Delectable Benefits

Six

Anya was sitting under their usual tree a few days later. She was mentally exhausted from Aunt Gabby's inquisition coupled with her studies, all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep but she knew once she got home, the inquisition would begin and Nick's Aunt will be working on her case again.

"Hey," a voice said.

She looked up and saw Darwin approach her, he was also holding a bouquet of flowers. "Hey," she returned and glanced at the flowers. "Going babe watching?"

He frowned at her and tossed the flowers onto her lap. "My mother said I should bring flowers to the woman who rescued me."

She smiled at that, "Thanks," she looked at him. "You've lost a lot of weight."

He let out a deep breath and flopped down next to her. "Yeah, doctor says I'll need to get back in shape if I ever want to go back to the team."

She looked at him, "Will you go back to the field?" She asked.

He shook his head, "Nah, I figured my brother must have done something damaging to my football career. I'd rather focus on my studies."

She shrugged, "I guess that's a good thing."

He snorted, "You would say that. It would keep me away from groupies, and possible stds."

"Ha! The doctors had a field day when we found out you had some std floating in your system. We were afraid it was the std that caused your coma."

"It wasn't?" he asked surprised.

Anya rolled her eyes, "You're not so lucky. You were pretty beaten up around the head and it took you quite a while to recover. That is why the doctor suggested to have you in an induced coma when you woke up."

"I know, Ryan told me," he said softly.

Anya watched the leaves dance in the wind. "Mother told me my father tried to kill you."

She shook her head, "No, he was trying to scare me off. I don't think your father had it in him to kill me."

"Don't be so gullible, Anya. My father has used power. He has been ignoring my brother's substance abuse for quite a while now. I don't think he will support my crusade for justice"

Anya gave a frown, "That's terrible."

He let out a snort in disgust. "Mother does though. She will be with us every step of the way. And has even began the proceeds of divorcing my father. His supporters have been withdrawing their support left and right that makes reelection impossible. It's as though they know something is going on. Usually, the situation explodes first then they do damage control only when the damage cannot be controlled then they jump ship."   

She didn't say a word, she knew the reason why. "True, what does the media say?" Anya asked.

"That's just the thing, the media hasn't sniffed out the entire situation yet," he said in disbelief.

Anya looked at him, he was shaking his head. "That's a good thing, right? I mean when you got beaten up, your mother told me to change your name so that the media would not know about what happened."

He nodded, "That was the procedure. Also, mother has paid you in full. You don't have to work double shifts in the bakery anymore. I do have to ask, why do you have to stay in that place when you can open your own?"

"I cook because I enjoy it and it makes people happy. I do not cook for profit." She said and looked at the football field. "Will you look at that, the team seems to be out of sorts. Usually you guys would be smashing heads with each other and try to make dog piles."