Chapter 5

AN: I’m debating whether or not to write a love scene for this story. Yeah, I don’t know. I’ll think about it I suppose. Gah, damn writer’s block and headaches are really starting to piss me off…

Anyway, thanks to everyone who commented/voted/liked/read this story up to this point. I really, really appreciate it. I hope you’ll enjoy this chapter as well.

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Chapter 5:

Kolya was feeling stressed. Beyond stressed even. Tired, frazzled and stressed was probably a more accurate description of what he was feeling.

Four days have passed since the first vandal incident and two more incidents have occurred, both at night. The security detail that Kale hired had recently been doubled and Kolya was being escorted wherever he went. The security guards were everywhere and no matter what he did, he couldn’t avoid them or Kale. He hadn’t left the hotel grounds for those four days as his truck was still under police possession.

And besides, even if he did have his truck, Kale wasn’t letting go anywhere.

A selfish part of Kolya’s being liked the attention he was getting from Kale (the security guards, not so much), but it only added to the fact that he was well and truly causing Kale endless trouble.

That, he didn’t want.

He was trying, despite the obstacles, to get the garden done on time, and somehow he was succeeding. The job was almost completed, only a few minor, cosmetic things to do.

It was nearly over.

But, apparently, as Kolya found himself being confronted by Catalonia again, he wasn’t moving fast enough. Catalonia was yet another thing on the long list that was causing Kolya stress. She had also being a constant presence at the hotel. While he had been able to ignore the security guards the best that he could, Catalonia could not and would not be ignored.

With her blue eyes narrowed in a look of agitation, Catalonia all but simpered at him. “Why are you still here?”

Looking up from his invoice, Kolya did his best to hide his frustration and fatigue. It was late in the afternoon, sunset only minutes away. All he wanted was to slip back into his room uninterrupted, have a shower and go to bed so he could get up bright and early the next morning to finish off the landscaping project. Was that all too much to ask?

Of course it was.

“The project isn’t finished yet,” he answered simply.

Although the answer was simple, and true, Catalonia didn’t look at all pleased. She rolled her eyes and looked at him like he was stupid. “I don’t see the point of finishing it when we’ll just get someone more specialised in the area to redo it.”

A feeling of defensiveness and professional pride came over Kolya and he gave her a disapproving frown. “Grandeur Garden Designs is a specialised organisation,” he stated firmly. “We take great pride in what we do. And we do it well.”

“And you?”

Kolya stiffened slightly. “I always try to do the best that I can.”

Catalonia outright snorted at his words and folded her arms under her bust, continuing to look at him with a condescending expression. “Not even your best is good enough.”

Kolya’s professional appearance faltered for a moment as he winced. He, however, quickly recovered and managed to plaster a blank expression on his face. “…I know.”

“Look, just leave already,” Catalonia snapped at him, unfolding her arms and planting her hands on her hips to glare at him. Clearly, she was frustrated and utterly annoyed with his simple presence. “It’s hard enough on Kale that you’re hanging around, causing trouble, not only to him, but to the hotel as well. I heard what happened. It seems it’s your fault that those vandals keep attacking.”

It didn’t at all surprise Kolya that Catalonia new about the incidents, nor the fact that she knew that he appeared to be the target.

“…It seems that way.”

Kolya was annoyed, tired and stressed. He didn’t want to deal with this conversation, or Catalonia’s scathing insults for a moment longer. He had important things to do, like finishing the garden and getting out of Maui as soon as possible.

“Look, as soon as the project is done, I’ll be gone,” Kolya said before Catalonia could launch into one of her scathing, but true, rants about his uselessness. “I’ll be out of Kale’s life forever. I now know that my leaving was for his benefit. So you don’t have to worry. I know my place.”

Yeah, he knew his place well.

“Humph!” Catalonia huffed and folded her arms tightly under her bust again. And, again, she didn’t look pleased with what he said, leaving Kolya at a total lost as to what she wanted him to do. Drop everything and just run?

“Well, hurry up and finish you’re little garden and get off our island,” she demanded. “You’re in the way.”

“I know that!” Kolya snapped, turning on his heel to face Catalonia properly. “You don’t have to keep reminding me!”

