her.”

“Probably, but she also said something about overhearing them tell the woman that the sooner her brother was dead the sooner she would go free. The girl didn’t know what to make of it.”

“Does the girl know where they went?”

“I asked her if they were going to France but she said no, something about needing to take her to some place in London.”

“Nothing about your cousin?”

“No. We should try London, they’re probably going to end up there no matter what.”

“I agree, I have contacts in this city who will take care of the boat. They can get us tickets to London.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

“Nothing.”

Six hours later after a long flight with an hour layover we finally landed at Heathrow Airport in London. It was farther from our destination but there weren’t any flights from Florence to the other four airports in London. But there was really only one of those four, not including Heathrow that was close to the office building. I followed Aria to the baggage claim to get the duffel bag that my weapons had been transferred into along with clothing for Aria and myself. The duffel bag and the clothing would conceal the guns and other weapons. Aria it seems has an apartment a few streets away from the office building. We would be heading there first to get some sleep and a shower before heading to the café across the street from the office building. Once there we would come up with a plan of action for the office building.

She unlocked the door to her apartment and opened with her foot as she rifled through the pile of bills she had in her hand. I followed her inside and watched as she put her keys into a bowl on the table in the entry hall. A few other loose keys were in there also. I heard her sigh and moved to catch up to her. She was staring in disdain at whatever was lying on her couch. I peered over and looked down at her older brother Brennan. He was fast asleep and had a little baby cradled against him. She walked around the couch and picked the baby up gently. She handed her to me while she pulled a blanket over her brother. Aria took the baby back and motioned for me to follow her. She opened the door behind us as we stepped into a bedroom and then she walked over to a crib and set her down inside.

“Who’s that?”

“My daughter.”

“Daughter, but you-“

She cut me off with a glare, “Ever hear of adoption?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Her mother was my best friend. She was raped and the baby is a result of that, Brennan decided we should help her.”

“She didn’t want the baby?”

“She did but her parents are devout Christians. They didn’t want her to keep the baby because there was no way she would marry the rapist. So I adopted her on the condition that she would know who her real mother is. My friend agreed and here we are.\"

“So why is she here and not in the US?”

Aria smiled, “My brother also agreed to be the babies fatherly figure for awhile.”

“Cute.”

“Yes it is,” Brennan said from the doorway and Aria pretty much jumped a mile.

“Brennan,” She hissed and punched him in the shoulder. “I didn’t hear you open the door.” She was trying to figure what else to say and I could see Brennan looking at the small bit of bandage on her arm.

“Aria, we really need to go if we’re going to keep that appointment with the real estate agent.”

She looked at me and I saw the relief in her eyes, “Of course. Gabe here wants to buy some land in England.”

“Really,” Brennan couldn’t be any less enthused.

She dragged me out of the apartment and down the stairs. “Why are we doing this now?”

“You looked uncomfortable. Figured this would take your mind off of things.”

“Thank god someone is rational around here.”

I laughed and then got serious, “Alright we’ll go in and do the real estate bit because the office we need is real estate, we’ll find the information we need and then get going to find your cousin and my sister.”

“Perfect plan.” She pulled something from her pocket and handed it to me, “Fake Ids and credit cards for both of us. Your Gabriel Blake, so keep the Italian accent at bay and I’m Aria Blake your rich wife.”

“Sweet, I love a girl with money.”

“And I still hate men who are arog-“ I cut her off with a kiss and she blushed as she pulled away.

Twenty minutes later we were let in to see Mr. Romanov, and no he’s not related to Anastasia. Aria and I held hands and made it look like we were in love with each other which wasn’t very hard on either part. He motioned for us to sit and I shook my hand after pulling Aria’s seat out for her. We were both dressed to impress. I had on black slacks, a green dress shirt, and a black blazer. Aria had on a white a line skirt that stopped at her knees, a green tank top, black blazer, and black kitty heeled shoes. We had been dressed this way on the plane. We had both agreed in the elevator on our way up that I would do the business talking while she would in a sense specify the area she wanted to the land, etc.

