CHAPTER TEN
"That's enough already!" I slammed my hands down on the table in front of Ali. "Quit buying nothing but strawberries every day! I'm the one who has to eat them! Try putting yourself in my shoes!" Boxes of berries were stacked a foot tall on the table.
"If you don't like it, start by turning those away." He pointed to the stack that had come from Halston.
I had tried that, and he knows it. I picked up my strawberry juice and drank it with a sour expression. I receive daily deliveries of strawberries. When Ali saw them, he somehow thought he needed to compete against Halston and he went out and bought strawberry products every day now. He even bought me a god damned strawberry shaped pillow! And as much as I'd like to call Halston to decline his gifts, he doesn't write his phone number on the delivery slips, and Ali won't tell me what it is. What the hell am I supposed to do?!
I've been taking some to school to pawn off on Riley. "Thanks for the strawberries yesterday. They were incredibly good. The ones that come in paulownia wood boxes sure are different."
"I'm glad you like them. Please, take some more today. There's cake, too." I opened the bakery box to show him the array of pastries.
"What? Your strawberry fair is still going on?"
"I'd love to get it wrapped up and over with, but it's complicated."
"Hey!" He called out to Jessica, Amy, and Shasta who were walking by. "Want some cake?" They took a look at the beautiful pastry on the table and came over, declaring that they shouldn't, but did anyway.
Huh. I realized that I couldn't remember the last time I thought about Jessica, which was strange considering the crush I had on her. I even glanced at her chest in her v-neck sweater that had a hint of cleavage. Nothing.
They each took a pastry, thanked me and left. "That reminds me, I heard the party for Alistor was amazing. Apparently, he was surrounded by shrieking girls like a celebrity." Riley took a bite of a pink macaroon.
"How did you know that?"
"That's what some online magazine said."
"For as much as you say you hate Ali, you sure keep good track of these things," I wondered aloud, and not for the first time.
"What are you trying to say?" He moved in close to me. "Are you thinking that maybe I actually love Alistor or something?" He waggled his eyebrows up and down. Then he grabbed me and dipped me playfully. "Not to worry. The one I'm in love with is you." Then he dropped me on the floor and laughed.
Getting up, I brushed myself off. "You're hilarious," I commented sarcastically.
"Do you have plans for Halloween?"
"No, nothing special."
"Do you want to help me with the haunted house the Hot Spring Research Society is putting on? We could use all the help we can get."
"Sure, why not. Could be fun."
As I left the school, I looked at my phone and found that it barely had any juice left. Well, shit. I guess I was going to have to people watch on the bus ride home. Too bad Ali wasn't picking me up today. I wouldn't even minded people staring at his mondo expensive car.
Stepping off campus, a black Maybach pulled up to the curb. The back door opened, and there was Halston.
I immediately turned and walked the opposite direction. "Wait!" Why were my feet stopping? At least they didn't turn around to face him. He walked over to me, but I still didn't turn around. "I was hoping to run into you here, but I didn't know when your last class let out. Perhaps it's fate."
Fate? Sure buddy. It had nothing to do with you stalking me at my school. "Have you been getting my strawberries?"
That had me turning around. This was a perfect opportunity to ask him to stop sending me gifts. "Uh, thank you very much. I appreciate the thought, but you don't need to send them anymore."
"Was there something wrong with them?" Sunlight was bouncing off his glass' lenses making him look more like an evil villain in a movie.
"Oh no, that's not it. It's just that you keep sending them day after day and I'm..."
"Then shall we make it every other day?"
God this guy was frustrating. "No, that's not what I was trying to say."
"What is the difficulty here?"
If you'd let me finish mother fucker. "Well, when you send them..."
I must've raised my voice too loud, because we were starting to attract attention from passersby. One lady asked her friend, "Are they fighting?" Halston really didn't like that.
"Come." He took my hand in a forceful grip and drug me towards his car. "We'll continue this at the Smoak estate. We'll have lunch." I had started to pull against him, but the mention of the Smoak estate gave me pause. Did he mean the home that Ali had grown up in?
