9. Chapter 9
M y fingers flexed open and closed as I itched to hold Angel’s hand while following him, not that he would let me.
Only during times of relaxation at our house would he give in to any sort of affection.
But he was a warrior. I didn’t expect him to be a hugger, but I also needed his touch and safety.
We weaved our way around another hall until we came to a separate set of elevators. We entered and headed down one more level. It opened up to a floor that was so different from the floor above it. Upstairs was wood and warmth. Down here was concrete and coldness.
Angel never turned around to make sure I was following or to check on me, and while I hated being so nervous, I wished he’d touch me or something.
I pushed back my stress and focused on something positive.
It wasn’t always easy to do while with Father, but in just a few days, I already had a lot of good memories with Angel, especially from this morning.
A kiss. I understood there was a lot I didn’t know in the world, and a kiss was one of them.
Father or his men never kissed me. Nor when I was being trained.
I understood why now, because kissing was intimate and showed love and tenderness. Things I wasn’t allowed to have.
But that kiss. I wanted so many more. When I begged for one, he gave me another, even if it was too short.
He smelled so good with his woodsy scent combined with cigarettes, which I didn’t really mind.
It was him. My angel. His lips were soft, and his tongue warm.
When he kissed me, it was like he claimed me as his, yet didn’t own me like Father.
So, for the first time, I wanted to give over my body to someone willingly. Not for anyone. Just Angel.
I sighed with a smile on my face, and he turned around to look at me with a raised brow. “What?”
I bit my lip as the heat spread to my face, but I didn’t care. “Just remembering our kiss. Do you think I could have more later?”
His brows slammed down, and he frowned. “No.”
The disappointment and hurt filled my body, but I tried not to let it get to me. Eventually, he’d understand that we were meant to be. It would just take work because he was used to being a lone angel of death. I understood that much.
We passed rooms with large windows through the concrete hallway.
Some looked like they were empty except for mats on the floor.
Another room had some sort of equipment I didn’t recognize.
Before I could ask, Angel explained it to me.
He easily gave information, knowing I didn’t know much.
I loved that he was eager to teach me things.
“The first room on the left is for sparring… ehm, practice fighting. That room there is for working out and building your muscles.”
“I want to do those.”
He gave me a quick nod. “And you will if you want to eventually be independent and survive. The world is a brutal place.”
“I know.”
“On the left in the first room are computer servers, you don’t need to worry about… machines. Layla is in the next room on the left. And down at the end is an indoor firing range where we practice using guns.”
“What about knives?”
“We can do that in the sparring room.”
He stopped in front of Layla’s work area.
Her door was closed, but he didn’t open it and instead turned to face me.
“I come here a lot for work and to do research. When I come, I’ll bring you, and you can either hang out in the library or spend your time with Layla.
She can show you how to work a computer. There you can learn anything you want.”
“Anything?”
“Yes. You can learn to read, do math, and explore the world. It’s all at your fingertips. I expect you to learn on your own time, but I will help you where I can.”
“This is exciting. I always wanted to learn more than Father let me.”
“You can read at least a little, right?”
I nodded. “Yes, I learned as a kid, but Father never let me read more than children’s books. But I can read basic words, and I know my alphabet.”
Without another word, he opened her door. I was greeted with a world of wires, lights, and color. The room was warm in temperature but cold in appearance. A woman sat in front of a computer, typing away. She turned quickly to see who had entered and smiled.
She was smaller than me by a lot, with very short brown hair over her ears and bangs. Her face was covered in freckles, and she wore glasses. I instantly liked her, like a close friend I never had. She would be nice, I could tell, unlike that strange Sully upstairs.
“You must be Luca. Aren’t you a cutie?” she said.
“Hello.”
“We need to find out who his parents are,” Angel said to her.
“Yes, Sid called down already and informed me what you need. Where are the diamonds?”
I handed her the small bag, and she pulled out some weird thing and put it to her eye, holding up the diamond close to her face.
“Oh, these babies are real, all right. And the clarity… phew. Nice.” She put down the eyepiece and looked at us with a smile.
