Page 59 of The Diávolos: Part One
Aria looks at me, stunned, for several seconds. “Back. It. The. Fuck. Up. Right. Now. WHAT?” she asks in a hushed yell, her mouth gaping open and her eyes wide. “I’ve been MIA forwaytoo long.”
I start from the beginning, telling her the story from A-Z, but I spare the details of my orgasm. When I'm finally done, Aria looks at me with a bewildered expression. I've known her a long time and can tell the wheels are turning inside her head.
“I already have enough stories featuring Evan to last me a lifetime. Everything is moving so fast. I don’t even know how to feel.” Every time I think about him, my heart skips a beat.
“The masked stranger at the ball, the man you met at the shooting range, and your stalker are thesame guy?” she asks.
“Yes.”
“You’re fucked, babe.”
I chuckle, even though this situation isn’t the slightest bit funny. “Whenever he’s around, I don’t want him to leave, and whenever he’s away, I wish he were there.” I rub the nape of my neck and continue, “I’ve never felt like this before. You know I never let guys into my life to this extent…”
“But he’s different,” she finishes.
I nod. “He’s different.”
“What are you going to do about it?” Aria wonders.
“I wish I knew.” I sigh. “On one hand, I hate that he thinks he has control over me, that he can be possessive and boss me around. I’ve worked so hard to get away from people who didn’t let me dome.” If anyone can understand what I mean, it’s Aria. She knows how much I hate being under my father’s thumb. Aria takes my hand in hers to comfort me.
“On the other hand, he makes me feel, Aria. I haven’tfeltin so long, and he has managed to bring out all these emotions after having seen him only a handful of times. He made me laugh and got me to open up. My feelings for him are genuine and that scares me.”
“Why are you fighting it, Ang? He makes you happy and you deserve someone who makes you feel things. Hell, he might be unhinged and dangerous, but we’ve been around men like him our whole lives. The only difference is that his attention is onyou. But that might be a good thing. Maybe he’s the answer to your freedom,” she says. “Think about it. It seems like he won’t take no for an answer, and he’d do anything to be with you, and you need someone who’s willing to fight for you. So, if you truly like him, go for it. He might be the key to finally getting away from your father and the mob once and for all.”
“I never thought of it that way,” I reply.
“I’m ready to endorse him just because of this conversation, and I haven’t even met him.” She laughs.
Caring about someone never comes easy for me, especially after my mother’s death and losing the loving father I once knew. I’ve been in a constant state of numbness ever since. I always wondered if something else happened to me when I was younger. I often have this nagging suspicion I’m forgetting events from my past. I dream of my mother and father arguing. I have flashbacks of when I was a little girl, surrounded by others like me, scared and alone in a strange place. I can’t figure out if they’re just figments of my imagination or if the dreams are conveying real information my brain has chosen to forget. As a child, I’d woken up many nights, screaming or crying, and drenched in sweat. Eldora would come to my side to comfort me.
She tried talking to my father about taking me to therapy, but he’d always brushed off my behavior as me being an ‘angsty teenager’ and said that I’d ‘grow out of it.’
Well, here I am at twenty-three years old, still full of anxiety and angst.
I don’t know if my brain will allow me to let Evan in, or if I even want to. I might be making excuses for my concern and worries, but as we stand, Evan is a stranger, and he means nothing to me.
Or that’s what I’m trying to convince myself of, at least.
Aria and I get summoned downstairs for brunch. We’re greeted by Magdalena, the family’s domestic helper. I exchange a few words with her in the little Spanish I know, and she leads us to the family room while the food is placed on the table. Dimo is on the couch playing video games. I run my knuckles through his hair, giving him a little noogie. “Hey, again.”
He winces and swats my hand away, and I laugh. He removes one side of his headphones and stares up at me in awe.“Yia sou moráki.” Hey, sexy, he purrs. I roll my eyes at him.
Aria swiftly smacks him behind the head and he yelps. I cover my mouth with my palm to muffle my laugh.
“What was that for?” he asks her, rubbing the back of his skull as he tries to handle his controller with one hand.
“I told you not to hit on Angie. She’s too old for you and she’s my best friend. Stop being so gross.”
“A little flirting never hurt anybody, Ri. Leave the boy alone,” I interject.
“Yeah, Ri. She likes it,” Dimo says, with a wink aimed at me. Aria shivers in disgust at the sight.
“You just like the attention, you littlepoutána,” she spits at me, her tone serious.
I look at her, my facial expression stoic, and we burst out laughing. I lean into her on the couch, and we lock each other in an embrace. I’ve missed Aria so much, it’s nice to spend time with her, even for a little bit. When we’re together like this, we can forget, just for a moment, about all our troubles and worries. Dimo looks at us, dumbfounded.
“You both are so weird,” he says and puts his headphones back on, once again focusing on his game.
