ZUKO IS TENSE TONIGHT.
He’s always got an edgy feel about him, but not like this.
It’s like he doesn’t want to be here.
“We don’t bring dates,” Kyson grumbles.
“I could be your date too, if you want.” I wink at him.
“Like hell. You are a crazy bitch.” He shakes his head.
“Your ability to antagonize Kyson is my favorite of your traits, Alaska,” Kenzo interjects.
Food is placed down at the center of the long table for us to serve ourselves. Once the waiters are gone, the chatter around the table resumes.
“So it’s not my good looks? Or the way I make your brother stalk me without my permission?” I ask Kenzo with my head tilted to the side innocently.
Everyone has some type of mask on, but even with that, I feel a few eyes on me.
“Zuko.”
I turn back to the table to search for the person who called Zuko’s name. Zuko is facing the end of the table where a few men sit talking to each other in hushed tones.
“Yes?”
“Is she an offering?” one asks, nodding at me.
Zuko straightens next to me. “Excuse me?” he growls, a threat evident in his tone.
“Why else would you bring her here dressed like that? To not only tease but to give as well?”
“She is my date. Just as you are all welcome to bring one.”
“Pops is the only one stupid enough to bring a date,” one of the men says.
The room falls deadly silent.
“Yeah, Pops. Do you tell Zuko here what we do with your dates?” someone else adds.
My eyes fly up to the lady with Pops. She isn’t the same one from the boys’ birthday party. She looks down to her lap and says nothing. I glance over at Pops to see him watching Zuko.
“What do you do with them?” Zuko asks.
“They do what any of the men want,” Pops answers.
“You pay them?” Zuko questions.
Pops ghosts the back of his hand over her chest, and she visibly flinches.
“No, they do it for protection. Isn’t that right, sweetheart?” He squeezes her shoulder.
“Seems she doesn’t want you touching her,” I can’t help blurting out.
If you dropped a pin right now, you would hear it.
That’s how silent the room is.
I glance back at the woman to see her staring at me with her eyes wide. I turn to Pops and see contempt written all over his face.
“I’d watch your words, whore, or you will end up just like her… Needing my protection.”
Zuko goes to stand, but I quickly place my hand on his thigh, halting him. Pops notices, and it seems to make him smile.
“I want that whore. I bet I can teach her a thing or two. One being how to speak to a man,” a balding asshole halfway down the table says as he leers at me.
Someone slams their fist on the table, and we all turn to see Kyson fuming. “Shut the fuck up, all of you. I want to eat already,” he bellows.
A few laugh at his outburst, and I let go of Zuko’s thigh and pick up my fork. I hear the other men still talking about me and how they plan to fuck me.
Zuko is as still as a statue.
When he stands, a few quiet, but they go back to talking as he steps behind his brothers and stands between them. He leans down to speak, and when I peek up, I see Pops glaring at me.
“So, what do you charge?” the man who was sitting on the other side of Zuko asks me. “I can afford it. You seem like expensive pussy.”
“You kill prostitutes,” Kyson mumbles, and I straighten at his words.
“So? She seems like the expensive type, and I only kill the trashy ones…” he pauses before he adds with a sinister smile, “sometimes.” He pulls away as someone else says something I don’t quite hear, but Zuko seems to have. He moves in a flash, pulling the mask from his face and stalking toward the men at the end of the table. I push my seat back and stop him.
“Can you escort me to the bathroom?” I ask, offering him my hand. He pauses and looks down at it. He crushes his mask in his fist but takes my hand. Making our way out of the room, conversations continue behind us, but no one says anything loud enough for us to hear. As soon as we get to the bathroom, I go into the stall and close the door while he leans against the counter.
“Don’t let them get to you,” I tell him.
“It’s not me they’re talking about. It’s you,” he replies. “Words hardly affect me. They could call me the worst asshole to grace this earth, and I wouldn’t care.”
I pull open the door and see him watching me. After I wash my hands, I then step in front of him, put my arms around his waist, and lean into him. “So why are you mad? I can feel you are.” I bury my nose in his neck, breathing in his scent. He smells expensive. And delicious.
“They don’t have permission to speak about you in any manner.”
“It doesn’t bother me.” He wraps both arms around me and kisses the top of my head.
“I could…help you forget,” I coo, my hand sliding between us. As I palm his cock through his pants, it jolts.
“I would never turn you down, but tonight I have to.” He steps back, but before he gets too far, he leans in and kisses me on the lips, stealing my breath away. When he pulls away, he lingers. “I think I’m falling in love with you.” His words make my heart skip a beat, and he doesn’t wait for me to respond before he grabs my hand and leads me back to the room. He pulls my seat out when we get to the now quiet table and sits next to me.
“I really want to fuck that whore, Zuko. Seriously, how much for her? If you don’t share, I’ll find her and fuck her anyway.”
Zuko’s eyes lock on mine at the man’s taunt.
