Damon King
"Do you remember that one time when you told me that I was your dream?" Starr asks as she lays across my chest, with a deep frown lingering on her face.
I nod my head although she couldn't see it because her eyes were closed. "Mi amore," I caress her cheeks with my hand. Her eyes batter open in response, "I do."
"You do?" She questions me. "It was so long ago."
I laugh at her doubts in my memory.
"Mhmm," I agree. "I also remember you calling it...cringe."
An instant smile crosses her face.
The one I so badly wanted to see.
"Did I?" She laughs the most genuine laugh in weeks. "If I recall correctly, we were just now seeing the true feelings that we had for one another."
"So at the time, you viewed that statement as cringe?" I smirk effortlessly.
"Something like that," She laughs closing her eyes once again.
Placing my hand on her curls, I run my fingers through them.
Each curl wrapping around my finger only to lose its grip.
Her phone begins to ring. I knew it wasn't mine because I decided to keep it on silent after the last few days we had.
All the stress that Starr and I have withheld upon ourselves and we never noticed that the mafia hasn't had time to withhold it on their own.
"Hello father," She says pushing her loose curls of hair off of her face.
I close my eyes.
Wondering what would be the next step with Grayson. How would we continue selling our products? What should I do about Chris? Would everything be okay when Starr and I leave for our Honeymoon, today?
"Yes dad. Were leaving today," A deep breath leaves from her mouth in annoyance. "Of... of course. I'll be sure to run that idea with my husband."
A warm feeling touches my heart.
I could never get used to the word husband.
"Mhm. Love you too. Bye."
She turns the ringer off and throws her phone on the dresser.
"Okay so Ivan's question of the day is... what?" She watches my smile enhance as I stare into her beautiful brown eyes. "What's that smile for?"
"I love how you say husband," A slight gasp for air leaves my mouth. "It's as if you'd always known that id be exactly that."
"Truthfully... I didn't," I couldn't help but love her honesty. "But once I fell for you, it felt easy on the brain. The vocabulary. The tongue." She leaves a kiss on my lips.
I stare her into her beautiful brown eyes again.
As time went on, everything became so easy between us.
I was once so hostile towards her. The idea of being close to her emotionally never crossed my mind.
She was just the key to me gaining my throne by the books.
Now, she's more than I could ever ask for.
And I'm sure I'll never want to lose her.
Ever.
I pull her in for one more sweet kiss.
"Now what were you saying?"
"Oh yes. Right before you interrupted me," She jokes. "My father offered his supervision above the mafia while we're on our honeymoon."
I nod my head in understanding.
"And your thoughts on that?" I question her, seeing that it is her father in fact.
"Well..." Her voice trails off as her thoughts break in. "I still feel as though the mafia still needs to learn how to be their own crutch. But... I would be okay to keep him on the sideline just in case something does take a turn."
"Okay."
"Okay?" She questions me. "You're okay with the fact that if he does have to take a foot onto property that he'd put his input onto the Grayson situation? Same as he did with Antonio?"
I take a deep breath.
That name is something we've all tried to avoid for Ivan's sake.
"Because although that seems tempting to decline, I trust your instinct mi amore."
"Are you sure?" She asks with confusion. "This could be a huge risk."
"I trust you and I trust my wife's instincts."
A sweet smile crosses her lips. "Thank you."
Leah
"Dog shit."
I snatch my head away from the photo book as it falls swiftly out of my hands.
Orlando.
Others call him O.
But I see him as my brother.
"Do you remember where that term came from?"
There he stood in the door frame, with his arms crossed, and his eyes on the black, red bottom shoes that we picked out two years ago.
I nod my head. "I remember like it was yesterday. But you always told the story better."
He lets out a small chuckle. His hands tucked in his pocket as his eyes remained on his shoes.
"You always say that," He almost whispers.
"Because its the truth," I reply, crossing my right leg over my left, waiting for him to began the story.
His brows fall to his eyes. "The truth, huh?"
I could feel the sarcasm in his words. With complete honesty, I didn't blame him. I didn't ask him to blame me for my actions.
In fact, I asked him to give me the benefit of the doubt.
"Orlando... I... I'm so sorr--," He cuts me off mid sentence.
"No," He takes a seat next to me. "We've had enough of those moments."
My eyes weld up with tears. "Then what do you want me to say. You've barely talked to me and you made sure you didn't have to look at me."
He smacks his lips. "I just want an honest conversation. One where you speak your truth with no apology because it's how you truly feel."
"Okay," I whisper.
"I'll start," O lays back in the couched chair tugging at his suit jacket. "Chris came to me once."
I could feel my heart move in a different rhythm.
I'm not sure at which rate, but the difference scared me.
"You know..." He finishes. "He talked about you."
A slight gasp leaves my lips, but I couldn't help but have at the back of my head that Chris and my brother are or were in fact, best friends.
I nod my head, wanting him to finish.
"Weeks before all of this happened," He takes a deep breath. "Asking to be with you."
He asked to be with me?
He said it so normal.
As if there was no shame in the fact that he was aware, though it still didn't matter.
"What?" My voice heightens.
"Yeah," He answers the question that sat on my brain. "I was aware of his feelings and intentions of being with you."
My ears began to heat up.
"So you're telling me that I've been stressing myself out for months and the slight urge that I had to come clean I could have because around this time you knew?"
"No. I didn't know," He responds.
I roll my eyes. "But you just said tha--," He cuts me off.
"I said that I didn't, because I did not," He snaps at me.
I could almost feel the built up steam from over the days that he's tried so hard to hide.
"I knew Chris's intention. But my own sister... she was too proud or too scared to tell me. Do you not see? The fact that you couldn't tell me was a problem? Why?"
My heart stops.
"Why Leah?" He questions me.
The puddle of tears that I kept in found their way out. "I... I don't...I don't know."
I did know.
I was lost for words.
Maybe I was afraid of the truth.
Or both.
Seeing that lying to him was easier, I was afraid of the truth, but I just wasn't sure how to put it into words.
"Why?" His voice lowers, I could almost see a tear fall down his face.
The darkness couldn't hide it, even if the sun was up at that moment.
The darkness.
It just shows the things that you don't normally see on a daily basis.
Like the boogie man. Or under the bed monsters.
But right now, it was sadness... from Orlando.
"Because..."
—————————————————————————
How do you speak up when you know the truth hurts?
Will Leah let the truth out?
Thanks for reading Chapter 108. We'll see you in the next chapter!
Thoughts?
Please vote.
Nova<3