And when I did, I forgot all about the shirt and the shower and my state of undress. And the fact that I’d told myself I was done crying.
The dreaded tears began to flow as I dropped to my knees and silently cursed Vaughn in my head.
“Ignore it,” I whispered to myself.
Jesus, it should be such an easy thing – to ignore it, get up, shower, and leave this place.
But I couldn’t move. Not to get up, not even to curl into a ball on the floor like I wanted.
All I could do was stare in confusion as a little spark of unexpected hope began to curl through my entire body as I stared at Vaughn’s “gift” which glittered like gold against the stark, dingy tiles beneath me.
The jerk had brought out the big guns… and he probably didn’t even know it.
Damn freaking butterscotch.
Chapter 5
Vaughn
My shirt looked huge on him. It wasn’t that I was even that big of a guy, Aleks was just so…
Beautiful.
I sighed silently at my brain’s attempt to be logical. The reasonable side of me was fully aware that the now twenty-year-old Aleks had lost some weight over the years, making him look pretty lean. Although Marcus had used food as a means to control Aleks, he’d also prized Aleks’s beauty and had made sure he was physically healthy, so he hadn’t starved him long-term. But that didn’t mean he hadn’t withheld food to punish Aleks. And while I’d never seen Marcus strike Aleks firsthand, there was no denying that the man had physically abused him at one point because I’d seen the scars on Aleks’s back.
His back.
Where admirers were less likely to see the marks when Marcus paraded his pet in front of them.
I felt my anger stirring at even the image my mind was conjuring up of all the things Marcus had done to Aleks, and it took all of my power to focus on the road in front of me. But of course, I couldn’t stop sending glances Aleks’s way, mostly because he was fingering the hem of my shirt. The move was distracting the hell out of me, but I knew Aleks wasn’t even aware of it. He was clearly nervous and I couldn’t really blame him. It was probably only now registering with him what he’d done by choosing to stay with me rather than go home. I half expected him to beg me to take him home.
Which I would.
As badly as I wanted to keep him safe, I hadn’t considered what my actions would do to him. I also knew he’d only chosen me over his brother to keep Dante and the rest of his family safe.
I said I believed you but that doesn’t mean I trust you. I don’t… not anymore. Not ever again, Vaughn.
Fuck, that had hurt.
Still did.
We’d gotten back on the road nearly an hour earlier and Aleks had yet to speak to me. He hadn’t even asked me what was going to happen next. I thought maybe it was because he didn’t trust me to tell him the truth, but I was starting to wonder if there wasn’t another reason for his silence.
Just like he’d reverted to believing Marcus was alive when I’d tried to untie him earlier, maybe he was relying on the behavior that had kept him alive in the past.
Don’t speak unless spoken to.
Don’t ask questions.
Don’t talk back.
It was likely an endless list of hard-learned lessons and I hated that he was associating any of them with me.
Another hour passed in silence. The sun was just starting to come up over the horizon when we reached the interstate.
“Do you want to stop for something to eat before we get on the interstate?” I asked. “I need to get gas anyway.”
Aleks’s right hand moved to his mouth so he could chew on his fingernail. He shook his head. “No, thank you… sir.”
I actually jerked the wheel a bit when he called me that. If he’d called me “sir” in a snide tone to prove he was pissed at me, I would have been relieved because it meant he felt something. But he’d added it so naturally… like when he’d addressed any one of Marcus’s colleagues that he’d either encountered at the mansion or at one of the few outside events Marcus had taken him to.
I found myself pulling the car over to the side of the road because I was so disturbed I found it hard to breathe. I wrapped both hands around the steering wheel and held on like it was my lifeline.
Because if I didn’t, I’d take my anger out on the damn thing and Aleks didn’t need to see that.
I had no clue how long we sat there for because I lost track of things. My mind was reliving every moment where I could have gotten Aleks out of that fucking mansion sooner. I could have done it the very night I’d spoken to him for the first time.