Page 3 of Pushed Through The Dark
Breaking the silence, I finally asked, "So, Virgo, what exactly is this place?"
"It's called the Canary, and it's my pride and joy, my baby, if you will." Chuckling, he braided his fingers behind his back as his feet clicked like music across the floor. There was an eery skip to his step, and something sinister about his voice. "We're going just up here, it's nice and private, off-limits to most of my customers, except for the ones that I know personally."
Looking up the hall, I saw a man standing guard outside a door, his back was stiff and rigid. As we approached him, he opened the door and let us in. Napal and I followed Virgo inside, and the man closed the door behind us.
I heard a lock click, causing my lungs to inhale a sharp breath. Suddenly the urge to scream tripped inside my head and my muscles were tense and trembling, ready to engage and explode if I had to run.
Did he just lock us in?
"So, who wants a drink?" Virgo stepped to a small bar against the wall on my right, pulling three glasses out from underneath and grabbing a bottle of dark red liquid. "Please, take a seat." Turning his back to us, I could hear the liquor as he poured it into the glasses.
Napal led me to the table, pulling out a chair and pressing me into the seat with his hands. There was a darkness that came over the room, it weighed down my shoulders, making me want to slump forward and slink under the table.
I don't like this.
Virgo passed Napal a glass, then he handed one to me. The way he was staring at me made my nerves go wild. There was a look in his eyes, a blackness, an emptiness, like a shark zeroing in on its prey.
I took a sip instantly of the alcohol, trying to ease the nervous twitch I felt in my chest. The alcohol goes down easily, so I take a second, and then follow it with a third sip before cupping the glass in my hands.
The glass was cold and the liquor was warm, but it was only the coldness I felt. The iciness spread up my fingers, through my wrists, and continued up my arms. Tingles worked their way through my chest, and I could feel the sensation as it crawled over each rib and around my back.
I was frozen, unable to move or speak or breathe.
What's happening to me?
What's going on?
Virgo smiled, tipping his glass in my direction. "Feeling good?" he asked, his lips thinning as he glanced at Napal and then back at me. "Is it in your legs yet? Your feet? Your brain?"
He walked smoothly to my side, lifting a lock of my hair and pressing it to his nose. I tried so hard to lift my arm and swat him away, but I couldn't move. Trying to open my mouth, I wanted to scream, but nothing came out.
I couldn't speak, I couldn't flinch, I couldn't do a damn thing.
Napal was peering down at me, and I thought I saw a flicker of apology in his gaze. But he did nothing. He didn't say a word, he didn't stop this stranger from touching me in ways he had no right to. He just stood there like a statue, a coward, a fucking brainless monster.
I tried to scream again at the top of my lungs, I was trying so damn hard to push my voice out on shards of glass, slicing this creep where he stood. But I'm silent as a mouse, a voiceless puppet he could manipulate how he wanted to. It was like every muscle and tendon in my body was asleep, but my brain was wide awake.
Virgo's fingers stroked through my hair, brushing down softly. He moved the very tip of his fingers down the center of my back and across my shoulder blades. "You weren't lying, Napal, she's very pretty."
"Bene?" Napal asked, cocking a brow. "Siamo pari?"
'Well? Are we even?'
What the hell does he mean are we even? What the fuck is happening?
Virgo pat my head as I sat like a life-sized doll in a chair, his hands moving firmly, but with the tenderness you'd expect from a father to his daughter.
My stomach twisted as he looked me over, his eyes glossing with excitement. "Yeah, I think we're pretty close."
From the corner of my eye, I see Napal let out a heavy breath and his muscles relax. The weight leaves his body as Virgo seems happy with his gift. Napal smiled effortlessly, and it was then I realized he wasn't looking at me with apologetic eyes, he was looking at me with relief in his gaze.
Hope that I'd be good enough for this man.
Hope that I'd be a present Virgo would accept.
Hope that whatever had happened between these men would be forgiven now.
Virgo's smile thickened as he winked at me. "But pretty close isn't even, Napal."
