Theo
Stepping into Mateo’s nice, high-security home, I glanced around as an eerie silence met me. He lived the way a spoiled child lived, in a house too big, with furniture that wasn’t used and a living room with a huge flatscreen he’d never turned on. The baby blue walls resonated with the silence, and I shut the front door and locked it.
More so, he couldn’t escape than I could run because, let’s fucking face it, Mateo couldn’t get me on my worst day, and I was most definitelynothaving a bad day.
I’d dropped Illya off at her apartment after she spent all day in the lap of luxury, and I glanced down at my phone to scan the screen. The time read two a.m. on the dot, and a scowl twisted my lips because I would rather be passed out with her curled up against my side. She slept all bunched up— I knew it was because of that damn cot, but I couldn’t do anything about it.
The hairs on the back of my neck bristled in threat, tearing me from my reverie, and I acted before my eyes focused in the gloom. Whipping to the side, I shoved my body, and a terrified squeak echoed in my ears as I held a body to the wall by the throat. Blinking hard, a ghostly white face became sharper, and Julie sniffled hard when I released her as gently as I could.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that, Julie— I could’ve hurt you.” In the faint light from the backyard light that seeped through the curtained sliding doors, a glint on her face drew my gaze. Frowning, I reached to wipe the spot with my thumb, and the metallic scent of blood blossomed with her pained whimper. “What happened?”
“Mateo happened. I was just the first person he saw.” Her voice shook wildly, and I scowled darkly as she took a rattling sigh. “I’m taking a few days off— let him know. He won’t try anything with you, Theo.”
“Oh, I’ll let him know, alright.” There was a reason Mateo paid his employees an obscene amount of money, after all— to Julie and her mopping floors that weren’t dirty. “Did Mateo lash out at anyone else?”
“He’s been upset all day. He locked himself in his room. That poor girl— she needs a doctor. She’s not doing okay.” Only grunting at that, I shuffled back and opened the door for her just to make sure Julie got outside and to her car alright. “I’ll see you later, Theo.”
Glancing around, my eyes narrowed into tight points, and my stubble bristled at the utter lack of security. Normally, Mateo had two or three bodyguards inside his house, more if I wasn’t around. They were nowhere to be seen, and yet, Julie was lingering around despite getting off at ten p.m. She must’ve been hiding or something— or waiting for me, so she didn’t get caught by Mateo again.
Only when Julie got in her car and was out of the driveway did I shut and lock the door again, and I turned on my heel to storm toward the stairs. All the fury I’d suppressed today came welling up to the surface, and I clenched and released my fist by my side. My gut rotted as the silence rang in my ears, broken only by my heavy footfall and hot, harsh pants.
I was getting sick and fucking tired of Mateo, and being around Illya, well, I’d gotten a taste of the good life. Why would I be okay continuing to settle with this asshole that couldn’t tie his own fucking shoes?
“Mateo!” Exhaling fire as I headed down the hall, my irritated bellow echoed through the house, and a faintthumpsounded in reply. I stopped in front of his door only to tense, and I unceremoniously kicked open the barrier as hard as I could. The wood splintered and flew as the lock busted through the frame, and the knob sailed across the room right into Mateo’s computer screen.
Really, I may be his bodyguard, and he may be a criminal— no matter how ineffectual— but I had some loose morals. Hitting anyone that hadn’t done shit to deserve it was one of them.
My narrowed vision tinged red as I glanced around, and Mateo stood at the foot of his king-sized bed, trying to size me up. He didn’t work out. He didn’t go to the range. He didn’t do anything that made him even slightly capable of dealing with me, bum hand or not. Grinding my teeth, my lip curled in a snarl, and he blanched despite the strangely blank look on his pretty-boy face.
“You were supposed to be back hours ago with the roommate.” I didn’t know what thefuckpossessed Mateo to open his mouth, but something in my brain switched off. Stalking across the room, I clenched my fist tight and sent it sailing for his nose. My jab was too fast for him to follow. He let out a girly squeal and crumpled like wax paper with a hardthud, and my toes curled in my shoes with the urge to kick him.
“Let’s get one fucking thing clear . . .kid!” Grabbing Mateo by his silky soft, prized hair, I jerked his head back and bent to glare at him. “I’m not your fucking errand boy. I’m not obligated to come when you call like some fucking dog. I don’t have to do fucking shit for you but keep you from dying, and right now, you’re fucking pushing it.”
Snarling nastily, spittle flew into Mateo’s face, and a primitive satisfaction blazed across my chest when he flinched. He paled, his lips thinning, and uncertainty flashed in his eyes as they widened in the reflection of a lamp on his desk.
“We’re not fucking friends. You’re a spoiled bitch, and I’m babysitting you for a fortune. Don’t ever expect me to do anything else.” Throwing Mateo on the floor, I straightened to wipe my hand on my jeans with a disgusted sound. “And . . . if you ever hit Julie again, I’ll cut your hand off. Trust me, it’s not a pleasant experience.”
Just like a child, I took Mateo’s door privileges away, and I closed my eyes to take a few deep breaths.I shouldn’t have left Illya.My eyelid twitched in agitation as the thought flashed behind my eyes, and I strode out of the room and across the hall into my own. Leaning against the door, I rubbed my face and neck harshly, and my knuckles ached ever so slightly.
That was the problem with rich kids— they thought everyone was obligated to serve them in every way because they had money. Mateo paid me, so what right did I have to deny him? At this moment, I’d bet all the money in my wallet that he was thinking exactly that, and a sudden wash of icy cold swept down my torso.
I had no money in my wallet— Illya took it all last night before I drove her home.
“Jesus Christ.” Recently, I’d made a lot of threats to Mateo, and I was fuckingitchingto make good on them. For some reason, he was pissing me off more than usual, and it was sticking to me worse. Maybe, it was meeting Illya and seeing how much she struggled that made me so intolerant of Mateo. “Shit.”
Blowing out a hot breath, I shook my head viciously and rolled my shoulders in a semi-successful attempt to ease the tension in my body. The heat in my chest died down, and I walked over to my bed to sit down and kick off my shoes.
“Hopefully, that bitch won’t scream the second I close my eyes.” Sylvie must’ve been passed out from the effects of her withdrawal— if she was even going through it yet. Rubbing my face, I laid back on my bed with my legs dangling off the end, and the ceiling swirled mesmerizingly. “What a way to end the day.”
When I closed my eyes, I could see Illya’s face after she got out of the bath with crystal clarity. She looked so happy, smiling almost ear to ear with a little pep in her step. I didn’t know a simple bath could make someone so damn happy. I’d asked if she liked it, and she hit me with one of those phrases that started off great and just ended in a blazing dumpster fire. She was so relaxed— butI haven’t taken a bath since before my parents died, only showers.
What the actual fuck? How much did her life have to suck that she couldn’t enjoy something so mundane?
Glancing around through unfocused eyes, I realized my bedroom here was bigger than her entire apartment. Frowning darkly, I held up my mangled hand and clenched my jaw.
“I really don’t have it bad, do I?” Which was, frankly, dumb as fuck because I had told Illya that she shouldn’t feel invalidated by people who had it worse or better than her. “Shit.”
Flopping my arm down, I exhaled a heavy breath as the day’s events flickered through my mind’s eye like a movie reel being sped up. Illya was lost, and I was generally fucking stupid and didn’t know how to help her up to this point. No wonder she went back and forth the way she did.
