Emilio (Made Men #3)

Nine

Bethany 

I had breakfast with Maya and Carla. While I was eating, a man with golden hair peeped in.

"Can I get some breakfast, Carla?" He asked.

"Sure, child." She beamed, then turned to me. "Beth, why don't you give Aberto some food and keep him company while he eats?"

I nod and stand up, putting a stack of pancakes on a plate and drizzling some syrup  on them.

"Carla, are you trying to set them up?" Maya asked her, laughing.

Carla shrugged. "Beth is a sweet girl. And Aberto is a nice boy."

I shook my head. If Carla thought someone could ever love me, she was mistaken. I wasn't the kind of girl men fell in love with me. I was...tainted. It would be nice to have a friend, though.

I take the plate outside to the dining room, where Aberto was seated. "Hi, I'm Aberto. I opened your door yesterday."

I giggled. "I'm Beth. Hi."

I kept the plate in front of him, and turned to leave, but he grabbed my wrist and stopped me. "You're supposed to keep me company, dolcezza." He frowned.

"I..um..I need to clean."

"Did you make these?" He gestured to the pancakes, and I shook my head, "No, but I made the syrup." 

"Bet its as sweet as you are." He winked. I tried not to, but a blush filled my cheeks. 

"Now, come on, sit down, let's talk." He urged, his hand wrapped loosely around my wrist. "I can't." I whispered.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Emilio making his way down the stairs. When he saw me, his expression hardened. His eyes flickered between Aberto and I.

"Bethany?" He snapped. "I didn't bring you here to lounge around."

Oh no no no no.

He looked so scary. I shivered. "S-s-sorry, sir." I managed to mutter out.  "I w-was just - "

"Save it!" He snapped. "Go make yourself useful."

I felt Aberto's hand encircle my wrist. "Beth, are you okay?"

I nodded, shaking in my place.

Despite myself, as Emilio spoke, I noticed some metal on his tongue. A piercing. I felt something deep inside my stomach. Something alien.

"Well?" He said sharply breaking me from my stupor, and I ran, all the way to kitchen, panting hard, shivering.

"Beth? Are you okay? Did Aberto do something?" Maya came to stand beside me, her hand on mine.

"Em-Emilio, he was s-so, angry." I rasped. She rubbed my back slowly. "Relax, he won't hurt you."

I tried to breathe, taking in deep breaths, then finally calmed down.

Maya rubbed my back, then my arms, her fingers slowly tracing the scars I had on my skin. "You've got to tell me about these, someday."

"I'm just clumsy." I whispered. I couldn't tell her. Or anyone else. I could never relive it.

I cleaned Nico's room before moving on to Emilio's. His room was actually really nice, made of shades of whites and blues. Some black here and there.

I wiped the shelves and closet spotless, then made his bed. There was a T shirt casually lying on the comforter, so I put it in the laundry.

While cleaning, I opened a drawer in his bedside table. It had bottles of pills and some medical supplies.

Celexa, Ambien, a needle and a thread, among other things.

I didn't know any medical vocabulary, so I wondered what these were were. The medicine cabinet was actually in the kitchen, so everyone had easy access to it, in case of emergencies. I wondered why he kept these things personally. Maybe he was on some special medication.

I opened the next drawer, and a soft gasp escaped my lips.

It had...sex toys.

Handcuffs, and a...flogger, and lube, and a blindfold, and more things I didn't recognize.

Sweet Jesus.

I hurriedly pushed the drawer back in, and ran out of his room.

It was time for Nico to be back from school, and Aberto brought him inside the house.

"Done cleaning?" He asked when he saw me.

I nodded. "Yes."

"You wanna go out to grab some food, then? I'm sure Carla would let you."

I hesitated. "I can't."

"Why? Let me talk to her." He suggested, and I shook my head.

"Aberto, it's m - " I began,

He smiled. "Say that again."

"Wh-what?"

"My name."

My cheeks reddened. "Aberto." I whispered.

He swooned dramatically. "Sweetness, you'll kill me."

My eyes widened. Sweetness. The way he said made me melt on the inside. No one had ever said something like that to me, something so...tender.

"I have to go." I muttered, running away. I heard him laugh for a good few seconds.