by Inge Mayhem
Chapter 5
Revenge
“You're relentless,” Enzo said. “Plus, I feel a sort of pent-up aggression each time. There's something you're not letting out.”
Victor found it amusing that each time they had sex, Enzo would try to act like his personal therapist, while he tried to gather his strength back. The moment this was done, however, he would disappear, like nothing happened, only to resurface a few days later.
The days had been uneventful for Victor—for quite some time. He hadn't been given any jobs to do, any major ones at least, and it made him feel as if he was being kept out of the loop.
At this point, Victor felt that he had proven himself as enough of an asset to the Mafia, making it so that they would at least involve him in what they were planning; and yes, they were planning something—something big.
There were signs around, and watchful eyes could see them clearly. Something had been going on, as more people were being recruited.
For one, he no longer saw Mary. Even though she had been the one, at first, that had brought him his food every day, he no longer saw her. That trend had ended, and now, his food was delivered differently. He would hear a knock on the door, and by the time he opened it, he would be met with a tray that had food on it, and a note that told him to set the tray outside his door once he was done.
Victor had barely left his room, but from inside it, he could hear the thuds of heavy footsteps, as they trudged through the corridors.
As he lay on the bed, completely naked, he looked at the man beside him, and wondered if he should actually make his thoughts known. He knew that Enzo would love nothing better than a peek into his mind.
“I don't think I'm the one hiding things from you Enzo,” Victor asserted. “Frankly, I think it's the other way around.”
“And what would I possibly be hiding from you?”
Victor rolled his eyes at the stupidity of the question. “If I knew that, I wouldn't have to ask. There's something going on, or at least about to go on, and I'm not part of it.”
“Really?” Enzo asked. “I would assume that if something was happening, you would be happy to be away from it all.”
“How can I prove my usefulness if you won't let me in on anything?” Victor sighed. He was getting tired of the back and forth. “Okay, at least explain to me why I haven't been given any major assignment for a while?”
“The boss lady says you aren't ready.”
“What boss lady?” Victor questioned. As far as he knew, he hadn’t met anyone higher up, except Enzo and Giovanni. Who the hell was the boss lady, and why was she judging him, even before she met him? “I haven't met any boss lady,” Victor stated. “Who the hell is that?”
Enzo's expression changed slightly. Victor didn't want to believe that it was fear that he saw on Enzo's face.
“Quiet,” Enzo said, in a hushed tone. “You've met her; of course you have. You just didn't know who she was.”
Victor racked his brain until an unsuspecting image floated into his mind.
“Fuck!” he said, as realization hit him.
It was Mary. He should've known from the start that she wasn't an ordinary caretaker. There was always something about her. Something eerie and mysterious. Even when he had asked her about her life, she had given very vague details.
“You've met her haven't you?”
Enzo's question made Victor believe that this was not a usual thing. For over a month, Mary had attended to him, bringing him all his meals, right from the first day he had been given a room. Apparently this wasn't normal. Judging by Enzo's demeanor, Victor came to the realization that Mary was even higher up than Enzo was.
“I have,” Victor revealed, opting not to say anymore. He couldn't understand why it seemed like Mary had developed an interest in him, but still felt the need to stop him from having any further responsibility.
“Why would she say I'm not ready?”
“She said you still haven't shown that you can be a hundred percent loyal.”
“What?” Victor protested. When he saw that his voice had risen, he took a breath to calm himself, then he continued with a steady tone. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? Wasn’t the point of the test you gave me to see if I was loyal? I've long proven myself, Enzo.”
“You have,” Enzo said. “And truthfully, I believe you completely, but she doesn't. She says you'll be swayed by your thirst for revenge, or some other bullshit.”
Victor let out a frustrated groan. Of course that was the reason. Mary had been looking for a way helping Victor overcome his desire for revenge, but she hadn't been successful, at least not totally. To some extent, Victor was doing better, but he knew that he hadn't let go of the past, at least not totally.
“She was right, wasn't she?” Enzo asked, when he studied Victor's pensive look. “You want revenge on someone? I guess you haven't left your life behind.”
“Not totally,” Victor admitted.
“That's an easy fix then. Act on your revenge, get it over with.”
Victor raised an eyebrow. “Isn't that the opposite of what the boss lady would want?”
“Maybe,” Enzo shrugged. “But what difference would it make. If you act out your revenge and get it out of your system, then you can be completely focused.”
Victor stayed quiet. He wasn't about to admit that he saw some sense in the advice that Enzo had given to him. He looked at the man beside him.
“You should put some clothes on.”
Chapter 6
Change
“No way do they love each other: he's clearly just into her looks,” Shawn stated.
“What?” Tyson asked, laughing.
Both men sat together in Tyson's apartment. They were watching one of the many modern renditions of the classic tale of Romeo and Juliet.
“How can you say that one of the greatest love stories of all time is just a sham?”
“I mean, look at him,” Shawn said. “It's clear he just wants to add her family's wealth to his own, so to do that, he's bagging the pretty lady.”