He held the door open for me. Of course, I didn't want to be stuck with Halston...again. But the curiosity of seeing where Ali grew up was nearly over whelming. Fuck it! What's the worst that could happen? And maybe I could put an end to the strawberry fair once and for all. I got in.
I nearly pissed my pants.
This is where Ali grew up? Well, after he came back from France. The place was a palace, a castle. Mansion didn't cover it. The drive from the gate to the front door took forever. It was surrounded by its own forest. I wish I knew more about architecture like Tavis, because I'm pretty sure there was a better way to describe it than fancy. Was that a spire with a domed roof? I mean I knew they were rich, but I had no idea it'd be this incredible.
Inside, the entryway was bigger than the hall that Ali's party had been thrown in. A maid in a uniform greeted us, taking Halston's briefcase. Lying in the front window was a golden Afghan Hound, that I noticed didn't get up to greet Halston. A dark-haired man in his fifties, a tawny cravat at his throat, came over and gave a small bow. "Welcome home, Master Halston. A guest, sir?" He turned to me with a welcoming smile.
"Yes," was all Halston said before he walked off leaving us both.
"Welcome. I serve as the butler of this household. My name is Tanner." A butler! What was this, Downton Abbey?
Tanner took me to some sort of formal sitting room and served me tea. I looked around at the antique furniture, velvety curtains, stunning pieces of artwork, vases of fresh flowers, and fire in the gigantic fireplace. I don't know what it was about this house, if it's too big or what, but it feels cold somehow.
Tanner came in. "I am very sorry. Master Halston has said he requires a bit more time due to matters of business, so please wait a while longer." He had a kind smile.
"Okay." What a dick! Bringing me out here and then leaving me waiting over thirty minutes. It wasn't Tanner's fault, though, so I keep my thoughts to myself. Feeling weird, I observed, "This is an incredible house."
"It was built in 1881; it has held up very well," he smiled again.
"Um, these sandwich cookies are really great." I held it up for him like he didn't know what cookie it was.
"They are made with homemade cherry preserves."
"Aww, that explains it then. Cherries are my favorite." Better than death by strawberries.
"It is very rare for Master Halston to bring someone such as yourself here. Pardon my rudeness, but are you a business acquaintance of his?"
"Uh, no. I'm staying with Ali.. err, I'm rooming at Alistor's place." He didn't come close to hiding the shock on his face. "My brother, Tavis, was Ali's classmate in college, and through that connection..." His face having not changed made me trail off. I tried again, "Um, Ali's been very good to me."
"Oh, please pardon me. Master Alistor was not the sort to do such things, so it caught me somewhat by surprise. Is he doing well?"
"Ah, yeah." I didn't know how much Ali would want me saying, so I didn't add anything.
"Ever since he was little, he has tended to...stay away from the house, if you will. He left home immediately upon graduation from high school. When he was at home, he would speak very little. There is a storage closet on the second floor that he would always stay in there, gazing out the window and writing in his notebooks."
I could almost see little boy Ali, always alone, working with single thought on his writing. Not much different than now. Even though it was sad, I was glad Tanner shared it with me. I don't supposed Ali would care too much if I told Tanner a little of how he was doing. "He's doing really well. His hours can get a bit irregular because of work, but he loves it. I cook all our meals, he eats everything properly, except for green peppers. I'd venture to say he's happy."
"Then that must mean that Master Alistor has opened up to you."
"Uh, I-I don't know about that. Maybe to some degree..."
"I'm glad to hear it," he mused. "Then, did you also meet Master Halston through him?"
"Ah, well, something like that. Sometimes I can't believe they're brothers. They couldn't be more different if they tried."
"So, you don't know...?"
"Know what?"
"Oh, I hope you don't think I'm speaking out of turn to say this, but, that is, the two of them make no attempt to have anything in common, if you will. The truth is, they have different mothers." My teacup stopped halfway to my lips.
The double doors opened; it was Halston. When he saw Tanner he interrogated, "What are you talking about? Mind your own business." I couldn't believe his disrespect.
Tanner gave a small bow. "Please pardon me." He left the room.
So, Ali and Halston are half-brothers? That explained a lot.
"Was he asking you meddlesome questions?"
"Not at all. You didn't have to speak to him like that."
