2. Detavio
Chapter 2
Detavio
T he glow of flickering streetlights barely reached the alley where we stood, swallowed in the dark like ghosts. That didn’t bother me one bit, not even the pungent smell that forced its way up my nose with each deep inhale I took. Monster stood over a man; his broad shoulders rose slightly as his rage spread across the dark alley.
Who the fuck sent you? I thought as I flicked the butt of my cigar. Shit never went smooth for me. I was currently in the midst of me being forced to step down from something that took me years to create. There was always something else lurking that would make me want to fuckin’ snap. This right here was small shit compared to all of the backlash that I received since Arkville went up in flames.
I didn’t need a bright light to see the anger in Monster’s eyes. The man at his feet groaned. He spat out blood onto the cracked pavement. He was small framed, his skin pale. He had been following us all day, I thought it was entertaining. I watched him through the mirror each time we hopped in Monster’s truck to go to the next destination. This idiot thought he was discreet following us five to six cars behind. It only enraged Monster, until he led him to an alley of no return.
“You thought we didn’t see you?” Monster’s voice was a deep growl, thick with the promise of pain.
He bent down and grabbed the man by his collar. He yanked him up midway then slammed him against the cold brick wall. The man gasped sharply as his head snapped back on impact. Blood from the back of his head smeared where it landed at. I folded my hands behind my back and stood still. I was present but battled with my mental state of mind since I was thinking about shit that I should have pushed far out of my mind.
The type of pain that Monster committed against people was enough to make the toughest man break. By now, he had enough of people fucking with us on the sly. He let no one get away with it, not even if a person eyed any of us wrong. Monster told me he felt a storm coming our way. I didn’t take heed to it because I was already living in a self-chaotic storm. Right now, I craved the bottle of special cognac with my initials engraved on the glass… It called my name!
Besides… It took a lot to get me out of my calm state of mind. To me, I was warming up. I knew someone was after me, but who? The media ripped me to shreds. The first woman that I felt something for folded on me. I didn’t blame her for it.
I figured she wouldn’t last. Since the beginning of time, Angel picked a side. I accepted the side she chose and decided to let her be…for now. She had to know somewhere deep down inside in her little confused brain, that I would never leave her alone fully. She belonged to me. If she wanted the number of bodies on her conscious for being such a selfish, stupid bitch, then that was on her. Monster and I killed for fun at times; it came naturally. She could fuck around and find out for all I gave a fuck. This was nothing but a head start to all the madness that she was trying to bury me in.
Angel had no right to turn on me. I felt like a sucker. It seemed like I lived up to the name that I called her on a day-to-day basis… Pussy! I wanted her so bad, I did the very thing I never did in most situations… Listen, so that I could please her. I had grown addicted to the angelic smile that would cause her eyes to turn upright. Angel loved gifts and compliments; I didn’t know shit about that. Yet and still, I had Maylee show and teach me some of everything so that I could make her ungrateful ass happy.
I went so far with it the last month she was with me to the point of me training myself to not need a release as much, since Angel didn’t want the women servicing me all of the time. I was a fucking fool, and as much as I hated it, Impurity’s words came crawling through my mind then ripped me into shreds in the process.
“Feel nothing.” His voice was cold and raspy.
“I told you, boy. Empathy is nothing but weakness, a trap! Motherfuckers will use it against you, drain you, then break you. Don’t give them that power or you will forever be the next person’s toy. They’ll play with you while you’re shiny and new. When you get old and rusty, they’ll toss you to the side. Like trash,” he gritted.
He stepped further into my room. He stopped when he was about four inches away then cracked his neck from side to side.
“Jalissa is a prime example. She was my fuck up, a mistake that I showed empathy to. I should have learned from my father’s fuck up. Before my mother came along, he used women for the only thing they were good for... Good pussy and to procreate to fill up this shitty world with more people.” He chuckled dryly.
His steel toe boots stomped toward the chaise that was in the corner of my room. He pulled out his tobacco baggie then tossed a handful in his mouth before he continued to talk.
“My mother is the reason why her and my father are dead. She was a whore, just like Jalissa. My mother was a strong and selfish woman. Her characteristics were masculine. She fought with my father and helped him run Arkville with the same cold bitterness as him. She slept around a lot; my father didn’t know much about it, but when I found out through all the hidden handwritten letters that she kept in the basement...” He paused then spit out a gob of spit right on my marble floor.
“Di-did you tell him?” I asked.
“No, my father was cold. He treated everyone like they weren’t worth the dirt beneath the bottom of his boots. I started to hate my mother the day I found the letters. I didn’t understand how she had a man to love her inside out, all for her to betray him. He lucked up, if you ask me… She was the only person that he had ever showed emotion and love to. If I told my father, he would have killed her and me. He loved her more than me. He hardly ever recognized me as his son. He only acknowledged me for her approval. ‘Til this day, I’m not sure who murdered both of my parents, but my gut tells me every time I think about it… that it was her secret lover. The handwritten letters showed that he was in love with her deeply, he begged for her to leave my father and to run off into the sunset with him.” Impurity stopped talking for a couple of seconds.
