Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 917 : Cold War

*Leo*

As dawn rose on another night of restless sleep, I groaned at the flickering light that came through the slightly open blinds. I rolled over on the bed, my body more sluggish than I expected after two straight nights of little to no sleep but as my hand reached over to the other side of the bed on instinct, It was met with a bitter cold.

Her side of the bed was empty.

Again.

I opened my eyes, wincing from the bright light of the sun as I saw her unmade and unkept side of the bed, looking like she’d barely even slept there. I heaved a sigh as I slowly slid up in bed. The room was empty, relentlessly silent just like from before I had Bianca’s light in my life.

I hated that silence more than I could ever bear to tell her.

It just reminds me of how alone I truly am.

My eyes glazed over as I moved on auto-pilot now, not wanting to think about why Bianca was not cuddled up with me all warm and snuggly like a purring cat this early morning. Why does our room feel so uncomfortable and frigid these days?

I showered and dressed like I did every morning, trying to fill the silence with reciting work in my head or even singing the goddamn national anthem but it was no help. My thoughts just kept going back to the woman I loved who was nowhere to be found.

Exhausted, I brushed a hand over my ragged face, feeling the stubble I didn’t have the energy to shave on my chin as I headed downstairs. Each step creaked, alerting anyone who was awake to my presence and my eyes were drawn to the kitchen as soon as I passed by its open doorway.

There the love of my life sat quietly at the kitchen table, staring into a cold mug of tea like it held all the answers in the world. Dazed and out of it, she looked as horrible as I felt. I glanced at the half-eaten scrambled eggs and an uncooked slice of bread on her plate, noting she’d been eating less the past couple of days.

I frowned worriedly, guilt pricking me like the thorns on a rose. Ever since our fight at the bonfire party, she’d been pulling away even more. We didn’t really talk about what had happened or the words we both had said in our anger.

Any attempt I’d made to bring it up had been shut down almost immediately and I felt helpless, watching this cold war between us slowly destroy us both.

“Hey,” I called out hoarsely. Bianca stiffened but she didn’t turn around to face me.

“Hey,” she said back, amicably. And god, her polite tone was worse than her yelling at me. I sighed, knowing this wasn’t going to be solved yet. I headed over to the table and picked up her half-eaten eggs and toast.

It was too early for even the cooks to be here but I wasn’t going to let her go hungry. I’m not the best cook but I could manage a small breakfast. I cut up some vegetables, threw the cold eggs into a pan, and added some seasonings until it looked better and was at least hot.

Then I toasted the bread before laying the scrambled omelet concoction on top, added some cheese, and called it a day. I slid into the chair across from her, placing her plate in front of her though I wasn’t sure she would actually eat it.

“I’m not hungry,” Bianca said with one glance at the plate.

“Bianca, you’ve hardly been eating these past few days,” I said pleadingly, “Please, just take a couple of bites, baby.”

I saw her flinch at the pet name, one I hadn’t used in the days since our fight. But this kind of passive aggressiveness has to stop. Tiptoeing around one another, trying not to break the small little peace we’ve found when neither one of us has been getting anything resembling peace.

Even if we were angry and upset with one another, I wasn’t going to let her starve. I still loved her with all of my heart. That would never change.

I rose from my seat to take the one right beside her, leaning closer as I scooped up the eggs and placed them up to her lips.

“Please,” I begged shamelessly, pathetically.

She gave me a torn look, half of her looking like she wanted to throw the plate in my face but ultimately, it was that compassionate, kind side of her that won. She sighed and opened her mouth, allowing me to feed her reluctantly.

I breathed a sigh of relief once I saw her swallow the food, thinking that maybe this would all be over soon. Hopeful that we can get past this hurdle, I feed her a few more bites staying silent in case I piss her off again.

“Bianca...About the party and what I said, I’m–” I started, but right before my apology could fall out of my mouth, I heard Bianca gasp, slamming her hands against her mouth. “Bianca!”

I called after her, horrified as she scrambled to her feet and took off running down the hall. My heart thudded in my chest, wondering what the hell that was about before I came back to myself.

