Euphoria (Arrangement Series Book 4)

by King Ellie

  “Get the fuck out, Jessica. Neither of us will repeat ourselves,” Bowie states just as pissed.

  “Fuck you,” she says to the both of us.

  I growl and get all up in her face, letting Bambi’s wrist go. “If I wasn’t about to deal with this, I would snap your little neck off. Don’t ever speak to me like that again.”

  The fear is evident in Jessica’s blue eyes. She says nothing else as she runs out of the janitor’s closet. I slam the door, locking it, and then I turn the light on. Bambi is sitting in the corner with her knees up to her chest, her head buried in between. “I’m sorry. I can go talk to her for you and have her understand that this was just a coincidence,” she starts. “This is my place and nobody is usually in here.”

  Bowie watches her like she’s an enigma. Isn’t it me that’s supposed to be confused with people? Not him. I crouch down and remove her arms from around her knees, then I lift her head. She’s been crying. An unknown source of anger washes over me, one that I know can turn me downright murderous.

  “Who made you cry?” Bowie says from behind me. He’s finally gotten the memo and crouches down too.

  “Nobody,” she lies to the both of us.

  “Don’t fucking lie to us.” I grit my teeth.

  She shakes her head. “I’m not lying. I made myself cry because I pushed you both away.” She looks at Bowie, “I waited for you but neither of you ever came.”

  I’m stunned stupid. I don’t know what to say or how to react to this. She waited for us?

  “I told you not to wait!” I harshly chastise her.

  “No, you never said that.”

  “Are you fucking arguing with me right now?” I ask. “Is she arguing with us dude?” I ask Bowie.

  “No.” She shakes her head. I notice the intricate little braids her hair is in. I love it. I want to pull at them.

  I smirk, sitting down on the ground. “You want company?”

  Her eyes widened. “You’ll stay? You won’t leave?” She asks and looks at Bowie.

  “Nah, we won’t.” Bowie says as he sits on the floor too. “What do you do in here, anyway, Bams?”

  “Bams?” Her brows perk up. “I like it. Can I call you Bow?” She asks him and he shrugs. She looks at me, hopeful as hell. “What about you? Can I call you Marky? Or like I don’t know, M.”

  “Hell no,” I chuckle and she frowns.

  “Okay, Markos it is.”

  “Call me, Phoenix.”

  “Like the mythical bird? That’s my favorite type of creature.”

  I smile. “Oh yeah, guess I’m your favorite then. My name, my real name is Phoenix but you can’t tell anyone else. That’s our secret.”

  Bambi smiles wide and scoots even closer. She slaps her hands over her cheeks. “I love your name, can I call you P?” She laughs at her own corny joke. “Wait, no, I know what I’ll call you, Nix or.”

  “Or what?” I lean in close to her face, needing to observe her reaction and joy at the simple nickname giving ceremony she’s performing but this is so much better. Her expression has transformed as she zeroes in on my lips, lingering as I watch her. Fuck, she’s so cute up close. “Say it,” I growl at her.

  “Nixy,” she says breathlessly and I lose myself in her. I don’t stop leaning in until I’ve captured her lips for my own.

  Fuck, her lips are so soft and plush. I don’t think I’ll ever stop kissing her but I do because I need to hear her say it again. “Say it again.”

  Bambi keeps her eyes shut. “Nixy.”

  “One more fucking time and this time open your eyes. Look at me, baby deer.”

  Bambi opens her eyes. “Nixy.”

  “Aw fuck, baby.” I wrap my hand around her waist and the other on the nape. I pull her into my lap. “Tell me a secret, baby deer.” I stare intensely into her eyes.

  “You’re my first proper kiss.” She confesses and before she could take her next breath, I devour her lips once more.

  Bowie doesn’t let this moment go to waste as he sits across from us. “Come to me, if you want me, Bams. This isn’t a one- man ship. You can’t have one of us. It’s either both of us or we’re out,” he says and I know it hurts his feelings to say that.

  Bambi moves out of my lap but she sits on her knees between us. She looks at me and then at Bowie. Maybe we were wrong about her. Maybe she just wants one of us. That would suck.

