Chapter 11
SUNSHINE
Weeks had passed since the De Luca’s committed to finding Jason but there had been no updates.
V’s brothers said he had all but disappeared.
It wasn’t uncommon for him to go into hiding; he had some bad friends who he could hide with and who could cover his tracks.
But I knew with the De Luca resources, his time on the run would be over soon.
I still received the occasional threatening text from some new unknown number to remind me I wasn’t rid of him just yet.
I agonised about what V planned to do with him once he was found.
Not because I thought he deserved to live or that he was in any way redeemable.
I agonised over it because of just how okay I was with the idea of his death.
I had no hang ups, no guilty conscience, no conscience at all.
Most normal people would at least struggle with the decision but I struggled with the wait until it was over.
I wanted him dead. Perhaps I was a monster, but if I was, it’s because he made me this way.
I quit my job at the Velvet Room and the art supply store, instead focusing my energy on my studies and helping V with her collection.
I had never thoroughly enjoyed either line of work, but I cherished every moment with V and what we were creating together.
Much of the help I gave her seemed to involve me posing naked for her, but I wasn’t complaining.
Soon enough, we fell into an easy rhythm together.
I got used to family meals with the two men who no longer scared or intimidated me.
Xavier, who was a stoic and quiet leader, was actually a bit of an awkward guy.
Zane, beneath this brutality and violence, was just a giant lap dog.
I didn’t feel like I was living with them, as V and I had an entire level to ourselves.
She converted a spare bedroom into a study for me so that I could complete my course with minimal distractions.
Really, it was just a room that I could lock, because anytime she was in my vicinity, she became a distraction, along with her wandering hands—not that I ever complained.
V had made significant progress on her collection.
She was working on the final piece. Since the day I moved in, she seemed to be awash with inspiration and was constantly waking up to dash over to the studio in the middle of the night whenever something came to her.
I was now less than a month away from finishing my course and had been planning the layout of the pieces in her gallery.
She gave me complete control. It was exciting to use the things I had learnt and put them into practice for a collection as meaningful as this.
I padded upstairs after a long day of researching for my final assignment before my big exam.
I was hungry and needed another dose of caffeine if I was going to wait up for V—her nights at the studio had been getting later and later recently.
I had thought the communal level would be empty; it was rare for anyone to be home in the afternoon, but I found Zane pushing a stainless-steel trolley into the kitchen beside the marble island.
‘V said you would be studying at a coffee shop today,’ Zane said, halting in his tracks.
‘Yeah, no, I changed my mind. I needed the quiet to focus. I can get out of your hair; I just came to grab something to eat.’
He shook his head and pulled out his phone; whatever he was going to do was interrupted.
‘You ready, Z? I want to get this done before she comes back.’ V strode into the kitchen, the rest of her words dying on her lips once she saw me. ‘Sunshine? What are you doing here?’
‘I could be asking the same of the two of you. Now, care to explain what you’re hiding from me?’ I crossed my arms and cocked a brow. Waiting.
‘I was trying to warn you,’ Z said, placing his phone back in his pocket.
I cleared my throat, dragging their attention back to me.
V looked at me and blushed. Actually blushed. ‘Z was going to give me some new ink. I wanted it to be a surprise,’ she said coyly averting her gaze.
V tripped while walking toward me, shattering the mug she had been holding.
Zane jumped up from his stool and yelled, ‘Fuck!’ before spinning to glare at V. It was his favourite mug.
Without meaning to, I flinched and stepped back.
My hands shook as my breathing became shallower, my eyes darting between the siblings.
I shrunk in on myself, Zane’s reaction sending me back to the last time I had dropped something in front of Jason.
I was placing a jar back in the fridge when my fingers slipped, causing the jar to shatter on the floor.
‘You stupid fucking bitch, can’t you do anything right?
!’ Jason bellowed from the couch before deciding that wasn’t enough.
He stormed into the kitchen, rage wafting off of him, before slamming my back into the fridge.
Dropping to the floor, I didn’t dare groan in pain or cry out; that only made it worse.
