Twisted Perception (Flawed #2) (10 page)

“Who are you?” she asks, a question more to herself than directed at me.

“You will do as she did, not a thing different. Now leave,” Mika says and she stands, looking back once at me as she closes the door.

“Let me touch you?” Mika asks from his seat, slouched back and watching me.

“Not a chance in hell,” I tell him, shaking my head.

“Is it ‘cause it will mean more than them?” he says pointing to the Thrall behind the glass. “Or because it will make you feel?” he asks me. I stand and place my heels back on.

“I have a family dinner to attend, I need to go home. I’m leaving,” I tell him. As I walk past, he captures my wrist.

“I’m coming,” he says standing, then letting me go.

“You’re not coming to my parents’ home.” I blanch at the thought.

“I can and I will.” He opens the door, gesturing for me to walk through first.

Arghh, I want to inflict pain on him. So bad!

Chapter 16

Mika quietly follows me up the stairs to my parents’ home.

I look back to him before I enter. “Do not tell them what I do.” He nods his head and I open the door. Jessa, dressed in all black and looking bored, spots me first. She looks behind me as Mika steps in closer and she stares at him.

“Mom! Dad! Aria brought a boy home!” she screams and I give her the middle finger.

“Man. She brought a man home,” Mika corrects from behind me. I laugh at him. It doesn’t take Mom long to come around to the entrance and she stops when she sees me, shaking her head.

“You should at least cover them up when you come home,” she says, stepping closer and kissing my cheek. She looks behind me and spots Mika, then looks back to me. “Who’s your friend, Aria?” she asks and Mika steps next to me offering his hand.

“Mika, Mrs. Bliss,” he says, using our last name. Mom blushes, and I’m a bit taken aback. She never blushes. “Call me Deb,” she says. “Do you work together?” she asks, pointing to Mika and me.

“No, I am dating Aria.” My head spins so fast, if you saw it, you’d think I was possessed.

“Oh, really? I’ve never met anyone our daughter has bedded.” My mouth drops open.
Does my mother think of me as a slut?

“Oh, I haven’t bedded her, Deb, we’re taking things slow. Plus, I don’t think Aria’s like that. She truly is a remarkable woman, I’ve never met someone like her.”

“Yes, there’s no one like our Aria.” My father walks in and gives Mom a look that makes her cringe. He’s obviously heard what she’s said and steps forward and wraps me in a hug. “Don’t worry, baby. She doesn’t think that of you,” he whispers into my ear and pulls away from me. He then offers his hand to Mika, who shakes it and introduces himself. I look at Mom and watch her eyes go from me to Mika, apparently trying to work out how he’s with me.

Her eyes stop on me, but she doesn’t say anything. The next thing I know I’m being picked up and placed on hugged. “Missed you,” Jagger’s voice comes booming from through me. He places me back on the ground and hooks his hand around my shoulders. His body goes rigid next to me; Mika is staring at us, his jaw clenched.

“Who’s this?” Jagger asks.

“Oh, that’s your sister’s new boyfriend,” Mom says leaning in and kissing Jagger’s cheek before walking back to the kitchen. My father indicates for us to follow and Jagger gestures for Mika to walk first. He does, and as I go to follow Jagger stops me.

“Who is that man, Aria? I know he isn’t
your
man. So tell me and don’t lie, or I will ask Zeke who it is.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Oh, I would. What would he say about you bringing him here? Does he know who he is?”

“Yes, he does. He’s my new boss. Not my boyfriend.”

“Why is he here, Aria?”

“I kind of…had to…move in with him,” I say the last bit fast and it takes him a moment to digest what I’ve said.

“I don’t think so, not happening,” he states firmly.

“Too late! It’s for my safety anyway, so don’t worry. I will still come home, Jag,” I tell him, easing him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Your safety?” he questions.

“Yes. I know you want to know, but some things, maybe you shouldn’t. Trust me.”

“Okay,” he says, easing up only because he wants me safe, nothing more.

We walk into the dining area where Mika is standing and waiting for me. He pulls out my chair and before I walk over to him, Jagger whispers in my ear, “I don’t like him. He has a stick up his ass,” he jokes and I laugh. Mika cocks an eyebrow and I walk forward taking my seat. Jessa comes in and sits next to me, with Jagger and my parents opposite.