  “I don’t have to choose?” She asks looking at Bowie.

  “No, you don’t. We don’t want you to choose at all. Never,” he says with conviction.

  Bambi doesn't even give herself a minute to think about it as she crawls over to the small space of the closet and straddles Bowie. He looks up at and tentatively touches her face. Bowie likes to remember the women’s faces and caress them, but he doesn’t get that chance as Bambi pulls him in for a hungry kiss. That shit is so sexy. Fuck. She’s so perfect for us. Bowie’s hands find her ass and he grinds her on his jean clad dick. He kisses her like all his problems are gone. Like he doesn’t have bruises from the underground fighting he does. Bambi moans and seals our fate with her. Bambi pulls away from Bowie with a giggle. “You both are my firsts,” she whispers.

  I shake my head, willing the memory to go away. If only I knew what she meant the first time she said that to us. We could have saved her. I could have murdered that sick son of a bitch stepfather of hers earlier on. How could someone as sweet as her go through such bullshit yet smile at a monster like me without batting an eyelash? Wasn’t I as scary as that dirty motherfucker? What made us so different? I have no morals and neither did he. I don’t care about right from wrong, I’ll never care about that and the worst of it all, she’s my obsession and I’ll never let her go unless someone takes me out, just like I did to that fucking dirtbag.

  Bambi

  I was having the same recurring nightmare. The one where Phoenix and Bowie disappear and I’m left alone. Looking around for them even though I had to leave was excruciating. It haunted me more than I care to admit. I jolt awake out of my sleep only to find that I’m still handcuffed to the bedpost. I groan at how much it hurts. I’m alone in this all white room, I shake my head taking it in.

  “My estranged husband is a serial killer,” I say out loud to no one in particular.

  “Indeed,” I hear an answer.

  Out of pure fear, I scream at the top of my lungs.

  “Wow,” The voice grows louder.

  The voice causes me to stop screaming and look at whoever is the source. When I look, I’m face to face with the only other person who makes me want to piss my pants sometimes… from laughter, Orion.

  “Ry…” I call out.

  Orion smirks, looking just like his brother. “If I had known he’d cuff you to the bed, I would’ve never told the dumb bastard where you were. Don’t you have more than one of them to rescue you out of this, or are they working together?”

  I frown. “You told them I was back?”

  Orion rolls his eyes. “That’s a stupid ass question and you know it.”

  I nod. “Is he gone again? He won’t come back?”

  “Will you stop asking if I’m going to come back?” Phoenix steps out of the shower in nothing but a towel wrapped low around his waist while he towel dries his hair with another. “I told you I’m not leaving!” He yells.

  Orion shakes his head. “Don’t fucking yell at her. What the fuck?” He says to Phoenix, and all Phoenix does is shrug his shoulders.

  “Nix, my wrist hurts.”

  “Good,” he answers.

  I groan. “Ry, can you get me out of this?”

  “I wish the fuck he would,” Phoenix responds by challenging his brother.

  Orion snickers. “Nope, I’m good. Sorry, Bams, I have somewhere to be, plus, call for Bow, he’s supposed to have your back too.”

  I let out a frustrated groan. “They’re mad at me so they don't care how my wrists feel.” Orion looks amused and so does his brother. “Guys, this isn’t funny,” I preten
d to pout.

  The second I say this both brothers decide it’s time to laugh. I scoot up the headboard so I could relieve the pain in my wrist. Orion and Phoenix spoke in their native tongue, Greek, while completely ignoring me. Phoenix sits on the bed and applies lotion to his body while Orion acts like all of this is normal.

  In mid-conversation Phoenix stands and walks back in from where he first came from. Which I assume is the bathroom, he comes back with clothes in his hands, so not the bathroom?

  I watch his every move as he places the clothes down on the white sheets. It’s crazy how everything is so white.

  “Why is everything so white?” I ask.