‘Sunshine, hey Sunshine.’ I heard V’s distant voice pulling me from my memories.
Shaking it off, I turned to Zane. They knew what my reaction was, but I also knew they wouldn’t press me.
‘Hey lovely, come back to me. You’re safe,’ V said, placing a knife, handle first, into my hand.
Blinking the daze away, I looked at it in confusion.
‘If anyone does anything to make you feel cornered or threatened, use it. Even on us,’ she said.
It was beautiful and the handle had a little golden sun carved into the pommel.
‘Sorry, Namazzi. I should have been more cautious about my volume and words around you. I would never lay a hand on you. I swear it,’ Zane said, kneeling down in front of me, giving me control of the situation.
Raising the blade, I pointed it at his face. He grinned as I gripped the blade tightly before lowering it again. It made me feel stronger, even though everyone in the room knew they could overpower me in a fight in two and a half seconds flat—even without a weapon.
‘I didn’t realise Zane did your tattoos,’ I said, breaking the tension after a couple of deep breaths.
Zane shrugged like it was no big deal and began to arrange his trolley. A cordless tattoo gun lay beside a pot of black ink, some Vaseline, paper towels and disinfectant spray.
‘What were you going to get and where?’ I asked, circling back to V, wanting it to be a surprise. I was intrigued.
‘A single word: “Everything”. I had planned to put in on my chest—over my heart. But now that you know, why don’t you decide, Sunshine?’
I was floored. She wanted to brand herself with something that symbolised me, us. My heart beat with so many emotions that I could barely process them.
‘I want one too,’ was my only reply. Zane raised an eyebrow but V grinned.
‘And you won’t be hiding my mark under your clothes—I want it somewhere where everyone can see.
’ Zane rolled his eyes but the corner of his mouth twitched into the trace of a smile.
‘I want it on the top of your right hand. I want you to see it all day, every time you write, pick up your phone or touch me. It’ll be there. ’
‘Done, Sunshine. Z, you heard her. Let’s do it.’
I was stunned for just a moment; it still shocked me at times how she just accepted anything I said, no questions asked. It was one thing to whisper sweet nothings about falling at my feet and doing anything to make me happy, it was another to actually do it.
V sat on the stool while Zane disinfected the marble bench.
He took it seriously. This wasn’t some garage-style stick and poke session after one too many drinks.
It didn’t take long for him to begin. V didn’t flinch at the pain, which was no surprise considering she was covered in tattoos.
She looked at me lazily, and before long, Zane was done.
It was a bold font—a strong choice that left no doubts. Lifting her hand, I marvelled at the pitch-black ink. Something in my heart clenched. I had never been claimed so wholly. No one had ever belonged to me so thoroughly that they would permanently mark themselves for me.
‘Where do you want mine?’ I asked.
Her tattooed hand fell away from mine as it trailed up my arm, caressed my shoulder and wrapped itself around the side of my neck.
‘Right here, Sunshine—where I can feel your blood pumping for me. I want it just below your ear, trickling down your neck and ending just before the curve above your collarbone.’
I shivered but nodded in agreement, not trusting my voice, worried it would break as desire flooded through me.
Zane coughed, breaking the spell between us, amusement on his face as he shook his head. ‘Let’s get this over with before you start fucking and ruin my sanitary field.’
V held my hand tightly throughout my tattoo; the supple flesh of my neck made the tattoo gun feel as if it were slicing through my skin like a gaping wound.
My mouth dried, and my body shook from the pain.
I refused to stop. By the time the pain got too much and a single tear rolled down my face, Zane was pulling away having finished.
V bent down to place a chaste kiss on my lips, sweeping my hair from my face and whispering praises into my ear that had my insides melting.
‘Good girl.’
Those words had me losing myself. Forgetting Zane was in the room, I fisted her top, pulling her into me with such force that I fell off my stool, and as her body slammed into me, we went sprawling on the floor.
Laughter burst through my chest, unable to contain the pure joy I felt radiating thorough me.
Zane saw himself out without a word, but I could have sworn I heard him chuckle as he left.