THE MORNING SUN pierced through the curtains, casting a soft glow over the room causing me to stir from my slumber, my head pounding like a drum. With a groan, I slowly peeled open my eyes, squinting against the intrusive light. As my senses began to awaken, I became acutely aware of the throbbing ache in my skull, a punishing reminder of the last night. Struggling to sit up, my gaze fell upon the bedside counter, where an unexpected sight greeted me. Nestled amidst the clutter of his nightstand were two familiar items—a bottle of Advil and a glass of water. I blinked in disbelief, momentarily taken aback by the gesture.
Suspicion crept into my mind, but as I reached for the pain relievers, a wave of gratitude washed over me, overriding my suspicions. Downing the pills with a gulp of water, I couldn't help but overhear a familiar sound — a voice out in the hallway.
"Oh, I'm scared of you sir," Kylo's voice rings out in the hallway, his soft laughter following soon after. "I don't know anything about that lifestyle."
My curiosity piqued and ai tossed the bed sheets off of me as I made my way out into the corridor. I shuffled towards the source of his voice, my steps unsteady from the lingering effects of last night's revelry. Peering around the corner, my eyes widen a bit at the sight before me. There, in the dimly lit hallway, my father's bedroom door is wide open, and in there stood Kylo, his infectious laughter filling the air. He's engaged in lively conversation with my father.
My mind struggled to process the scene before me for a moment. What could be the reason for Kylo's unexpected presence in his father's company, and why were they both smiling so genuinely?
As I approached them, Kylo turned towards him, his laughter subsiding into a warm smile. "Uh oh, the big bad wolf is awake" he greeted cheerfully, as if me stumbling upon him in father's bedroom in the early hours of the day was the most natural thing in the world.
At that, my father regarded me with a twinkle in his eye, a rare sight for a man who usually wore his authority like a cloak of stone. "Your friend here was just regaling me with stories of his time back in Phoenix," he explained, a hint of amusement coloring his tone.
I felt a mixture of confusion and amusement wash over me. Kylo, with his easy charm and infectious personality, seemed to have effortlessly charmed my father—a feat few had ever achieved. As they exchanged pleasantries, I couldn't help but question the unexpected turn of events. How long was I out that Kylo had enough time to have a conversation with my father? I watched them continue their conversation, their laughter mingling with the morning light streaming through the windows.
"How long was I asleep?" I found myself asking aloud interrupting the two.
Kylo turns away from my father and looks down at the digital watch on his wrist. "Uh, it's noon right now so approximately nine hours," he answered coming in front of me.
My eyes immediately widen at his words. "Nine hours?" I repeated, a sly chuckle coming from my father who was sitting on his bed looking at us.
I try to register the information just told to me but Kylo taking hold of my hand suddenly makes everything blur together. "Oh my God," he starts cheerfully as he begins to tug me out of my father's bedroom and into the hallway again. "you'll never guess what I did this morning." the sensation of Kylo's delicate touch sent a jolt of electricity through my veins.
We stop in front of the office door. The one that has been collecting dusk since I was a child. Kylo eagerly opens the door to the dimly lit office. I'm expected to be greeted with the usual dust motes dancing in the rays of sunlight streaming through the blinds, illuminating years of neglect. Piles of paperwork, empty whiskey bottles, and cigar ash litter the room. A testament to my father's chaotic reign. I stood under the doorframe surveying the once dark and cluttered expanse of the office, now bathed in light and order. Kylo, stood beside me, a smile playing on my lips as he awaited my reaction. I couldn't believe my eyes.
For years, my family had let this office descend into chaos, a reflection of the turmoil within after Mom passed. But Kylo had transformed the space into something I never thought possible in just a week of some change. The office, once suffocating under layers of grime, now gleamed with newfound brilliance.
"You did all this?" I turned and asked.
Kylo beamed with pride, his big round eyes sparkling with joy, a hint of tiredness on his face from the eye bags forming and despite all that he still seemed to glow. "It was nothing. Just a little help from Deena and the other maids and we got this place cleaned up in no time."