“How long you been screwing my sister?” Jessa asks, picking up a piece of bread and buttering it.

“Watch your language,” my father warns. She shrugs her shoulders like she doesn’t care.

“I would like to know how long you’ve been seeing each other, though,” my mother says, looking to Mika.

“Just under a year now,” he says, reaching back to the first time I’d met him, but didn’t know who he was.

“And why are we only hearing about this now? Your brother didn’t even know, and you tell him everything,” she says, pushing it further.

“What are you getting at?” I ask her bluntly.

“Just wondering why a man of his caliber would be with you, sweeties?”

“That’s enough, Mom. Don’t you ever degrade her in front of me again!” Jagger threatens, lifting his palms from the table where he’d slammed them down hard.

“Look, Jagger. That there is a man of wealth and high class. Aria is none of those things.”

“Deb, if you say one more thing, I’m leaving,” my father warns, looking at me apologetically. I feel Mika’s hand on my thigh as he squeezes it hard and loosens to rub lightly.

“I don’t know why you view your daughter in such an awful manner, Mrs. Bliss, but I will tell you Aria is one of the strongest women I’ve ever met. I will not say anything rude to you out of respect for her, but you do need to keep the degrading comments to yourself,” Mika says while everyone stares at him. I didn’t want him to know about how cruel she could be. The only person that knows is Jagger, and sometimes my father and sister see it, just not to the extent she used to go to.

“I want you out of my house,” my mother stands looking at me and pointing to the door, “and never come back!” she screams, leaning over the table.

Jagger stands when I do, walking over to my side. “I’ve let this go on long enough. Dad, we love you. Mom, your love was on a thin line, which you’ve just blown tonight. I will not be back. Goodbye,” he says, walking out before we do. My mother stops me before I leave, and when I turn to face her, she slaps me hard across the face. I stand there looking at her through tear filled eyes.

“You, you’ve ruined this family.”

“You are never coming back here again,” Mika says, lifting me up and carrying me out the front door. He slams it when he leaves and the last thing I see is my father yelling at my mother.

The drive is quiet, but his hand stays firmly on my knee. He changes the gears of his car with one hand, never removing the other. We arrive back at his house and he comes around to my car door and lifts me up. I hear him talk on his phone as he walks me up the stairs and then places me on the bed. He leaves and shuts the door, enclosing me in blackness. Blackness makes the memories come back, the bad memories. Just before they inflict their torture, the door opens and Jagger stands there with a duffle bag in his hand. He drops it onto the floor and walks over, turning on the bedside lamp.

“I’ll tell him not to leave you in the dark,” he says, leaning close and placing his forehead on mine. Effectively calming me down with his presence, like he does when I have bad times.

“I like him, he looks out for you and he’s protective. Stay here, be safe and call me if you panic,” he says, kissing my cheek and walking out of the room. I hear him talk to Mika. “Don’t leave her in the dark again when she’s in a bad place, you won’t like what you find when you walk back in,” he says, his footsteps fading away into the distance.

Mika walks in and I hear him pacing around the room. When I finally see him, he crouches down in front of me, lifts me up and walks me to the shower where my nighty lies on the counter.

“Should I shower you?” he asks, with uncertainty in his voice. I shake my head and he walks out leaving the door slightly open. I strip off and step into the shower, trying to wash away tonight and the bad memories associated with it.

When I walk back into the room, Mika is in bed, lying down and looking up at the ceiling. I'm wearing a nighty and nothing else. Climbing into the bed next to him, I face the wall, away from him. I feel him turn to me, but he doesn’t say anything, he just watches my back. I drift off to sleep and the dreams assault me.

“You little slut, you think it’s smart to fuck the boy at school,” she berated, a bottle of alcohol in her hand. I bet it was her second, she wasn’t usually this bad on the first bottle. I tried to walk away from her. No one is home apart from us. The school had called her, informed her of my extra-curricular activities in the men’s bathroom. So now I was home with her alone.

“Come here,” she said, holding a razor between her fingers. I shook my head, she threatened me with her eyes. If I didn’t listen, I was punished even more. Stepping forward, I removed my shirt. She spun me around and started cutting little cuts onto my back. Small, so they’d heal faster and leave less evidence. But it was like being covered in glass, ripping and tearing all over my back.

