Chapter 24 #2
I hit my head against the headrest. "God, Achilles, I spent years stressing about Chase being with other women. I knew he was cheating on me. Is this what it's going to be again? Fuck your void."
His hands slide up my thighs until they're under my uniform skirt, and he squeezes tightly, liquifying my lower stomach.
"Let me offer you a deal instead of stupid reassurances," he murmurs in a gravelly voice. "Read the concerto, and then tell me if you have any doubts about what I feel for you."
I take a breath through my open mouth, trying to keep my eyes on his intense stare.
"Can you put words on it? What you feel for me?"
"That's not who I am, mon trésor." He lowers his head, kissing my inner thigh from my knee to my skirt. These tights are useless against his delicate assault. "But I wrote it." Another kiss, higher. "And if you allow me, I'll play it to the whole world."
I'm panting by the time his lips press against my core. Even through the layers of clothes, I melt under his touch.
I push against his mouth, but he pulls away.
"Read it," he orders before sitting across from me and fastening his seatbelt.
The take-off isn’t as horrible as I expected, just new sensations a human body should never have to experience.
We're probably half an hour in, and I'm submerged in his concerto.
Chills are running down my body, my muscles twitching every few notes, my hands desperate to play them.
My heart skips several beats when I recognize memories of us within the music, and I've never hated being deaf in one ear so much in my life. Because the day Achilles Duval plays this, some lives are going to change. People will be impacted forever, and I know I’ll miss some details in it.
It's so unfair it almost brings tears to my eyes.
I'm a little over halfway through when I sense him shifting, annoyed, something bothering his usually imperturbable self.
He's focused on texting someone, eyebrows pulled together.
"Is everything okay?" I ask.
Without even looking up, he answers honestly. "No. Do you think you could recognize the man who broke into your house?"
The question comes out of nowhere, and it takes me a second to understand what he's talking about.
"Do you mean the masked man who assaulted me when I was sixteen?" I ask with a cocked eyebrow. "Can you hear your question?"
He finally looks up, narrowing his eyes at me.
"What are you doing?" I insist, now wanting desperately to look at his phone.
"I'm trying to find him. What else would I be doing? I have a few options, but I don't want the wrong person to pay."
I'm speechless for so long that he waves a hand in front of my eyes. "Nyx?"
"Who are you messaging?" I rasp.
"Val Brolik."
How…how can he answer so casually? My heart tenses, jumping in my chest and blocking the back of my throat.
"Are you insane?" I hiss on a breath. "Does he know you're close to me? Achilles, you have no idea the kind of money my father owes this man."
"Yeah, I do. Nothing."
My hand automatically goes for my bag. I pull out the pack of bubblegum in there and pop one in my mouth, gritting my teeth on the hard sweetness until it turns chewy. By the time I can talk again, my jaw hurts.
"I don't owe him nothing. Trust me. Fuck, I feel sick."
"Nyx. You owe him nothing. I settled your debt the day I told Chase about us. You haven't owed him anything for weeks."
The news is such a shock I can't feel my limbs anymore.
"What?" I pause, looking around to make sure I'm not dreaming. "What? How do you even know him?"
He shrugs. "Brolik is a small player in a big game. He works for a big criminal organization called the Wolves, and they’re tight with the Circle.
He doesn't want to get on my bad side, trust me.
But in case he had the wrong idea that coming after you doesn't mean attacking me personally, I settled your father's debt with him. "
The mention of my dad twists my stomach.
In the last few weeks, all I've done is practice, enjoy my time with Achilles, live a life that isn't mine.
As if I don't have real problems waiting for me on the North Shore.
I don't have a home anymore. My father has disappeared.
I've only been in touch with Lena when at work, and even that, I've asked for people to take over my shifts many times. She asked questions about what happened to Bennett, knowing full-well what happened. She didn’t receive the video, but most people did.
She was testing me, and when I refused to brush the subject, she warned me against my boyfriend yet again.
And she’s not wrong. Achilles provides for me because that's what he knows. Because money means nothing to him. But the day he realizes who I really am, I'll have nothing. Not his money, not his love. Not him.
I wonder what my betrayal will inspire for his music. Without a doubt, something beautiful.
"I can see the wheels turning behind your eyes, mon trésor. Take a breath for me, will you?"
