Tyler instantly reached for the pistol in her dresser when she heard the banging knocks on her door. She lived in the basement of an elderlies restaurant, one that was practically abandoned. Barely any customers came to this place since it was on the outskirts, near the forest, which frightened many people. And the regulars that did show up were old friends of the elderly couple who came because they had nothing better to do. Even then, there was a door in the floor identical to the floorboards, meaning her place was completely hidden and only a select few people knew about it.
But since she did not expect any visitors, she was prepared for the worst. It was almost five in the morning, a weekend night, and there was no way she would let herself be taken by surprise. The moment she pulled open the door, she was seconds from pressing the trigger when the hand flew forward and lowered her aim, ripping the gun from her reach and unloading it instantly.
Dante threw the pistol to the side and walked past her, storming to the kitchen where he pulled open the fridge door. "Any alcohol?"
"A couple beers in the fridge—it's five in the fucking morning, Dante!" She exclaimed breathlessly, rubbing her eyes and sending a few fingers through her disheveled hair. "I was asleep!"
"I want to kill Nate and I need you to do it for me since Raphael won't let me."
Tyler shook her head, her shoulders falling as she headed for the kitchen. He handed her one of the beers as well to which she popped it open and took a sip. Dante rarely did this, and she would never turn her brother away. Besides, from the gloomy shadows surrounding his eyes, as if he had witnessed a the worst sight of his life, she knew he definitely needed some ears and possibly advice. She was already up and from what Dante had said, she knew this was going to be a long conversation.
After a short silence, she cleared her throat, sending her fingers through her disheveled hair before asking, "What happened?"
Dante chugged his beer and grabbed another one. He didn't answer right away, cranking the second one open and taking a long sip before finally exhaling a sigh. "He screamed at me and told me he doesn't like me and will never love me."
"Okay..." When there was nothing else added, Tyler furrowed her brows and said, "You have to tell me the full story—what did you do?"
"I didn't do anything, Tessa." When he saw her eyes furrow even deeper, he sighed and lowered his eyes for a moment. "I did try to kill him."
"What? Why?! Today?!" She couldn't believe that this all happened without her knowing. She remembered that they had both been at the party together and she had been the one to send him home since he drank way too much and was slumped. That was why she didn't understand how he could have suddenly been almost murdered by Dante. "He was at the party with me today."
"After the party," he mumbled, slamming his hand against his forehead in embarrassment. He remembered the look across Nate's eyes as he pushed himself from the couch and began throwing on his clothes. "But it's because I caught him having sex with his ex-boyfriend."
Tyler stayed quiet for a second. She glanced away for a second and when Dante lifted his eyes, meeting her gaze with nothing more to say, she raised an eyebrow. "And? What did he do?"
Dante frowned, glancing at his beer before returning his gaze on her. "That is what he did."
Tyler's eyebrows instantly rose. "Sleeping with his ex-boyfriend?"
"Exactly."
"No, not exactly," Tyler snorted, shaking her head as she breathed quietly a few curses. This was always the way Dante reacted. "Why did you try to kill him?"
Dante shrugged his shoulders. "I was hurt and I carry a gun everywhere so might as well shoot him."
"Dante!" Tyler exhaled, planting her palm on her forehead as she felt the second hand embarrassment. "You can't shoot anyone that hurts your feelings."
"I know that," he hissed, remembering the way Raphael ripped the gun from his hand and shoved him forward. "Raphael told me that, I don't need to keep hearing it."
"Why were you hurt anyway?" she snorted, raising an eyebrow.
"Because that was disrespectful for him to have sex with someone else while—"
"While what?" Tyler didn't even let him finish his sentence when she retorted, "You two aren't dating, are you?"
He shook his head. "No."
"Then you have no business being hurt," she laughed. "It's common sense."
Dante threw his hands in the air. "We had something."