Kylo steps into the office, spinning around on his tippy toes effortlessly, arms extended as he takes in the newly revamped office. He pushes him onto the large mahogany desk now spotless and dust-free. He runs a finger along the wood surface before lifting it to me and showing off just how clean it is. "Inmaculada," spotless, he says in his butchered Spanish.
"You managed to get all this done this morning?" I asked, my hand uncontrollably tracing where his hand had been on the desk. "How long was I asleep?"
"A pretty long time but that's to be expected you drank a whole bottle of wine damn near," Kylo replies as he pushes himself off the office desk. "also you're not a snorer like I thought but you do twitch in your sleep."
"Like I was fully asleep?"
The boy made a face at me then, eyebrow raised questionably as he eyed me. "Yes . . . have you never fallen asleep before or . . ." he lets out a laugh walking past me, pomegranate scent filling the air around me as he made his way over to the bookshelf on the other side of the room.
I feel like for the last couple of months I've been trapped in a nightly ritual of restlessness. Despite the lavish comfort of the silk sheets and the heavy security guarding my every move, sleep seems like an elusive luxury to me. Night after night, I've tossed and turned, haunted by demons of my own making. Sleeplessness had become almost like a constant companion, a silent adversary I just couldn't shake but last night I was able to get a full night's rest for the first time in a while. Why is that?
My eyes roamed over to Kylo at the bookshelf standing on his toes as he reached for a book on the top shelf. I walked over and grabbed the book for him though he wasn't that far off from grabbing it himself. "And where did you sleep last night?" I asked, handing him the book.
"Oh," his round eyes dart up to me and then the book in his hands. Jane Eyre, it reads. "I kinda just stayed in the room with you for most of the night," he admits sheepishly, a hand rising to rub the back of his neck.
"Did we . . ."
His brown eyes go large again, long lashes fluttering as quickly shakes his head no. "Oh no, no, no," his face shifts into an almost offended expression, a low chuckle escaping him. "You were drunk. Let's be serious here for a moment Stone." he laughs out.
"I wasn't that drunk," I defend myself. Yes, I had a few glasses but I know how to handle my alcohol, or at least I thought I did. Still, I didn't wake up badly hungover like most times when I drink. I still remember the night, the check from the mayor, and the dinner with Kylo.
"You weren't a drunk sloppy mess but you were a little tipsy." he raises his index finger and thumb making a measuring gesture.
I raised a brow at him. "And you out drink me?" I questioned. I watch as he makes his way to the floor-to-ceiling windows of the room that showcase the backyard and the girls playing down in the freshly mowed grass. "I told you I was a good drinker . . ." he turned back to me and said with a small smile on his lips, fingers tightening around the book in his hands before he turned back around to the view outside. " it's the one thing I ever got from my dad," he mumbles the lowly chuckling, eyes immediately drifting elsewhere.
I notice he does that a lot. I remember picking up on it last night during our little game of truth or drink. At first, I brushed it off as a mere distraction, perhaps exhaustion from a long day, but every time the conversation veered towards family matters, his gaze would drift off into the distance, his expression becoming distant, almost melancholic. It was as if he was lost in a different world altogether, one that I couldn't see or understand.
Kylo shifts his stare from the window down to the watch on his digital watch on his wrist. "I should really get going," he said making his way back around to me. "Semaj is already on my case for leaving dishes in the sink and I just really want to take a shower in my own home and not this haunted castle you call a home." he looks up at me and smiles, returning to normal.
As I met his gaze, a knowing smirk playing at the corners of his lips, I felt a rush of warmth flood my veins, the slight pounding in my chest becoming numbs and I don't know if it's from this or the medicine from earlier. It's like a dangerous game is being played, dancing on the edge, but at that moment, I couldn't bring myself to care.
"I'll have my men take you home," I tell him.
"Great," he quipped, the book in his hand shifting to the other with ease. "and I'm taking this book too."
"You like to read?"