“It has been awhile Mrs. Blake, the land I got you in Whales wasn’t enough?” Romanov said with his slight Russian lit and I looked over at an unruffled Aria.

“I’m quite sorry to trouble you again so soon,” Aria replied her normal Irish accent changing to a cross between an Irish and British accent.

“It’s no problem. So where do you want land this time?” He asked and Aria laughed.

“I hear you have some land for sale in Italy, I’ve always enjoyed going on vacation down there, it would be wonderful to own a house, my husband,” here she put her hand on my knee, “regretfully has never been to Italy.”

“That is a real shame, you are missing out on a lot Mr. Blake.”

“Tell me about it,” I said dryly, the perfect role of a man who doesn’t want to spend money on a place they would only go once a year.

“Be a dear and go fetch us some blueprints or something to buildings you have for sale in southern Italy,\" Romanov nodded and the minute the door shut behind him Aria burst out in laugher. “I still can’t get over how he follows my commands like that.”

“I’m going to find out what I can,” I said as I moved around the desk to get better excess to his computer.

I turned it on and waited for it to boot up as Aria went over to the door to listen. As soon as a screen came up I started to type hacking into the computer to get the password. A few seconds later and I pressed enter. A small ticking noise started and Aria looked over at me then back at the computer.

“Gabriel, I don’t think that’s supposed to be ticking like that,” Aria hissed her eyes wide as she looked at me. “I’ve never heard a laptop tick before.”

“Lighten up,” I told her. “It’s just the password going through.”

“If we die I’m going to kill you,” She muttered under her breath and I had to struggle to stop myself from laughing.

“That makes no sense, how can you kill me if we’re already dead?” I questioned and she threw her hands into the air and let out an exasperated growl. “We aren’t going to die, why would the guy put a bomb in his computer.”

“I don’t know because maybe it’s not his computer and it’s a fake. Ah, maybe he knew we were coming and wanted to blow us up after we found out what he had on there so we can’t tell anyone,” She replied.

“That’s pointless, what if we’re copying the files as we speak and are sending them to someone else,” I responded and she rolled her eyes. “Plus that was rhetorical, you didn’t have to answer it.”

“Well I wanted to,” She hissed and then looked at the office door. “I’m going to kill you one of these days.” She looked over at the door again and motioned for me to hurry. “We don’t have much time before he’s back.”

“I know.”

I put a disk into the drive and copied every single file that was written in Russian, mentioned my sister and Aria’s cousin, and mentioned anything about Ireland and Italy. By the time Romanov came back into the office with the blueprints Aria and I were sitting in our respective chairs holding hands and talking while Romanov’s computer screen turned black. He handed us the blueprints and set about explaining everything to us.

Later that night both Aria and I were in her bedroom two doors down from her brother’s. I was lying on the bed and she was looking out the window at London’s nightlife. The lights from outside and the moon lit up her face. She was beautiful. Far beautiful then anyone I’ve dated before. Behind the slightly tough and sarcastic exterior was the child who never really had a mother or someone who cared about her like her brother Brennan did. I stood up and walked over to her. She was so entranced by what she was watching outside that she didn’t even notice me. I put my arms around her waist and pulled her flush against me as it started to pour outside. Moments later lightening streaked the sky and thunder filled the air. Aria shivered against me and I looked down at her; her eyes were closed and her face was pale. The only explanation was that she was afraid.

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I pulled her away from the window and turned her in my arms. I titled her head and kissed her. I pushed my tongue against her lips and she opened her mouth letting my push my tongue into her mouth. She didn’t object and I felt her tug at my shirt so I pulled away from her and took it off. Her hands trailed across my chest and I shivered under her touch. She looked up at me and shed her own shirt and skirt. My hands pushed against her sending her backwards unto the bed. She gasped and pushed herself up so she was sitting. I sent a smirk her way and she whimpered as I pushed her back down and pulled the rest of the way unto the bed. She shifted under me as I covered her with my body and let out a tiny purr as I massaged her breasts through her black bra. She arched her back and tried to push into me but I held her firmly down beneath me. Her wrists caught up in one of my hands I put then above her head and used one of her scarves to tie her hands to the iron headboard. She started to struggle under me and I kissed her and whispered nonsense into her ear.

