The NOVA Trilogy Boxed Set

by Jayce, Aven

  We’re in my father’s home office. Everything is wood. The ceilings, floor, walls, bookshelves, desk, a set of stairs leading to the third floor… all a mahogany-stained wood. Two large Asian rugs cover the floor, one under his desk and one where we walk in. There’s a desktop computer on his desk, and a laptop that’s open, as well as a second desktop on the table behind his chair. A painting of a female nude hangs above the second computer and by the colors and style I can tell it’s one of Leondra’s.

  “Sit down, both of you.”

  Cove immediately takes a seat as I continue to scan the room. “What’s upstairs?” I ask.

  “SIT DOWN,” my father roars.

  “No. You need to let me out of this house. I’m your daughter and you’re treating me like an animal.”

  “If you do what I tell you to, when I tell you to, you’ll be able to leave soon. I need to take care of some things first. I’m not sending you out into this world until everything’s settled. Now sit down.”

  I fall into the hard wooden chair next to Cove and my father leans against the front of his desk, taking a cigar out of a box next to him. “So tell me kids, what’s with all the hatred and fighting? I expected you to run into one another’s arms in that room after spending so much time alone, but now all you’re giving me is something that should air on divorce court,” he gripes as he lights his cigar. I turn away from him, and look over to the stairs again. I wonder if I can outrun him? “It leads to my safe room, not outside,” he says. “Turn around and listen to me.”

  I raise my legs up so my feet rest on the chair. I wrap my arms around them and hold my ankles as I try to roll into a ball and disappear. My father places a finger and thumb against his forehead and closes his eyes either in thought or frustration.

  “Cove, I need you to talk to your mother. She’s called my phone and yours many times and I need some sleep. Check in with her so I can have a day of peace,” he says, taking Cove’s phone out of his robe pocket and tossing it in his lap. “Sophia,” he says, turning toward me. “Not a word comes out of your mouth, you understand? You’re here because we need to talk, and that will happen after this phone call.”

  I’m silent and place my head down to my knees.

  “Good,” he turns and looks back over at Cove. “Tell her everything’s okay, convince her you’re fine, just like old times.”

  Cove looks at his phone but doesn’t move. My father walks around his desk and sits in his chair, typing something into his laptop. He closes it and puffs on his cigar, then leans back, and places his feet up on the desk. I hear footsteps on the stone floor outside the office and within seconds Dayne’s by our side in jeans and a t-shirt. My father smiles and looks at his bare feet.

  “What’s the issue, Paul?”

  “Sorry to get you out of bed. I just need your gun.”

  “What, this gun?” Dayne says as he pulls a semi-automatic pistol from the back of his jeans.

  “Ah, the Glock this evening. Good choice,” my father approves, taking it from him and pointing it at Cove. “Put it on speaker and call. Make it quick so we all can get some sleep.”

  He calls and rests the phone on the arm of his chair. We wait for his mother to pick up.

  “Cove! Sweetheart, where are you?” she exclaims. “Are you and Sophia okay?”

  “Yes, everything’s fine, mother.”

  “Why haven’t you called?” she asks, a nervous tone in her voice.

  My father pulls the slide of the gun back and loads a round into the chamber. Cove looks directly at him then leans forward in his chair. He rests his arms on his legs and looks down at the floor. “I was busy, I’m sorry.”

  “Cove, sweetie. What’s wrong?”

  “Everything’s just like it usually is, mother, no need to worry.”

  “That is what I’m worried about. Where are you?”

  “I’m at Paul’s. We’re both at Paul’s. I have some business to finish for him, but it shouldn’t take long.”

  “Cove… are you alone?”

  He’s quiet and my father stands.

  “No, he’s not,” I say. “I’m here, Leondra.” Dayne and my father give me an inquisitive look and my father slowly turns the gun on me. Really Dad?

  “Sophia, darling. Is everything alright?”

  “Yes,” I respond in my cheeriest voice. “We’ve had a little argument, but we’re okay… for now.”

  She laughs and sighs in relief. “Is that what’s wrong? The two of you are in the middle of another fight? It’s a sign of true love.” Cove laughs and shakes his head then turns away from me. My father waves the gun to wrap things up.

  “Mother, I’ll try to call you soon, but don’t worry so much if I don’t. It’s not like Paul has us locked up in a room somewhere, we’re just busy.”

  Dayne immediately stands behind us and places his hands on Cove’s shoulders, pulling him back into the chair. “That was a joke, by the way,” he says to his mother.

  “I know sweetheart. Just please do a better job at staying in touch with me, okay? Especially when you have issues in your love life. I want to help you… and you too Sophia.”

  “Give Lewis a big hug for me,” I say.

  “Always. Cove dear, your father wanted me to pass along a reminder to be respectful and kind to Sophia.”

  “No problem. And Mother?” he hesitates. My father turns the gun back to him and places his index finger on the trigger. Cove swallows, looking into my father’s eyes. “I love you.”

  My father smiles and there’s silence from Leondra’s end. I hear a whimper that turns into a soft cry. “I love you too, son,” she responds and hangs up.

