Casper
His unexpected questions threw me off balance.
I paused briefly, shutting my eyes and searching inwardly for the right answer. But I couldn’t place a hand around it.
It wasn’t my will to help her. I couldn’t explain the feeling, but I knew I was compelled to do so.
“Still thinking?” He chimed in between my thoughts, sarcasm ringing in his voice.
Why was I helping her? I didn’t even know her name.
I hated to admit that Raphael was right.
Maybe she was using me, and I could tell she was playing her cards well.
No one worked as a waitress in the VIP section without knowing the consequences.
For many years when I went there, they assaulted young waitresses, especially the curvy and beautiful ones like her.
Only the series waitress served in that section. If she wasn’t up to their taste, she would be sent back, and that meant trouble for the manager.
Once, only robots served the section, but they were destroyed by those horny bastards.
I recalled witnessing over fifty girls brutally raped by one man or by all the men.
They loved innocent virgins, especially the greedy old bastard, Ricardo.
I was glad I killed him.
The manager tried to curb their act by providing whores daily, but they pounced on any waitress they caught sight of.
Though their behavior irritated me, I never joined them in bullying or raping any girl. I stayed in the Vip booth which only billionaires like me could afford. Drinking in peace.
I believed they shouldn’t complain because they knew what they signed up for when the contract was displayed before them and got what they wanted.
They were whores and they should be treated like that.
Just like the girl I saved. She was not different from the other girls.
Her dress exposed her.
Fuck!
Anger rushed in my veins, quickening my blood as I pulled away from her instantly, leaning on the window before hitting the armrest beside me hard.
She played her cards well and I was almost trapped in her lies.
Thanks to Raphael.
He opened my eyes.
She played with me the whole time.
I felt used. I felt like a fool.
“You see. You can’t answer because I am right. Look, I want the best for you. I am your Beta and I will never watch you hurt yourself again. You haven’t even recovered from the mistake you made 10 years ago. I won’t make you repeat it.”
“We can’t trust her. The last time you let your guard down, something tragic happened. We don’t know her or her motive, but you went ahead to save her.” He complained bitterly.
Struck by a guilty conscience, I swallowed the lump in my throat.
“We can run a background check on her,” I suggested.
“I will do that right away but background checks don’t display your motive. What if she is a spy? What if she was sent by Alec?”
My heart jumped at the mention of Alec. That bastard that robbed me of everything.
“We have to get rid of her. Can’t you see that she is weird? The first day you decided to go out after hiding in your shell for 10 years, you almost hit her. The second time you decide to have a drink to clear your head, you bump into her, and kill someone because of her.”
“I don’t know how she did it but it has got to stop. You act strange around her. It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.” He lamented, breathing hard as he poured out his mind.
Fuck!
I always loved Raphael’s transparency and loyalty towards me.
After 10 years of shutting myself out of the world and living in agony and deep regret, I decided to step out to clear my head.
The reason I stepped out was because of her.
Still, I bumped into her.
During those painful years, the only places I went to were Marina’s and my twins’ grave and the burnt building.
Raphael tried to demolish it to erase the memory so that my pain could be reduced, but I insisted on leaving the building.
It was my mistake and I wanted to be reminded of it so I wouldn’t make another one.
For the first 7 days of the tragic event, I lay beside my family’s gravestone, crying and pleading with the moon goddess to take me.
No food or water entered my mouth.
I felt I didn’t deserve to live.
I tried several attempts to kill myself but it ended up as a disaster.
I once cut myself with a silver knife and bled. Soon, I felt dizzy and fainted, only to wake up alone.
I knew the reason the moon goddess kept me alive.
To punish me and break me.
I knew she wanted me damaged before she finally took me to see my family once again. And I knew I deserved every bit of the suffering.
I didn’t deserve even the slightest feeling of happiness.
After some years, I stopped sleeping in the burnt building and by the graveside and accepted my fate. But no day passes without me punishing myself.
At once, I was blinded by anger and before I could withhold myself from doing something nasty to her, I interrupted Raphael’s driving, making the tires screech noisily as he applied the brakes.
“What was that for? Do you want us killed?” he screamed, trying to maneuver the car.
The car came to a halt and I turned to the girl who was almost sleeping, yanking her hand so that she jumped awake.
“So that’s what you are, a part-time prostitute,” I said, not censoring my words.
I don’t care how she feels.
“Excuse me?” she spoke softly, staring at me with confused widened eyes.
I could sense her shock as she tried to understand how I went from being soft to being aggressive in a matter of minutes.
I was unpredictable.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you were a whore!” I repeated, this time louder, and let out a loud hiss.
“You can keep the jacket. I don’t take things from bitches.”
“Don’t say that!” She yelled, her voice cracked from hurt.
“I will say that over again. You are not different from the other girls. I should have let them have their way with you, stupid bitch…”
I hadn’t finished my words when her slim fingers made contact with my face.
I couldn’t believe she slapped me.
No one has ever tried that with me, man or woman.
But for some reason, I didn’t break her hand.
“Don’t you dare!” I warned. My patience was almost lost.
“Then don’t judge me. You don’t know me, yet you claim that I am a whore. I came to you begging for a job this morning and you chased me out like a dog. You wouldn’t even listen to me, yet you branded me with unpleasant names,” she cried in frustration.
“If I don’t take $1. 7k to the hospital, I will lose her for good.” She burst into tears, her body shaking like a leaf.
“No one would employ me except they sleep with me. The day you almost hit me was the day I got fired by my former boss without pay because I refused to give him my body. You won’t give me a job because I arrived late. When I found someone that gave me a job and I was willing, sometimes tragic things happen and you call me names.”
“You don’t know how I feel. I lost a job and I lost my pay. I don’t know what excuse I would give the doctor. He won’t listen. The surgery has to commence and I am going crazy because I don’t have the money.” She let in a tense shaky breath.
“My life is a mess right now and I don’t know what I’d do if I lost them. I am all they have and they are the only reason keeping me alive. Daphne tried to warn me about that booth but I didn’t listen, not that I loved being sexualized, but I was running out of time. Yet you judge me!” She let out an agonizing scream that broke the walls I built around me.
My eyes softened and my conscience judged me for the words I said.
She looked like she was going crazy as she started talking to the mini TV in the car.
Judging from her words, she was about to lose people important to her because of terminal illness and she was determined to save them at all costs, even if it meant stopping low to take odd jobs in jobs that posed a danger to her.
I felt bad that I called her names and a part of me wanted to make it up to her.
I regret firing her. If I hadn’t fired her, she wouldn’t have ended up in that godforsaken club.
But I was happy I saved her. It wouldn’t sit well with me knowing my actions caused her her innocence.
“I’m sorry.” I didn’t know when the heavy words left my lips.
Apart from Marina, I had never told anyone sorry, including my Beta who was like a brother to me. Despite hurting him many times, acted arrogantly.
“What is your name?” I asked.
I yearned to know what a beautiful girl like her was called.
She was brave and I admired it. She reminded me of Marina.
“Lilith,” she answered amid tears.
“Lilith,” I repeated, savoring the way it sounded against my lips.
It was a beautiful name.
“I want to make it up to you by hiring you. You don’t have to work in a club anymore.” I poured out those words, staring deeply into her teary eyes.
It was a tough decision, but I had to make it up to her.