Kylo nods as he makes his way out the office door. "Loves it," he says in a voice not of his own, a childish and playful tune coming from him instead.
We walk through the corridor and down the staircase with the boy following behind me in comfortable silence. As we stepped out into the crisp morning air, I hailed one of my men to go get a car to take Kylo home. We both watched as he ran off in the direction of the garage.
"Thank you," I said to him, immediately earning a quick head turn in my direction from the boy. "For cleaning the office. I really appreciate that."
Kylo stood in front of me, his goofy demeanor a beacon of light even in the morning sun. He smiled up at me, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "Anytime, boss," he teased, before sending a military salute.
The black Rolls Royce pulls up behind him, the driver getting out and making his way around to open the backseat door ready for Kylo to take a seat inside. He sends me one last look before he's about to get in the car but I catch his attention quickly before that could happen. I reached into the pocket of my pants, withdrawing a stack of crisp bills that equal up to about $1000, or just about — these are my pants from last night so my math might be a little off but it's something for him.
"For you," I said simply to Kylo who widened in surprise as he looked between me and the stack of cash in my hands. His breath caught in his throat as he took in the sight of the substantial sum of money. "I'll send you more later. This is just all I had in my pockets at the moment."
"Stone, thank you," he accepts, his never moving from mine. "I appreciate that you appreciate what I did so yeah . . ." he laughs to himself before stepping in the backseat of the car, sending a small wave as the driver closed his door. With lingering glances I watched as he disappeared into the car and then out of the entrance gate, an odd sense of contentment settling over me like a warm embrace.
I walk back into the house and up the stairs to my father's room. He's sitting on the edge of the bed eating his usual bowl of applesauce. When he notices me he sends me a smile, placing the bowl down beside him with caution so it doesn't waste everywhere. "Your friend is really funny, he should come over more often. He's a nice fellow," he says to me as I lean against his door frame, not in the mood to enter his chambers.
"Why did you lie?" I didn't bother to respond to his words and immediately the room changed. Tension crackled in the air like static electricity as my frustration simmered just beneath the surface. "When I asked you what was going on you said nothing and that was surely not the case. You're hiding something, something important. Why?" My voice was laced with barely contained anger, arms folding over my chest.
My father's expression is stoic and unreadable as he meets my gaze. "You don't know what you're talking about," he replied evenly, his tone unwavering.
"I know that Mayor Chambers has been supplying other gangs with money and because of that he's the reason why every other gang thinks it's okay to fuck with my men."
My father scoffed coldly. "See, you don't know what you're talking about."
"Because you keep me in the dark!" My voice rose with each word, pushing myself off the door frame and closer to him on the bed. "You're putting everyone at risk because of foolishness!"
He sighed heavily, running a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair. "Ben, you don't understand. This isn't something you need to get involved in."
"Why not?"
"Because I know you!" My father's voice cracks like thunder, the air stiffening as if he controlled it on a whim. "I know how you are, how you act, and go about things. If I told you what I knew you would only go and put yourself in more danger than you already are!" he pushed himself up from the bed.
"I'm not a child anymore," I insisted. "I need to know what's going on if I'm going to help protect our family."
"What's going on right now is bigger than any of us, and it's best to not get caught in the crossfire. I've done a lot of bad things in my life, a lot of things I'll probably get sent to hell for eventually but this right here Benavonté — what is going on right under yours and everyone else's nose is something you or I should want no part of. Ever!"
The silence in the air felt heavy on my shoulders. My father's gaze softened as he watched me, a pang of something unreadable on his face. "So you're scared is what you're saying?" I asked him. And for once my father doesn't have an answer.
I don't which hurts worse. Getting shot or seeing my father — someone I have always admired for his strength and wisdom become someone almost unrecognizable in that moment, I couldn't help but feel ashamed and betrayed by the man I had looked up to my entire life.
"Pathetic." I shake my head at him before walking out of the room, slamming his door behind me on the way out.
••••
EXCUSE ANY MISTAKES OR ERRORS