If something else had happened, then I wanted to know. I hated texting, hated the fact that I couldn’t see her face to know what changed, why it changed, how it changed, when it changed.
I needed to see her. The need was like a thirst on my tongue that I had to sate. I needed this. It. Her.
She took the quietness and my urges away. She was my new habit.
Unhealthy, I know.
But then again, I have never been one to cut off unhealthy habits; why would I start now?
CHAPTER TWELVE
Elio
“Imean, it’s normal to get tired of the hustle and bustle,” Milk said, chewing on the slice of pizza she was eating. “You just want to settle down and have a comfortable life.” She swallowed, picking up her drink. “Live your dream, have everything you want, be able to afford every need without having to steal or cheat or kidnap someone, you know?”
I responded to her ideology with a firm nod, unsure how the easy conversation had turned into what they would desire to do with their lives after they quit the criminal activities they were known for.
Their suite wasn’t as large as mine, but it was still classy. The same couch that was in my suite was here, but the living room area was smaller, cozier. The windows didn’t exactly overlook the ocean like it did mine, but while you could still see people on deck, the ocean wasn’t too far away.
Sucking on the straw of her drink and gulping down its contents, Milk dropped it back beside her when she was satisfied. “If I could have had my way with life, I would have wanted something peaceful… like finishing college, designing a fashion line, having a salon that’s like paradise, a spa place, a good husband, and a perfect family, living in some perfect house somewhere in New York…” She sighed. “I still plan to do it if we get that gold… I want to be normal.”
Upper nodded, relaxing on the ground, his back leaning against the couch Dog sat on. “If I could have a do-over, I would have fought more for what I deserved.”
“You should have,” Dog muttered after taking a drink fromthe beer bottle he held. “You came from money… If I were you, no one is booting me out that easy.”
I wasn’t certain what precisely they were talking about. But reading the room, it had to do with Upper’s past.
I had been here for two hours. I wasn’t bored, but I was supremely out of place; though this bunch didn’t point out any oddity, they probably did not find anything bugging about my presence. Usually, I would call this careless, but I was 78 percent sure they were cordial because Zahra and Elia had found a substantial reason to be cordial with me.
I would not deny that being here was entirely… relaxing; it made me feel good to pull off being amongst these people. My thoughts were tranquil; they suddenly didn’t matter.
Zahra, though, hadn’t left her room since I arrived.
Milk had offered to alert her to my presence, but I refused, deciding to speak to her in my own time while I got to know the people my brother spent his time with.
“I was almost twelve and scared of what I was,” Upper explained. “The royal family did not exactly love me before, so, I left.”
I frowned. “Royal family?”
There was silence around as they looked at me with confused stares.
“You didn’t know?” Elia asked first.
I shook my head.
“I thought y’all ran a storm of background checks on us?” Dog asked.
“We did,” I answered. “Casmiro did,” I clarified. “But I did not bother to check it myself.”
“Why?” Milk asked.
“I did not care enough to waste time checking.”
“Oh…”
“Why were you sent out of the royal family?”
Upper shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t like to talk about it,”he said, gaining Elia’s attention. “It’s, uh… very rough, panic-inducing rough.”
