Deactivated
WESTLEY
He tricks me. This asshole tricks me!
Did he, now? Or he was just trying to help you, idiot?
“Hmm. This is delicious.” He shoved another forkful into his mouth.
There was something in his aura tonight-his eyes glittered, and he seemed to smile most of his conversation with Keene since he came for dinner. What was with this man?
“Don’t get tricked with Westley. She probably took this recipe from Martha’s website,” Keene replied.
“Can I hire her as my chef?” Clyve had a playful smile crossing his lips.
“Go ahead, man. Just be careful not to annoy her because we don’t wanna end up in the body bag, do we?” Keene laughed softly, throwing me another glance.
They pinned their gazes at me when I didn’t say anything.
“Don’t you like the food, Westley?” Why did he keep calling me Westley?
“I’m not really hungry.” I placed down the fork that I’d been toying with snap peas and carrot soba noodles.
“Are you feeling sick?” Keene asked, wearing a worry on his face.
“I’m fine, really. You two just dig up and enjoy your meal.” I stood up and carried my plate to the kitchen.
I eavesdropped on their conversation when Clyve asked Keene, which was not what I used to do. I couldn’t help it. It was just that everything he did was frying my brain.
I sucked a deep breath upon placing the dirty dishes into the sink.
He didn’t have any idea how huge he changed my life since he came. I didn’t know if I should thank him or despise him for barging as easily as that. But if he would be true to his words, I would be able to help Keene, but people would not just help others for free. I knew this from my experience. My father was a shark and always hungered for power and money. And I grew up in that kind of environment.
So, what was he after? Clyve didn’t look like to be someone who was paid by my family. He is a Linton.
“All right?” Clyve’s low voice startled me.
I turned to face him. “Are you always this nosy?” My words came out through gritted my teeth.
“No. You seem off tonight. You barely ate.” He seemed worried. He then let out a sigh.
“I’m fine, and stop asking because I’m barely holding on a fine thread not to punch your nose.”
“Go ahead. If that makes you feel better.” He placed the plate on the counter.
“That was a figure of speech, Linton. Jeez!”
“Do you think I’m that wad?”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t know. You tell me.”
“Is this about-”
“Don’t, or I swear to God I might plan on poisoning you.”
“Feisty.” A smile slowly curved on his lips as he looked at me.
Oh, my God! I wanted to punch him so badly. I had to fist my hands to control my irritation, but my stupid heart raced to see that smile on his face. It was almost contagious.
I didn’t want to end up sleeping on the grass. Keene would definitely kick me out of his house or worse out of his property if I laid a hand on Clyve.
“I’ll go back to Keene. We’ll talk later.”
“No.”
“It’s about him, Westley.”
My scowl deepened. This would never have happened if I didn’t run into Keene that day. I was so lost that day. I fell to pieces, and I had nowhere to go. All my so-called friends were there. I saw the horrible reactions in their eyes. I was the bad guy-the homewrecker-the black sheep-the prodigal. That was how they could judge someone so quickly. Except for Keene-the only person who wasn’t like them. After I told him everything, he remained the same.
“Just so you know. I would do the same thing if the situation is reversed. So, please? Erase that scowl. You are too beautiful to scowl.” He then pinched my cheeks. “Smile, Westley.”
* * *
I peeped into Keene’s room to check if he was doing fine. The nasal cannula still looped around the flow meter of the oxygen tank beside his bed. I’d learned a few tricks when we received the news. At least I knew what to do in case of an emergency.
“Good night.” I slowly closed the door behind me.
I rubbed my hands on my way to Clyve’s cabin. I was not a nervous type. I just didn’t know why I felt like this when I was with him.
For God’s sake, Westley! He saw me vulnerable when he should not, and that changed the game.
The door swung open before I could knock. He was still wearing the same smile, and that annoyed me to the next level. “Thought you changed your mind.”
“You know I didn’t have a choice. You didn’t give me much of a choice. You blackmailed me, remember?” I snarled, instead of being grateful. It was just, he played me out well.
“Come on in before you get cold. Is Keene sleeping?” Of course, the kind-hearted Clyve had his way with words.
“Yeah.” I walked straight to the couch. It whooshed when I slumped myself down.
“I talked to Mum this morning after you left. I couldn’t tell her the details because I didn’t know yet what Keene has.” He occupied the space beside me.
I looked away, feeling the tears well in my eyes.
“You don’t have to tell me. We’ll just email it on Monday,” he said softly. “I’m so sorry, Westley.”
My head snapped to his side. “Are you? Or are you mocking me right now?”
He looked taken aback, eyes slightly widened. “You thought I’m taking advantage of you? I’m just trying to help. You can call me an arsehole, fine, but don’t you think this is for his own good?”
“You don’t know what we’d been through, and then you just came here to control me, manipulate me, tell me what to do, and blackmail me because you know you’re holding the right card and that I would do anything for him.”
