10) Purest Eyes

Edward

Monday morning I walked into my office with a hop in my step and not a care in the world. I would have said my Sunday was spent working since Vasili cancelled our plans, but I would be lying. Sunday morning I received a call from a mysterious number, once I answered I found out it was Bethany. She would be in London for a few days so decided it would be the perfect time to see me. Let me just say, I spent most of my Sunday in bed and was thoroughly exhausted from it all.

"You seem happy today boss," Allison smiled as she gave Vasili and I coffee. He had just arrived a few minutes ago so we had barely talked much.

"I had a very good Sunday," I smiled very fond of the image of Bethany riding my... too much information.

"Why is that?" Vasili chuckled.

"He probably had some girl over," Allison rolled her eyes.

"Not just any girl. Bethany," I took a sip from my strong coffee.

"I thought you said you would never do that again," Allison sat down too. It was true. After that one night with Bethany I swore to stay away from women for a few weeks, but Bethany did not seem to mind. Technically she had proposed our little arrangement and who was I to say no to someone who knew what she was doing. Honestly I was even surprised I came to work today from how busy she kept me.

"Her and I made a little deal," I shrugged looking over a few documents.

"Like friends with benefits?" Vasili asked tilting his head. I simply nodded, Allison laughed before excusing herself, but Vasili still sat planted on his chair. He looked confused, yet somewhat unhappy by what I had told him. "Why would you do that?"

I had no idea why, but the tone of his voice ticked me off slightly. I put my pen down and looked up at him. He had this innocent look on his face, but I could tell he did not approve of my actions, "Well one: Bethany is a goddess in bed. Two: I rather have a few lustful moments with a woman I know and share the same common interest with, and three: I can do whatever the hell I want."

"But don't you feel guilty using a woman like that?" he argued.

"She is using me the exact same way. Plus it is better I am with someone I share a past with than some random woman I just met," slowly our voices were rising even though I tried to keep my cool. Vasili seemed to lose all sense of that.

"Don't you worry she might develop feelings for you! It is wrong! I could never do such a thing to Mary," by now he had stood up and I noticed his attire. He wore a black hoodie with black jeans and even though I had excused him from wearing suit, he should be thankful I allowed him to walk around my office like that.

"Listen I don't need your consent for my actions. You have a pretty girlfriend to run back to. I don't! So if I decide to take out my needs with a girl I respect than I can. I don't need your permission with whatever choice I make!" I snapped. During my little speech I had walked around my table to stand in front of Vasili. His eyes held pure rage and I wanted to smack it out of him, but I knew that was the immature thing to do.

He was a little boy who did not understand the situation and was too blinded by love to understand. This was not how I was planning to spend my Monday morning especially so early. I hated arguing and this situation just seemed to drain me all together. Vasili just stood there deep in thought. I decided to let him go through whatever he was going through and sat down on my couch with a file I was reading. Whilst I checked my files I felt a presence in front of me.

When I looked up, he stood right in front of me with an unreadable expression. "Are you going to continue lecturing me or are you actually going to work on the plans in your office, since I pay you to do that," my voice was so cool that it shocked me a tad bit.

"You are an arrogant ass," he snapped.

"Why, thank you I will make sure to tell your brother your thoughts when he calls me in a few minutes," a menacing grin had formed on my face which seemed to irritate Vasili even more. He scoffed loudly; it reminded me of Amanda when she did not get what she wanted, then left my office with a trail of fury.

I shook my head at how childish he was being, but what more could I expect from him. Actually his opinion meant nothing to me. Yet why did I feel so bothered by all of it? After an hour of going through files and files of work I set up my laptop to have a virtual meeting with Yavok. Five minutes later he called and we spend thirty minutes discussing what progress we had made on both sides.

"I hope my brother isn't giving you much trouble," he chuckled.

A part of me was still irritated by him, I wanted to tell his brother about all his antics and simply ask him to send someone else since Vasili was incompetent. No matter how tempting it was to send him home and have one less problem in my life, I could see the hope in Yavoks' eyes as he spoke of Vasili. He truly hoped giving Vasili this opportunity would help him have purpose after everything he had gone through in the past year. He had not even had a full work day yet and I was ready to send him home.

"He is... difficult when he wants to be, but I think he will adjust well," I smiled. I promised myself after this call I would march to his office and give him a very strong lecture.

Yavok looked relieved and I could see a glimmer of pride in his eyes, "I know he can be temperamental, but give him time. He never really planned to spend the rest of his life doing this work."

"That I can understand. I will be patient, but forgive me if he comes back with a few missing limbs," that earned me a howl of laughter from Yavok. After a few minutes of talking we said our goodbyes. I relaxed into my chair and stared out the large window wall. A cautious knock resonated from the door.

"Come in," I sighed hoping I would have a few minutes of calm whilst I admired the clear London sky. When I turned around I was surprised to find Vasili holding a few documents with him.

"I finished these and have started with the others. I made notes on what should be fixed and sent Yavok an email with everything for his approval," whilst he spoke his eyes avoided mine as he looked at everything besides me.

