•Davina Alexander•
I told Diavolo the thing I'm most ashamed of; not knowing how to read. I do know the alphabet because I saw it on TV a lot when I was little. Jack always told me that to be a fuck toy I didn't need to be smart so he kept me as far away from education as he could. I can read a little, but it takes me a lot of time and I often doubt if what I'm doing is correct so I just give up most of the time. It's deeply embarrassing, and I know I'm dumb – Jack made sure I was told that every day.
"Davina how old were you the last time you went to school?" he asked looking at me.
My eyes looked down at my fidgety hands "I've never been to school," I whispered.
"What?"
"My parents never wanted to take me to school, and then when I started living with Jack, he said the kind of education I needed to suck cocks and open my legs he could give me at home," I sniffled, remembering that day – I wasn't even ten years old.
Without saying another word, he picked up his phone and called someone "Voglio che mi porti un uomo di nome Jack Powell; vive a Honolulu ed è uno spacciatore locale," he ordered in an angry tone; the only things I understood were Jack's name and the name of my old home.
(I want you to get a man called Jack Powell, he lives in Honolulu and is a small drug dealer,)
"Lo voglio qui per mercoledì," Diavolo hung up.
(I want him here by Wednesday.)
Tears rolled down my face – I'm used to being punished when the atmosphere turns so tense "I'm sorry I didn't say anything..." my voice was shaky.
Diavolo pinched my chin softly and made me look at him "You have nothing to be sorry for. Thank you for sharing that with me. If you want to, I could get you a tutor so you can learn how to read and write."
My heart thumped in my chest as I frantically nodded with a big smile "That would be my dream come true!" I laced my arms around his neck to pull him into a tight hug. Diavolo's arms hesitantly wrapped around my waist. "Thank you," I whispered in his ear.
He pulled away and nodded, looking into my eyes "I've never heard someone say thank you so much," he softly smiled.
My smile softened "I've never had so many reasons to thank someone." For the rest of the ride, my head rested on his shoulder and he seemed all right with it. Once we got to the house, Diavolo took me directly to his office; I stood by his side as he did something on his computer and suddenly there were a bunch of pictures of notebooks and pens on the screen.
"You like them?" He asked, looking up at me.
I nodded "They're really pretty," I said, admiring them on the screen; there are so many options.
"Pick as many as you like–" he was about to stand up, but I gently kept him on his chair by putting my hand on his shoulder.
"Can you stay with me?" I asked, looking into his eyes.
He nodded, staying in his place "Sure, you want to pull a chair?" The fact that there's a question to give me options is important to me.
"I don't mind sitting on top of you if you don't mind," I told and felt as my cheeks turned hot.
Diavolo cleared his throat "As long as you're comfortable."
"Thank you," I sat on his right thigh and watched him as he clicked things on the screen and showed me all the options I pointed to; it was almost like magic, and it felt like a different world from the one I come from – it is completely different, but I never thought I would get to see something different.
Diavolo allowed me to choose as many notebooks, pens, pencils, colors, markers and crayons as I wanted – oh, and also some stickers. It was really sweet of him to give me that freedom; I know it's such a simple thing when you see the big picture, but it still means a lot to me.
After we were done buying school supplies, we moved on to him teaching me how to use my new phone; there are lots of words on screen and that makes it a lot more intimidating but Diavolo has assured me that it's easier than it seems.
"To send messages you don't actually have to type," he explained.
I smiled looking at him "It's really nice of you to take the time off your schedule to teach me," I pecked his cheek.
Diavolo looked at me with red cheeks "What was that for?" He asked.
"To thank you for everything you're doing," I whispered, looking down at my hands with a shy smile.
He chuckled "Maybe you could give me kisses on the cheek instead of saying 'thank you' all the time."
My eyes moving my eyes back to him "Okay."
Diavolo's smile quickly faded "Oh, it was a joke Davina, you don't have to do it if you don't–"
"I want to," I assured; it's the truth. "You're really nice to me and I like being your friend."
His smile was back on his lips "I like being your friend as well."
The door of the studio was suddenly opened by Dominico and Angelo; I immediately got up from Diavolo's lap and cleared my throat, looking for a direction to focus on.
"What do you want?" Diavolo asked in annoyance.
"Take it easy Iavo, we just wanted to talk but we didn't know you were busy," Angelo commented with a smile.
"Yeah, you interrupted," Diavolo cleared his throat.
"I can leave," I said, looking at Diavolo.
He shook his head "No, I'm teaching you how to use your phone and after that, we are having lunch by the pool," his hand reached for mine and I allowed it.
After that, his brothers left the room. Diavolo seems to know his way around a phone; he taught me that I could record voice memos or dictate messages so I don't have to type, and that there's a function in the phone so it can read everything for me.
"Now, open the green app with the cloud," he said.
I nodded, pressing the green square with a cloud-looking thing in it "Now?"
"You click the square with a pencil and after that on the keyboard down here," he pointed at the letters "there's a small microphone," I smiled seeing it "see it?"
I nodded "Yes."