A look of surprised appeared on Catalonia’s face and Kolya pulled himself back, literally stumbling backwards a couple of steps. He then leaned against a wall, running his hands through his messy brown hair. “I love him too much to bother him anymore,” he admitted.

Catalonia was uncharacteristically silent for a moment and then, she started yelling again. “If you love him so much, then hurry up and leave!”

“That’s what I’m trying to do!” Kolya yelled back as he abruptly pushed himself away from the wall. “I probably would have left already if it wasn’t for those vandals!”

“Vandals that you brought with you!”

Enough. He had enough of this.

“…I have to go,” Kolya said as he abruptly turned around and started a light jog toward his room. He had to get away, from her, from Maui…from Kale.

A hand suddenly grabbed him by the arm and whipped him around to a stop. Kolya uttered a noise of surprise when he felt another hand grab his other arm. And then, he found himself face to face with Kale…and he felt his heart just about stop. Kale was looking at him with an emotion Kolya couldn’t quite place.

But he was pretty sure that the expression on his own face was the one of fear.

“Kale!”

Kale held him still, looking him straight in the eyes intensely. “What do you mean by my benefit?”

Kolya felt his eyes widen and his breath hitched in his throat. “What?”

Did…Did Kale overhear?

“Why did you leave me?” Kale asked him suddenly, tightening his grip on his arms. “Tell me, I deserve to know.”

Kolya could do nothing but stare into Kale’s eyes, his heart thundering in his chest. “K-Kale…”

“Six years, Kolya,” Kale said, a hint of distress etching its way into his tone. “It’s been six years and I still don’t know why you left. Tell me.”

Kolya abruptly lowered his gaze, looking at anything and everything that wasn’t Kale. “It was for the best.”

“How was it for the best?” Kale demanded, giving Kolya a shake in his grip, letting go of one of his arms to roughly grab him by the chin, forcing Kolya to look directly into his face. But Kolya squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to look at him.

“Kolya, look at me!” Kale practically growled.

“It was for you!” Kolya finally exploded, pushing Kale away by placing his hands on his chest and shoving him hard. “It was for your own sake!”

“What?” Kale uttered in shock, but Kolya wasn’t paying attention. He shook his head harshly and then he just took of running. “Kolya!”

He was running away. Literally, he was running away with tears in his eyes and a sob in his throat. He didn’t know where he was going, nor did he even care. But he was berating himself with every step he took. For heaven’s sake, he wasn’t a teenager anymore! He was 27 years old and a professional Landscape Designer! He…

He was an idiot.

He couldn’t do it anymore. The stress of being constantly on edge, the knowledge that he caused so much pain; it was too much. He should never have returned to Maui, he would never have been welcomed back. He was an outcast, an outsider. That’s all he ever was, and ever will be.

With his chest hurting and his breathing ragged, Kolya slowed to a jog before stopping completely, leaning forward and resting his hands on his knees as he tried to get his breathing under control. He stayed like that for a few moments before he finally straightened his form, rubbing an angry hand over his face to banish the evidence of tears and looked around. He was in the car park at the back of the hotel, the very same one that his truck was vandalised in four nights ago.

A sense of terror touched him when he heard a noise, like the sound of a car door being slammed shut. He whipped around, only to realise that there were three tall, scraggy men walking over to him in an intimidating way. And in their hands they had a few items that could only be used to cause damaged; baseball bats, steel poles, planks of wood.

“Isn’t that the guy?” one of them muttered lowly, but his voice seemed to echo ominously.

The tallest of the three pulled something out of his pocket, a photograph from what Kolya could tell and held it up, flicking a lighter to create a tiny source of light. He squinted at the photo before looking directly at Kolya, and then back the photo. He then pocketed it.

“Yeah, that’s him.”

Shit.

Just his luck. These three appear to be the vandals that had been terrorising the place for the last working week.

As the men approached him, all three of them intent on causing him as much harm as possible, Kolya couldn’t help but allow two thoughts to float through his mind. One was that maybe he really deserved this.

And the second was hoping that maybe someone could be bothered to help him. Someone like Kale, perhaps?