The chair screeched back onto the kitchen floor before toppling over as I rushed after her. It was easy to find her, the guest bathroom door wide open and the sounds of her retching echoing down the hall.

She was huddled over the toilet, throwing up everything in her stomach, and guilty, I collapsed to my knees next to her. I pulled back her hair, and then rubbed small circles on her back, hoping to give her a small bit of comfort.

She was trembling when it was finally over and I stepped back to give her some space and regain her senses.

“Has your stomach been hurting? Is that why you haven’t been eating?” I asked gently as she climbed to her feet. She looked pale and unwell, with dark circles under her eyes as she glanced up at me with a pitiful expression.

My heart hurt as I cupped her cheeks, kneeling before her like a knight to his princess. “You should’ve told me before I fed you all that food. God, I’m so sorry. Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“No!” She shook her head, a bit of panic flashing across her face. I frowned, thinking her reaction a bit much but seeing how sick she looked, I knew she probably just wanted to rest at home.

“Okay, then I’ll take you to bed,” I said determinedly, sweeping her up into my arms bridal style. She squealed, holding onto me for dear life and I grinned as I felt her arms wrap tightly around my neck.

It felt like it had been forever since we’d been this close.

“You better not drop me.” She glared at me, but the threat felt like it was coming from a drowned kitten. She was utterly too adorable to take seriously.

“Okay,” I chuckled, going along with it as I brought her up to our room. I laid her gently on the bed, fussing to stuff the blankets and pillows around her just right as I tucked her warmly into bed.

She sunk into the bed with a sigh, a hand wrapping around her belly as she laid on her sigh. Guilty, I realized how much it must hurt. I brushed a hand over her forehead and she blinked sleepily up at me, half out of it already.

“You don’t have a fever,” I said worriedly. “Are you sure you don’t need to go to the doctor? I can take you right now-”

“No.” She slipped a hand out from under the covers and grabbed mine, her expression softening as she gently ran her fingers along mine. “I’ll be okay. It’s just a bug or something. Just need to rest.”

I frowned but agreed reluctantly, happy she was actually talking to me willingly. I leaned down to lay a kiss on her forehead, sighing out as I felt her warmth for the first time in too long.

“I’m sorry, too,” I heard her quiet voice and my heart melted as I pulled back to glance into her eyes. Full of guilt, she leaned up to rub her hand across my cheek. “I felt hurt so I didn’t hurt you too. I was wrong.”

“No,” I shook my head, “I know I’ve been...a lot lately. I shouldn’t have freaked out on you like that. I let my emotions get the better of me. I’ve just been so scared of losing you, of someone hurting you. I should’ve never been that person. I promise I will do better in the future.”

And for the first time in days, I saw a small semblance of a smile on her lips as she leaned forward and pulled me down to meet her in a sweet, chaste kiss. I lingered only a moment longer, not wanting to go too far when she didn’t feel good.

“Your beard is scratchy,” she muttered softly once I pulled back and I laughed.

“I’ll shave later. I can stay and take the day off. Take care of yourself,” I said, halfway convinced into doing that anyway even if I knew there was important work to be done but Bianca, always the pragmatist, shook her head.

“You go to work, I’m just going to sleep,” she said, blinking slowly.

I was regretful to leave her here when she obviously was unwell but I knew she was right.

“Okay,” I sighed, rising from the bed. I sent her my best puppy-dog eyes hoping she would call me back to stay with her but she didn’t. She snuggled up into the covers, her eyes drifting closed and I closed the bedroom door after her.

Of course, I’d have the maids keep an eye on her, just check in while giving her the privacy she needed. I texted them my instructions as I headed out to the car.

I’d just gotten inside and decided to call off work anyway to stay with Bianca when my phone rang. I stared at Franky’s name on the caller ID with a bitter look, knowing what was coming.

I’d rather be in bed with Bianca.

“What?” I answered grouchily.

“We’ve narrowed down the location of Michael’s people from the last hit. We’re getting a team ready to storm the place.”

I hated it when I was right.

“I’ll be there in a moment,” I sighed, “Make sure nobody moves until I get there. Just keep watch over the location.”

I hung up, cursing myself and cursing Michael and cursing ever accepting this goddamn job as the Don.

I really needed a vacation.