“Shh baby, I’m not going to hurt you,” I whispered and she calmed down a little but not much. “It’s alright, I’m not going to hurt you.”

She whimpered as I tore her bra off and stared at her milky white breasts that fit perfectly into my hands. I dipped my head down and took the tip of one into my mouth while the other was massaged by my hand. The other stray hand made its way down to her thighs. She meowed and I smiled against her skin as I trailed kisses in the valley between her breasts. She looked beautiful laying there like a trapped animal. I moved back and slid her panties off and flung them towards the ground. Aria was far more beautiful naked then she had been with clothes. I smirked wickedly and looked at her with her closed eyes and a blush on her face.

I shed my jeans and crawled back atop her clad only in my boxers. She shifted under me and I smiled as I pulled her legs apart. My fingers moved to her core and she was sopping wet, ready for me. But not quite. I dipped by head between her legs and licked her juices up while my fingers placed with her clit. She arched up and tried to push her hips against me but I held her down firmly. She moaned and whimpered and I hoped her brother wouldn’t come to see what these noises were. I wasn’t worried though, the door was locked. I slipped my tongue into her and she gasped as I started to suck on her. Finally I stopped my ministrations and took my boxers off. She finally opened her eyes and looked at me. I pushed into her slowly at first since she was probably still sore from last night. She pushed her hips against mine and I thrust harder into her. She had no idea what she was doing to me. I started out thrusting slowly but it got harder and harder to stay in control like this so I just rammed myself into her and she moaned with each and every thrust.

“Gabe…oh god,” she moaned and I kissed her soundly as I continued to thrust myself into her.

“Your so tight baby,” I murmured and she whimpered at my words.

Finally I felt her tighten around me and then her juices mingled with my cum as I exploded inside her. I lay against her for a few minutes before pulling out of her and untying her from the headboard. She clung to me and I kissed the tip of her nose. She murmured something into my chest and I smiled down at her as she kissed me. Finally I moved away and pushed her down so she lay on her stomach. I kissed her back and placed a finger into her anus. She gasped in pain but I didn’t stop. I got up and went over to my duffel bag to pull something out of the front pocket. When I looked back at the bed she was cowering against the headboard. So very unlike her.

“Something wrong baby?” I asked her as I returned to the bed.

“Don’t please,” She whispered and I saw the look in her eyes.

“Shh baby, it’s not going to hurt.” While I spoke I coated my fingers in lubrication. “Please baby,” I coaxed lie down on your stomach.” She hesitated and did as I said but I saw the weariness in her eyes.

I slid on of the lubricated fingers back into her anus and she gasped at the shock of the cold lube. I pushed it the rest of the way in and then pulled it out and did it a few times more before adding the second finger and continued until I had four fingers inside of her. When I felt she was ready I I grabbed the lube and lubricated my cock. Finally I pushed the head into her and she stiffened. I rubbed her back and whispered for her to relax as I pushed the rest of the way in, slowly. I pulled out until only the head was still left inside her and then pushed in again slightly faster but still slowly. She gasped and slowly with every slow thrust her gasps of pain turned into whimpers and then into moans of pleasure. With a finally thrust I exploded into her and pulled myself out to take her into my arms.

“That wasn’t so bad was it baby?” She was crying and I cradled her against me. “Shh baby, everything will be alright.”

I was going to find out why she was acting this way. She had liked us making love before but this time she wasn’t into it as much as the last time.

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Next Chapter: the files turn up a clue that leads them to Ireland and a friend of Aria’s. Aria is asked to participate in a competition and the only partner she has is Gabriel.

Well after this chapter there are only four left. I think this is the shortest chapter story I’ve ever written.