Page 69 of My Hunger, Your Soul

“You bastard, you fucking bastards!” he shouts.

“Is that any way to talk to someone who has brought you water?”

“Fuck your water, you fucking cunt. I should’ve killed that dirty little homo of yours when I had the chance. Made you suffer, then you would’ve cracked and I’d have had you behind bars in a flash.”

“Homophobic as well as dumb. That's not good for you in a house of cock lovers, Timmy. Unless, you really want to join the club?”

“You’re disgusting. All of you. Turning Kai into one of you, taking him away from his family.”

I don’t even think about it, before I backhand him across the face.

“He is with his family. I swear, Timmy, if Dima didn’t already have plans for you, I’d have you dangling from this ceiling right now, removing every organ that lives in your wasteful body until you stopped breathing. You're nothing but a dried up old cop with a chip on his shoulder. Kai’s mom doesn’t want you, Kai hates you, hell, I bet even your work colleagues can’t stand you.”

“I’ve done nothing but protect my family!” he yells.

“Protecting would’ve been when we warned you to forget about us when we saved Kai. We warned you then but you didn’t listen. You walked into our domain, Tim. You asked for this and there's no way out for you now. By the end of tonight, you’ll be fish food that nobody remembers,” I say as I open the bottle of water and pour it over his head. He tries to move away, but his fucked up legs won’t allow it, causing him to howl out in pain.

As I turn to leave, Aaron is standing at the door with Steve in his hand and his standard creepy smile.

“Lev won’t like you down here, Aaron,” I say as I walk toward him. I lock the door behind us and we walk to the front of the house together before he speaks.

“Thank you, Ivan,” he says, and the softness in his voice makes me stop in my tracks. I always wondered who the real Aaron is as we see so many different versions. But this soft spoken, traumatized boy, I think is the Aaron who lived before he was beaten away by that fucking brother of his.

“Why are you thanking me?”

“For yesterday. You convinced the others to allow me to be a part of it, and it helped. As screwed up as that sounds, it did. I actually slept with ease last night and didn’t need my music, which is a first.”

“That's great, Aaron. Are you gonna do more jobs with Lev?”

“Yeah, he said I can go on the ones he picks, and he has to be with me.”

“Glad to hear it. You did great last night, you were a natural.”

His face lights up with a genuine smile and I briefly feel a pang of sadness at the boy who could’ve been. But that wasn’t his journey. We’re not here to change anyone in this family. Only to be the best versions of ourselves, which would be a nightmare to others.

Aaron walks away from me, heading to the kitchen, and it finally feels like things are slotting into place here. It’ll be even better when the houses are complete.

35

TYLER

After a hard workout with Seb in the gym this morning, and a long hot shower, I feel like a new man. Positive. Well, nearly a hundred percent positive. I’m a little pissed that Ivan pretty much ordered me, didn’t ask, but demanded I move in here with him. But as usual these days, it didn’t take much for me to cave. His threats to make me hurt slightly worried me, but mainly because it intrigues me what that would be like. I enjoy the soreness of his rough hands when we have sex, but I’m sure that's a world away from being choked, spanked and locked up in the room of death. Maybe one day I’ll push back on his orders, just to see what the punishment is like, even though he’s convinced I would love it. To be fair, he hasn’t been wrong so far in what I like even when I didn’t know. It’s like my body is a device that's connected to Ivan, my human version of WiFi.

I jog downstairs in my sweatpants and hoodie that are very rare for me to wear outside the home, but I need comfort if I’m packing.

“Are you ready to go?” Kai asks me when I get to the bottom of the stairs.

“Are we supposed to be going somewhere?” I ask confused.

“Ivan asked me to go with you to your apartment to help pack. Didn’t he say anything?”

“No, but I’m grateful for your help. Where is everyone?”

“I’m not sure. I think Jules and Simon are with D. Everyone else I’ve no idea.”

Where is Ivan? It's unusual for him not to text me when he isn’t going to be around. As I retrieve my phone from my pocket, a loud honk comes from outside and I look at Kai. He shrugs and we both head outside to see who it is. At the end of the driveway is a small moving van with Ivan honking the horn. How long has this guy had this planned for me to move? How can I want to hit him and swoon with how romantic it is at the same time?

“Come on you two, traffic will be a nightmare at this time,” he shouts.

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