  Cove tosses the phone on my father’s desk and exhales a deep breath of air.

  “Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” my father grins. “Dayne, take him back to the room and get him something to eat, I need to talk to my daughter. Cove, take a shower and put on some clean clothes. Clean yourself up.”

  Cove stands and leaves the room, not saying a word to either of us. I sigh and watch as Dayne closes the door behind them, leaving me alone with my father. I turn and look directly in his eyes, searching for some hint of love coming from the stranger before me. There’s nothing but greed and selfishness.

  “Mera told me she’s happy, which I find hard to believe.”

  “Why do find that hard to believe? We treat her well.”

  “Why did you leave me that note in my loft, and why won’t you allow us to be in contact with one another?”

  “Two people together can do a lot more harm than one.”

  I roll my eyes and place my feet on the floor. “I’d like to leave, please,” I say in a sweet tone, trying a different approach.

  “Where will you go if I let you out of this house?”

  “Home, to St. Louis.”

  “Where will you live?” he asks with a raised brow as he relights his cigar. He takes two puffs and then blows out a large cloud of smoke. “You no longer have access to your loft, and I’ve had Mera’s place cleared out and her things sent here. Where you gonna live, Kiddo?”

  “I don’t need your money.”

  He chuckles and swivels in his chair, blowing out another puff of smoke. “We have a gold mine here, thanks to Mr. Everton, words I never thought I’d say, but Sophia, I need you to sign this form so I can release some information to our clients,” he requests, sliding a piece of paper across his desk. “It says you were fully aware of all the times you were filmed and recorded, you’re of legal age, and that you agree to receive a total of five percent of all profits from your site, no more. You’ll be able to leave and live on your own as soon as we make some money and you get your share. Until then, I will not send you out on the streets.”

  “I have money in my bank account.”

  “No, you don’t. You had money in your bank account.”

  “Leondra will let me stay with her.”

  He laughs and places his feet back on the desk with his hands behind his
head. “No she won’t. Not if I talk to her.”

  “I’ll stay at a fucking shelter!” I yell. “You can use the fucking video, I don’t care, but I don’t want to be a prisoner!”

  “Sign the form, Sophia,” he quietly says. “Sign it so we can all go to bed. Tomorrow will be a brand new day for us to discuss more details about your time here. Soon, you’ll be able to roam the house. After that, when you have your money, you can leave.”

  I take the piece of paper and a pen off the top of his desk and read each sentence carefully. I place the point of the pen on the signature line and stop. “Tell me something first. Do you expect me to be in more videos? Do I have to do more, or are we just discussing the airplane video?”

  “There may be more.”

  “How many? One? Five? A hundred?”

  “A few. We’ll see how it goes. I honestly don’t believe people will want to see much after the first one. That’s the moneymaker. It will be our top video for a few weeks then fizzle out. This isn’t the type of product line that can sustain itself for long. We’ll make a lot quickly, and then move on. Probably less than ten.”

  “With who?”

  “Who the fuck do you think?” he raises his voice, slamming his feet to the floor. “You may not believe that I care for you, but I do, I care for all my employees.”

  “I’m your daughter, not your employee. Would you like me to say that again?”

  “Miss Sophia Elizabeth Jameson, I don’t really know you. We don’t seem to know very much at all about one another.”

  “How can you say that?”

  He ignores my question and takes another puff on his cigar. “I won’t bring in random men for this. It’s you and Cove.”

  “Well, if you haven’t noticed, we hate each other.”

  He laughs and shakes his head. “If you haven’t noticed, the two of you are so madly in love I want to vomit every time I see the two of you together. You’re just too young and inexperienced to realize it, both of you. Now play nice.”

  “God dammit. I don’t believe a word that comes out of your mouth. If that was the case, if this is over soon and I’ll only be with one person, then what’s with the fucking tattoo?”

  “What tattoo?”

  I pull my shirt neck to the side and he stares at the tat, takes out his phone and looks away only for a brief moment to tap his screen.

  “I need you back in my office,” he says and slams the cell firm on his desk.

  I lower my hand and my collar falls back in place over the ink.

  “You’re right, I’ll use my own daughter for money, and the only thing I feel bad about is that I don’t feel bad. You have my word that you can leave soon, when I say the time is right, and then you can move forward with your life and us with ours.”

  “And Cove?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Dad… please. You have total control over a grown man.”

  “What do you want, Paul?” Dayne asks as he enters the room. My father and I stare at each other, neither one of us move.

  “Sign the form, please.”

  I sign, then throw it at him. It floats down to his desk and he smiles. “Dayne, I need you to do a couple of things,” he says as he keeps his eyes on me. “One, damage control with Devery. She called Sophia’s phone twice today. Call her tomorrow and talk to her. Two, I need you to walk her back to the room, and make sure both her and Cove have breakfast in the morning.”

  “Done. Anything else?”

  “Yeah,” he says, still in possession of Dayne’s gun. “Get your ass back in this office as soon as she’s locked in her suite.”

  Dayne reaches his hand to me, but keeps his eyes on my father. I stand and walk past him and he grabs my arm. “Let’s walk together, beautiful,” he says, leading me down the hall. “Let me guess,” he whispers, “You showed him the tat?”

