Page 58 of Wanted
“Somebody has to be in this story,” Alex replied, flashing me that heart-melting smile of his.
I wished that a smile could solve all of our problems.
♥♠♥
“I know how he got into…. This,” Alex commented, gesturing at me kneeling on the floor beside the dining table in one of their black short-sleeved t-shirts. “But how did you get into it? Did your father… Is that one of the things he did?”
“She’s not supposed to speak right now,” Fylox responded on my behalf. I kept my mouth shut as Fylox had ordered me to. On the heated floor, I knelt beside his chair, my flat palms resting on my naked thighs. I wasn’t wearing any underwear. The heels of my feet touched my ass, and my toes were curled. My chest was puffed out, without a bra as always, but my lower back wasn’t bent. My proud posture would make any Katantian man drool. Fylox approved of my excellent position, but he didn’t shower me with compliments. That wasn’t his style. He was a man of few words.
Mandy had been gone for weeks, and we had found a new routine. For a couple of hours every day, when Jordan left to visit Mandy, Fylox and I played. We couldn’t shoot guns. He was bored with teaching me how to punch him when all I did was gawk at him in lust and fear. We were stuck inside Alex’s mansion without any connection to the outside.
“But how can you like to do such things? I’m sure that’s brainwashing,” Alex uttered. I didn’t look at him, but I could hear his frustration. It was the same thing every day. He held unto the cutlery with such force that you could think he was ready to stab Fylox with his knife.
But he would never stab his friend.
“She never said anything of being your… I can’t even say it. That’s some white people shit right there,” Alex added.
“It’s a coping mechanism, and it doesn’t help if you keep shaming her.” I could envision Fylox rolling his eyes. I wasn’t allowed to look up. My gaze focused on their feet below the table. I had a thing for tall men, obviously. I could stay here for a little while longer and feel this lack of responsibility seep into my bones. “And you should know people of all races do this.”
Fylox noticed that I twitched at Alex’s words. He addressed me, “Climb unto my lap. It’s time for dinner.”
I did as told. As he expected me to, I spread my knees once I sat on him. He liked the possibility of access, although he barely ever touched me. I kept my hands to myself while he supported my lower back with his hand underneath the fabric of my shirt. My nipples peaked through the shirt. His free hand-fed me the bites that he had precisely cut for me.
Alex studied us, trying to make sense of what was going on, but I didn’t look at him. When I sat on Fylox’s lap, I was allowed to look at his face. So I did. I prayed that his cognac eyes got me drunk. He had a face to remember, pretty as fuck but those eyes of his housed the devil. Those eyes had seen things that not even I could envision, and I had a pretty shitty background, Aram, and all that jazz. That hair of his was still bleached blond. Jordan hadn’t brought him new bleach in a couple of weeks, so the roots grew darker and darker.
I parted my lips, and Fylox filled my mouth with what he had cooked for today, oven-baked chicken marinated in oregano and lemon with potatoes on the side. He’d done a reasonably good job today. The first time we did this, I deemed it appropriate to comment on his lack of cooking skills. That had earned me a punishment that had astounded Alex. I still felt my cheeks burn as I sat on Fylox’s lap. Something hard poked at me from below, but I chewed and swallowed like I didn’t know what it was. This game Fylox and I had decided to play was full of rules.
We didn’t particularly like each other, but it gave us a release that four months in solitude had spared us from. Fylox’s hatred for me and loyalty towards Jordan helped him accept my proposal of a game. Of course, Alex had demanded that we only play in front of him, but we didn’t. That wasn’t how this game was played.
The truth was that Fylox could never hurt me more than Aram. He had lived through some fucked up shit. I didn’t deny that, but Aram’s actions had scarred my brain. His name was ingrained on my skull. My DNA was full of that man.
Alex felt comfort, knowing that he could be my hero.
However, he didn’t know I was beyond saving. My time was almost up. This little game Fylox and I played? That was just to pass the dull time until everything blew up in our faces.
WESTON
The house that I’d grown up in seemed foreign to me, although every material detail inside of it had remained the same. The changes had occurred in the people living here. There were no more palace staff members roaming the hallways and the kitchen.
Valentina was pregnant and… glowing. Her belly wasn’t showing just yet, but Aris informed me of the pregnancy when I stepped through the door frame. He wasn’t wearing the usual freshly pressed suit for work. He was in sweatpants and a shirt with our high school’s name on it, for whatever reason. He escorted me to the living room as if I needed directions.
I sat on the opposite side of the now happy couple. A coffee table separated us. There were books and magazines sprawled all over it. Hot tea was boiling close to the edge where Valentina was sitting with her legs over my brother’s lap.
“We heard. I’m so sorry, brother,” Aris began, breaking the silence that I was too distracted to break.
“There’s nothing to be sorry about. None of this is your fault,” I assured him, running a hand through my hair to hide the trembles. “Kamila wanted out. I should’ve seen it coming. I knew her best, or so I thought. I just hope she’s happy.”
“Well, everyone knows how much I love my husband,” Valentina commented, inspecting her polished nails. “But that man next to Kamila… She went off. He’s so sweet that it’s unbearably hot. He makes you come with a smile, I bet.”
“Easy there, hormonal monster,” Aris playfully warned his wife. His hands rubbed the soles of her feet, and I stared at them like they had grown six arms.
“Do we know what’s wrong with Mandy?” she asked. Her face soured because she wasn’t that fond of her super daddy anymore. Valentina turned a blind eye to a lot of things in her life, but these past couple of months, she’d started to come out of her shell of protection. “My father’s been quiet about her.”
I shook my head. “Travis knows something, but he’s not letting me in on anything either.”
“Weston, are you okay?” my brother inquired, furrowing his brows. He stopped moving, observing me closely.
I didn’t respond.
