Page 11 of Xavier

7

Ronny

I wake up alone.I shouldn’t be disappointed. It’s not like I asked V to stay. Even after last night, feeling the way he moved in me, knowing just what it felt like to be loved like that, I knew he wouldn’t stay.

He’s not the staying type.

But I still feel… lonely.

I don’t want to get out of bed. The faint light streaming in through the window tells me it’s early, and a glance at my clock confirms it. There’s no one to be awake for. If V were here we could get up to some mischief, but he’s not and I need to put it out of my mind.

He made no promises. I probably need to chalk yesterday up to some kind of pornographic fantasy and brace for rejection. V could have said something before he left. He could have left a note. He could have texted.

I check my phone just to make sure he hadn’t. Nothing.

I can sit in my bed all morning and stew or I can get up. I’ve got my own stuff to do if I want to get out from under my dad’s thumb and it doesn’t involve pining after a guy who couldn’t even kiss me goodnight.

Defiance takes me through my shower and getting dressed, but I’m already questioning myself before I’m putting on a necklace. Just because V isn’t here now doesn’t mean he doesn’t want anything to do with me. Dad’s men would report if they saw him coming out of my room.

Maybe he left to protect me.

I want it to be true so much that it actually hurts to contemplate it. Is there any universe where I can have V for more than one night?

I have to find him. I have to know.

This early the house is mostly dead, even more than usual with Dad gone. I figure V will be in his own room or his office, but as I walk down the hall I’m surprised to find the door to Dad’s office open a crack.

V’s up to something.

I don’t even think before opening the door and stepping inside. V practically jumps out of Dad’s office chair and stares guiltily at me.

“Close the door,” he commands.

I should call for help. I should rat him out. This is the second time I’ve found him doing something shady in Dad’s office. But I know whose side I’m on. Blood means nothing to me. My father has betrayed my trust more times than I can count.

“What are you doing, V?” last night I let myself get distracted, but today I need to know the truth. I trusted this man with my body, but I don’t know if I can trust him any further.

“Don’t worry about it,” he clicks the mouse and the computer makes a bad sound and then there’s a loud pop.

“What did you do?” I demand.

He shrugs, standing up. “Crashed the system. Removed any trace of my presence.”

“Why? What are you doing?” He can’t keep me in the dark. And I only have one card to play. “Tell me or I call Dad.”

He stares at me like he knows I’m lying. If Dad finds out what V is doing, he’ll kill him. I may not know exactly what shady dealings my father is up to, but I’m sure he’s caused people’s deaths before. And I will never let V’s blood fall on my hands.

But I can’t think of any other way to make V tell me the truth.

Whether he believes me or not, he relents. “Six years ago your father pulled a job. Grand theft. My brother had the unfortunate luck to be in the wrong place. He was arrested for the crime and a year later he was dead, stabbed in a prison fight. I’ve spent the last five years working my way up, gaining your father’s trust so that I can take him down. I have what I need now. I’m going to see an associate who can put your father behind bars.”

I cover my mouth to keep from making a noise. I know my dad is bad news, but this is the first real confirmation I’ve ever had. Sure, something about the car crash that killed my mom has never sounded right, and more than one of Dad’s business partners has disappeared suddenly. But I could always pretend.

V was pulling away those blinders.

“How could you make yourself touch me after all that? You must hate me.” I want to cry. If I needed the reason he left my room, I had it. And I wished I didn’t know.

But V is moving across the room and has me in his arms in no time. “I could never hate you.” He kisses me and it’s a reminder of everything that happened last night. “Come with me.”