Taken In

Chapter 20

Breo's POV

It's been a few days since I met J's friends in the kitchen and since then he's been different with me, but not in the way I expected.

I thought after I freaked out he would want me to leave, that he'd be angry at me for not being normal, or for at least not having the decency to pretend to be normal in front of his friends. Instead he has been so much more kind and patient with me, if that's even possible.

We've been spending more time together, he's shown me around his very large house too. We've cooked breakfast together, he laughs with me more, he talks to me until I fall asleep- no matter how late it is, he asks me fun questions and he's sharing more about himself too. I like him a lot, and I wish I didn't because I know that soon I'll have to go away. I've never had a friend like him before but I can't stay with him forever, and it would be stupid of me to want to or think that's even possible.

Even though he has shown no signs of annoyance toward me the guilt I've felt since that day has been so overwhelming- I embarrassed him in front of his friends, he shouldn't want to help me anymore.

"You good?" J asks next to me. I turn to him and smile, watching him slow the truck down once we get to a red light. We went to get burgers today for lunch. It's my first time being outside during the day in a very long time but I had fun.

I turn towards the window and watch the trees pass by slowly once he begins to drive again.

"Thank you for being so kind to me." I say abruptly. There aren't enough words in the world to express my gratitude.

He drives in silence for a moment before responding. "You don't have to thank me Bre, for real."

That's another thing he's been doing that's different. He doesn't call me Breo, he calls me Bre. I like it I think, or maybe I just like it because he's saying it.

A warm feeling develops in my stomach and I cross my legs in an attempt to suppress it.

"Okay." I respond quietly, relaxing in my seat once more. A few more moments pass and curiosity gets the best of me- it doesn't help that we are stuck in traffic too.

"J?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask what J stands for?" My voice becomes sheepish as my sentence comes to an end, maybe I've become too familiar with him- are there some things I'm not supposed to know?

"Wanna guess?" He responds, laughing slightly.

I pause to think for a moment, trying to think of all the names that begin with J, but I become to nervous to try.

"I'm not sure." A nervous giggle escapes my lips as I try to think of something to say.

"I'm just fucking with you." He gestures, laughing again. "It's short for Javier."

I turn to him completely in my seat, noticing the long line of cars in front of us before looking at him.

"Javier is such a pretty name."

He looks at me in a way I don't recognise before clearing his throat. "Thanks."

"Do you like J or Javier more?"

I watch him think before he answers, brushing his hand over his short hair before letting it rest at the back of his neck. His dark blue watch face reflects the bright Texas sun as he does so. It looks gorgeous, just like him.

"People who don't know me too personally only call me J, people I'm close to call me Javier, or both."

"Oh okay." I say with a nod.

"You can call me Javier." He takes one hand off the steering and adjusts his seating. "If you want."

I nod softly, maintaining eye contact with him for a moment before smiling, I'm glad to know he thinks we're close too.

"Do Pedro and your friends call you something else?" I think back to that day in the kitchen when one of his scarier looking friends called him something I didn't recognise. The other day Pedro and his other friend called him the same thing too.

"You mean La Parca?"

"Yes." I nod again.

His pearly whites become more visible in my peripheral as he laughs again. "It's just a name they call me, nothing special." He says as he laughs it off. "It's sort of a Mexican thing." He continues.

"You're Nigerian right? You guys have anything like that in your family?"

It doesn't take much thinking for me to answer that question. I am Nigerian but since I was born in England the only knowledge I have about my culture comes from my parents, who don't talk to me very much at all. I wish I knew more, maybe I can in the future.

"I don't know." I answer honestly, smiling once I realise that he remembered something about me, no one has ever done that before.

The roads clear a little and J continues to drive again, I start to recognise the roads leading up to his house, everything is so much clearer during the day.

"Would you like to watch more movies later when we get home?"

J has been showing me movies he thinks I might like. I have never really watched movies before so it's very fun to watch them with him. We started with the Lion King which was very sad, and then we moved on to Batman. I don't know what I like so we just pick things randomly.

"Yea- ah actually I have some stuff to do tonight." His tone is apologetic and I feel bad for making him upset. He shouldn't have to apologise to me because he has responsibilities.

"It's okay!" I say with a big smile in the hopes it'll make him feel better.

"You still have your phone right?" I reach into my pocket and pull out the phone he bought me to show him. I didn't want him to buy me anything but I admit it's nice to talk to him even when he's not home. I can also play games on it too, he taught me how to use the phone store to get them.

"Good. I'll text you to see if I'll be home early and maybe we can watch something, how bout that?"

"Okay." I nod enthusiastically and look at the star covered design on the back of my phone case before placing the it back inside my pocket.