Pain And Pleasure 18+✓

Fifty-six

He gazes at me over a glass of water, drinking slowly, with a smile dancing in his eyes upon my question.

"Alright, my bad. What I wanted to ask is... Why are you here, Mister Castle?" I quiz while sitting on the armchair across from him.

"Roberto." He sighs refreshed as he places the glass down. "You can call me that."

With pleasure. It feels weird calling him Mister Castle as I did Adrian.

"Okay," I acquiesce with a nod.

"I'm here to make proper introductions to the woman dating my son." He sits down. "Last time was a fleeting moment under an unpleasant occasion. I believe I saw you and your brother in that warehouse a few weeks ago."

"Right," I whisper, a small frown on my face. "But first of all, I'm not dating your son, Roberto. God knows he's probably out of Las Vegas by now and whatever we had, it's now over."

"Really?" He's surprised. "Don't tell me you two broke up."

"No, it's complicated," I confess. "But since you're Adrian's dad, you must be aware that he doesn't date—or at least that's the impression he brings out—and I was no exception to him. We had a moment but it's over now, so I'd consider your trip here a waste somehow. Sorry."

"A waste, you say?" He frees a smooth laugh that undermines my utter confidence on the matter. Leaning forward with eyes at me, he casually says, "I know my son best to understand that what you two had was not just a moment, Arabella."

"I don't know what you mean, Roberto, but—"

"He may be gone, but who says it's over?" He quirks that amused eyebrow of his, and my heart rate accelerates. "The problem with Adrian is that he feels like he's better off alone than with anyone attached to him. That way he won't get hurt or hurt anyone in return."

"Why?" Taking everything he's said into account, I expect him to tell me more. "What happened to make him this overprotective of himself?"

"Maybe life itself, or maybe me." He shrugs. "Maybe I've been a terrible father to him."

"You don't seem like a terrible father if you're here right now even when you know perfectly well that I'm not the person to mend your seemingly faulty relationship with him," I tell him, unsure why exactly I'm getting the feeling that he and Adrian are not on speaking terms.

His sharp jaw tightens alongside his temples. Bullseye! He has serious issues with his son, and I won't be surprised if that day at the warehouse was his only chance to meet Adrian after a good while.

Well, perhaps I'm wrong.

But what was he doing there if Adrian had sorted everything on his own? Mario's reaction suggested wonder upon seeing him, too. And now he's here, trying to convince me that Adrian cares too deeply about me to consider our relationship gone.

"A seven-years young man grew up thinking that he had the sole responsibility over his alcoholic mother and a sick brother," Roberto begins, and I pull in my uttermost attention. "Even though that wasn't necessarily true, he still held onto that task and did everything he could to protect them against everything, and everyone including an abusive loser of a father he had."

Sharp pain and discomfort pierce through my heart as I imagine Adrian in such a life at that age. Fuck! He had a rough childhood which explains the words he told Jake that day.

"And then one day he learns that both the mother who didn't give a shit about anything but getting wasted in booze, and the young brother he loved with all his being have died tragically in a hit and run."