Tyler knew everything about Dante, from his personality to where he preferred to drink. Hence, she knew that he had attachment issues, growing immensely fond of someone that made him feel right. But she had to make him look at the facts and make a decision based on what happened. "Why did you have something? Because you made-out and had sex a few times?" When Dante looked away, she rolled her eyes and took another sip of her beer. "You didn't have anything Dante. Besides, you forced him to do things with you and I guess," she chuckled, "he's been doing his job correctly."
"You're not funny."
Her smile widened when she noticed how squinted his eyes became from his glare, to which she chuckled even more. "I was just saying—"
"And why do you both keep saying that?" he snapped, rolling his eyes as he took another sip of his drink. "It doesn't matter how it started."
"Uh..." Tyler frowned. "Yes actually, it does."
"All that matters is if we have feelings for each other or not."
"You're wrong Dante, you're looking at it from our perspective and you shouldn't. In the normal world, this could be considered Stockholm syndrome if Nate did have feelings for you."
Dante rolled his eyes. "Here you go with those stupid words you know I don't know."
"Well maybe you should've finished school then—"
"What's your point Tess?" he snapped. "Because you're really starting to piss me off."
She exhaled a long sigh. "These people aren't like us, Dante. Threatening to kill people isn't normal to them." Nate must've been traumatized when Dante approached him and forced him to be sexual dominant or else he would be killed. "I'm not saying you don't have feelings for him, but you can't expect Nate to feel the same towards you."
"And why not?"
Tyler leaned forward. "Because you forced him to be stuck to you. You only gave him the option of being sexual with you or dying, his survival instincts chose to help you." When she noticed his eyes lower but the glare vanish, she knew he was starting to understand the bigger picture. "If you had given him the option of his own will, along with any of the other dudes you've used before, they would all have said no."
"You don't know that," he murmured.
Tyler tilted her head to the side with a saddened look. "I do know that."
Dante bit his bottom lip stressfully. His sister was always the best person to talk to since she was the only one that gave him the grounding reasoning, other than Raphael. However, he still hated hearing those words, that the person he wanted to be with had the right to reject him in that way. Whenever they were intimate, it was almost as if the beginning of how they met never even happen, as if it was all in the moment and there was no before or after.
A part of him still couldn't believe this. "Then why is he making out with me and asking me to make him feel good and—"
"Because intimacy is still intimacy." Tyler paused for a moment before she admitted, "I still had sex with Jules after he cheated on me. Not because I forgave him but because I just wanted to be intimate with someone and Jules was the most comfortable option." When she heard a heavy sigh from Dante and realized his fingers holding his beer had began to quiver, she whispered, "You have to let this go, Dante. You can't force him to be with you and you can't kill him just because he doesn't want to be."
Dante scratched the side of his face, feeling a sudden tumbling in his stomach. He didn't know what it was but it began rising to his chest at an alarming rate, soon enough reaching his heart and he felt a crack. It began to climb to his brain, itching across his neck and he had to massage the back his head, feeling ill in a split second. "I don't feel good."
"No, you feel fine." Tyler knew what was going on, seeing his tightened jaw as he scratched the back of his neck before having his palm caress his stomach, as if he would puke.
"Tessa, there's something in my stomach that's—"
Tyler remembered the moments that happened before.
It happened the day she decided to leave their base for good and she escaped in the middle of the night, to which he caught her halfway and asked her to return. When she refused, he did the same thing again, starting to shrug his shoulders as if to let go of something tightly squeezing him. Or when they were forced to watch their father brutally murder their mother, and then their brother who had betrayed them. Or when Dante had found out his best friend had been obeying to their rivals for months to have Dante killed and his father captured him and told Dante to take care of him. In all these moments, Dante started to feel suddenly sick, a feeling rising through his throat, making him feel as if he would start choking.
"Do you need a hug?"
Dante slowly nodded his head, hiding his face as he lowered his eyes. When Tyler reached him, wrapping her arms around his waist, he leaned in against her shoulder and she soon felt the sleeve of her shirt starting to drench.