“Jesus Christ, Westley!” He jerked to be on his feet, pacing. When he stopped, he narrowed his eyes at me. “Stop being a brat, and look at the brighter side. This is not about you, Westley. I’m not asking you to do something that you can’t. I just want to help, especially Keene. I saw something in him that.” He paused, scratching his head as if he was searching for the right.
I could also see his frustration. I didn’t know why I had to question his motives. Perhaps, no one had laid a hand to help us without a catch.
“I feel like I could trust him. I never had a real friend, I already told you that. Call it preposterous, but I like that guy, and I care about him. You just have to see it, Westley. And stop judging me instead.”
“I hate rich people. They just took advantage of people like him. I saw it with my own eyes. I hate my father, my mom, my step-mom. They neither do something for free, Clyve. Just like you.”
“So, is this how you wanna play it? You choose to question everything I do? Because I am a rich bloke! I don’t give a damn about money.” He laughed sarcastically.
“What is it that you want from me?” I asked with frustration. I wanted to hear that truth. I was sure as hell there was something more beyond all this.
“So you better show off your tits and pussy to men that you might have known? Have you ever thought that maybe your friends or your family are probably one of your viewers? And don’t you dare tell me that this is part of you being a rebellious kid because that’s bloody bullshit!”
I managed not to flinch. I knew the consequences before I joined that site.
“I don’t care about them. Why do you even care if that’s what I choose to do for a living?” I stood up, meeting his blazing stare. I didn’t give a damn about how I earned my income. It was none of his business.
“I thought we were done talking about it.” He gestured his hand to the door. “You can come back if you have your final decisions. I thought you’d do anything for your best friend. Obviously, there was something more than that you’re not telling me.”
My stomach did a nosedive. “Why is it so important to you?”
His eyes softened as he continued staring at me and I had to look away. I could see the sincerity and concern in there, so deeply that I didn’t even want to believe.
“It was something that you wouldn’t even believe. When I first saw you in that video, I felt something.” That caught my attention. I looked back at him.
“It was just an accident on how I got into that site. Maybe that was fate, I don’t know. When you looked at the camera, for the first time, I felt the connection.” He chuckled sadly. “Go ahead, mock me, but that’s the truth. I felt like I just entered into your soul. Even if I didn’t meet you here, I can assure you that I will still find a way to look for you, Westley, because, ever since that night, I barely got to sleep without thinking about you. I only logged in because I knew you would be there. I feel satisfied just to have a little piece of you even though I couldn’t hold you.” He pressed a fist to his lips. I could feel the truth in his words, in his action, and through his eyes.
I just stood there with an open mouth in shock and awe at the same time as everything had come to pieces and now it to my senses. Clyve Linton likes me? Is this what is he trying to make me understand all this time? How could he like someone like me when he was aware of what I’d been doing on that site?
Now, what, Westley?
“Y-you.” Damn it! “You know this is impossible.”
“What’s impossible? Me liking you?”
“Everything. We can’t-”
“We can’t be together because your bloody family is probably wealthier than me, and they disowned you? Or because you’re a cam girl?”
“There is more that-”
“I don’t give a shit. Is there someone in your life right now?”
I nodded. “No, but-”
“Then again, I don’t give a shit.”
“You- But- For God’s sake, can you please stop cutting me off?”
“Is it because I live in London or New York? Well, Westley, you’re probably a New Yorker as well.”
“Clyve!” I groaned. God! This man was stubborn as hell. He was not giving me a chance to talk.
“No more argument. You are going to deactivate your account. Right now!” He made a point about how seriously we were talking here.
I frowned. “Wait a minute. You didn’t log in tonight?”
“Why would I when we were done discussing it? I just believed that you would do what I told you.”
Oh, he was serious when said he logged in because of me. My stomach just fluttered. Great. Calm down, Westley. “I deactivated my account.”
“Really?” His brows met, seemingly surprised.
“Is this face looks like I am kidding?” I pointed to my face. “What’s your username?”
“Don’t ask.” He grimaced.
I sat back on the couch, and Clyve followed. “I just want to save money for him. Keene dreamed of visiting a certain place, but I can’t afford to buy tickets even if I want to take him there. If his diagnosis is terminal, and the treatment won’t be successful, at least, I can see a smile on his face before…” I swallowed hard, my throat tightened painfully.
“I’m here now, Westley. You don’t have to shoulder all of it alone.”
I looked at him. “Until when?”
“For as long as you need me.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Never been so sure in my entire life.”
God, I hoped he would not run away once he found out something about me and Keene.
Keene was the only reason why I was still alive and surviving, and why I did some drastic measures and swallowed all my pride. I never regretted it, and I was willing to do it again when the time came.
“DangerouslyAddictive10.”
“What?”
“My username.”
I stared at him incredulously before my voice echoed in the entire cabin as I burst out laughing. “That’s so not you.”
“What? Don’t I look addictive to you?” A smirk was marked on his face.
You really have no idea, have you, Linton?