Page 13 of From My Past
I sit up straighter and push my blond locks over my shoulders to appear more put together. At least I hoped I look more put together than I feel.
“Trent! Good to see you. Thanks for coming.” Luca’s heavily accented voice cried out as he approached a man and their hands met in the middle for an enthusiastic handshake.
“Thank you for meeting with me. I appreciate you taking time to answer my questions.” The taller man said. I still had yet to see him, but his voice sounded very vaguely familiar. I could see a tuft of bright red hair but before I could see any more of the mystery man, Luca stepped in front of me. He stood in such a way that I was being hidden from everything and everyone by his body.
“Of course. And I’m so sorry but, I had to bring my girlfriend along. She fell down the stairs. I worry about her brain and making sure she doesn’t have a concussion. So, I had to bring her.” He said with a roll of his shoulders as if to show that it was my fault this happened. With that, he turned and revealed me to the man. A shock of electricity went through my body.
Trent was the man from that frat party all those years ago, before my life went to shit. Trent, short for Trenton, was the same man who introduced me to Kieron. He didn’t look like he remembered me, but really why would he? And I looked so completely different now than I did back then.
I smiled shyly and raised one shoulder in a very small shrug, being the perfectly demure little girlfriend Luca wanted me to play.
“Oh my god, are you okay?” Trent asked with alarm. He rushed to me and tried to look for the extent of the damage, but I flinched backwards.
“She’s fine. Aren’t you?” Luca said, menacingly from behind his back. My eyes quickly darted over to Luca’s and I saw the threat in them. I had a part to play and if I didn’t, I would pay for it.
“I am. Thank you.” I said softly and smiled as much as my cheeks would allow.
Trent’s expression changed then, his eyes narrowed and his lips flattened.
“Okay. Let us know if you need something. I think I have pain killers in my car.” He said and slid in next to me. I could have moaned from the relief that would have come from pain relievers, but I knew that Luca wouldn’t allow that.
“Thank you.” I wrap my arms around my waist and hunch my shoulders over a bit to try and hide myself, maybe take their attention off of me a bit.
Trent turns to me and I can feel his eyes burn into my face as he takes in every detail of my face. His eyes locked onto mine and I could see a dawning happen. “What’s your name?”
“Talia.”
“Talia…” He whispered, his eyes flashing with recognition for a split second before he turned back to Luca.
“So, Trent,” Luca said loudly, pulling Trent’s attention back to him. “What makes you want to join our ranks?”
Luca was much more political and sounded stiffer than I had heard him in a while. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. Knowing who he is now, it does seem intimidating, but before, I would have said that he was just peacocking. It took a lot of strength to not roll my eyes at his inflated ego.
The two men started to chat, and I let myself dissociate. The pain from the beating and noise level of the music wasn’t helping me. Before I knew it, my eyes were closing, and my head was resting back against the wall.
Chapter Four
Talia
Iam in deep shit.
I’m woken up by a sharp poke to the throat, making me cough and wheeze, and then a tight squeeze of my neck.
“Shut up.” Luca whispers. I didn’t mean to fall asleep at the bar in the meeting with Trent and Luca. I’m becoming more concerned that when he hit me earlier, he caused some real injury like Trent thought.
Luca decided to send me home after he woke me up, the look in his eye was scary and I know that I’m in trouble.
“You go back to the apartment if you’re going to keep embarrassing me like this. I gave you very specific instructions and you failed. Leave.” His voice is low and threatening while he refuses to look at me. Anxiously, I slid out from the booth and headed away from them before he said anything else. I didn’t want to see if there were any requirements for me or anything he demanded I do before I got out of there.
I didn’t wait to say goodbye to Trent, I didn’t say goodbye to Luca, I simply left. Luca had the car and I didn’t have any money or ID on me so I had to walk. At least I was alone. I had walked the streets in my strappy heels for about ten minutes before I heard a car pull up next to me. The passenger side window rolled down as they approached me.
Immediately I was on edge. I tried to think back in my memory about any self-defense I remembered but all I could remember was how to throw a punch correctly. At least I had that. I threw a pretty good punch, but that was when I had at least ten pounds more muscle on me. If I hit anyone now, I’m sure it would feel like a butterfly landing on their arm.
“Are you Talia?” The man, who couldn’t be more than 30 years old, leaned over the side to ask.
“Who wants to know?”
“Trent sent me. He’s a friend and said you might need a ride home. He also asked me to keep it hush-hush.” The man answered and I relaxed.