He looked to be lost in his own painful memories. I saw raw emotions written on his face that I never seen before.
“Jalissa was nothing when I met her, just a shell with her beauty leading the way for her. She wasn’t supposed to be more than just a solid fuck for me. I never wanted kids, but I fell for her and tried to grant her wishes, even if it wasn’t fully fulfilled. I did my best because she was supposed to love me.” He munched hard on his tobacco leaves through each pained word he spoke to me.
“I was wrong, so now I’m sitting here to give you this little bit of advice, Detavio… You don’t need love. It’s just a chain, and a shackle that will hold you down then fuck up whatever vision that you have for yourself that keeps you going.” He stood up then spat out dark gooey spit again.
“Without Mercy…” He walked to the window and pointed out of it as a gesture.
“Without hesitation… Out in the world, they’ll laugh at your pain, they’ll mock you, all because you let love take ahold of you. I don’t know how to raise any kid, but what I’m telling you now is worth holding on to. I won’t trust a soul ever again with my heart, and I’d never show empathy, not even to you. I only kept you because I see so much potential in you to carry on the Decebal name when I am no longer here. If you have any emotion, you keep it to yourself and bury it. As long as you are here, on my land, you will stand tall. You will never show a soul your weaknesses. I mean it, boy!” He pointed his black ink covered finger my way.
“You and I are more alike, and the older you get, the more you will see. You’ll feel it more as you grow. The Temptation… He’ll come for you, like he did for me; he comes for all of us… and when he does, you’ll know that you belong to him. You’ll give in after a while, too, because you will see how cursed and dark you are since God himself never lends a hand to help you out of the dark pit your stuck inside of. You know who he is…it’s what you think of me…” He chuckled dryly.
His words ate away at my mind like parasites.
I blinked my misted over eyes and shook my head roughly to rid myself of the raw, painful emotions that started to rise inside. I felt love with Angel. I hated that I felt that, so now I yearned for it although it felt like it would be a part of my demise. I didn’t give a fuck how deranged or possessed I appeared to be to her or anybody else, for that matter. She had a chance to walk free and stay clear of me. She went with what her body wanted and decided to entertain me. She lied to me like the little pussy she was, just to get what she would always want. When shit got to be too much like the media and the news depicting me to be just like Impurity, she fled and told me that it was all too much for her.
She killed my baby, and I felt like a sucker to still crave her in ways that should be turned into me wanting to crack her fuckin’ neck. It’s been months, and she thinks I don’t know about the fake dates she goes on. Maybe I was like Impurity, even though she and everyone else always told me that I wasn’t. I wanted to believe that, but Angel was pushing me to no return. A filthy, dark part of me wanted to kick in her parent’s door, drag her ass out, and lock her up in a cage, since she treated me like a worn outfit that she would toss away once she no longer wanted it. Angel knew exactly who and what I am… A Decebal man. Any man that she would be bold enough to let touch her would end up just like this Asian man that’s getting brutally handled by Monster.
Speaking of this man, I didn’t know who the fuck he was and why he had been following Monster and I for half of the day. Monster cocked his head to the side and studied the man like he was some specimen under a microscope.
“Again, who sent you?” He growled out.
No answer.
Monster backhanded him, hard. The man’s head snapped to the side; Monster slapped him back-to-back with harder force than the last slap.
“I’m not gonna ask you again,” Monster threatened.
I exhaled roughly then stepped forward. I forced my own miserable thoughts away, just to reel Monster in. I needed for him to snap out of his rage and understand where the fuck we was at. I didn’t do messy murders. I didn’t care that it was dark out, it was seven p.m., and I could still hear the hustle and bustle from the city. Monster never cared about the time or place. If he wanted you dead, he got creative to see to it that it happened right then and there. Right now, I was in no position to get caught slipping. I had too much to lose to the shit that I had already loss and had to step down from since the media—including the world—was against me.
“Monster.” I called out to him. I stood close enough to smell the blood that leaked from the man’s nose and mouth.
Monster didn’t acknowledge me, his focus was locked on the bastard that just pissed himself in front of us. Monster was locked into a different mode; I knew just how far he’d take it out here in this alley. The man coughed violently; blood spiraled down his chin.
“I—I’m sorry! I wasn’t following the two of you! I just happen to be in the wrong area!” He rasped out, his accent was faint but there. I chuckled then ran my hand down my face. I hated a liar, they deserved the worse type of treatment. But not here … I thought.
Monster let out a sinister laugh, he cracked his neck from side to side and sneered.
“Wrong fuckin’ answer,” he growled out.
He drove his fist into the man’s gut, which folded him in half. A choked gasp escaped his lips, and he wheezed like he couldn’t catch his breath. Monster refused to let him fall. He kept him upright, his grip unrelenting. I rolled my shoulders and tried to push the irritation that rose inside of me down. This wasn’t necessary, at least not yet.
“That’s enough,” I stated.
Monster’s head tilted slightly, as if he was considering what I said. Seconds later, he turned to look at me. In that second, I saw it…The hunger and darkness that lurked inside of him. I clenched my jaw and shook my head, motioning with my hands for him to get a grip of the bigger picture.