Some of the others laugh, agreeing with him, before he smiles at me and says, “Cover your ears, Trouble.”
He waits for me to just do that. And then I sit there, shocked, as he lifts a gun and, without warning or moving from his seat, shoots the man next to him in the head, then goes around the table until each and every man is dead, leaving only his brothers, Pops, and Pop’s “date.”
He pauses his shooting spree with the gun aimed at Pops, who is smiling like he is happy with what Zuko has just done. We’re all covered in blood, and the food is now inedible, and he still hasn’t lowered the gun.
The woman next to Pops is screaming, and she can’t seem to shut up. Kenzo is closer to her, so he leans over, and whacks her over the back of the head. She falls face-first into her plate of food. I sit there, stunned, not sure how we got to this point.
“You wouldn’t shoot me, Zuko. I’m the only father figure you know. You would kill me over a girl?”
That seems to make Zuko madder as his finger tightens on the trigger.
I can’t move.
It’s like my hands are glued to my ears.
And now I understand why he wears black.
“You better apologize to Alaska right the fuck now. And if you think you can get away with mistreating her again, then think again,” Zuko warns.
“Yeah, bastard gave me a black eye over her,” Kyson grumbles, grinning. “He will for sure kill you over her.” He chuckles.
Pops seems to finally understand what’s happening.
“You don’t even know her,” Pops argues.
“I know her well enough,” Zuko replies. “Apologize. This is your only chance.”
Pops glares at me and grinds his jaw before he says, “I’m sorry. I won’t talk in that manner to you again.”
I don’t respond.
I think a part of me is frozen on the spot.
I knew Zuko was a little crazy. I mean, I’m not dumb. But holy shit.
“Trouble…” He hands the gun to Kenzo. Kenzo takes it and slides it into his waistband.
“Is that why you didn’t want head? You didn’t want me to see the gun?” I ask him stunned and my mind going completely blank from what just happened, referring to our moment in the bathroom, but a small part of me is wondering if he really said no earlier because he was hiding his gun from me.
Someone coughs, and someone sounds like they are choking as he reaches for me and pulls my hands down from my head.
“Yes, you would have freaked.”
“You’ve done worse to me with a knife,” I remind him.
He smirks and cups my face. “Ready to go home?”
“Home,” I say, and he stands, offering me his hand again. I take it. And I wonder if I will take it for the rest of my life. I keep on taking his hand, even knowing who he is, and I wonder why.
“Oh, don’t worry. You know we’ll clean up your mess,” Kyson says sarcastically.
“I already ordered the cleaners,” Zuko replies as the doors open, and men enter dressed in hazard suits with gurneys. “I’m taking Alaska home.”
I offer a small wave, unsure of what else to do, and walk out, not looking back.
As soon as we’re in the car, he drives off.
A few miles down the road, he pulls up to a drive-thru and orders us two burgers with fries. My mouth starts to water as soon as I smell the food.
“You didn’t eat,” he says, passing me the food. I grab out my burger, then unwrap his, handing it to him as he drives.
“Neither did you.”
“I’m sorry about the dress,” he tells me before biting into his burger.
I get a warm feeling in my chest, thinking about those lips and that mouth, and about how only hours earlier they were bringing me pleasure.
And then those words.
He thinks he loves me.
Sure, men have said, “oh God, I love you,” as we fuck. But the words held no weight when they said them. The words never had true meaning until tonight.
Until him.
“I can wash it.”
“No, it will have to be destroyed,” he states. “But I’ll buy you a new one.”
“Good.”
I take a bite of my burger as we pull up to my place. We sit in the car and eat in silence until we’re both full.
When we’re done, I turn to face him.
“I don’t think anyone around you likes me,” I say nervously.
“That doesn’t matter.”
“But it does. They are your family,” I push.
“Kenzo likes you, and Kyson is warming up to you. You hurt his ego, is all.”
“And Pops?”
“It doesn’t matter if he likes you. He knows where I stand now, and I will not have anyone insult you. I’ll happily show him how to appreciate you by taking a knife to his neck.”
“So violent,” I whisper.
“For you.” He leans in and grabs the back of my head, pulling me in for a kiss. He kisses me on the lips and smiles against them. “You taste like hamburger…” he kisses me again, “and all the things I want in this life.”
I can’t help but smile.
I never knew I wanted someone in my life the way he has inserted himself into it, until he did. Granted, our relationship has been rocky. But I think all the best ones start out that way.
We finally get out and head into the apartment.
My phone rings, and I answer it without a second thought as I enter the bedroom and hear the shower turn on.
“You’ve reached Sage from You Beat It, We Spit It. First, let’s start with your name.” I step out of the bedroom so he can’t hear me. I open the apartment door and stand in the hallway as I wait for the person to speak.
“Hello, Trouble…” I drop the phone and turn back to see Zuko, shirtless, holding his phone to his ear as he leans against the doorjamb. “Seems you have been hiding something from me.”
I smile at him.
And then I turn on my heel and run.
