Obligation(4)

I pause, taking a breath while wrapping my arms a little tighter around myself. “The rest of the day was uneventful. There was nothing out of the ordinary. I was busy because I was on my own, but I expected that. At around two thirty, I went to the back and pushed a load of dishes through the dishwasher, and when I got back out front, I realized the man from that morning was still sitting at the same table he had been when I first opened.”

I close my eyes and open them slowly. “I went and made sure he was okay and that he didn’t want anything. Then I told him I closed at three. When three o’clock came around, he was gone. I took care of a couple of customers who had been waiting for me to box up their items and walked them to the door to leave. As soon as they were gone, I shut the door, and I was flipping the sign over when the man from earlier came running up to the door, telling me through the glass he thought he left his phone in the bathroom.”

I bite my lip and, without thinking, look at Kai and then back at Nero before speaking again. “I got a weird feeling, so I stood by the door while he looked around for his phone. I was watching him when the door was shoved open and I stumbled back. I thought it was a customer, but that’s when I looked up and saw my brother, Thad.” I shudder as bile crawls up my throat and nausea rolls in my stomach.

“Are you okay?” Nero asks as I pull in a deep breath.

“Fine,” I whisper, putting my feet on the floor while sliding away from Kai’s touch. “I was taken aback when I realized who it was. I had not seen him since I was eighteen and moved away from home. He pushed his way past me and then let in a few other men,” I say, and I feel Kai’s hand on my lower back as he lifts my shirt slightly. Then his fingers begin to move over my skin. I wonder if he is trying to remind me of the things I’m not supposed to talk about.

“Then what happened?” Nero questions softly, and I lean back slightly into Kai’s hand, who pauses his movement before resuming.

“He forced me into the back room. My brother said he owed some men money and that I needed to give it to him. I don’t know if he was on drugs or what, but he seemed really afraid. I told him I didn’t have the kind of money he was asking for, and he proceeded to tie me to a chair.”

“Then what?”

“I don’t know,” I say faintly. “I was hit over the head, and when I woke up, Kai was pulling me out of the burning building,” I look over at Kai, and even if I never tell anyone every detail of what really occurred, I do know that that part is not a lie, and I will forever be indebted to him.

“Then you went to Vegas and got married?”

I pull my eyes from Kai to look at Nero. “Yes. Well…we had been planning on getting married,” I lie.

Kai’s hand pauses on my back. We never discussed what exactly happened to me or what we would say if someone asked me about this, so I was trying to think on my toes.

“After what occurred, I realized how short life is, and I told Kai I didn’t want to live another day without him and that I was tired of putting off our relationship. So we stopped in Vegas on the way here and got married,” I tell him.

Nero searches my face. Then his eyes drop to the pad in front of him, where he begins to write again.

I bite my lip, feeling like I have done something wrong. I have no idea what I should have said. I don’t think, “I met him for the first time yesterday, and I married him because he told me that was the only way he could keep me safe at this time,” would have gone over so well.

“And you don’t remember anything else?” he asks, lifting his head to look at me.

I shake my head and pull my feet back up under me. “Nothing,” I mutter, pressing my lips together.

“Can you tell me a little about your brother?”

My body stills and I feel all the blood drain out of my face. “There is nothing to tell,” I whisper, hating myself a little bit for being so weak when it comes to him.

“Are you okay?” Nero asks, reading my face.

“Fine. Just tired.” I sit up, putting my elbows on the table, holding my hair back from my face as images from my past flash through my head.

Being taken from my parents when I was little and told that they were dead.

Moving in with Modesto and Ida Akskvo and their two sons, Thad and Royce.

Being told that, if I ever spoke of where I really came from, I would die.

Having happy memories of my life with my new family.

Working in my dad Modesto’s bakery. Shopping with my mom Ida.

Hanging out with my brother Royce.

But then everything changed when I turned sixteen and Thad started sneaking into my room at night, showing me that Hell can exist on Earth.