SWNOVELS Fear The Reapers: Chapter 24
After breakfast, I kept to myself for the rest of the day. I knew Cyrus was lingering somewhere, but after the morning’s events, I wasn’t ready to face him or really any of them, if I was honest.
I was ashamed. Ashamed of what Ezra made me do at the kitchen table. Ashamed of how much I liked it. Ashamed of how disappointed I was when he had to leave. And I was even ashamed that thinking about it now made my heart beat faster. What’s wrong with me?
I wasn’t stupid. I knew that his fascination with me was fleeting. But I have never had someone treat me so tenderly, yet send my pulse skyrocketing at the same time. I was as enamoured as I was terrified of Ezra. It was intoxicating. He made me feel alive, and that scared the hell out of me because I knew I was just a game to him. Nothing more than a toy to enjoy until he gets bored.
Even if Ezra’s affections towards me were genuine, he had no idea who I really was beyond these walls, and neither did any of his brothers. Well, except for Atlas, but that didn’t seem to matter to him anymore.
The really tragic thing about Atlas was that I would’ve accepted him for who he really was if he had just trusted me from the beginning. It might have taken some adjustments, but I would have accepted The Reaper side of him. Hell, my past wasn’t perfect, but I did what I needed to survive and I could understand that for him and his brothers, this was their way of surviving in this world. I could accept that.
What I couldn’t accept was the secret, bitchy girlfriend. I’m sorry, fiance. The one he neglected to mention while he let me throw myself at him almost every single night. That betrayal stung. But I didn’t know what was worse, that he didn’t tell me about her or that Melanie was everything I could never be.
Since the messy scene at Hell’s Tavern, Atlas’ cold shoulder treatment of me had been consistent, and it was obvious his brothers knew nothing of our history. Apparently, we both thought better of telling our siblings about each other. Maybe we were more alike than I thought.
As volatile as I expected them all to be, they’ve all been consistent with their treatment of me. Cyrus looked at me like he wanted to fuck me. Tristan looked at me like wanted to kill me or save me. Ezra looked at me like he wanted to eat me. And Atlas refused to look at me at all. It was my own treacherous body that wanted to change things and blur the lines between captive and captor.
It had only been a few days and already I was losing sight of why I came here. I needed to protect Alex, and I sure as hell couldn’t do that while being stuck here. I needed a solid plan of escape and unless I got my hands on one of their access cards; I was fucked.
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“Knock, Knock.” Cyrus said as he opened my bedroom door. His eyes searched around the room before settling on me. “Wear this,” he said, tossing a garment bag on one of my armchairs, “and meet me downstairs in five.”
His words sounded more like an order than a request. It was almost as if asking just wasn’t in his vocabulary. I had complicated feelings towards Cyrus. I knew he had the power to end me at any moment, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that he enjoyed having me around. We had this fiery banter between us and even though he could be an asshole, I liked fighting with him.
I slipped the zipper of the garment bag down and felt the buttery fabric graze against my knuckles. As the bag fell to the floor, it revealed a royal blue mini dress. It was that same form fitting buttery fabric as the dress from the other night, but this dress hit just above the knee and had a high slit. So apparently Cyrus was a fan of Jessie’s dress on me.
As I slid on the dress, Jessie’s words from that night replayed in my head. “They’re literally going to be eating out of the palm of your hand.” Maybe this was my chance to test that theory and who better than Cyrus to be my test subject.
◆◆◆
“Tris had to go meet the guys, so it’ll just be us tonight.” Cyrus called out, probably hearing the click of my heels descending the stairs.
I circled the staircase and froze when I saw the kitchen setup. Cyrus had pulled out all the stops. Standing in front of the kitchen island was a chef preparing dinner for us and as the aroma of his ingredients hit my nose, my mouth salivated.
“What is this?” I asked, my face a mixture of shock and confusion.
“Dinner.” Cyrus said, as his eyes took in my outfit.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” I asked, eyeing him curiously.
“I wanted to show you what life with us could be like, if you embraced it.” He said, running his hand through his silky dark hair.