“Sid said he gives the green light for whatever you need if the diamonds check out, which they do.”
Angel guided me to an extra chair to sit in while he propped himself against the wall.
“Tell me, sweetie, do you know your last name?” she asked.
I shook my head. “I’m not even sure Luca is my real name. It’s just… familiar.”
“No worries, we’ll get it figured out. Do you remember how long ago you were taken?”
“Eleven years, I think. I should have been around eight years old.”
“Damn, okay. Do you know where you were living at the time? Like in what city or state?”
“I think I was in Maryland, but I don’t remember the city.”
“That’s fine. I’m going to use this computer here to run a scan on missing persons with your name during the year 2012, but I tacked on 2011 and 2013 in Maryland, Virginia, and D.C. just in case.”
“If that doesn’t work, we can try to do a DNA match. So, what DNA is—”
“He doesn’t need to know the details,” Angel interrupted.
But I did want to know the details. How was I to learn if he kept things from me?
And I wasn’t stupid despite not being allowed to learn.
He must have seen the frustration on my face because he softened.
“I’m not saying you aren’t capable, Luca, but DNA is complicated, and I barely understand it myself.
We just don’t have the time. You can learn about it later. Let’s go and let Layla work her magic.”
“The scan should be done in a couple of hours.”
He nodded, and we left, closing the door behind us.
“Now what?” I asked.
Angel said nothing as I followed him down to the last room. He opened it to the sounds of popping, and the closer we got, the louder it became.’
“Put these on,” he said, placing something over my ears. I think I recalled they were headphones, but fat ones. “This will reduce the noise from the gunfire in there. Let’s meet Maverick and Easton.”
I adjusted the headphones and followed him again.
“We won’t learn to fire weapons today.”
“But I shot that man for you. It wasn’t hard.”
Angel turned to face me and folded his arms. “First, you were at close range. Second, the safety was off. Third, you need to also learn gun safety, besides firing accurately from a distance. Even we, here at The District, continuously practice and hone our skills. We never stop.”
I needed to learn to trust all that Angel told me, so I nodded without complaint.
We stepped into the firing range, and even with headphones, it was still loud. There was a really big man with long brown hair shooting a massive gun that made his bulky arms jump every time he fired. And another man on another range that I couldn’t see very well.
When the gunfire died down, Angel got the men’s attention. “Maverick, this is Luca. He’s with me, so you know to leave him the fuck alone unless he needs help. He’s my client and under my protection.”
The man was so much taller than even my angel. I had to really look up. Way up. His face was covered in a short beard, and he had thick brows that sat over eyes that were green with brown.
He scanned me up and down, then gave me a smile. “Nice to meet you, Luca. Just call me Mav.”
Angel leaned into me with a big smile that had my heart flipping around. He was so beautiful when he smiled. His teeth were so white and straight. “Mav is our local teddy bear. Deadly but adorable.”
“Fuck you, Dante.” There was no anger behind his words, and he had a smirk on his face.
“You wish.”
The banter back and forth made me giggle. I instantly liked Mav. He was much better than the other men I had met. Sid was okay, but I didn’t trust him. Sully and Khai were just scary.
Another man came up to us, but he wasn’t smiling. The closer I looked, the more I realized he looked even younger than me. How was that possible?
“This is Easton. He’s the youngest one here at seventeen.”
Easton eyed me up and down with warm brown eyes like the others had done. His brown hair was cropped except on the top that was combed back into a swoop. He seemed young and innocent, but I knew that was an illusion.
“Easton, meet Luca. He’s mine. I want you to teach him to play with knives… safely.”
My stomach twisted into a happy place when Angel said I was his. I couldn’t remember the last time I was so happy.
Easton gave me a quick nod in greeting. “Yes, sir,” he said to my angel, not taking his eyes off me.
But suddenly, I wasn’t interested in playing with knives when I saw the sleek weapon hanging with others like it, but this one stood out like a jewel among the trash.
I left the men and walked over to it and was about to grab it before someone put their hands on it, preventing me.
I turned to find Easton, who showed nothing on his face.
“Dante said knives,” he said.
“I want that.”