Free Web NovelChapter 26: Two Birds On A Wire
ADRIEN’S POV
"I love coming here to have fun, and Orion is such a good man..."
Luca hasn’t stopped chattering since Orion left me with him to go to god knows where. I was listening to him babble on, but then he called Orion a good man. So, I tuned him out.
Even if a person were heavily brainwashed, it would be more understandable for them to call a terrorist a ’peacemaker’ than to call Orion a good man.
I’m sure all the good men in the world would be fuming if they knew what they were being compared to.
"So, who are you?" Luca asks, startling me a bit.
What kind of question is that?
"What do I look like to you? A bipedal monkey?" I honestly don’t know if I should be offended that he asked me this. I already introduced myself, didn’t I?
"No, silly," he giggles, "I mean, who are you to Orion?"
The moment I try to come up with an answer that could be a bit correct, my mind blanks. Who am I Orion? How do I even answer that?
That question is more loaded than the gun that bastard shoved into my hands then.
"I’m his..."
Luca blinks at me, eagerly waiting for me to finish my sentence. When I don’t, he tries to draw it out of me.
"You’re his what?" He asks, blue eyes wide with curiosity.
Ah, fuck it.
"I’m his."
And there it is, the only response I can give him. In a sense, I’m nothing to Orion. Not his friend, nor his family. He doesn’t even like me as a person.
He’s literally once told me that he wishes I were a real duck so he’d know whether to keep me as a pet or have me for lunch. Lunch, he said.
I still don’t know if I should be scared or grateful for being human, but knowing Orion, cannibalism is just one funny morning away for him.
"Oh," Luca breathes out carefully. "You’re his lover."
"Are you an idiot?"
If I were his lover, I’d have fucking said so. I’m not in love with that fucker, and he doesn’t love me. This whole thing is just the consequence of a series of unfortunate events.
It’s like thinking that I’m lucky because I woke up on time after forgetting to set my alarm and somehow finding my shoes polished and my clothes ironed, only for me to step out of my house and get cleared by a truck.
A fourteen-wheeler to be precise.
I was lucky until I wasn’t.
"You’re kind of rude, Adrien. I didn’t mean it that way." Luca huffs, crossing his arms on his chest as he looks away from me.
He looks genuinely upset for about three seconds before his attention drifts to the flashing lights over the bar. That alone tells me enough about him.
He’s either painfully honest or incredibly good at pretending to be.
I hate this. I hate how I’m stuck in this stupid place playing ’guess what’ with someone I don’t even know, when Masamune is out there. Within Orion’s sphere.
Everything is too loud here. The bass is so loud it feels like someone is repeatedly drumming on my ribs from the inside with metal sticks. I keep getting drawn to the purple lights flashing across Luca’s face, changing the colour of his hair.
From brown to blonde. It makes something in my brain itch.
"How did the two of you meet?" Luca asks again, cutting through the fog spreading in my head.
"I sacrificed an entire city in my past life and ended up in hell."
The look he gives me is so affronted, it’s actually hilarious. He looks like a cat whose tail got stepped on. I should laugh too, as payback for his behavior. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
If Luca was going to say something, I wouldn’t know, because the moment he opens his mouth to speak, a man stops beside our booth, his drunk eyes focused on Luca.
"Didn’t think you’d have company tonight," he says, glancing at me.
"I don’t," Luca responds, shrugging. "He’s an extension of me. A part of my soul given form."
His statement is dry, yet still so outrageous, the man’s gaze whips to the table, searching for whatever we drank to put us on this high.
"Did you...smoke?" He asks after not seeing any evidence of our drinking.
"I don’t know, did I?" Luca asks, batting his long, curly lashes at me.
"You did. You totally did." I could get behind this. I don’t mind trolling drunk people. I’d rather do that than talk about Orion.
I would rather keep this up, but the man is not as drunk as Luca probably thought. He catches on immediately. He places a hand on Luca’s shoulder then winks at me.
"Well, I just wanted to know if you and your soul are in the mood for a good time?"
I stare at my main body— Luca— he mirrors my deadpan expression with a sigh. He started this, so he’s going to fix it.
He shrugs off the man’s hand from his shoulder then waves him off without a backwards glance. "We’re not."
It’s simple and direct, but I see it. For one single moment, the man’s expression changes. From easy drunkenness to rabid anger.
And in the next moment, he pales and takes a shaky step back. He turns on his heel without another word, flees past the dancing club goers, and out of the club.
All in the span of two seconds.
"Don’t look so surprised," Luca chuckles, "did you really think Orion doesn’t have eyes everywhere? We’re in his club, no one can hurt us."
Well...no one but him.
"I see." There are probably people stationed around us. He may be keeping them here to protect Luca, but I know they’re keeping an eye on me.
He knows something.
"Are you scared of Orion?"
If I were drinking something, I’d have choked. His question is so sudden, it destabilizes me for a second. Am I scared of Orion? Is water wet?
"Is the answer to that question not obvious?"
"Is it?" His lips curve into a sly smile. "Because it sure doesn’t look that way to me."
"You’re the one who called him a good man, not me. Who Orion is to you, isn’t who he is to me." He’s your good man, not mine.
"So, are you scared of him?"
That question should not be difficult to answer, but the problem is that— it is.
Because I am scared of him. Terrified, actually. But fear isn’t the only thing I feel around Orion.
There are so many ugly tangled emotions tied between us that I don’t know and don’t want to even try to untangle. I can’t.
"Who isn’t scared of him?... Well, except maybe you." Since he’s your good man.
Luca tilts his head at me like I’ve just said something genuinely confusing. Not offensive or ridiculous— just wrong.
"That’s not true," he says softly.
I almost laugh. "You know him so well. You know he has people watching us like pets, and you probably know even more than that, yet you still called him a good man."
"You’re kind of dramatic."
I will murder him. "And you’re delusional. You know, the whole airhead shtick is old now, right?"
The grin on Luca’s face widens instead of fading. Somehow, instead of getting offended and leaving, he looks entertained. Like poking at me is fun to him.
Maybe that’s why Oriok keeps him around. Birds of a feather and all that.
"You know," Luca drawls, leaning back against the booth, "people who are truly terrified of Orion don’t speak about him the way you do."
I stare at him. I refuse to be the first to break eye contact. "And what do you mean by that?"
"It means," he hums, "they don’t dare to look him in the eye. They tremble when he walks into a room. Some start pissing themselves before he even says anything."
To be honest, that’s fair.
That bastard has probably done worse things than criminals locked up for life sentences. He’s a murderer who somehow has absolutely no court sentence tied to his name.
"But you..." Luca continues, gesturing lazily at me, "You insult him constantly."
"Because he deserves it." And because I’m still considering the benefits of dying early. At least before he finds out even the littlest bit of the truth.
"That’s not the point." He pauses. "You’re comfortable around him."
"You should seek medical help, because something is either wrong with your brain or your eyes. That has to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard."
"Is it?"
"Yes."
"But I think he likes you," Luca continues, unfazed. "Yeah, he definitely likes you."
"Look, just because we’re engaged does not mean that Orion and I are— "
"You’re engaged?" Luca shoots up so fast from his seat, he almost blinds me.
"Did you not know that?" He’s been talking shit about relationships in the sky, but he didn’t know I was fucking engaged?
"Of course I didn’t!" He snaps. "If I did, I wouldn’t have wasted my time here with you."
Excuse et moi?