  “Let me guess,” I whisper back. “The reason he thought you drugged me was because you told him I was out of control. Right? Hope you have fun,” I say with a smirk as he opens the door and pushes me in. It slams hard in my face and my hair flies in the breeze.

  “Fucking bitch,” I hear from the other side, as I see the shadow under the door move back to my father’s office.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Cove is lying on the sofa with his shirt and socks in a pile on the floor next to him. His dark eyes are open and flicker with the flames from the fireplace. The crumbs of a sandwich are on a white ceramic plate next to an empty glass, all resting on the coffee table by his side. His arm hangs down off the sofa and swings as his fingers brush against the floor. I notice that his suitcase is by the desk next to mine.

  “Cove, I’m sorry,” I whisper and move toward him.

  “Don’t,” he says, raising his hand for me to stop. “I don’t need you to comfort me.”

  He closes his eyes and places an arm across his face as I sit on the floor in front of him. The smell of liquor and body odor overpowers his cologne. I sigh, place my hand on his arm and pull it down to uncover his face. My finger runs gently over his black eye and down his swollen nose. A tear falls down his cheek and he quickly brushes it away.

  “You’re beautiful, Cove Everton,” I say, trying to ease some of his pain.

  “Yup, look where that’s gotten me.”

  “I was talking about what’s inside of you. What you’re holding in.”

  He’s silent, keeping his eyes shut.

  “I know you tried, Babe.”

  “Don’t call me that, Sophia.”

  I swallow hard and start over. “I understand that you did what you had to do.”

  “Do you?” he asks as he looks at me. “The fuck you do.”

  “I signed the agreement form for my father.”

  He laughs and rolls on his back, placing a hand on his head. “So that means you understand? You signed a form and now you’re just like me, right?”

  “You know what? Fuck you!” I stand and throw myself on the bed. “I hate you!” I scream.

  “Then why’d you pick me from the menu? You could’ve had a nice clit lick from Larry.”

  “Oh, my God. You’re such an asshole. I can’t believe I’ve spent the past two days in tears over you!” I sob. “I- I c-can’t believe I…I loved you.”

  “Well I can’t believe I loved you,” he shouts and sits up. “A fucking Jameson, I should’ve known better.”

  “Why are you so mad at me? I don’t understand why YOU’RE TREATING ME LIKE MY FATHER TREATS ME!” I shout at the top of my lungs as I lose complete control and my body convulses into a fit of tears. There’s silence. That got him. The room is quiet except for sniffles and cries, both his and mine.

  I hear my father and Dayne in an argument down the hall and what sounds like a fistfight between the two. There’s the crash of a table and the sound of a body being thrown against a wall. I sit up and see that Cove is doing the same. We listen to the fight. It’s worse than ours, powerful and violent, like a pack of wild animals.

  “What happened when you left?” Cove asks.

  I take a tissue off the side table and blow my nose. “I signed the contract and that was it,” I respond, my heart telling me not to show Cove the tattoo. Not now.

  We listen and wait for them to stop. It sounds like the entire office is being destroyed as fists pound into walls, tables, and flesh. They yell and swear but it’s muffled from behind closed doors. I can’t make out what they’re saying. And then, in an instant, there’s silence.

  A set of footsteps approaches and I see a shadow under the door. Cove places a finger up to his mouth to stay quiet. It sounds like Dayne, he’s panting and I can sense that his hand is on the door. There’s a loud pound of a fist against the wall and Cove immediately stands. The shadow under the door disappears and we’re left in silence.

  I watch him pace with his hands in his pockets, back and forth in front of the fireplace. The clock reads three and we both look like we’ve been hit by a train. I’m sure my eyes are swoll
en, my makeup smeared, and my hair must be a tangled mess. Cove’s filthy and smells, in need of a shave and a clean set of clothes. We both need a shower.

  “I don’t treat you like your father treats you,” he says. “I’m not like him.”

  “Oh no? Are you sure?” I ask. “Neither one of you listens to or respects me. You’re both so caught up in this business that you don’t care who you hurt, including the people closest to you. He’ll market me because of you. The first time I’ve ever showed love for another person will be sold for anyone to jerk off to, and that’s because of the two of you. You’re just like him.”

  Cove rushes over to me in a rage. “I’m not like Paul Jameson!” he shouts as he grabs my shoulders about to shake my words away. I cry out and lower my body from his grip. He presses against the tattoo, and I squeal.

  “Aaew! Let go! You’re hurting me!”

  He steps back and lowers his arms, appalled by his actions. “I’m sorry, I barely touched you. I wasn’t going to hurt you,” he says. I fall to the floor and curl into a fetal position; my heart feels cold and lifeless. I fell in love with the wrong person, just like Devery said.

  “You have hurt me,” I cry.

  “Sophia, hey,” he says softly. “I’m not like your father. Please don’t think of me that way.”

  I cry from the events of the past three days, being struck down by every person I know and love. He lowers next to me and runs his hand along my body. “Get up, please. I can’t stand to see you this upset.”