“We got what the fuck we needed,” I retorted.
“No the fuck we didn’t,” Monster muttered, then let him go.
The man fell to the ground like a broken doll; he gasped for air with one hand clutching his ribs. I glanced down at him to study his face, his eyes were still alert. Whatever he was here for, he was trained. He knew how to take a hit. But even the strongest man cracked when they saw their own grave being dug.
Monster eyed the blood that was glued to his knuckles. I thought that he would wipe the blood on his black Levi jeans, but instead, he watched the man attempt to crawl backwards.
“You get his bitch ass up and throw him in the truck!” He gritted out angrily.
There was no point in Monster and I getting into it. I understood his anger better than anybody else. He hated being stopped in the middle of his moment. Only his wife could halt his actions, and he’d soften from her gaze alone. Ever since we understood that we were blood brothers and that Monster was the eldest, he liked to call orders, forgetting that I didn’t play by anyone else’s tune but mine.
I grabbed the guy by his jacket and yanked his trembling body up. He tried to speak, maybe beg, but his words got lost between bloody coughs. Monster popped the trunk of his black sedan and this man’s fate was already written out. Nobody came out of his trunk the same way they went in…ninety percent of people never even came out.
The man weakly struggled against his will as I shoved him inside. He gave in and collapsed in the small space as I quickly grabbed the chains and padlock where Monster had his spare tire at. I chained his hands and ankles together then slammed the trunk.
“Should have minded your fuckin’ business,” Monster muttered before turning away from me.
I ran a hand down my jaw and thought about the bottle of cognac that sat on the floor on the passenger side that I occupied.
“Take me home,” I said into the night air.
We drove to my house in silence, the best way to be. My mind and the thoughts locked inside of it made me feel like I would crash out at any given moment.
“You don’t have to go home to clean up just to eat Sunday dinner,” Monster stated dryly.
I smirked at him crookedly. Monster never ceased to amaze me. Even through our own darkness, he still spoke humorously. He was serious, and I liked that he hadn’t changed much now that he was married. He stayed in true form and wasn’t ashamed of who he was, how it should be. My brother, my twisted demented brother that mirrored me. I didn’t know which one of us was worse.
“I’m not going to Sunday dinner,” I stated.
I snatched the bottle of cognac from the floor and opened it without a second thought. Monster’s truck cut through the emptiness of the night. He gripped the wheel with one hand as his fingers drummed against the leather with an unreadable expression. I inhaled the rich scent of liquor then lifted and tilted it back, letting the fire slide down my throat.
One gulp wasn’t enough, so I took another. I kept the bottle glued to my lips and kept sipping until half of the bottle was inside of me…Burning and numbing what I told myself to let go. I closed my eyes and savored the slow warmth that swirled around in my chest. It was a temporary escape from the hell that ate away at my mind.
I had too many memories and the weight of my past weighing on me. Cognac was the only thing that kept me from falling over the edge.
“Damn…” Monster finally spoke in a low rumble.
“Shit is that bad for you… the continued disrespect to my wife cooking dinner for the three of us to eat, is insane. Let alone to my pockets…” He glanced over at me and frowned.
I exhaled then inhaled and thought about killing off the rest of the fifth of cognac. I shook my head against that because we had about forty-five more minutes before we made it to my house. I needed to stretch the bottle that I had in hand for now.
“You disrespected my wife two Sundays in a row, that’s like saying fuck the extra money that I contribute for dinner for your mouth to feed,” he added.
Monster gripped the steering wheel tighter. It was no surprise that he counted up every dollar he spent as if he didn’t have an endless amount of cashflow. The Decebal men would never go broke, that was a fact. We could use the cash that we had took from Impurity to wipe our asses with if need be and still have a fortune left for generations to come.
“Disrespect Natavi? When you got a half dead muthafucka in the trunk with his blood smeared all over the back of your hands and fingers? Shut the fuck up, Monster.” I tilted the bottle back up to my lips and took three big gulps.
“My wife accepts and knows me well,” he retorted.
I chuckled dryly and burped loudly; I shook my head from side to side.
“Oh really? Last I checked… you had trouble in paradise—” The car swerved intentionally.
Monster’s wild dark eyes locked with mine then back on the road.
“There’ll be trouble in hell if you don’t watch what the fuck you say,” he grumbled.
“You just watch what the fuck you say to me. Mind your fuckin’ business and don’t worry about me coming to eat dinner. I don’t care to see your damn wife. She want to look at me with knowing eyes when she knows that bitch Angel is wrong! She knows what the fuck?—”
“Detavio, this is still about Angel when you said you was letting her go. Octavio looks forward to seeing us at least every Sunday. He’ll ask questions, and you’re more normal than me to answer them. I’m trying to let him in since he is one of us. I try to show him better than I can tell him.” Monster’s words trailed off.
It was hard for him to have a logical conversation.
“Well, you will show him alright… showing up to dinner with a man in your trunk and blood on your hands.” I chuckled.
“I don’t have shit to hide. He’s just as twisted as us…it’ll come out and be on display soon.”