  Phoenix drops his towel at the same time I ask the question. He doesn’t care if his brother is in the room. Orion is looking down at his phone, not giving a damn about what’s going on. My eyes are stuck on the perfection that is Phoenix. He’s so damned chiseled. He is what they should place as a statue. A broken yet whole statue. Phoenix smirks throwing his towel over my head and by the time I get it off, he’s already in his red boxer-briefs. I take in the leg tattoo that has covered his whole right leg and it seems endless. I look up his body. He has a Greek tattoo that I remember and was very fond of that wrapped around his lower torso with rose vines wrapped around the words which he told me that it says Everything changes. I shut my eyes, not wanting to think about that. I shake my head, opening them back up again.

  “I want to go home,” I say. Phoenix continues to get dressed like he didn’t hear a word I said. “Phoenix!” I yell his name.

  “Baby deer, you are home,” he announces like it’s nothing.

  “No, I’m not. I didn’t buy this place and how the hell do you live upstairs from me, anyway? Did you do this on purpose? Move in after me?”

  Phoenix eyes me like I’m a bug that just irritated him. “I’ve been living here before you. We all have.” He shakes his head. “How many times must I tell you to read shit before signing it, Bambi? The whole Bishops clan owns the property.”

  “But it says Hanlon Suites.”

  “Yeah, it does because this is Jagger’s project but doesn’t mean we didn’t outright buy it. You’re in my forest now, little deer, and there’s no way out,” Phoenix says as he finishes buttoning his dress shirt. He looks impeccable.

  “What about all my stuff in my place? I just moved in! Can’t I have a place of my own?”

  Phoenix tilts his head in thought as he tucks his dress shirt into his pants. This man is a sexy yet deranged specimen. I feel bad for his wife, me.

  “I’ll let you sleep in your own place,” he says.

  “Thank you,” I say prematurely.

  He grins. “Only if you can put your bed-frame together by yourself.” He turns to Orion. “Should I make it a bit of a challenge for her, Ry?”

  Orion finally looks up with a matching grin. “Challenges are the best.”

  “Ry…” I cry out. “Come on! I thought you cared about me.”

  Orion smiles as he looks my way. “You know I do. This is for your own good, Bams.”

  “Ugh.” I look up at the ceiling. This isn’t fair. “Where’s Bowie when I need him?” I say to myself.

  Phoenix snickers. “Out being pissed at you. He needs time, Bams. Don’t force him.”

  I frown. “I’m not forcing him, how can I? It’s Bowie… How can I not want him? I miss him. I know I should’ve said goodbye,” I say sadly.

  Phoenix says nothing for a moment and then he shrugs. “Call him to you then, you know he’d come.”

  “I’ll give him the day,” I say.

  Phoenix shrugs. “Oh! Before I forget,” he takes the handcuff keys out of his pocket and puts it at the edge of his gigantic bed. “You can let yourself out. I’ll be back to check on your bed-frame progress. Oh yeah, no one is going to let you out of the building unless they get a word from me.” He blows a kiss my way as he walks out of the room with Orion.

  I scream out of frustration, and I hear both crazy men laughing. “Don’t wait for me, sweetie. I’ve got business to handle. Don’t miss me too much,” Phoenix yells out.

  “Nix, please, don’t do this. Just come back. Let me out of the cuffs, I won’t leave. I promise.”

  I hear expensive shoes coming down to the room and Phoenix stands at the doorway glaring at me. “You don’t know what a promise is. Don’t promise me jack-shit.” His anger is so palpable, I can taste it.

  He gets closer to the bed and he gives me a devilish smirk as he moves the key a little closer to me. I sigh, relieved. Then he swipes his hand, throwing the key on the floor even further away from me.

  “Nix…” I want to be mad, but I can’t. I can see the hurt as he lets the mask fall away temporarily. “My Nix, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I confess.

  The anger is back, full-blown. “Fuck you,” hesays and gets up, walking out this time. I have nothing to say because when he’s hurt, I’m hurt. That’s always been my problem, I care too deeply for my men. Way too deeply.

  Chapter 8

  Phoenix

  “So you cuff her and tell her to get out of it to fix her bed frame but here you are, making me do manual labor while we put her bed frame together,” Orion complains.

  I snicker. “Manual labor?” I shake my head. “You lift dead bodies for a living.”

  Orion chuckles. “Shut up but I need you to know what you guys are doing to her isn’t okay bro.”