He ignored me and sat down across from me. When he hadn't said anything in about a minute, I'd had it. Coming here had been a mistake and I was ready to go. "Listen, please stop sending strawberries. Thanks again, but please stop."
"If you enjoyed them, surely you have no reason to decline them."
I would say he can't take a hint, but I'm being direct. "I'm saying I don't want them. Why would you send me something I don't want?"
He stood and starting walking out of the room. "I've checked up on various matters concerning you."
"What?" Wanting to know what he was talking about had me picking up my book bag and following him.
He went up the stairs. "Both your current situation, and the situation of those around you." What was he doing checking up on me? It didn't exactly surprise me, but that didn't mean that I had to like it. Stopping and opening a door on the second floor, he told me to, "Come in." It was a large bedroom with a canopy bed, fireplace, desk, and room to spare. "I've prepared it for you."
"What?!"
"Leave Alistor's place and come here. It's ten minutes by train to the Academy of Art University. If you prefer, I could have a car chauffeur you."
"Are you out of your mind? Why would I ever do that?"
"It may be alright now, but eventually, problems are bound to arise from your being with him." It sounded as though he'd been talking to Donnan, not wanting me to cause problems for Ali. But Donnan wants to sell books, why would Halston care if I cause trouble for Ali. The way he hates him, you'd think that would be what he wanted.
"This is none of your business. If something were to happen I could just go to my brother's place, anyway."
"There must be problems with you staying with your brother or you would already be there, right? That's why you're at his home in the first place."
"Then I'll get my own place!" I shouted. "This is none of your concern!" I tried to get past him out the door, but he blocked me with his arm.
"I know that you are not financially well-off."
"Yet another thing you discovered about me in your snooping around about me. I've had enough of this. I want to leave!"
He still wouldn't move his arm, and I was this close to putting my hands on him and forcing him to move. "None of your problems will be an issue here, and you will have a better life here than with Alistor."
"Why are you doing this?" I stabbed my fingers through my hair to keep from knocking his ass to the ground.
"I believe I told you that I love you."
I shook my head. This was really embarrassing, mostly for him. "Dude. That is seriously fucked up. We don't even know each other. We've spent, like, less than thirty minutes together, and for me, they weren't so great." I was way past being polite and caring about his feelings. Even so, I was still holding back. I was proud of myself for not calling him an asshole yet.
"When we met..." he took the mother of all pauses that was finally interrupted by a maid.
"Master Halston, there is a phone call for you."
"Get rid of them. I'll call them back later."
"But, sir..." She leaned in and said something to him in a low voice that I couldn't hear.
"Understood. I'll be right there."
Grabbing my hand, he insisted, "Come with me." He pulled my arm so hard and took me completely by surprise, that I was across the hall before I knew what was going on.
"What are you doing? Let go!" And he did let me go. He shoved me through a door hard enough that I fell. He slammed the door shut and I heard a key in the lock. "Hey! Open the door asshole!"
"I have no intention of harming you. Stay there for a while for me."
"Mother fucker open up this god damned door right now!" But apparently he had left. "I'm going to kick your fucking ass dickhead!" I screamed as pulled on the doorknob fruitlessly.
What about the other people in this house? Tanner was a nice guy. "Tanner! TANNER!" I banged the door with my fists over and over. The house was completely quiet. They were probably in another wing of this stupid museum of a house.
"My phone!" I took it out of my bag. "Worthless piece of shit!" It was completely dead.
I looked around me. I was in a storage closet with a desk, linen chest...and a window! Yes, and it opens! "Hello! Is anyone out there? HELLO!" I screamed until my throat hurt. God damned private forest. The closest I saw of anyone was some black birds that I scared with my shouting.
There had to be something that I could do. Maybe if I found some tools I could take the door off its hinges. Starting with the desk, I started opening drawers. The very first drawer I opened had three blue notebooks inside. Alistor Smoak, May 2, I read off the top one. These were Ali's. I picked it up and started looking through it.
I had gotten out of my meeting sooner than I had expected, so I rushed over to the school to see if I could catch Kip to give him a ride home. Maybe we could pick something up for dinner, something without strawberries.