She finished at twenty, I knew because I had to count them out. Then she put me in the closet—the pitch black closet— just me and the blood running down my back.

“Shhh,” a voice rocks me. Shaking it off, I try to untangle myself again from Mika’s arms. He has me trapped so I can’t move.

“Go back to sleep, Aria,” he says into my ear. And I do, this time without the nightmares.

Waking to find myself at the bottom of the bed again and no Mika anywhere, I stand and find my bag Jagger brought and get dressed in a short dress.

“Do you think you’re in the right line of work?” Mika asks from the kitchen as I step into it.

“Yes,” I reply, walking to the fridge pulling out the juice.

“You’re good, I’m not going to deny that. Actually, you are the best. But I think I now know why you are the best. You do what’s been done to you. Am I right?” he asks and I wonder what he’s talking about. Then I remember my nightmare, my mother, and yesterday.

“You won’t find anyone better than me for this job,” I tell him, giving him the only answer I can.

Chapter 17

“I want to go home,” I tell him after he feeds me bacon and eggs.

“You are home,” he says with a twitch of his lips.

“You can’t hold me hostage.”

“I can and I will,” he retorts.

“I’m leaving,” I say and stand, but before I can take a second step, he’s in front of me, blocking my path.

“I will come with you if you want to leave this house.”

“I can look after myself.”

“I don’t doubt it, but I’m still coming.”

“Don’t you have work to do? You can’t keep on following me around like a lost puppy.”

“I’m not lost,” he says with a smirk.

“Arghhh!” I scream and make my way to the front door, pulling it open. Mika uses the keys to unlock his car and we climb in. He takes me home in silence, never even asking for my address.
He knows too much about me and I don’t like it.

Mika stays in the car when we arrive at Jagger’s. Jagger opens the door and looks past me to Mika, they nod heads and Jagger brings me inside.

“Why are you and lover boy here?” he teases. I smack his arm and walk to the counter where my phone is located. I have several unread messages, some from Bexley, Zeke, and even Sarena. I read through them and smile. I’ve just worked out a plan.

“What are you planning?” Jagger asks, reading my face. I sometimes forget he can do that.

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit,” he scoffs.

“I’m going to shower, if he comes in, entertain him,” I say and he smiles like he knows what my plan is.
Maybe he does.

I pack a small bag. Opening my bedroom window, I stop when I hear his voice. It’s close.

“She’s showering, come and have a drink with me,” Jagger says. I wait a few seconds until I hear his footsteps walk off and the fridge door open and shut. Then I climb out the window and make my escape.

*****

Today is a day for weddings. Well, one in particular that I’m interested in. Zeke is marrying Bexley today. I stand at the airport for two hours with my phone ringing non-stop. Ignoring it, I catch the earliest flight and fly first class all the way back to L.A. Bexley picks me up at the airport and tells me she’s making a stop. She stops at a fancy store, one that is full of ball gowns and walks back out five minutes later with a dress bag. She places it on my lap and turns to me and smiles.

“You’re one of my bridesmaids,” she says, pointing to the dress and starting the car and driving off. She comes to a stop at a hotel and I follow her up the stairs.

“This better not be a big, fucking outrageous dress, Bex,” I tell her, holding it out in front of me like it’s poison.

“It won’t bite you!” Bexley laughs, opening the door to her room that is full with a team of stylists and I groan loudly.

“Zeke said you’d complain.” Bexley grins. “But I said you’d do it because you want to prove him wrong,” she says laughing as she sits down and starts her hair and makeup.

“Why is your phone ringing so much?” she asks. I shrug my shoulders and she gets up and snatches my bag and pulls out my phone.

“Who’s dickhead?” she asks, reading the name Mika’s number is stored under from the screen.

“A dickhead,” I reply.

“Hello dickhead,” Bexley says into the phone. I jump up and try to tackle her, she leans back and lands on the bed with me on top of her, crawling up to grab at the phone. “Stop it!” She pushes me with her legs and I fall off onto the floor.

“Mika, oh, hi. Do you need Aria?” I get up and shake my head, she sees and purses her lips in thought. “No, ah ha.” She gives me a hard stare. “She will be with me, yes at…” She rattles off the address of the hotel and I snap the phone from her hand.