Running into trouble

Outfit

Even in his short time in the city, he had learned there was a lot of crime around. Not to mention gangs. It was not the greatest place to life. Especially not, if you hadn’t been hardened by life. If your life had been relatively easy, you should not roam around this part of town. He was outside the club where he worked. He had a cigarette between his lips and two garbage bags in his hands. He had learned he needed to take a chance to smoke whenever he could. It was really what saved him from not going completely insane. That and alcohol. Was it healthy, hell no, but neither was having meltdowns because you couldn’t handle life. He would rather damage his liver and lungs than that.

He had just thrown the bags in the container, and was on his way back to the club, when someone ran into him. Out of surprise, he stepped back, and didn’t get a chance to catch her, before she fell to the ground. He looked up and saw the men following her. God damnit. Why couldn’t they just leave women alone? ”All good,” he spoke, the accent heavy on his tongue. He had been able to speak Russian with people lately, which made his accent stronger. When they began shooting, his plan of confronting them went out the window. He began running with the girl. ”I know a place to hide.” He began reading towards some buildings. There was a small place between buildings, a crawl space almost, but it would be a good place to get out of the way. He didn’t question why they were shooting at her. The reason was likely crime related or something completely stupid. He knew he should get back to the club and his shift, but he also knew Anastasia would understand, if he mentioned he had been chased by gunmen. It was far too common, if you could use that for a reason to miss work.

Trusting strangers was always risky. He knew that well, but neither of them had much of a choice. They had seen him, so there was a chance they would follow him. The chances of them getting out alive, were better if they stuck together. He could see she was hesitating at the crawlspace, but ultimately she went in there. Wise choice.
Now they were very close to each other. He looked at the opening to keep and eye out for feet approaching. He turned his head back to her, when she whimpered. ”You won’t die,” he promised her. It might be a big promise to make, but he had been through enough shit to know how to survive. He was going to survive this too. He put a finger to his lips, signaling for her to be quiet, as the steps came even closer. The voices from the men were muffled, but they seemed angry. What was their business with her? Roman looked around, trying to not move his head at all. He had to think fast. He leaned his head closer to her, so he could speak so only she would hear. ”There is an opening to a house at the end. Go there now.” He moved himself closer to the opening out to the street and found the lighter from his pocket. He looked back to see if she was moving. They would have to be quick.

Roman made sure she was away, before he reached forward and put fire to one of the guy’s jacket. The other quickly noticed and a shot was fired. ”Shit,” he muttered under breath. He moved forward and pushed the guy with the flaming jacket into the other. A gun was dropped on the ground. He quickly grabbed it and pointed it at them. ”Follow us, and I will point this at your head and pull the trigger.” Roman was no killer, but he was not afraid to threaten people with death. It was a powerful motivator, after all.
When it was safe, he rushed back to the girl. He saw the blood on her cheek. He put the safety on the gun and laid it on the floor. ”Let me see.” He used his sleeve to gently remove the blood. It didn’t seem too serious. Might leave a scar, if she wasn’t careful. ”It’s going to be okay,” he promised her. However, he was willing to take her to a hospital, if that was what she needed. He was at least not going to just leave her be. He couldn’t bring himself to do that. He had once been left himself, and he was doing that to anyone else.

Roman waved his hand dismissively when she apologized. ”I’m used to it. It’s no problem.” He might not be chased by gunmen every day, but similar situations with violence were quite often. ”You should be careful about that. It draws attention to you.” He didn’t think the way women were treated at the Southside was okay. He had seen it way too many times for it to be coincidence. ”Roman,” he introduced himself. He picked up the gun and put it into his pants, under his shirt. He might as well keep it. Finders keepers, and all.
”I’m taking you to find your cousin,” he insisted. He couldn’t in good conscience leave her to go alone. It was very likely, something similar would happen again if he did. And this time she might not be so lucky. If he woke up to the news of her being hurt or killed, he wouldn’t forgive himself for letting her go. He was just a protector through and through. He couldn’t help it, if he felt someone needed it. He didn’t know if she could protect herself, but it was a big risk to take.

Roman looked her over. ”Might be the attitude. People around here have a specific way of behaving. They might have sensed you weren’t like them.” He scoffed in delight when she puffed her chest, trying to act tough. She seemed funny. ”I’ll be your bodyguard for the night, then.” He looked at her for a moment longer. ”If you come here alone again, maybe bring a weapon. That’ll make most people back off.” He imagined she would have the money to get a weapon or some sort. ”Where does your cousin stay?” He knew his way around very well already. There were still many places he didn’t know. He hadn’t lived here since childhood, so there were naturally many things he didn’t know of. But the major places he knew.
He looked around the house to find another way out. He was sure they men had run off by now, but there was no reason to take an unnecessary chance. He could fight rather well, but he was not going to, if he could avoid it.

”I can teach you.” Roman listened when she told where her cousin lived or could be found. Maybe she worked there, he wouldn’t know. She quickly seemed to change her mind though. It might have been a little traumatic for her, which was understandable.
He nodded to her suggestion about going home. ”If that’s what you want.” He looked at her when she asked him to bring her to the border. ”Sure. I can wait with you, if you want.” He felt that might make her feel more comfortable.
He walked outside and noticed there wasn’t anyone nearby. He went further out and looked around. They should be good. The men were probably back licking their wounds. He surely had made sure at least one of them had one. He took forward a pack of cigarettes. ”Can I smoke?” He always asked, just to be sure people were okay with it.

