He was choosing me … Arthur was choosing me.
The front door opened again, and Vera’s and Eric’s voices drifted down the hallway. Arthur didn’t get up to greet them. He kept his arm around me and drank his gin like the king he was.
Vera came to the living room first. She smiled, but it seemed strained. “Here he is,” she said. Behind her was a medium-height, slim boy with curly brown hair that flopped into his eyes. His gaze was lowered. He wore all black, and long black bandages hid his wrists and forearms. My stomach fell. There was only one reason why someone would need such things. One thing he could be trying to hide.
“Gene.” Eva got to her feet. She held him, and he reluctantly held her back, looking as though he wanted to be anywhere but in this room with us all right now. When she pulled away, Gene’s eyes flitted away from the floor. He had hazel eyes and pale skin. He was skittish, and clearly had little to no confidence. He was shy. But by the small, nervous smiles he cast at everyone, he seemed sweet.
He scanned the room, eyes landing on me. If he was surprised by me, he didn’t show it. Charlie stood and headed toward Gene, and Gene’s head lifted for the first time and stayed high. His eyes stayed fixed on Charlie.
“Gene,” Charlie said, wrapping him in his arms. Gene tucked his head into the crook of Charlie’s neck and held him back. His fingers splayed on Charlie’s suit jacket, like he was trying to sink his grip into him and never let go. “You okay, kid?”
“Yeah,” Gene said, and a lump formed in my throat at how tightly Gene was holding Arthur’s cousin. As if Gene was drowning and Charlie was the lifejacket keeping his head above the waves.
Charlie pulled back and tapped Gene’s cheek. “We’ve missed you, kid,” he said, and Gene smiled the sweetest of smiles. He seemed so different to the rest of his family. The opposite of his sister and brother. Eric was larger than life and lethal; Vera was opinionated and could cut you down with one scathing look. Gene … I couldn’t help but think he was too innocent for this life. Too precious. He needed to be wrapped in cotton wool and coddled.
“I’ve missed you too,” he all but whispered. Charlie turned to go to the bar. Gene’s hazel gaze followed him the entire way.
Eric appeared behind Gene and put his hands on his younger brother’s shoulders. “He’s back!” Eric said, then lifted his head to the rest of the room. He zeroed in on Betsy … then the man at her side. His joy at Gene’s return dropped, and his face turned murderous. “Who the fuck is this cunt?” Eric moved Gene aside and stormed farther into the room.
Before Betsy could open her mouth in introduction, Eric slammed his hand on the back of Jacob’s neck. “Get the fuck out!” He dragged Jacob from the room.
“Eric!” Betsy shouted after him, anger in her voice as she ran to the living room doorway. She stopped dead as the front door slammed shut. She backed up a few steps, then Eric was suddenly in the room again. He was breathing hard and had rage in his eyes.
He pointed at Betsy’s face. “Bring that wankstain around here again and I’ll slit his fucking throat. You fucking know I’m not pissing about.”
“You’re such a prick!” Betsy went to slice her hand across Eric’s face, but he caught her wrist in the air before she could. He slammed her to his chest, and Betsy spat in his face. “Get the fuck off me,” she said threateningly, under her breath.
Eric laughed in her face, then released her wrist. “Bitch.”
“The biggest,” Betsy shot back, then walked to her chair, leaving Eric glaring after her, seething. I caught her eye as she sat down, wanting to know if she was okay. Her smug smile told me she was more than okay; the subtle wink she threw me told me she, in fact, felt victorious.
I had no idea what the hell had just happened.
Arthur tapped my arm. I got up and we headed to Gene. Arthur embraced him. “Gene.”
Gene gave him a timid hug back. “Artie.” Gene’s gaze moved to me again, and I smiled at him.
I held out my hand. “Cheska,” Arthur said, but with no other introduction.
“Lovely to meet you,” I said, and Gene slightly bowed his head.
Eric held Gene’s shoulders again and steered him toward a three-seater sofa. Vera and Eric flanked his either side, like guards who had been charged with protecting their fragile twenty-year-old sibling. Gene didn’t speak, only nodded or shook his head in response to anything anyone asked him.
Arthur pulled me down to his lap again, playing with a strand of my hair. His fingertips grazed the top of my spine and sent shivers ricocheting down my back.
Ronnie arrived an hour later. She shook her head at Arthur, and I knew she had been doing something for him. It would have been something to do with the recent attacks on his drugs. And I knew she was still searching for any trace of my attackers, of those who had taken her. I still didn’t know the full story. I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
The night rolled on, and it wasn’t long before Gene asked to go home. He was staying with Eric. He seemed exhausted, circles darkening under his eyes. Vera and Ronnie left to settle in Gene too. Charlie and Betsy left shortly afterwards, leaving only a few of us in the room.
“Grandma?” Arthur said. “You need a car?”
“Soon.” She got to her feet. “I’m going to spend some time with my son first.” She breezed out of the room. Arthur had tensed as she said that, and I turned and studied him. There was no expression on his face. Only the slight tension in his body told me he’d had any kind of reaction to his grandma visiting his father.
“I’m going to bed,” Freddie said, then stopped in front of me. “Eva’s bark’s worse than her bite,” he said. “She’s just protective of Golden Boy here.”
“Fuck off,” Arthur said, but I caught the amusement in his gruff tone. Arthur’s arm around my waist tightened. “Night.” Freddie walked out of the room, leaving only us and Vinnie.
“Pearl wants to know if you want another drink. Said she misses her brother,” Vinnie said, and I heard Arthur’s breath hitch at the mention of his sister. I frowned and slipped my hand down over his on my waist. I squeezed his hand. That seemed to ignite something in Arthur, and he stood, lifting me off the chair and placing my feet on the floor.
“We’re going to bed,” he said.
“Night night,” Vinnie said, his disturbing smile coming our way. “Don’t let the bedbugs bite!”
Arthur pulled me toward his bedroom. The minute the door was shut, he pulled off his jacket and tossed it onto the nearby chair. The strange mood that he had been in for days and days still stuck to him like the smoke from his cigarettes.
Then he turned on me, backing me against the wall. He wanted to fuck me. Fuck me the same way he always had. But I wanted something else. As he stepped toward me, I ducked away from him and walked into the en suite. I closed the door and changed into my purple silk nightgown. I could hear Arthur pacing the bedroom outside.
When I opened the bathroom door, Arthur was sitting on the edge of the bed. Shirt off, only his trousers on, the fly already undone, that defined V leading the way underneath. “Get the fuck here, princess,” he said. I saw he was hard underneath his trousers. His face was flushed and his eyes were piercing as they fixed on me.