Proposal

Chapter 14

"Got started?" Angel nodded at the repeat and turned his attention back to the fire. "Got started with...?" All he had to do was tell Husker honestly, right? Just tell the man the truth and everything would be fine and he'd stop asking... right?

"With the punishment." A deep breath and he continued with his story. "Once the drugs wore off, I did try apologizing. I don't know why, though, Val never stops just because you say sorry. He only stops when he's done." The flames licked at the sides of the ornate fireplace and one of the legs they were eating broke in two, crumbling under the heat. "He started by asking me why I'd run away. Why I had skipped out on my job and... I told him that something was off. The guy had to have been lying or something... I didn't wanna tell him the truth."

"Why not?" Angel rolled his eyes at Husker's question and looked up at the feline.

"Because... If I tell Val who my Pops is, he's gonna try to use it, and it's not gonna end well." The man cocked a brow.

"Because your dad is a business man?" He was clearly skeptical. Dragging his fingers through his hair, Angel growled to himself.

"Because he's an Overlord, alright?" He got it out and instantly saw the shock on the cat's face. "Oh god, please don't. Look, he's only an Overlord because he was an asshole in life and he's an asshole now, got it? I mean... remember what I told you? The man died and the decided to exterminate his own father, my Nonno, because he didn't wanna take orders. It's not that surprising that my old man ended up being one of them. Every Overlord is a monster in some way." Shaking his head, he waved the whole thing away. "The point is, I don't want Val to know that, because if he finds that out, it could start a war between the two. And if you start a fight with Val, it comes with Vox and Velvet too and-"

"And you're protecting your family." Angel's heart skipped a beat as something settled under his skin.

"What?" Husker didn't seem fazed or confused. He was very confident in what he said and was clearly ready to defend it.

"You're protecting your family. If you really didn't care, you'd let them fight it out. Let them wage war on each other, in the end you might get something out of it, if you don't care. However, you do care, because if they duke it out, your family might get hurt. Your brother and sister, hell... maybe even a small piece for your father." Angel shook his head idly. "If you didn't care, you could have let them at each other. If the V's took out your father, you'd be free of that. If your father took out the V's, you'd be free of all of it. So... the only reason I can see that you would put yourself in that position is... to protect your family." There was a lump that had formed in Angel's throat as the man spoke that wouldn't go away.

"Weren't you just supposed to listen and not talk?" Husker held up his hands defensively and the two shifted to get comfortable again. "Point is, he didn't like my answer so... He started with the toys." Again, he tried to shrug it off like it was nothing, but he knew better. There was no prep when being broken. There was only diving in head first, and that meant that everything was a bit more... painful. Val hadn't started small either, he'd gone right in with one of the larger dildos. "First it was the one and that lasted for... a little bit, and then it was a vibrator. The details don't really matter-"

"Angel." His name was said in a stern and unbending way.

"Okay, okay... He uses the toys to get a few things outta you. He uses them to get answers, to prep you for him, or to prep you for the wand... or all of the above." Husker nodded along, but stopped and looked at him curiously.

"The wand?" Angel nodded slowly. "Do I want to know what the wand is?" He shook his head, but the cat decided otherwise. "What is the wand?" Angel cringed and slumped over.