Roman would have giving her his jacket if he saw she was freezing, but his mind was alert after everything that happened, so he didn’t notice such things. He lit his cigarette when she allowed him to. He blew out the smoke. ”Most people suck,” he claimed and started walking with her. He looked over her, as he started to relax some more. He put his cigarette in between his lips and pulled of his jacket and offered it to her. He was probably more used to cold anyway, being from Russia and all.
He could imagine a lot of things were going through her mind. She didn’t seem like the person who had been through many things like this. He thought about what he might say to make her feel better or calmer. He just didn’t know what to say, really. ”It’s good you’re fast. You can avoid many situations by running.” He wasn’t sure that was helpful to her, but he thought complimenting her might help.
He blew out a puff of smoke and instantly took another hit. He had become quite addicted to them. It managed to calm him down, which he often really needed. He was far less put together than he might come off as. He already knew he had to take another shift at work, to make up for missing half of this one. But it was fine. Rather that than her being in serious trouble.

Roman thought her little snort was endearing. It was just prove she actually enjoyed it, rather than faking a laugh as many did. He nodded when she agreed that people sucked. He let out another puff of smoke, trying to blow it away from her. He looked at her when she spoke about running. ”You’re right. I do think you’re a psychopath.” He smirked slightly. ”I do get it. Not the running stuff, but wanting to feel like a badass. I like feeling like that too.”
Roman was often thought to be older than he was. It had to be because he had grown up way before he should have. The childhood many knew, had never been his childhood. He had not been cared for when he was sick, he had never been praised for doing the bare minimum. He always had to be the best, according to his parents. If he drew a drawing, it was not good enough, because his sister had drawn better at his age, if he got a good grade in school, he still had less than the classmate on top of his class. He could never be good enough, so he just stopped trying. And that was when he started to raise himself to be the kind of man he wanted. Of course, he was kicked out when he was 15, which did a lot of maturing too.
He shrugged slightly when she asked a question. ”Just work, mostly. And I just got a puppy, so I have to take of him now too.” He should probably get back to him soon, but he might be okay for a little while longer. ”What do you do, when you aren’t running or being chased my angry men?”

Roman hated when people always said things they didn’t mean. He would never deliberately be cruel. If he didn’t need to say something, he wouldn’t. But mostly, he didn’t care what people thought, so he just said whatever he wanted. But when people became important to him, he would more often than not, stop himself from saying whatever came to mind. He wouldn’t want to hurt them. He too preferred people who were straight forward most of the time. It just fit better with how he was as a person. Which was also why he didn’t like, when people were dishonest with him or kept secrets from him.
He looked at her, when she became very excited. He didn’t mind, so he just went along with it. ”It’s fine. I like animals too.” He had been lucky enough to grow up with animals. It was honestly what had gotten him through most of his childhood. His pets had been his best friends, the only ones he could really depend on. It was maybe sad, but it was just how it had been. ”His name is Snow. He’s a husky. I only picked him up earlier today, actually. I was going to stay home with him, but I had to go work instead.” He looked at her. He got a feeling she might want to meet him, or would at least feel something good if she did. ”Would you like to meet him someday?” He hadn’t thought they would necessarily see each other again, but maybe now they would have an excuse to.

Roman listened when she spoke of her experiences with huskies. He had learned Snow was talking a lot already. He just imagined it was going to be more, as he went along. It was important he taught him a command to quiet him down. Roman did believe animals should be able to be what nature intended them to be. But he couldn’t have a howling husky in a small apartment complex. Those two just didn’t harmonize to well. He shook his head. ”Don’t worry about it. I wouldn’t be home until an hour from now anyway.” He didn’t want her to feel bad. He had made the choices to help her and take her to the border.
He could see how excited she became, simply because she got to meet a dog. Sometimes small pleasures like these, were what made life worth living. He found his phone and made it ready to add a new contact. ”I can text you and set up a meeting.” He handed her the phone, so she could enter her contact information. He didn’t feel there was any uncomfortable silence between them. Perhaps it was because she had a very bubbly personality. Very different from his own, but one he appreciated, nonetheless. It was important to meet people different than yourself sometimes. They might teach you something helpful.

Roman took his phone back. ”I believe you, and I wouldn’t want you to put yourself in danger again. I’ll text you.” He could see she was not too serious about her threat, but he wouldn’t take the risk. He let out a soft laugh when she spoke again. ”There could be worse stalkers, I guess.” He followed by her, but soon she gained speed and ended up further from him. He could only imagine Kamma would be well-liked by Snow. The little puppy adored to be given attention and love, which he was sure Kamma would give him.
He frowned slightly at her question. It came very unexpectedly. ”Why? Are you interested?” He smirked slightly. He was just having some fun with her. ”No girlfriend. I might need to have clarified what something means to you.” He deliberately avoided to even mention the word ‘boyfriend’, simply to not make it seem like it could be a possibility. Which might be what exactly made it suspicious.

Roman couldn’t help but smile over her shoulders shimmering. He moved up towards her. ”You have a point there.” He thought it over a little bit. ”But isn’t it something from a fairytale? You might be a princess, but I’m no prince.” He would never be able to live up to what he imagined was expected of royalty. Nor did he want to be. He was fine being free and able to live by his own rules, without anyone dictating his life.
Roman nodded slightly when she explained. ”I’m not selling it. Let’s just say I’m not lonely.” He wouldn’t explain further. He didn’t think he needed to. She surely had the intelligence to understand. He moved all the way up to her. ”I don’t really do romances. If that is what you want, don’t start something with me.” He thought it was only right to warn her. He never set out to hurt anyone, but it was sometimes inevitable.