by Lannah Smith
"I apologize, sir. But that I cannot do."
"Which one?"
"Pardon?"
"Which one can you not do?"
"Call you by your given name."
Where the hell did his father get this guy? John thought irritably.
Before he started high school, his father decided to hire a personal butler/bodyguard for him. Usually, John wouldn't care because he'd always manage to make them get off his back and leave him alone. But this new guy was young, younger than the other guards before him, and was a damn pain in the ass.
Well, at least he was loyal and kept his mouth shut.
Scratch that. The jerk only knew when to keep his mouth shut when he felt like it. Vincent took his bodyguard duty seriously and John guessed that was probably because he was ex-military.
"May I come in?" Vincent asked again.
"No," John clipped.
"But isn't it an inconvenience for you to keep raising your voice?"
"It's more of an inconvenience for me to see your face."
Shit. If his friends heard him speak like this, they would surely laugh at him. And if they found out he now had a personal bodyguard, they would surely give him hell.
Vincent wasn't speaking anymore and John thought he'd already left. He finished dressing, picked up his phone and went out of his room.
Then he stopped on his tracks when he saw Vincent.
Shit.
Vincent was dressed in his usual suit. His blond hair was combed back and his sombre manner more than matched his formal attire. He wasn't a big man but his size alone could still intimidate most people. He was dressed like a gentleman and a professional body guard but he fought without honor or dignity. John had seen him in action. He, like Nick Gage, wasn't a man to be trifled with.
"Are you still angry at me, young master?" Vincent asked with a flat, emotionless expression. "You know I did it to protect you and to protect your friends."
"I called you to clean up the mess," John glowered darkly at him. "You had your connections. We had our own connections. You didn't have to call Leon's father."
"It's a drug syndicate you're dealing with. I'm not the man for the job. He is."
"We are not dealing with a drug syndicate."
Vincent shook his head. "You were. Not anymore. And that's because of him."
John rubbed his face wearily. "Jesus, Vincent—."
"He owns an investigative firm. He's the best in the business. He's got connections and power everywhere, even in the underworld." Vincent took a step forward. "And considering what you and your friends have just done, we needed him. You've crossed the line, young master. You knew that. That's why you called me."
John clenched his jaw.
Oh, he knew.
He did consider calling Leon's father but Leon would never forgive him if he knew. He didn't even know John was still in contact with him.
"Your friends are going to come in an hour," Vincent went on. "Everything is ready and the maids have been notified to stay away from this wing until they've left."
"Good," John muttered. "Thank you."
"I'll be in my quarters should you need anything else."
John sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. You may leave."
"Will the young master be needing anything else?" Vincent inquired politely.
John felt a muscle tick in his lower jaw. He took a deep breath and exhaled.
"Yeah," he grumbled. "I need you to stop calling me that ever again
"I apologize, sir. But—."
Instantly, he cut him off, "Okay, Vincent. You may leave."
The asshole's lips twitched and he murmured with a short bow, "Yes, sir,"
Vincent left his rooms soon after and John went to inspect the table filled with food that he had his maids prepare for him and his friends. Someone was shouting outside when he picked up a chip to eat and he looked out the window. Skull and Rohan were getting out of Skull's car and they were both arguing. John bet it was about Skull wanting Rohan to take it slow since his body was still healing and Rohan wanting none of his mothering.
John grinned. He unlocked the screen of his phone and pressed a number. Putting it to his ear, he waited until the call was picked up.
"Hey, Leon. Where are you?"
"Picking Sophia up. Be there soon."
"Make sure she brings my sandwiches," he said as he went out to meet Skull and Rohan.
"I fucking told you no," Leon replied. "Don't call me again."
John chuckled when the line went dead.
It wasn't hard to notice that Haru was in a good mood about something from the way he was smiling, no, smirking at me as we ate dinner.
We were in one of the finest restaurants in the city and the beauty of the city lights outside the glass window did not relieve the tension from my body even a little. Trying to read his mind, trying to guess what he was planning hindered me from enjoying the delicious food or the beautiful scenery.
"How's Sophia?" Haru asked me once our main course arrived.
"She's fine," I answered. I knew this was one of the reasons he took me out, to talk about her.
But what were the others?
"I hope you're getting along splendidly," he asked in a mild tone but with a hint of warning.
I looked coolly at him. "We are. We've been hanging out these days."
"Yes. I heard about it. You even invited her to the house."