"Now you click on it and say my name," he instructed.
I giggled and pressed the button "Diavolo DeLuca," I said with a smile.
"Perfect, now tap and hold the grey circle with the lines until you're done with what you want to tell me; after that, you drag your finger to the little cloud with the arrow and it will send it to me. Got it?"
I nodded, repeating it all in my head "I think so, I hope so."
"Why don't you go in the bathroom and show me if you can do it yourself? If not, we can go over it again until it's clear, okay?" Diavolo softly said.
"Yes," I took the phone from the desk as I stood up and made my way to the bathroom. Once the door was closed, I went through the steps in my head and then put them to practice "I hope this worked," I giggled before dragging my finger the cloud with the arrow, and then a blue bubble appeared around it.
Diavolo immediately replied with a voice memo of his own so I pressed play "Good job, darling," he congratulated, making me blush.
"Yay!" I celebrated.
I walked out of the bathroom and rushed to hug him "You did amazing."
"Thank you," I smiled, pulling away to look at him; his eyes give me a calming sensation. "Can we take a picture together?"
"Of course," he took the phone from me and opened the camera app. I leaned my head on his' and smiled at the camera. "There you go, darling."
I don't know where this all came from; suddenly feeling so good around him. Being so close to Jack made me feel so unsafe, and on this constant edge, waiting to be hurt by him. With Diavolo is the complete opposite; when I'm with him, I feel the safest I've ever had – I hope this feeling continues. And I also hope I can make him feel comfortable and safe as well.
With hesitancy – scared of his reaction – I took his hand and leaned my head on his arm.
"Thank you," I looked at him with a shy smile.
"Sure, darling," he looked down at me and returned the smile.
"It's lovely out here," he commented as we stepped out to the backyard to have lunch by the pool. Dominico, Angelo, Elena and Alexandria were already at the table.
Once I sat down, the staff brought out the food and I was served a small pizza – the same as Alexandria.
Everyone else had fish on their plates, and a salad. I ate my pizza in silence but wanted to moan at every bite; chocolate and pizza are now my favorite meals – though not at the same time. Diavolo and his siblings talked to each other as I stayed in silence, devouring the slices that tasted like heaven. Alexandria was beside me, sporafically caressing my arm; she's really sweet.
"You liked it?" Diavolo inquired with a smile.
I nodded "Loved it."
"Davina, after I'm done eating I want you to come to my room," he said and then turned his head back to his siblings.
I'm sure I turned pale, my heart started racing, I was scared of those words...what if I'm wrong? What if he hurts me? What if he does the same to me as Jack? It's been so easy for me to trust him, I might seem like an idiot to everyone for it...but he has been so good to me.
He won't. I thought. I need to trust someone some day.
I nodded to myself, trusting my inner voice that told me 20 times not to try to escape but I never listened, and I ended up with scars on my back; one for each time I tried to escape.
When Diavolo was done eating, he stood up and took my hand to lead me to his bedroom. The entire way, I was trying to catch my breath and keep my thoughts straight. I am not feeling as nervous as I thought I would. His bedroom is certainly bigger than mine, and it has the same color palette but I have a view of the front garden and he has a view of his majestic green backyard.
"It's so big," I commented, walking around and stopped in front of the window to watch Alxandria play with her uncles on the grass. "You have a beautiful bedroom, Diavolo."
From the corner of my eye, I saw him walking towards me "Davina, I need to know a few things about you," he said.
I looked at him over my shoulder and he was sat on the edge of his bed "Like what?" I walked towards him.
He cleared his throat, looking up at me "What was your diet back in Honolulu?"
"Well," I looked into his eyes "I was given a lot of lean food so I could stay in the shape Jack wanted me in; I was never allowed to eat carbs, except for the occasional sandwich."
He rose an eyebrow "In the shape that he wanted?"
I nodded "Jack said that if I gained any weight he would beat me up every day until I lost what I gained; it made me sort of scared of eating at times – I prefered to starve myself at times, than whitstanding his beatings."
Diavolo frowned "That's awful, Davina; I'm so sorry you had to go through that. You do know that here you don't have to follow any diet or any other atrocities Jack forced you to do?"
I nodded, taking a seat to his right with his eyes following me "I do; I just think it's going to take me some time to do it naturally," my eyes glanced at his hands. "Today was really fun, Diavolo," I cleared my throat, scooting closer "I had never been out shopping, and being with you helped with my anxiety."
His lips curved into a soft smile "Well, it was my pleasure spending time with you."
Quickly, I leaned in to peck his cheek "I hope we can do it again, soon," as I slowly pulled away, I couldn't help but look at his lips; they're so beautiful.
"I hope that as well," he replied.
Fuck it. I leaned in to kiss him but he pulled away. Fuck.
I cleared my throat, sitting up straight and looking away from him to hide my red face "I'm sorry. I don't know why I did that, it was stupid and I–"
"It's okay, Davina," he took my hand. I looked at him and he was smiling "It's not that I don't want to kiss you, I just think we should wait. Okay?"
"Okay."