I had arrived at the school just in time to see Kip getting into a car with my brother. What the hell? I had tried to follow them, but I was on the opposite side of the street with a median in the middle and by the time I got over there, I had lost them.
I had no idea what he was doing with Halston, but I can bet it wasn't his idea. And even though I technically didn't have any reason to be, I started to get scared for Kip's safety. I hoped that perhaps he was simply giving him a ride home, so I went there first. The apartment was empty. Only just remembering that he had a cell phone, I tried to call, but it went straight to voicemail. I got back in my car. Where could they have gone? Shopping? I went to his favorite stores. To eat? I went to his favorite places. They weren't at any of them.
They could be anywhere. Out of options, I sped to last place I wanted to go. "Master Alistor?" Tanner was visibly stunned at me barging into the Smoak estate.
"Is he here? A young man with teal hair and green eyes."
"Yes, he was definitely here."
"He already left, though." Halston came down the stairs. "Too bad for you. You just missed him. You should go home now."
"You're up to no good, as always. Why would you bring him here? What did you tell him to come?"
"Making baseless accusations on your rare visit home? It seems being an author affords you a lot of free time."
Alexander, our old dog, came over, pulling on my pants leg with his teeth and whining. "What's wrong?" I asked him.
He took off for the front door, barking loudly. "What could it be? He's usually so quiet," Tanner noted. Halston had gone quite still, glaring at the dog.
Opening the front door, Alexander took off. Tanner and I chased after him. Heading around the corner to the east wing of the estate, stopping halfway down the wall, he looked up at the second story. My heart leapt to my throat at the sight of Kip attempting to scale out of the window on a rope made out of linens. He was already out of the window and a good two feet past the ledge. "Kip!" I screamed out of terror.
And then the world stopped and everything went into horrible slow motion as I watched helplessly as the flimsy rope of sheets tore under his weight and he cried out as he fell nearly forty feet to the ground. I tried to get to him, I did, but I was just too far away.
As long as I lived I would never forget the sound of the thud as his body slammed into the ground. "Kip!" I sprinted, skidding to my knees next to him. I was barely aware of Tanner yelling and a maid screaming. "Kip please be okay." I couldn't lose him. I couldn't!
He laid still for a few moments, and in those few moments terrifying musing of broken necks and backs, head injuries, and more played through my head. The world went from grey to technicolor when he opened his eyes. "Ow, that hurt." His voice was strained and his eyes were bleary, but he was talking and moving. "I'm okay." My hands were on him, searching for broken bones.
A shadow fell over us; it was Halston. I felt a murderous rage. "I thought you said he'd already left." He was a good damned liar. He made no answer, staring down at us, his features as inscrutable as ever.
Deciding that Kip was uninjured enough to be moved I picked him and cradled him in my arms. Deigning to stop on my way off the property, I glowered at Halston. "No matter what you took from me, I've always kept quiet about it. But Kip is the one thing that I will never let you take. Do you understand me? I'm begging you; you do not want to see the scorched earth I will leave in my wake. I will have no qualms in destroying you. Kip is off limits." Leaning down I drank deeply from Kip's lips to show Halston exactly what I felt for him. When I pulled away, Kip was the color of one of his strawberries, but I knew, for my sake, he kept any protest he had at being kissed in front of others to himself. He wanted as little to do with Halston as I did. So much so, that he nearly killed himself climbing out of a second story window.
Marching to my car like a soldier marching off the battlefield, Tanner fell into step beside me. "Master Alistor, the doctor is on his way, so..."
"No need, I'm taking him myself."
Halston did not watch us go.
"S-stop it, Ali. This is the parking lot." When we had reached the underground parking lot under our apartment building after he had taken me to his doctor, he made no move to get out of the car, instead taking off his seatbelt and leaning over to kiss me. "What are you going to do if someone sees us?"
"We'll give them an eye full." He didn't care.
"Well I care. Enough public displays today, okay? I'm injured, you know." I attempted to play to his sympathies, even though I knew it was a pointless endeavor. It was easy to see that he was immensely upset over what had happened. I had a feeling it would be a while before I was able to escape his clutches.