  “I can’t speak for Bowie, for him, it hurts differently. You know he’s never had it good. His parents weren’t all that good to him. I can’t tell him to get over it.”

  “I know. I’ll talk to Bowie too, but I’m talking to you right now. I told you before that talking is what’s normal to those who aren’t like you or those who don’t understand you.”

  I stop what I’m doing and tilt my head. “She doesn’t understand me. How so? She knows me.”

  Orion shakes his head. “No, she knows the 18-year-old Phoenix, the one who was obsessed with the ground that she walked on, not the 32-year-old who has evolved and is the personification of the mythical bird. She doesn’t understand what you understand. Remember, her process and yours are different.”

  I stay quiet for a beat and continue working on the bed frame. We finish that off, adding the box spring and mattress. When we’re done, Orion stops me from walking out. “Hey, talk to me, what are you thinking?”

  “Not really thinking but more of wondering,” I admit.

  “What’s that?” He asks as he makes her bed with sheets he found in a box marked sheets.

  Are you saying she doesn’t love me?” I ask. “I don’t understand.”

  Orion stares at me for a beat. “I’m not saying that, Phoenix,” he sighs. “What I’m saying is, maybe you need to realize she doesn’t know you anymore to love you.”

  I vehemently shake my head. “That’s bullshit. A love like ours, you don’t just forget or fall out of. She loves me.”

  Orion sets the pillows as the last piece and glares at me. He stands to his full height and crosses his arms over his chest. “What if she doesn’t, Phoenix? What are you going to do about that?”

  “I’ll make her love me.”

  “What if she doesn’t end up loving you, Nix? Then what?” He cocks one of his bushy arched brows.

  I stare into my brother’s eyes so he can see that I’m serious. “Then I’ll kill her. There’s no other way but loving me, Orion. She loves me.”

  Once we get out of Bambi’s penthouse, Orion side-eyes me in the elevator as I press the button for mine. “Say it before I get off the elevator.”

  “You think she’d choose between you and Bow?” I know he isn’t being malicious. He’s just genuinely asking.

  I shake my head. “No. if she loves me or if I’m going to make her fall in love with me again, it has to be with the both of us. There’s no way out of it. We’re a puzzle that only fits with the right pieces.”

  Orion nods. “Alright, I get it, but you need to be the one
to get Bowie on board. Work as a team, make the 30-year-old Bambi see what you both are capable of now. Not just the shitty threats but also the fact that you both have never stopped loving her. You’re both just hurt, and it sucks to be fucking hurt.”

  I say nothing so I can process what he’s saying. I pull my phone out and text Bowie. “Anything else, Dr. Phil?”

  Orion snickers. “I’ve got nothing to add to what I said earlier. If anyone can make someone fall in love with them, it’s you,” he acknowledges.

  I stare at him. I know what he means and it’s nothing mean, nor is it a jab. He’s talking about his mother. After I was kicked out by mine at the tender age of six, I made my way to the Moralis estate in Athens. When Orion’s mom saw me at the gate, she didn’t turn me away, instead she took me in as if I were her own child. That’s why her death will never be taken for granted. The way she died trying to protect both of us, her boys, she called us.

  “I would’ve died for her, Ry, you know that, right?” I tell him.

  He gives me a pained smile. “Yeah and she would’ve died for you, too.”

  “Nah, she died for the both of us.”

  Orion nods. His mother is a sensitive subject and I don’t bring her up much. I want to feel what he feels. The way he was attached to her. The pain that he must’ve felt when she was gone right in front of him. The way he held her dead body in his arms for days before our father could get the door open. Even when he did, I stood my ground for the only woman who learned to love me. At nine, I was ready to die for her and my brother. If she were alive, maybe I would’ve learned to love her right back. She didn’t give me the chance.

  The elevator doors open and I walk in leaving Orion. I’ll meet him in a while. I walk to the room and Bambi is there just staring off into space, her messy bun looking like the true definition of one. She’s gorgeous.

  “Do you love me?” I ask.

  Bambi gasps. I scared her and I wonder when she’ll ever start paying attention to her surroundings. “You scared me.”

  “Do you love me?” I repeat myself.