My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth, my throat drying from her words, images of his security play in my head, of course he was dangerous, nobody needed that much security, no matter how famous they were, unless they were constantly doing something wrong. And dangerous.“Dangerous?” I croak,“Yes silly, you might end up thinking you have to impress him or something since he could be your father in law.” I snort in derision, if he was like a normal father to Abed, if he were kinder, the absurd idea of him being my father in law... I felt my cheeks flame just thinking about him being a daughter in law, and therefore his wife. Shaking my head and those thoughts away, I focus on the present,“You say that knowing who his father is?”Something passes her face, it’s too quick for me to catch, her expression is now one of exasperation. “Do you really need to go?”She is definitely trying to dissuade me right now, without any proper explanation, I stare at her for a few seconds, tryin
I had never seen anything quite like it, Abed’s silent fury, after the woman in the uniform, who I later learned her name was Greta, explained to him that his brother was going to stay for the exact number of days as he was, and from the explanation. I gathered his brother whom I had no idea about, had called ahead and asked that Abed’s old room be given to him. Abed had turned around, Greta and I hold our breaths as he walked back to the room assigned to us, his spine was as straight as an arrow. The anger rolled off him in waves, from his extremely straight posture, to his jaw locked in place, and the eyes, his eyes drew you in, and tossed you around inside of the storm that raged inside. I was at complete loss, I knew nothing of this brother, and while this room was significantly smaller than his old room, it wasn’t so bad, we won’t be staying for so long. But the fact that he called ahead and asked specifically for Abed’s room meant they were on opposing sides, and he was an ass
When I return to the room, he is no longer pacing, he is sitting at the desk, his eyes full of relief as he beacons me to him. Hurriedly, my feet move in his direction, and he pulls me into his legs, plopping down, his face sinks between my neck and my face, my body shivers as our bodies touch. “I missed you, where did you go?” he murmurs,I swallow, unsure how to say that I went snooping around without coming off as creepy.“Out.” I say when the silence stretched on for far too long.He sighs, “I have heard people describe the property as beautiful, but all I see here is pain, Idon’t think I can ever see it as more.”The urge to take this man as far away from this place is overwhelming, I wanted to protecthim, from the horrors of his childhood, from the horror that was his younger brother. SinceGreta told me what his brother had tried to do, I had become even more afraid for him, what was it like living with a monster and his son? “You never told me you had a brother..” I start
My eyes follow her even as she excused herself from the table, clearly flustered, I want to go after her, but the look on Richard’s face stops me. “You know her?”His shocked expression gives way to the smug one he has always worn when he thought he had the upper hand on something.“We go way back, college days, and these days everyone knows Rachel Greene, until recently.”His words pulls something from my memory, he is the fairy godmother she talked about with such fondness?? He was kind to her, got her a lawyer, and did all of those good things that made my insides tingle with unknown emotion? I couldn’t reconcile the person I knew with the person she knew. “We also had a pact that if she wasn’t married by age thirty, we would get married.” he eyes my fingers, searching for a ring, I flexed my fingers showing off the matching ring I had put off wearing until this particular dinner, and had been hiding from her. My father chuckled, finding it amusing that we were once again in com
The words hit me square in the chest, but I am looking directly at Abed, in his eyes I saw the walls forming again, he was retreating into his mind, so I smile at him, as if what his father had said had zero effect on me, and it was old news. “And?” I manage to ask, my voice controlled, pretending this wasn’t my life and I was playing a character, one that didn’t care that the man she was in love with used to be an assassin. His father chuckled, I drag my eyes to his face, his tongue was in his cheek as he stared at me, studying me once again.“And? The man used to torture people to get information, he was excellent at it, his mind always found new ways to put other people through unthinkable amount of pain, lots of people around the world sought him, paid outrageous amounts of money for his services, but his specialty was making sure they didn’t exist.” He does little to hide the jealousy and anger in his voice as he spoke, I try my best to ignore what he had just revealed about
“Your father thinks we are married.” I say lightly once we are both in the room, the door firmly locked behind us. The rest of dinner was a blur, I didn’t speak again, even when Richard congratulated me for my marriage and asked too many questions about a ceremony that didn’t happen.“Who proposed? How was the wedding like? When did it happen?”I had no response to any of the questions, instead I had my own questions, thankfully his father had gotten bored with no fighting, he got up and bid us a good night, although I think he means the opposite, I got up as soon as his back was turned to us, despite Richard’s plea to catch up. Abed had followed me silently, like he had been throughout dinner, I didn’t mind that, but here, now, he could not remain silent. “Your brother too. Greta too in fact.” I say recalling how her eyes fell on the ring, and what she said, then I thought she was simply mistaken, but everyone could not be simply mistaken at once. “How can I not know that I am mar
“You aren’t even married?” My father’s condescending voice when he finds me outside, watching Rachel drive away from me. My heart thumping so loud in my chest everyone should be able to hear it. “No, not that, you are married but the bride has no idea is more like it.” He laughs even louder this time, spilling his cruelty for everyone to hear.I run a frustrated hand through my hair, worry ran through my veins, she sped away in anger, a volatile emotion, she could crash or end up in a ditch somewhere, I have to find her. Turning around and going inside to fetch my phone, my father follows me, pretending I don’t see him, I focus on finding my phone.“You are my son after all, I just didn’t expect you would pull a fast one about this, especially when you were full of talk.” he laughs again.The only thing I can think about is her alone on the road, by this time of the night, in a speeding car and clearly not thinking clearly. Guilt racked my entire body, squeezing my chest so hard that
His statement ticked a nerve, she was mine... or not, I console myself with the fact that they have known each other for several years now, and finding her was more important than anything at the moment, including the useless jealousy that had been pricking the back of my mind for years now. “How did you two meet?” he asked me while sticking his head out of the window, reminding me of the kid I once knew.“Depends on who you ask.” I mutter to myself as I drive, heading to my house, where Clay had asked to meet via text.“I am asking you.” he says pointedly, pulling his head for a second just to do so.“At a bar, on her birthday.”He nods and hums a response, pulling his head back into the car, I feel his stare on me for a long time before I ask, “What?”“Conversations work when you ask me, how we met as well.” He gestures with his hand around us, as if being stuck in a car with him was enough to forget his crimes.When I don’t respond fast enough, he lets out a sigh and sinks into