“It’s not like I have much of a choice, either way.” I said, lowering my voice as I glanced at the chef.
I didn’t know how freely I could speak in front of him. Sure, I was in my own shitty situation, but that didn’t give me any right to put anyone else at risk.
“Don’t worry about Alessandro.” Cyrus said, seeing where my mind was at. “He works for us and understands how much we value our privacy.”
“Sit.” He said, gesturing towards the dining room table that served as the front row to my humiliation only hours ago.
Alessandro laid out a feast for us. With each course of the meal, Alessandro would explain each dish and describe the ingredients and special preparations he took. I didn’t know what half of the things he offered were, but every single bite was delicious.
Our appetizers were slices of ripe melon wrapped in prosciutto. I thought the combination would be awful, but the flavors pair well together and I had to stop myself from gorging on them.
The second course was the most delicious lobster bisque I had ever tasted. Truthfully, it was the only lobster bisque I had ever tasted, but everything Alessandro touched tasted like magic.
For the main course, he treated us to shrimp scampi pasta. I could taste the freshness in every ingredient, and the buttery sauce he made was to die for.
My tastebuds were overstimulated and my belly was full by the time he revealed dessert, but I couldn’t turn away the decadent chocolate souffle Alessandro had carefully prepared. The moment its creamy texture hit my tongue, my mind catapulted into pure bliss. No wonder the rich seemed happier. If they could afford to eat like this every day, I would be too.
As I eagerly dug into my souffle for a second bite, I looked up to find Cyrus’s eyes focused on me. Fuck. I scarfed all that food down like a behemoth, and he was probably regretting treating me to this meal. I was mortified.
I had never learned proper etiquette, and The Reapers seemed like the type of people that would turn their nose up at that. My cheeks flamed as I slowly lowered my fork and folded my hands in my lap.
“Why did you stop?” Cyrus asked from across the table.
“I’m full.” I chirped, looking everywhere but back at him.
“Bullshit.” He countered, getting up from his seat and bringing his own souffle.
As he made his way towards me, my heart pounded in my chest. Had my rude behavior finally set Cyrus off? He seemed the most even keeled out of all of his brothers, but maybe that was just because I hadn’t done anything to trigger him yet.
“Eat.” He ordered with his brows furrowed.
“I’m not hungry anymore.” I said, shrugging my shoulders and praying like hell that he’d drop the subject.
“Lie.” He spat as his nostrils flared.
“So, you’re a human lie detector now?” I scoffed, piercing my eyes at him.
“No.” He offered. “I just watched the way you reacted to that souffle. You want it, so eat it.”
I shook my head in response. I would not be bullied into putting on another show for him. I wasn’t some fucking monkey that danced when he said dance. At least I could have some pride in the fact that I didn’t know he was staring at me before. But doing it again while I knew he was watching felt dehumanizing.
Without another word, Cyrus dunked his finger into his own chocolate souffle, crumbling its crisp cake-like surface and digging deep into the gooey fudgy parts. He held it up to my lips and nudged my mouth open, dipping his chocolaty coated finger deep into my mouth. I licked it off, running my tongue up and down his finger while keeping my eyes locked on his. He slowly withdrew his finger, and I watched with a mixture of shock and fascination as his soft tongue swiped out to lick up the remnants I left behind.
“Now fucking eat.” He said, flashing me a toothy grin as he grabbed a spoon and dug into the rest of his dessert.
And with that, I grabbed my spoon and began eating again. After a few bites, Cyrus spoke up again.
“I used to eat like that too, you know.” He said, peering up at me through his thick lashes.
“Like what?”
“Like I didn’t know when my next meal was coming.” He said, digging in for another bite. “It took years to shake it off, even when food was no longer a scarcity.”
He said it so nonchalantly that I almost thought my ears were deceiving me. I said nothing in response. It was such a small admission, but it gave me a lot to think about. I had spent all this time thinking that they were cut from a different cloth than me. That I was beneath them and we would never have anything in common. But the more I got to know them, the more I was seeing just how alike we were.