“She’s standing up for you,” Aleera said, her voice soft. Her blue eyes shone. “But she’s standing up for you in a language our father understands. I think we should trust her to be able to negotiate for you. Since… even if you picked her on a whim, because of chance – she’s been doing a great job.”
Well, Cyrus had to agree there. A good job, indeed. Better than he ever anticipated. He thought she’d be nervous and timid the whole time, acting as a representative for him. Instead, she’d stepped up and shown exactly what she was made of.
If he’d stayed there, he would have done something he’d regret. It was too easy to be goaded by his father, to feel that hatred burning bright. Growing up with such a parent tended to have that effect.
He thought of Sasha, standing up so boldly for him. Sasha, who had no real reason to mount such a defense toward him. That amazing, strong woman who took everything in stride and risked working alongside them in the underworld while he and his sister made their fortune.
How did Cyrus get to be so lucky to find this woman?
“Maybe we can play something together. Since you seem too nervous to sit still and do nothing.” Aleera pulled out a pack of playing cards, and they played a few simple two-player games to while away the time.
Eventually, a knock came, and Imogen and Sasha stumbled into the apartment.
“How did everything go?” Cyrus asked, trying to not looktooanxious about the whole situation. Even though he wondered if his father had said anything untoward – or had put Sasha in an incredibly uncomfortable spot.
“Great, actually,” Sasha said, accepting Aleera’s offer of a light beer. “I think your father and I have reached an accord. He will let you win – in fact, he’s more inclined to let you win every single match you do from now on – in exchange for eventually revealing you to the world if you’re so willing. Although he doesn’t think this reveal will come for a long time yet.”
Cyrus mulled over the words. “He no longer wants me to kneel under the family he’s hoping to tame. That’s something, I suppose. Although I’m not sure if I want to be revealed. It would still play into my father’s hands…”
“I think it’s the best deal we can get at this stage,” Aleera responded. She gave Sasha a pleasing smile. “We get to keep doing what we’re doing. Sure, Dad gets to parade us out at some point, but I don’t see any disadvantages to it. It means, to the public, that heacceptsus.”
Cyrus’ mouth opened and closed several times. Right. He hadn’t actually considered that. He was usually too busy assuming his father thought the worst of them. That it was a trick, somehow – a cruel trick designed to aggravate and antagonize in some way.
He still couldn’t quite shake off the feeling that there was something bigger and nastier behind whatever deal Sasha and Torag had struck. But right now, the opportunity seemed more than he’d ever anticipated.
“Well done, Sasha,” he said then, looking into her glassy green eyes. “You did what I didn’t think would be possible it seems.”
She flushed and smiled, shyly crossing her hands. “It was nothing. After everything you guys have done for me, this was the least I could do.”
Imogen plucked herself a dark beer, taking a deep sniff of it. “Just as well you have me to keep an eye on her. He was definitely eyeing Sasha in an alarming way.”
“To be fair, my father generally looks alarming to everyone he encounters, so I’m not sure that’s exactly a new thing.”
They laughed and joked about the situation, and the tension in the room evaporated. Eventually, they parted – Imogen returning home, Aleera settling down for the night, and Cyrus driving Sasha home. In the car, they kept glancing at one another.
By the end of the car ride, Cyrus’ nerves were in ruin, and the tension in the air was unbearable. Sasha paused before getting out, her hand lingering behind her as if wanting for him to reach out and grab it.
“Cyrus,” she said, turning those mesmerizing eyes on him. “I need to know if you will come to Thanksgiving. My mom prefers to know ASAP, and she’s been harassing me about it when I mentioned a friend and his sister might be coming. So, are you interested?”
Staring into her eyes, thinking how easy it would be to get lost in them, he didn’t register her words for a moment. “Oh, uh.” He smiled awkwardly. “Uh, yeah. We will. I’d love to. We’d love to.” God, why were words so difficult all of a sudden?
The tension in the air seemed to thicken. His mind started wandering to crazy places. Places where he imagined doing so much more than just sitting here in this little car, whispering goodbye. He imagined grasping her by her soft cheeks. Pulling their faces in close. Brushing lips together, light, at first, and then firmly and hungrily, committing to the act.
Maybe something of that desire showed in his expression because Sasha’s eyes seemed to dilate into black holes, and there was a stiff hesitation in her when she smiled.
“Amazing. I’ll tell my parents. They’ll be so damn happy. Just… bear in mind that you may or may not end up getting a lot of questions about how long we’ve been meeting each other, whether are you my boyfriend and maybe some awkward questions about if you want kids or not – I just need to tell you now because this is exactly what you can expect with my family.”
“Oh.” He moved a few inches back, though it took some extra effort to not give into the impulse he now felt burning within. “That sounds a lot more invasive than what I’m used to.”
“I suspect you’re used to nothing other than the family business I suppose?”
“Something like that.” He swallowed thickly, inhaling the apple-like scent of her perfume. He really liked it. It suited her and gave a subtle sweetness to her whole presence. “Listen. I uh, I wanted to thank you for what you did with my father. With how you were able to talk to him and get him to not screw me over for once. I don’t think there are words to express how much this means to me.”
“Perhaps there isn’t,” she said, with a rather mysterious smile. “But introducing you to my family seems like a good start.”
As she left the car, Cyrus felt a mad impulse to grab her hand and pull her back. Give into the desires bubbling in his head. Instead, they boiled within as he watched Sasha enter her dingy little apartment block. It also became rather… uncomfortable “down there.”
Well, he certainly hadn’t felt this way about a woman in a while. It was so much better than trying to force himself to like someone. When the attraction came in places where it wasn’t expected when there wasn’t a parental figure trying to hook him up with a relatively powerful family before deciding it better to let Cyrus drift away from the family tree completely. For who would want to potentially deal with corrupted offspring after all? Even if the family itself had connections.