"My dad," I rasp. "I haven't seen him in so long."
"Your dad is fine."
"You might have a lot of influence, but you're not God, as far as I know. You don't know if he's fine."
"Well, pray at my altar, baby, because your dad is in the rehab center I put him in two weeks ago. So I'm pretty sure he's fine."
"What?" I squeak, eyes flying wide. "When were you going to tell me this? How did you find him?"
"He went to the shelter Peach volunteers at.
It's supposed to be a women's shelter, so they didn't take him in, but Peach told me where they sent him.
I went to see him, and I told him that if he ever wanted to see you again, it would be sober and that he'd never gamble again in his life.
Or he could kiss goodbye to his little girl.
He hesitated at first, but I think he understood to take my word seriously.
And it's the truth, baby. I'd never have let him near you again. So I'm glad he made the right choice."
I swallow thickly. "You can't stop me from seeing my dad. I want to go to the rehab center."
"You'll see him. When he's out and better."
"Achilles!" I snap as my insides twist. "You can't take over my entire life. Those are not your decisions to make."
He puts his phone down, his dangerous smirk turning him more charismatic than the devil, but just as lethal.
Tapping his knee, he says, "Come here, baby."
I'm angry, but I do it. There isn't a day since I met this man that I've been able to resist him. It's not going to start now.
I sit on his lap, enough to the side that I can talk to him. As I put an arm around his neck, he curls his around my waist.
"I haven’t been myself with you, Nyx," he explains calmly. "Because I feel things for you that I've never felt before. And I know it all makes it seem like I'm a nice, caring guy. And maybe, with you, I am. Maybe you're special. Fuck, I hope you feel special."
The steel in his eyes turns colder, the temperature around us dropping.
"But however I behave with you should never make you forget who I really am deep down, do you understand?
Just because I worship the ground you walk on doesn't mean I lost any of the power I've always held.
It's in the palm of my hand, a quick call or text away.
It's in the dynamics I've established with everyone around me.
So when I make a decision, that's it. There's no reasoning, no bargaining, no begging. "
"But—"
"No 'buts' either, mon trésor. Did Peach tell you when she saw your dad?"
The realization hits me like a slap in the face. I scratch my throat. "No."
"No," he repeats. "Because, see, no matter what, she knows who to report to.
It's just how it is. I'm not asking you to play the games we play in my world.
I'm not even asking you to understand the rules.
I just need you to know that there's the elite, and I'm at the top of it.
Everything bends to my will, and so do you. "
He caresses my lower lip with the pad of his thumb. "You'll see your dad when he's healed. Because that's what you deserve, a functioning parent. If there's anything else I can do for you, to help, or to make you feel good, all you have to do is tell me. It'll get done."
He rests his head back, his hand falling on my thigh, and instead of fighting him, I prove him right.
Because he doesn't need to make even the tiniest gesture, I'm already pressing my lips against his.
I feel him smile as our tongues intertwine.
I know that he got what he wanted. The reassurance that everything he just said is true.
Achilles Duval is a god among us, and we all bend to his will. Myself included.
His phone vibrates, and he looks down at it.
"Fuck. I thought so."
"What?" I ask lazily, as I rest my head on his shoulder, loving the safety of his embrace.
"It was Chase."
I don’t know what he’s talking about for at least half a minute, unable to imagine what he means. Because in what world did this happen to me?
"Are you okay?" he asks. "Did you hear me?"
"Do you mean the masked man?" I croak.
I feel his heart accelerate, and it hurts me that he cares so much. "I do."
"Is it weird that a part of me always knew?" I ask. "I think my body did. The way I felt around him. I was always so scared. He came for the money, then a few weeks later, he came again, but masked this time. And then I begged him to take care of me and my dad. He got everything he wanted."
"And now he’s dead," he tells me as he caresses my hair.
A peace like never before comes over me. Who knew the good girl of the North Shore would feel so content at the idea of murder.
"And now he’s dead," I conclude. "Thank you."
"I will hunt and kill every single one of your demons if I have to, Nyx."
I smile in his arms, closing my eyes for a few seconds. "How about you just stay by my side and forget about the rest of the world?"
His arms tighten around my back, and he presses a chaste kiss on the side of my neck. "Anything for you."