Tyson couldn't stop his laughter. It was because of moments like this that he tried to hold on: he tried to stay strong, so it would last. Moments when he was alone with his partner, where they would just sit and watch movies for as long as they we able to. They sat on the large couch, with a big bowl of popcorn placed in front of them and an open six pack of sodas on the table. Tyson had opted for sodas because Shawn didn't drink alcohol.
Even though Shawn refused to stand by the premise of Romeo and Julie, Tyson couldn't help but believe in a fairy-tale relationship. It was just the kind of person he was.
Tyson already had dreams about how it would turn out. How both of them would fall madly in love and confess same to each other. They would decide that they would never spend another moment apart from each other; both of them would decide that they were worth it.
With these happy thoughts in mind, Tyson continued to look at Shawn, with a grin on his face. Soon Shawn noticed this.
“Um . . . is everything okay?” he asked. “You're looking at me weird.”
Whatever reply that Tyson was prepared to give, was interrupted by the sound of Shawn's phone. Tyson hated how he knew the tune so well that he could hum it, because he had heard it so many times.
Shawn pulled it out from his pocket to have a look at the screen. Without missing a beat, he turned to Tyson with an apologetic look. “I'm so sorry: it's work, so I have to take this.”
Tyson nodded, with a pained smile, and Shawn stood up and sauntered to another area of the house to take the phone call.
That was one of the things that Tyson didn't get. He had been with Shawn for quite some time, and yet, Shawn still didn't take phone calls in front of Tyson. That was weird because the majority of the time they were together, Shawn was on the phone. In Tyson's opinion, the least he could do was answer the call in front of Tyson.
Tyson had even started answering his own calls in front of Shawn
, to give him the hint, but that hadn't worked.
Tyson shook his head vigorously, as if doing so would remove his thoughts. That didn't work though, for soon his paranoia started to come back into play.
Thankfully it wasn't allowed to fester for long because Shawn was right back in his seat promptly.
“Is everything okay at work?” Tyson asked, as Shawn settled on the couch. Shawn placed his phone carefully on the table before answering.
“What? Oh yeah, yeah, everything is good. Just some updates.”
Tyson wasn't buying it. He no longer worried about the fact that Shawn was spending too much time away: what he suddenly became worried about was that maybe Shawn wasn't actually unavailable because of work. Maybe it was something—or someone else.
“Man, this went right through me,” Shawn said, looking at his can of soda, like he would be able to see an ingredient would've caused the urge for him to go to the bathroom.
“I need to use the restroom. I'll be right back.” He didn't wait for a reply before he raced out of the living room.
As if on cue, Shawn's phone buzzed immediately when he left; a text message came in.
Before long, it buzzed: again and again. Whatever restraint Tyson thought he had, flew out the window. He picked up Shawn's phone without a second thought. The phone was locked, but he could see the texts on the lock screen.
“Come on, Thai would be mutually beneficial to us,” Tyson said, as he read some of the texts out loud. “Nothing you're doing right now is as important as this, come over.”
Tyson couldn't understand what the texts meant. The number was listed as unknown, so he couldn't even tell who the texts were from. As he tried to figure this out, the phone started to ring again.
“What are you doing?” a voice sounded, from behind Tyson. He turned around quickly, almost dropping Shawn's phone in the process. He turned to see Shawn looking at him with caution. “Why do you have my phone?”
“Who's texting you?” Tyson countered.
“None of your business,” Shawn replied harshly, taking Tyson by surprise.
“What do you mean by that? Someone is texting you, to say that our date isn't important, and you think that's none of my business?”
“Hand me my phone,” Shawn growled. Tyson was more than a little surprised. He had never seen Shawn angry, or even annoyed at him, but at that moment, Shawn looked like he would turn violent, at any moment. Before Tyson could give a reply, Shawn yanked it from his hands and looked at the phone.
“Are you cheating on me?” Tyson asked weakly.
“You have a lot of nerve," Shawn said, raising his voice. “I leave for one minute, and you dare to go through my phone. I knew you didn't trust me, but this is another level.”
“You're not answering my question," Tyson maintained.
“You know what? I don't want to see you anymore. Never call me again,” Shawn dictated. He picked up the things he had come with and walked out the door, slamming it behind him with more force than was necessary, leaving a confused and hurt Tyson behind, who sat and silently sobbed into his hands.
Chapter 7
Heal
Tyson was not in the mood to enjoy anything, and it was starting to affect his work. Minor tasks that would usually take him minutes to finish, now took hours. Much larger tasks were not going well.
He was heartbroken. Tyson felt shattered—completely broken. It was discouraging, knowing that this was just another one of his relationships to go down the drain so suddenly. He felt, at that point, maybe he was the problem.
That morning, he wore a sulk, as he concentrated on his computer. He was in no mood for anything else, especially not the person who came up to him next.
“Hello Tyson.”
Tyson looked up to see Todd's smirking face. He had no idea why Todd had come to him, but he wanted no part of it. So he ignored Todd, hoping that the man would go away, but he didn't budge.
