Page 22 of Inescapable Ties
An odd symbol had been spray-painted on to the floor. As an urban explorer, I was no stranger to graffiti. But this didn’t look like any graffiti I had seen before.
It was a giant circle, and in the upper left-hand corner a V cut through it. On the bottom right, there were two closely spaced dots that almost touched the line of the circle.
“It’s just graffiti,” Tall Dino said.
“Yeah…”
I took video from different angles and multiple pictures. Something told me this wasn’t normal graffiti, and I wanted to know where it came from.
We spent another hour exploring, but I couldn’t take my mind off the mysterious symbol. I wanted to go home and research what gang or cult it originated from.
“Ok,” I said to Tall Dino. “I think I’m ready to head out.”
There was no information online about the symbol. I should have given up after thirty minutes, and spent the rest of the day editing my video. It had been forever since I released one. Instead, I continued combing the internet for information on the odd circle.
It frustrated me I couldn’t find anything.
Before I knew it, the sun had sat, and the moon was high in the sky. I heard the front door open and slam shut. Frick. Emilio just got home, so it must be pretty late. When he had left this morning, he had said he wouldn’t be home until after one.
He opened our bedroom door and raised his eyebrows at me. He was probably wondering what the hell I was doing up so late.
“Eager to see me?” he teased.
“So eager,” I deadpanned. “I couldn’t even sleep.”
He chuckled as he walked into our bedroom, which we shared together. My immediate reaction was to close my laptop quickly, not wanting him to see the symbol I had discovered earlier that day. I couldn’t pinpoint why I felt the need to hide it; I simply wasn’t ready to reveal it just yet.
“Whatcha hiding?” he asked. “Y’know, if it’s porn, you have the real deal right here.”
“I was actually ordering a chastity belt,” I responded.
I elicited another laugh from him, causing a flutter in my chest. I couldn’t deny that Emilio looked adorable when he laughed like that.
“I was editing my video from today,” I lied. “Tall Dino and I went out to get footage.”
“Tall Dino?”
“The taller Dino. Dino Barbato. Or was it Dino Barbaro?” I said, massaging my thumb into my temple. “How do you even keep the two Dino’s separate when they have the same name?”
Emilio cackled. “Well, they’re both very good at their jobs, just in different ways. It’s easy to know which one we’re referring to when we talk about them.”
“Right,” I said.
As he began undressing, my eyes couldn’t help but wander to the expanse of tattoos that covered his torso. The moonlight played off his skin, casting a soft glow around them. His eyes met mine, a playful twinkle dancing within them as he stripped off his clothes with an effortless grace.
I quickly averted my gaze, feeling embarrassed for being caught. For once in his life, Emilio didn’t give me an obnoxious quip. He just walked into the bathroom and continued getting ready for bed.
“Ok,” he said as he emerged from the bathroom. “Bedtime.”
I had had the foresight to hop into bed and face the wall, so I wouldn’t see him in his underwear. It might have caused a repeat nosebleed situation.
As the lamp flicked off, the room plunged into darkness.
Emilio’s warm body shifted closer to mine, and his arms enveloped me from behind.
“Eep!” I said.
We had been sleeping on opposite sides of the bed. This was new and foreign, and I wasn’t a hundred percent sure how to feel. But I knew I felt…safe.