"I must say I am impressed. You work fast," he worked faster than most of my engineers and architects which was a pleasant surprise. Even though he brought a headache to my life, he did his job well. We did not talk as I looked through the plans and after a while I had thought he had left.

"I'm sorry," he surprised me, "It was not in my place to meddle into your affairs."

I stared at his face for a long hard few minutes, his blue eyes finally connecting with mine, "If you could dance again would you?"

My question seemed to make him uncomfortable by how he shifted his weight from foot to foot, "In a heartbeat."

"I know this is not your preferred way to spend your days and I can promise you if you have another outburst like that again in a work environment I will send you back to Russia. For now I advise you to take this seriously, Yavok has so much faith in you it is surprising. I don't care what happens between you and I, but don't let your brother down," my words seemed to have an effect on Vasili. His eyes seemed glossy with unshed tears as he looked at me.

"It seems to be all I do these day," he let out a laugh, but I could tell the turmoil of emotions he was holding in for my sake. I wondered what he meant by that, but I came to my own conclusion. In a year he had lost his career, he had lost his parents and was forced to take over a role in a company he never wanted. The amount of pressure on him must have been exhausting and as I stared at the tattooed, tough, twenty-five year old, I knew if I was in his shoes I would have not handled it as well as he was.

I did not even remember standing up from my chair and wrapping my arms around his rigid figure. "It's okay," I said softly as he finally relaxed against my chest. He seemed to be fighting back his tears but as soon as my hand gently rubbed his back, I finally felt his tears against the material of my shirt. He wrapped his arms around my waist as I let him go through the wave of emotions. I wondered how often did he have to be strong in front of others, how many times had he cried with no one to comfort him and had he ever really grieved?

"I'm sorry for ruining your shirt," he laughed looking up at me.

"Don't worry. You're lucky I have an extra," I smiled. His eyes seemed to shine even more when he cried. In that moment he seemed so innocent and vulnerable that I felt my breathe hitch. My eyes focused on his eyes, to his flushed cheeks then to his abnormally pink lips that just seemed to be the most perfect part of his whole body.

Vasili seemed to be studying my face too as we just held each other, in my office with a portion of my shirt tear soaked. I did not know why, but I felt something in my soul shift in that moment. I could never describe how it felt, but it nearly had my knees buckling down with emotion. In that moment I found Vasili to be the most beautiful human I had ever seen. It scared me so much it was maddening, how could I feel that way towards a man?

The air was thick with tension as he rested his head back onto my shoulder. I wondered had he felt the shift as well but I highly doubted it by his demeanor. He seemed the definition of calm whilst I struggled to breathe. For once the universe was on my side as my phone rang. We moved away from each other as I reached over the table to grab my phone with a slight tremor in my hands. Once I answered it Vasili excused himself and left my office. For the rest of the work day we barely saw each other.

"So French or Japanese?" Bethanys' voice drew me out of my thoughts. I had promised her we could go out for dinner which ended in the debate in which restaurant we would go to. Half way through the conversation I found myself staring out the window of my bedroom. I was dressed in jeans and a shirt since I had just arrived from work."Eddie?" she smiled poking my cheek to gain my attention. She sat on my lap with my arms wrapped around her waist rubbing small circles onto her back.

"Why don't we order take in?" I whispered into her ear then proceeding to trail kisses down her jaw.

"If I agree to this I want to order two meals," she laughed as I kissed her neck.

"Your wish is my command," I smiled before greedily kissing her lips. Her body melted into mine as I stood up and put her on the bed. She was dressed in a short dress which gave me the perfect view of her body. After many hot kisses we found ourselves naked with me between her legs trailing kisses down her chest to her stomach.

"Oh Ed," she whined as I toyed with her breasts. Her hands combing through my curly hair as I sucked her skin. I moved up to kiss her lips once again. "I need you," she moaned lifting her hips to brush against my groan. I groaned with the feeling and quickly reached over to my nightstand to grab a condom. I quickly rolled it on and very swiftly entered her. We both moaned at the feeling and I slowly, but sharply began to move my hips.

Bethany held onto my back as her legs wrapped around my waist encouraging me to move faster. So I did and bent down to kiss her lips. The sound of our bodies against each other filled the room, her whimpers flooded the space and even though she was underneath me chanting my name as if I were a god, my gut twisted with an unsettling feeling.

When I looked at her face, her eyes were hooded and her brown eyes staring down to where we met. With her squeezing me so tightly it had my toes curling with pleasure I could not help, but recall my argument with Vasili in the morning. I knew deep down that this was wrong. That her and I using one another was wrong and it would only going to end with one of us getting hurt. Soon we were both riding out our highs with labored breathes.

When I looked down to her face, for a split second I blacked out and the purest of blue eyes stared back at me. I felt my chest tighten and as if her body was the plague I moved away from her with pure panic on my face.

"Edward are you okay?" she quickly jumped to my side as I lay down on the bed. When I met her eyes I found the familiar brown ones and smiled.

"Yes sorry," I smiled. After dinner and Bethanys' departure I found myself restless as I rolled around in bed. The purest of blue eyes haunting me every time I closed my eyes.