“Too high and mighty to talk to a friend, huh?”
“First of all, we are not friends,” Tyson stated, as calmly as he could. “Second, why are you here?”
Tyson expected that his tone would send Todd away, but Todd didn't seem to get the hint. Instead, Todd grabbed a seat near Tyson.
“I'm here to say that I forgive you,” Todd said.
“What the hell are you even going on about?” Tyson asked.
“Taking my job,” Todd said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“What are you talking about?” Tyson demanded. Todd couldn't read him, or rather, he didn't want to, and this only served to irritate Tyson further.
“I'm saying, no hard feelings,” he continued. “You managed to take my job from me: I still don't know how that happened. You even managed to get a promotion already. I don't know what you had to do to make all of this possible, but I'm a good sport, so well done.”
“I earned everything I have right now,” Tyson defended, not even bothering to look away from his computer screen anymore. “Don't you have some work that you're supposed to be doing?”
“Oh don't worry about that: I'm very efficient,” Todd answered, with a cocky grin on his face. “I can just do it later.”
“That's a terrible attitude to have towards work,” Tyson reminded. “Look Todd, I'll say this plainly. I don't know why you're here right now, but I am not in the mood to talk to you right now. Please go away.”
Todd's stupid grin didn't leave his face, and Tyson concluded that maybe the man just wasn't very bright.
“Well, I think we should head over to lunch together.”
“Can't you take a hint, dumbass?”
Both men turned to look at who had spoken. They saw Florence, with an uncharacteristic scowl on her face, her arms folded tightly against her breasts.
“Are you talking to me?” Todd challenged.
“Boy, you really are clueless,” Florence chided. “Will you get the hell out of here? It's very obvious that Tyson doesn't want to talk to you.”
She wasn't raising her voice, but people had already started to turn around to see what the commotion was about.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Aren't you supposed to be working?” she stepped a little closer, and Todd stood to meet her. His smile was long gone now.
“And who do you think you are—talking to me like that?”
“I am your supervisor,” she stated, making sure every syllable was heard. “That means I'm the one who gives you orders. I'm your boss, and in case you didn't know, so is Tyson right now. So I suggest you move on downstairs, or you try your best to find a new place to work. Are we clear?”
Todd was too stunned to speak. That was when he noticed the amused faces of everyone who was watching the confrontation. He quickly ran back towards the elevator, tripping a little as he went.
“So that is what you had to deal with, huh?”
“Yup,” Tyson said, grimly. “I sure know how to pick them, don't I?”
“Hey.” Florence put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “All this isn’t your fault. Shawn is just an asshole.”
But Tyson had a hard time believing that. He had even begun to plan a future with Shawn; granted, Shawn didn't know about it—that would've been even worse.
“Maybe I shouldn't have questioned him like that, maybe—”
“No,” Florence said firmly. “Don't do that. Don't make excuses for him: he's no good. And regarding Todd, that one is just a dumb prick that doesn't deserve you. You'll be alright Tyson, believe me. Come on, it's time for lunch.”
Florence and Noah had made plans to take Tyson to lunch that day, to cheer him up. It was against his will, but he knew that he didn't have a choice. They wouldn't let him be, so he agreed. He had been a little surprised that Noah had wanted to be involved too. This only served to remind him of Noah's earlier warnings about not trusting Shawn. Was this what he had meant?
Tyson just hoped that he would be able to get some answers. Looking around, he was plea
sed to discover that most of the people had gone back to focusing on their work. With a final sigh, Tyson stood and followed Florence to the elevator, so they could go for lunch.
They got into the elevator and Florence pushed the down button, and soon, they were at the lobby. Stepping out of the elevator, they were greeted with the amusing scene of a clearly irritated Todd, typing away at his computer.
He saw Tyson first, and was just about to react, when Florence stepped out of the elevator, effectively shutting him up.
“I don't see you working,” she said, as she led Tyson out the door. Both of them burst into laughter, when they were further away from the building.
Tyson hadn't noticed how high the sun was in the sky until he stepped out. Between the relatively cool office and the complete ice-cold fortress that Mrs. Miller worked, it was hard to forget how hot Long Harbor City could actually be at times.
There were no clouds in the sky to prevent the direct heat, so without even saying anything, both of them ran in the direction of Tyson's car.
“You don't have to be so mean, you know?” Tyson jested, as he got into his car.
“I have no idea what you're talking about,” Florence denied. She got into the passenger's seat, just as Tyson put the keys in the ignition.
Tyson drove in the direction of a burger joint that both of them were familiar with, as they had had many meals there in the past. It wasn't a long drive, but it was long enough for Florence to ask Tyson about how he felt about Noah.
“I mean, I know he's your favorite hockey player and everything, but what do you think of him, as a person?”
Tyson and Noah had hung out a few times. At first, it had seemed like an awkward fan meeting his hero, but the two men had slowly started to become friends. Tyson still felt the urge to look in awe at the large man, but Noah was so welcoming that most people who didn't already know who he was, would never guess that the large man was a professional hockey player.