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“You think chocolate will help me deal with my upcoming potential death as bait?” I couldn’t help the remark that slipped out, and he visibly winced.
“Sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry, you’re just being nice. Why though?” I asked as I sunk onto the bed, ripping into the bar in order to have some much needed comfort food.
“You’ve not done anything wrong, you’ve not hurt us or the family in any way. You’re just getting caught up in it.” He sat down once more, drumming his fingers on the desk as he bit his lip.
“And here I am, a piece of meat to be waved to get the big bad wolves out in the open,” I said through a mouthful of welcome chocolate.
He gave me a weary glance as he leaned back in his seat, like he was watching a frail abandoned dog in a shelter howl pitifully for their family.
“Can you maybe just talk to me? About anything? I won’t lie, this whole thing has me on the verge of panic. No one likes to think about the fact that they’re likely going to die. And I know I could plead and beg you, but it won’t make a difference. So, could you just help distract me?” I asked before taking another bite. The way he was acting, glancing towards the staircase and speaking in a more hushed tone, I got the feeling he was afraid of the men here with him. Of what they’d do to him for his niceness to me.
But he was afraid enough that he wouldn’t help me beyond that.
Which sucked for me, but I understood it.
“What would you like to talk about?” he asked, his voice soft.
“Well, got a girlfriend? Seen any good movies? Traveled?” I asked, wanting to dampen the screaming voice that had awoken in my mind, the tightness returning in my chest. I wanted the numbness to return, to encase me in nothingness and sweep away all my emotions. There was nothing I could do right now, save for befriending Thomas and hoping, by some insane miracle, he’d help me out of this spot. It was something people did, befriending the weakest of their captors, the one with the most empathy to get free. And from his own words, he wasn’t on board with all of this. His actions spoke of a decent man, one who was acting out of fear of the same men who’d put me in this cell.
“No girlfriend,” he said with a scoff, a smile playing at his lips. “Not easy to meet a girl when you’re in this family. Notknowing what’s around the corner, where things are headed. No traveling, I’m not in that position yet. As for movies, I’m normally too busy with the family stuff lately,” he said as he pursed his lips.
“Sounds like quite the life,” I said dryly.
“We don’t get to choose our blood, Veronica,” he said with a heavy sigh. “But loyalty is everything, even if it’s not your way. My mother raised me a certain way, but after my dad passed, my uncle steered me down a different path. Don’t think it’s the one my dad would’ve chosen.” He was gazing at his hands now, running his fingers over one another.
“I know that feeling. My mother wasn’t a great one, many times I wished I was born to another family growing up,” I admitted. “You choose your own path, though.”
“Not in this life,” he shot back. “It’s chosen for us.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“Well, agree to disagree there,” he said, the corner of his mouth pulling up into a tired smile.
“If you could have any life, what would it be?”
“Never thought much of it,” he said as his brows pulled together.
“Really? You never had a random dream of being a painter or a veterinarian? Even a firefighter?”
“I always knew I’d just work in the family as whatever they chose for me.”
“Okay, I’m asking then, if tomorrow you woke up and weren’t a part of this family, what would you do?”
He paused at this, his fingers still drumming on the desk as he clicked his tongue.
“I think I’d go to LA,” he said after a few moments.
“Why LA?”
“I want to see what all the hype is about, same with Vegas. You always hear about it, but surely it’s nothing flash, right?” He leaned forward, an enthusiasm twinkling in his eyes now.
“Can’t tell you, I’ve never been.”
“Or go on an African safari, see all that wildlife,” he said thoughtfully. “Imagine seeing a lion, now that’d be incredible.”
I smiled softly, closing my eyes as I listened to him talk animatedly about Africa and the animals he wanted to see. I knew he was mostly doing it to entertain me, but I was beyond grateful.