"Do you think it was a bad idea?"
"On the contrary." Haru picked up his wine glass and took a sip. "I thought it was brilliant. She's not one to enjoy shopping excursions or night-outs right? Invite her back to the house, make her feel more at home."
I nodded and looked down at my plate, wishing I was anywhere but here.
"How about you?"
I looked at him again. "Me?"
He briefly smiled at me. "How are you?"
"I'm fine," I answered with nagging suspicion.
"Are you seeing anyone right now?"
Gritting my teeth, I told him, "No."
He couldn't possibly know, could he?
Rohan did. And it was possible Leon knew too. He was closest to John and they'd been best friends for a long time.
Way to go, John, I thought angrily.
All that looking up to you for being able to mask your feelings when we were children was premature. The jerk may have kept his mouth shut but he now wore his feelings on his sleeve, something I should have expected him to do.
I took great care not to let anyone know about John. And although we broke up, I wasn't going to let anyone know about our relationship. I'd take that secret with me to the grave.
But, in the back of my mind, I had a feeling Haru knew. It would probably surprise me even more if he didn't. My brother always managed to know everything, even if he was staying in Japan.
"Good," Haru murmured. Then his eyes travelled over my shoulder and they lit up. "Right on time."
My brows furrowed. "What—?"
"Haru!" a voice called out as footsteps neared our table. "Sorry for being late. I was in a meeting."
My body went tight and my stomach clutched. Painfully.
I knew that voice.
I knew that voice all too well.
My eyes sliced to Haru and he was smirking as he stood up. I curled my fingers into fists on my lap, my heart hammering.
This scheming bastard.
This crazy asshole!
"It's good to see you again," Haru said as they shook hands. "And I'm sorry for the short notice."
"It's fine. At least you finally got around to inviting me out."
I was still frozen. I couldn't turn. I was afraid I'd kill Haru for this, afraid I'd scream and throw the bread knife his way. I was good at darts. I'd no doubt my aim would be true.
Why was he making things so damn complicated for me?
Why?
"Hello, Terry," the arrival's voice spoke to me. "I'm really sorry that I'm late."
Haru was watchi
ng me. So with a practice smile, I squared my shoulders, turned and slid my gaze up at the man Haru had apparently invited to our dinner.
"Hello, Ethan."
Chapter 29
Two years ago, John, Leon and Skull at age fifteen
The tall gnarled tree behind the school building was a place John, Leon and Christopher liked to frequent. One reason was because it was a restricted area. Another reason was because it was peaceful and quiet.
John liked reading his comics while he leaned against the tree. Leon preferred to sleep under the black shade. Christopher, on the other hand, wasn't the type to stay still. Sometimes he'd bring a tennis racket and a ball he filched from the gym and play against the wall. Some days he'd bring a soccer ball or a football or a basketball. There was even a time he brought a ping pong ball and kept hitting it against the wall with his notebook.
All these things made John wished they'd never met the kid because he made too much noise when all he wanted was peace and quiet. It had been almost two years since they became friends and they were now in the last months of their first year in high school.
But one day, Christopher did none of those things.
John noticed and he put down his comic to stare at him.
He was standing still, his gaze looking past the wire mesh a few feet from their spot. His hands were clenched tight at his sides and his face had gone hard.
Between the three of them, it was him who'd undergone a drastic change. From a puny kid, he'd grown taller, muscular and strong. And between the three of them, it was Christopher who was the kindest and the most considerate, if not the most stupid.
Looking at the distance where Christopher was staring intently at, John saw him. A kid being held up by his arms and getting beat up by a group of high school juniors. Leon had also spotted them and had already risen to his feet.
Damn, John thought. Not this again.
"Reminds you of someone right, Christopher?" he said loudly as he too stood up.
"Yeah," Christopher's clenched hands shook as they tightened. "He sure does."
Leon didn't waste any time talking. He climbed the wire mesh and jumped to the other side. Christopher followed and John raised his eyes to the sky, blowing out a long sigh, before he followed the two.
Here we go again.
"You think you can talk back to me, you fuckhead?" the biggest one of the group growled. He was the only one not throwing punches at the kid and also the ugliest. "You think I'll just let you get away? Don't you know who I am?"
The kid suddenly lifted a shaky finger, pointing at the sky, and the punching ceased.
"See that?" he asked.
"See what?" Ugly asked.
"The fucks that I give for this conversation."