"Consider it a miracle that you got away with just a sprain." I had never seen Ali so angry, which I thought was impossible, when I had told him everything that had happened before he got there. He made me swear to never go anywhere with Halston again. It was an easy promise to make. "This could have all been easily avoided."
"Then you should have given me his phone number so I could've had asked him to stop with the strawberries!"
"So, you just follow him wherever he wants you to? You're too careless." He scowled at me, but wrapped his arms around me.
"So, basically, you'd miss me if I disappeared? Is that it?" I couldn't help but poke a little fun at him.
His response to this was to lay my seat all the way back. This is what I get for teasing him. "Hey, what are you doing?"
He gently lifted my calf, placing tender kisses on my wrapped injured ankle. "I would miss you." He looked up at me with eyes full of an emotion opposite from anger. Moving closer to my face he asked, "How would you feel if you lost me?"
As usual, he was taking me off guard. Sometimes I knew how I felt, and others I still couldn't believe it was for a man. I tried to think of love as just love, no matter who it was for, but it was a difficult practice to undertake. Most of the time, I felt confused, and frustrated. My confusion made it impossible to know how to react most of the time, which often caused me to lash out at Ali, refusing him. But he must have known this because he inundated my senses until they were full of him, making nothing but capitulation possible.
I hadn't reached that point yet. "I-I wouldn't know!"
He pressed his upper body against mine. "I won't let you go until you tell me."
"I told you, I don't know." Why was I like this? Why couldn't I just tell him I'd be devastated without him?
"It has to be you for me." My heart flipped over.
"Wh-what's that supposed to mean?" I knew what it meant.
He shouldn't have been being tender with me when I said these stupid things, but he was. "Open yourself up to the truth." He kissed me so deeply that I couldn't breathe, and so intently that I didn't even notice that he had opened my jeans. Removing his mouth from mine, he moved down to slide my erection down his throat, an erection that I always seemed to have when he was nearby. I could deny my feelings all I want, but I couldn't deny that.
"Oh god," fell from my lips as he swallowed me whole, consuming me. He made love to me with his mouth, his lips, his throat, his tongue...dear god his tongue. I hadn't forgotten that we were, essentially, in public, I actually found it turning me on more. To think that any second someone could walk right past us and not even know that Ali was sucking my dick in his car.
I had been gripping the seat and the door, but the closer I got to coming, I found the need to touch him irresistible. Delving my hands into his thick gold brown hair, I gripped it, tugging at the roots ever so slightly. He sucked me harder, pulling and pushing my cock faster and faster. "Ali, I'm going to come," I inexplicably wanted him to know. A hand reached up to rub a finger over my bottom lip. Flicking out my tongue, I drew it into my mouth and began sucking on it. A garbled moan issued from my lap, his head never ceasing its undulation. As if my cock were a gun, I came like a gunshot exploding in his mouth. "Ah, ahhhh," my cry was loud enough to echo in the car.
The grin on Ali's lips was pure decadence. He leaned up and kissed me, sharing my taste, and I found that I didn't mind it. Pulling back and gazing at me, he appeared to be waiting for me to say something. I told him, "Take me upstairs."
I wouldn't need crutches, but the doctor advised staying off my ankle until morning, so Ali easily picked me up and put me on his back. He didn't put his hands under my knees, though, but rather holding my bottom. "I'm a college student, and you're giving me a piggyback ride?"
"Would you rather I carried you in my arms?"
"No, thank you. This is better."
Right then the flap of my book bag that Ali had slung over his shoulder, hung loosely open, giving me a partial view of the three notebooks that I had taken with me from the closet. I read them when I was locked in there. They weren't journals, as I had first suspected, but novels that he had written as a child. And they were all sad stories. But in those stories, the protagonists all found happiness in the end. I don't read books much so I don't really know, but I think that it was pretty obvious that Ali was lonely when he was writing them. I want to know more about him. I want to ask him more things. But I can't. I feel like if I asked it would only trouble him. I leaned my cheek against his hair.
The one frantic thought that was in my mind when I was locked in there was that I had to hurry back to be with Ali.
The next morning, I received a delivery of cherries. Damn Tanner sold me out.