Page 4 of Teach Me How To Fly

“Maksen.”

My father's voice caught my attention and I instantly pulled my hand away from his. His gaze was burning us both and by the way his upper lip was trembling, I knew we were in trouble.

He wasn’t supposed to be home yet.

But we did nothing wrong.

Or did we?

2

MAKSEN

“Annalise,idi v svoyu komnatu?*,” Lukyan instructed Anna, who’s throat swallowed a lump.

She didn’t let out any words. She just got up from the swing and made her way back into the house. I followed her with my gaze and I knew she was scared.

She wasn’t walking with her back straight and her shoulders back as she always did. This time, she seemed like she wanted to bury herself somewhere no one else could find her. Her hands were wrapped around her body and her steps became faster when she got inside.

I didn’t get to see her face, but I was sure that she had tears in her eyes. She was emotional most of the time and I knew she was going to lock herself up into her room and cry. It happened even more lately. Whenever I saw her, I noticed how day by day something changed in that happy little girl I knew. I just couldn’t put a finger on what it was.

I wished I could’ve pulled her to my chest, hugged her, and told her that everything was going to be okay.

But I couldn’t.

Lukyan put his hands into his pockets and stepped towards me, keeping a defiant smile on his scarred face.

It didn’t impress me in any way.

I stood up from the swing set, burying my hands into the pockets and pinning him with my eyes. He wasn’t taking his eyes off of me and as soon as he stepped closer, he let out a broken laugh.

“You shouldn’t have touched her,son,” he spit every word.

I knew he called me son every time he wanted to manipulate me. I had so much respect for him when I was just a teenager because he raised me from the ashes after my parents died in that fire. He told me that he found me there, trembling and crying because I was just a baby. And I respected him for taking care of me.

But now that I became a man, I saw all the wrong doings he continued to do. And I was a part of it because it was my family’s inheritance.

“She’s my best friend, Lukyan. I’ve slept with Anna in the same bed and you know I wouldn’t even think about doing anything to her,” I explained in a low tone of voice.

I fucking lied to him.

Every time I slept with Annalise in the same bed when we were children, I couldn’t stop looking at her. Analyzing how beautiful she looked when she was so vulnerable. I memorized how her lips were parting as she let out the air between them and how her chest raised up every time she was lost in her dreams.

But Lukyan didn’t have to know that.

“I know the look on your face, Maksen,” he spoke slowly. “That is the look of a man who loves.”

“I don’t love anyone but myself and my knife. For you and your family, what I feel is respect and gratitude. But that’s where it ends,” I spit out every word, feeling how my heart raced into my chest.

I lied with that too. I didn’t love myself. I hated myself. That was the only way I could be the man I am now. Loving myself made me comfortable and vulnerable, and the hatred motivated me to be the best I could be.

His breath hit my face and my jaw clenched. I felt my fists ready to hit whatever was in front of me, and the first thing that came into my mind was Lukyan’s face.

He was keeping Annalise locked in that fucking house and I couldn’t bear to see her withering there anymore. I found an urgent need in myself to help her get a taste of this world, even though that meant risking my life.

And now that she admitted that she was unwell, it ignited a fire inside me. I felt the need to offer her a piece of something she never had before –freedom.

I would’ve done anything for her happiness because she had always been mine.

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