Red-faced with fury, Ugly slammed his fist into his face and the kid fell to the grass.
"You crazy asshole!"
"Your girl's the one who's crazy," the kid replied as he coughed out blood. "You should put a leash on her before she jumps me again."
John covered his lips to hide his smile. The kid, even getting beat up, was still talking shit to his tormentors. Leon didn't look amused however and when he saw them start kicking the kid, he lunged at them. Skull had a grin on his face when he jumped into the fray.
The group tried to disperse in fear and panic. Since before the three entered high school, Leon, Christopher and John had already earned the reputations of being the school bullies, which was complete bullshit. While Leon and Skull thrashed them, John sat on his heels and poked at the immobile kid on the ground.
"Are you still alive?" he asked curiously.
"Fuck you," came the reply.
With a chuckle, John turned his body around. The kid groaned in pain and tried to take a weak swipe at him but John deflected it easily.
"You have a pretty face," John murmured as he inspected him. His dirty blonde hair was covered with grass and dirt and his face was bruised and bloody. His startlingly beautiful hazel eyes had also started to swell. "You're a girl, are you?"
"I'll fucking cut you."
"Are you still in middle school?"
"What the chicken dick is it to you?"
Wow, but this kid has such a dirty mouth.
"Are you done?" John asked Leon and Skull when the group was lying on the ground. "This kid needs to be taken to the infirmary fast."
"I don't need you assholes taking me anywhere." The kid slowly got to his feet, wincing and swaying as he did. "Leave me alone, you shitty—"
He didn't get to finish that sentence because Leon had punched his stomach so hard that he fainted.
"What?" Leon grunted as he yanked the kid up in his arms. "It's quicker this way."
"Thank god Leon didn't do that to me," Christopher muttered at John. "Here. Let me take him, Leon."
John frowned when he saw how gentle the two was to the kid and a feeling of foreboding came over him. "Please tell me we're not adopting him, dear."
Leon glared at him. "Shut up."
"I'll adopt him," Christopher volunteered as he slung the kid's motionless body over his shoulder. "I'll be his mommy."
"The kid would spit in your face if he hears you say that," John retorted.
"Doesn't matter. He's funny."
John let out another long-suffering sigh. Then he followed the three to the infirmary.
"You told her about Roxie, didn't you?"
These were John's first words once I answered my cell phone. How I heard it ring over the music, I did not know but I did.
Expelling a quick breath through my nose, I turned down the music, went to my full-length oval mirror and asked, "If you're going to talk to me about your whores then I'm hanging up."
"You told Sophia Roxie has gonorrhea," he clipped and I blinked at my reflection.
Ah.
That conversation.
Running a hand down the white silk dress that I was wearing, I told him, "And?"
"I was fucking grossed out!"
My lips twitched. "Imagine if you did sleep with her."
"Stop! I don't want to hear anything about her anymore."
I didn't either.
Dropping my gaze to my strappy gold heels, I asked curiously, "So what did you do?"
A moment of hesitation, then he said, "I told them I was going to Rohan's stepdad."
"But you didn't."
He fell silent again.
"You vomited outside, didn't you?" I deadpanned.
"S-shut up. I'm hanging up."
"Oh, please. Like I'd stop you," I muttered, sliding a dozen very slim gold bangles on my wrist.
"I should have known shit like that wouldn't work on you," John muttered and I scowled.
What wouldn't work?
Making me jealous?
The jerk.
So he did do it on purpose.
I was there when John accepted Roxie's invitation to hang out before he met with his friends for poker. I couldn't avoid overhearing them, they were flirting loudly in the hallway.
It hurt to see him with another girl but I told myself I should no longer care this time. I already broke up with him and he was free to date or sleep with any girl as he pleased. Still, the sight of them constricted the air from my lungs until I found it hard to breathe and I wanted to beat the daylights out of him for making me feel this way and tear the hair out of Roxie's head for flirting with him.
But I wasn't going to get furious and call him up to chew him out again. I knew he was expecting that.
So I didn't.
Serves him right for making me jealous, the sadistic jerk.
"Anyway, can you come and hang out with me?" John said in a hopeful tone. "Since I ran out of the game, I'm feeling kind of lonely right now."
"Not a chance." I picked up a pair of gold earrings sprinkled with tiny pearls from my jewelry armoire and with my phone pinned between my shoulder and ear, I put them on. "I'm busy."
"With what?"
"And you really think I'd tell you?"
