Come To Me (Owned 3)

And what the fuck had I gotten myself into?

If I didn’t complete the hit, I may as well declare myself dead. Forget if Alice might be up to her own fuckery, putting your name in the ring for a hit and not completing it was the same as putting out a contract with your name on it.

Lenny left my side, spinning as she did, her hair catching the ribbon of a balloon. I used to be cold and calculated. Every move I made was determined and coldblooded. It didn’t tak

e a genius to know what had happened. It didn’t even take someone remotely smart. Lenny had happened. She heated me up inside out. I was boiling around her.

I did stupid shit now, like fall in love. I made rash decisions that not only affected me but others around me. The smart thing to do would be to cut her out. The safe thing to do would be to end it. As I watched her dance around, laughing and drinking, I knew I’d never do that. I could withstand torture, I could withstand days without food, but I could never withstand a life without Lenny.

Still, I had to get the fuck out of there. I’d made my bed and all that shit.

Lissie approached me as I was about to ascend the staircase and pack. “Have you ever had a surprise party?”

“No,” I responded, hand hanging limply on the railing. I’d never had a birthday party, period. Even living with Lenny, I’d managed to go on assignment for each of my birthdays. This was the first year I was home.

“Presents!” Lenny exclaimed, quickly cutting off the terrible thought process that was my birthday. “Vic come open your presents!” Hand still on the railing, I glared over to Lenny holding a wrapped box. The day had officially escalated to my fucking nightmare.

I sat down gingerly on our couch while the group all stared at me, weird smiles plastered on their faces. Of happiness, I guess. Maybe excitement. I don’t know. I wasn’t used to smiles. I wasn’t used to family or friends, either.

After I opened up most of the presents—all of which were an assortment of odd things I didn’t really need—Lissie handed me hers. I was sure I should have been more grateful, but I didn’t understand the point of presents. I didn’t need a gift card for the movies; they should have spent the money on themselves.

“It’s nothing special,” Lissie said. “I mean, what do you get the guy that has everything, right?”

I shook my head. “I don’t want anything.”

“Exactly.” Lissie waved her arms. “Impossible to shop for.”

I shrugged and looked at the sheathed rectangle in my hands. It was wrapped up nicely and had a little bow. The paper felt odd against my hands. It was beautiful, but I was supposed to tear it apart.

“Vic?” Lennox asked. “Are you going to open it?”

“Yeah,” I responded gruffly. I started with the bow, untying it and then handing it back to Lissie. Then I carefully undid the tape, making sure not to tear the paper. When I was done I held my present in my hand, regarding it.

“So,” Lissie said. “You don’t have any pictures in this place, at least none that I can see. I took this on my phone so it’s not the best quality, but I think it’s pretty cute.”

I stared at the photo. It was of me and Lennox. We were both smiling, the beach our back drop. I remembered the day, just a couple weeks ago. Lenny, Zoe, Lissie, their new baby girl, Grace, Eli, and I had all gone to the beach. Everyone together and happy. It was a normal day. A day filled with happiness.

A rare day.

“Vic?” Lenny’s voice drifted to my ears. “Vic you’ve been staring at the photo for a few minutes now.”

“Thank you,” I said, turning my attention back to Lissie.

“It’s from both of us,” Lissie said, gesturing to Zoe.

“No,” Zoe said. “I got you a set of nice coasters. Because you are a neat freak.” At that the group started to laugh. The room filled with the sound just as my alarm went off. I glanced down at my watch; I only had an hour left.

“This has been…” I searched for the right word. “Fun. But I have to get going.”

“Where do you have to go?” Lenny exclaimed. “You still have more presents and we have games to play! Zoe was so excited to play charades. You haven’t even cut the fucking cake!”

“It’s okay,” Grace said, standing up. “We can come back another time. We did surprise him.”

“Yeah, and I think the operative word there was ‘Zoe’ was excited to play charades,” Zoe said, a small smile on her face. “I’m sleeping with this girl and she won’t even play with me.” Zoe gestured to Lissie.

Lissie shrugged. “Maybe you should step up your game.”

“Oh is that right?” Zoe yelled playfully. The conversation devolved among them and I took the opportunity to sneak away. As I was about to step on the first stair, a light touch on my wrist pulled me back.